024. The Idea
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Sitting like he was on a bed of needles, Lin Nan barely finished his breakfast.
He stole a glance at the girl next to him, who was clutching his arm tightly. A shiver ran down his spine, and every muscle in his body felt taut as a bowstring.
It was barely a little past seven, and the cafeteria already had a sprinkling of students and teachers. Lin Nan felt a bit better; at least with people around, Li Na shouldn’t suddenly decide to take him out with a hidden weapon, right?
“I need to head back to prepare for class…” Lin Nan cautiously guessed at the girl’s intentions. After all, it wasn’t like he could trust someone who once waved a fruit kn*fe at him.
“This morning, we have a big lecture in the first period; we’re going together,” Li Na explained with a cheerful smile.
Lin Nan paused, then quickly conjured a reason: “I need to get my book.”
“No worries! Just text your roommate to bring it,” she cheered.
This girl…
He felt utterly helpless and dared not anger Li Na.
After all, this was the Saintess of another world. According to Lilith’s memories, this girl could probably single-handedly wipe out a city. Sure, her powers would definitely be toned down on Earth, but taking him down shouldn’t be an issue.
Yesterday, he wanted to organize all his memories about Li Na, but he ended up with a stomachache all day, completely distracted. Now, faced with Li Na again, he was even more confused than before.
He couldn’t even directly ask if she and Lilith were in a romantic relationship. Instead, he fidgeted nervously, waiting for class to start.
But he had to admit—girls were really soft…
He sighed internally but was suddenly interrupted as Li Na asked, “When are you planning to go back? I’m ready whenever!”
“Not planning to go back,” he replied quickly.
“Eh?”
Lin Nan’s entire body went tense, and he hurriedly explained, “I really am not Lilith! This is my home; where would I go with you?”
“Does Lilith have someone she likes here?” Li Na prodded curiously.
“No, not at all,” Lin Nan replied, noticing that Li Na’s mood seemed significantly more stable than their last encounter. At least she wasn’t brandishing a kn*fe ready to stab him this time, so he tentatively asked, “Could you maybe let go of me? A lot of people are staring at us.”
He wasn’t a fan of the outside attention and awkwardly shifted in his seat: “Feels like they’re looking at me like I’m some kind of monkey.”
“You weren’t like this before.” Li Na tightened her grip even more as she noticed his discomfort. Now wrapped around him like a constrictor snake, she rested her head comfortably on his shoulder.
Lin Nan felt his scalp tingle, as if a venomous snake had decided to take a liking to him. He sat completely still, not daring to move.
From the outside, they must have looked like a lovey-dovey college couple. From behind, people might have mistaken them for two girls in a romantic embrace. But the torment in Lin Nan’s heart was a secret only he understood.
Time seemed to stretch painfully for him, as he sat resolutely, enduring the bizarre stares from passersby while also feeling like he was walking a tightrope, terrified he might get knocked off his game at any moment.
After what felt like an eternity, Li Na finally stood up, dragging Lin Nan with her to class.
Once they reached the classroom, Lin Nan found a random seat but couldn’t settle down. Every few moments, he glanced around and realized he was definitely the center of attention, sparking hushed conversations among his classmates.
Great! Just what I needed! He felt as though he was being stripped n*ked and his face turned an awkward shade of red.
At that moment, someone suddenly slapped him on the shoulder, and a familiar voice exclaimed, “Nan Nan? No wonder I didn’t see you this morning; turns out you’re out on a date!”
He looked back to find three of his roommates.
“Isn’t that the god… I mean, that pretty girl from a couple of days ago?” Tu Junhui managed to slam on the brakes of his mouth just in time.
Chen Yao looked utterly befuddled, caught off guard by the fact that Lin Nan had managed to snag a girl so quickly, while Xiong Da wore a rare expression of surprise, obviously not expecting Lin Nan to be the first to break the single hood.
Lin Nan understood their confused looks and knew they had misinterpreted the situation. He turned to Li Na but saw that she didn’t seem pleased to be interrupted.
“Uh, my roommates are looking for me…” Lin Nan ventured cautiously.
Tu Junhui comfortably plopped down next to Lin Nan. “That’s okay; we can sit here; there’s just enough space.”
“…”
Help me!
He regretted not telling his roommates about this girl and how she once threatened him with a kn*fe.
Chen Yao obviously noticed how uncomfortable Lin Nan was, but glancing at the girl, who seemed totally harmless, made him think Lin Nan just wasn’t very good at handling female attention.
Then again, considering he had known Lin Nan this long, he had never heard of him having any close female friends. Aside from gaming and studying, he rarely interacted with girls, and while one girl had been into Lin Nan and tried to stalk him, he had never seriously considered getting a girlfriend.
So now, was it that another girl was smitten with Lin Nan and wouldn’t let go?
After thinking it over, Chen Yao decided there was nothing he could do, so he relaxed, crossed his legs, and prepared to play some games.
Lin Nan was at a loss for words. Even though Li Na wasn’t doing anything overtly aggressive, just having her next to him for one minute felt like a slow d*ath.
“Na Na, come sit with us!”
Suddenly, a voice that sounded like an angelic announcement interrupted. Li Na turned around and saw some of her own roommates.
“I’ll go over for a bit,” she smiled at Lin Nan.
“Go ahead!” Lin Nan forced out a smile, watching Li Na move away. He quickly grabbed a passing classmate and shoved him into the seat next to him. The poor guy had no idea what was happening and stared blankly at Lin Nan, “What are you doing?”
At that moment, Lin Nan realized he had just pulled in a classmate from the neighboring dorm, and not a very friendly one at that.
This guy was named Lin Yuan. He definitely could be considered a campus heartthrob, but he was notoriously quiet and often came off as unfriendly, with a bit of a rebellious vibe. Rumor had it he was connected with street thugs outside the school, which made most people shy away from interacting with him.
Lin Nan felt awkward; among the male students, there were only a couple he hadn’t interacted with, and here he had randomly grabbed one!
“Uh… can you help me block that girl over there?” Lin Nan decided to be upfront.
“That girl?” Lin Yuan cocked his head in the direction indicated but frowned, “Never seen her before.”
Once the topic of girls came up, Tu Junhui jumped in, “She wasn’t in class last semester; she probably transferred this term.”
With that doll-like face, it was indeed hard to forget Li Na in a university setting.
“If you don’t like her, just say so.” Chen Yao chimed in, “Actually, that girl’s pretty hot, so why not give it a shot?”
Lin Nan shook his head furiously. If he went along with that, he’d end up becoming the so-called witch dragged off to another world!
But then Lin Yuan suddenly suggested, “Find a guy to tell her you’re gay.”
As soon as those words left his mouth, everyone around went slack-jawed. Tu Junhui didn’t hold back and offered a thumbs-up, “Good idea!”
