**I sat by the library window,** notebook open, steaming lemon tea at my elbow.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAIc0AUJOWDu
My phone buzzed.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAMiwFiaJLGf
**[Lu Huai]:** *When are you free?*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAmq10sbv5yg
...Since when did this STEM robot learn to text?
79Please respect copyright.PENANAa9j6hJsUiN
I’d pegged him as the *read-immediately-but-never-reply* type. This initiative was unsettling.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAuy5DWeeMEj
**[Me]:** *Now?*
**[Lu Huai]:** *Library entrance.*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAaeryfxpP9d
I looked up. There he was beyond the glass doors—that familiar face, distant as a painting amidst the crowd and wind.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAmfgio08GrE
He approached, tone frostier than my iced tea: *"Team meeting. Now or never?"*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAmM09YjliVA
Me: *"..."*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAnlvxXu1Gny
*I’m the hypocrite here*—I’d mocked him for *"ghosting texts,"* yet *I* was the one stalling?
79Please respect copyright.PENANAPCWNuJGSJ0
---
79Please respect copyright.PENANABN4e6LnbVx
We settled in the library’s deepest corner, shelves shielding us.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAg6HRbqm1Yg
Lu Huai cracked open a physics elective, pen scratching across blank pages. I drafted our proposal, keyboard clattering.
79Please respect copyright.PENANArLLtrAOcF4
Silence. Only the whisper of pen on paper and my relentless typing.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAmkmAwGd5ns
Ten minutes in, I yawned, gulping tea: *"Must you overachieve *here*?"*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAemfEMJAnfn
He didn’t glance up. *"Or you’ll draft alone while I loaf?"*
79Please respect copyright.PENANA5cXkEgnRxv
*"Loaf away. You’re *naturally* gifted at it."*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAGWV40mUaNm
*"...Does your novel’s male lead talk like this?"*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAUbE92U1OeS
His pen halted. The question drifted past like a breeze.
79Please respect copyright.PENANApwwCtZA55G
My fingers froze.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAgVmdPNO7Gl
*"...What novel?"* I feigned innocence.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAavyaRHZrEC
Still not looking at me, he flipped a page. *"Bottom-left of your desktop. A doc titled *‘Ch.16: Male Lead Stands Outside All Night’*."*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAlIlXVQ5RhQ
I slammed my laptop shut, coughing. *"Since when do you *snoop*?"*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAnJNJIwRTq0
Finally, he met my gaze. His amusement glimmered like post-rain puddles—clear, unreadable.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAH1ZnpFe5HR
*"Just noting,"* he said, *"your prose outshines your banter."*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAGQot6kgbIt
Me: *"..."*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAtBaXZhh2ZK
*Thanks, Lu Huai. Even my fictional characters can’t retort to that.*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAc8u2Xva9fF
Worse—he resumed writing, utterly unbothered, as if he’d merely commented on the weather.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAw99aWzmmnG
I *tsk*ed, vowing silence... until he spoke again:
79Please respect copyright.PENANAHoOMQooaP3
*"That *‘li’* account. A friend?"*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAPubNsV52gr
*"...You know them?"*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAJOoT6KSvYc
*"No."* A pause. *"But you *stare* at their comments post-update."*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAEWUtc1CZIN
My lips parted. *How* to explain?
79Please respect copyright.PENANAAPBN6e1dwZ
True—after each chapter, I’d scroll straight to *li*’s eerily perceptive remarks.
79Please respect copyright.PENANApkNKFJTlWS
Yet I *never* replied.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAxu3RUJcnoI
---
79Please respect copyright.PENANAl2vCBIAZri
10 PM. I updated as usual.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAVqs2UNROru
This chapter: Lu Huai’s character helps the female lead organize files—terse as ever, yet meticulous.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAn1Mdahn5Nt
Mid-draft, I hesitated... then added: *"He’d known all along she hated noise."*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAlNGBwR2oPj
Posted. I refreshed the comments.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAhugZQMJ6FW
**[li]:**
*"Guilty conscience *finally* cracking you open?"*
79Please respect copyright.PENANAH3xdRc2FxY
Me: *"..."*
79Please respect copyright.PENANA9WrbO8YSse
*I’m *begging*—who *is* this person?! They *get* me better than I do.*
79Please respect copyright.PENANA62j5XcxWFZ
I hovered over the reply box for ten seconds... and chickened out.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAZq8MhncAPW
Wind whispered past my ear. If my novel’s male lead materialized now—
79Please respect copyright.PENANAyZIIVxpJcn
He’d look *exactly* like Lu Huai.
ns216.73.216.8da2