Has she… been watching me this whole time? Does Lu Zhou know about me and Shen Ruoshuang?
Xu Yinian guiltily yanked her gaze back, pretending she hadn’t seen anything.
Not wanting to show any further abnormality under the scrutiny of the three of them, she hurriedly followed Lu Zhou’s lead and looked toward the hallway. Sure enough, she saw people in the distance watching them.
Her heart sank. They were all people who recognized Shen Ruoshuang and Ji Yan. Among them were several classmates Xu Yinian found familiar.
Their gazes were… profoundly meaningful.
Only now did she realize: what on earth had Shen Ruoshuang and Ji Yan been saying in front of them?
Regardless of whether they had been overheard, a wave of intense shame washed over her. Xu Yinian’s face exploded in a brilliant red; her cheeks, her neck, the tips of her ears, even her knuckles were burning hot.
“People… people will see… don’t do this…” she stammered, biting her lip. Every word she managed to squeeze out seemed to be shrouded in heat.
She was still soft and stuttering, but her intent to resist and retreat was firmer than ever. Her gaze toward Ji Yan and Shen Ruoshuang was filled with equal parts reproach and grievance.
While she didn’t dare to act out as recklessly as she did when she was drunk, she had clearly, secretly added these “darlings of fortune” to her mental blacklist.
It’s all their fault… being so… so bizarre.
The moment they met Xu Yinian’s eyes, both Shen Ruoshuang and Ji Yan felt a surge of irritation toward Lu Zhou for her unnecessary reminder that had frightened the girl.
If she couldn’t say anything helpful, she should have stayed quiet. Besides, their voices weren’t loud enough to carry that far. In the dim light, they likely just looked like they were standing a bit close.
But none of that mattered now. Comforting Xu Yinian was the priority. And because they were in front of rivals, every move became a point of comparison.
No matter how dominant or pushy they appeared, in front of Xu Yinian, they were always the passive ones—the ones competing, the ones waiting to be chosen. This “inequality” had been fated the moment they fell for her.
With that thought, Ji Yan, who was closer to Xu Yinian, was the first to take a half-step back.
As she withdrew her hand, Xu Yinian’s restless movements caused her to accidentally brush against the girl’s slender, delicate waist. She felt the lingering tremors of the girl’s panic.
Watching the fragile, panicked girl scramble away from her palm, Ji Yan spoke with a helpless, doting sigh. “As you command.”
Those three words were like stones dropped into the pond of Xu Yinian’s heart, sending ripples of inexplicable agitation through her. The heat in her chest was even more intense than the touch on her waist.
It was the same contrast as when she tied her shoelaces. This person was clearly so high and mighty… yet when she spoke with such a submissive, low posture…
She didn’t sound like a “loyal servant” at all. It was a soft surrender reserved for only one person—a lowering of her bottom line, time and time again, for someone who wouldn’t behave.
Xu Yinian retreated several steps in a hurry.
She didn’t go toward Shen Ruoshuang either. Instead, she lowered her head and gripped her own wrist, acting like a bashful quail as she tried to distance herself from the center of the storm.
Compared to Ji Yan, the gaze she was avoiding even more was the one coming from the other side—the one that made her feel far more guilty.
Shen Ruoshuang took in her entire reaction, her lips pressed into a cold, hard line. Her eyes seemed to merge with the surrounding darkness, her emotions swelling in the silence.
But patience has its limits. Just as two years of patience had eventually turned into the danger of a paranoid obsession.
She would continue to tangle with the culprit behind all this.
In reality, the several women all had similar plans. Stepping back was only a temporary, superficial move. Once they were back in the lightless shadows, there would be plenty of time. An escape room provided far too many such opportunities.
Xu Yinian had no idea what kind of thoughts they were harboring.
Desperate to escape their collective gaze, she could only stiffen her resolve and move forward, heading toward the final, pitch-black puzzle area where no one else seemed to be.
Everyone watching saw the girl, who had been surrounded like a princess, begin to move. Immediately, the famous figures who had just been in a cold standoff followed her in silent, practiced unison.
The glances they exchanged were even charged with the undercurrents of hostile competition.
Only now did the onlookers realize that these elites hadn’t come to this mixer or escape room out of interest—they had only graced the event with their presence because of that one girl.
As they moved deeper into the quiet darkness, the footsteps following behind Xu Yinian became increasingly oppressive.
Because she had run away earlier, her flashlight had been dropped back in the storage room.
Suddenly, Xu Yinian remembered what Shen Ruoshuang had said: “…You wouldn’t want to have to deal with three people at once in the dark.”
What… what did “deal with” mean?
Memories of the various absurd touches from the night she was drunk flashed through her mind.
Her steps, which had been carrying her toward the deepest corner, suddenly slowed. She suddenly felt that it might be safer where other people could see them.
One of the shadows behind her didn’t slow down, continuing forward. When Xu Yinian turned around, she nearly slammed right into them.
Thinking of the two times she had already “thrown herself into someone’s arms” today, she hurriedly swerved to the side to avoid the collision.
How could she have known there was someone there too!
The moment she tumbled into the person’s chest, she identified them by their familiar perfume.
It was Lu Zhou again…
“S-Sorry!”
Xu Yinian wanted to die of embarrassment. This was the second time she had proactively initiated contact with Shen Ruoshuang’s “pursuer,” whom she wasn’t even close to.
And Shen Ruoshuang had been right there to hear it both times.
In the pitch blackness, all four of them fell into an eerie silence.
In truth, all of them had noticed her hesitating footsteps. They had pretended not to notice, simply waiting for Xu Yinian to deliver herself to them so they could “play the victim.”
But Ji Yan watched as Xu Yinian stubbornly dodged her, only to throw herself into the arms of her friend, Lu Zhou.
…She certainly knew how to pick them.
