Bitterness? Chi Yu was completely perplexed.
Song Luokui sighed, poking his hand with her finger before hooking his index finger, "You know, my brother doesn't approve of you. In principle, I'm on my brother's side. If he finds out, can you guess what my brother would do?"
Chi Yu gripped her hand, following her finger, "So you want me to work out more? Let your brother beat me up?" Getting beaten up by his brother-in-law seemed acceptable.
Song Luokui: "...No, why would you think that? I mean...let's keep our relationship a secret for now. Especially from my brother and his friends."
Chi Yu looked at her, "So I'm still not allowed to be seen with you?"
Song Luokui felt a little guilty, "Not exactly, but you know, this involves a lot...You saw how much of a scene it caused in our circles when news of you having a girlfriend came out. Imagine what would happen if I was exposed."
Chi Yu: "When can we go public?"
Song Luokui: "After I prepare my brother a little."
Of course, Chi Yu wanted nothing more than to announce their relationship to the world, but he had no choice. "Okay, I can be your underground lover, but you need to reward me."
Upon hearing "underground lover," Song Luokui instantly blushed. "What underground lover...This is just a self-protection measure. We don't expose our relationship, so you can avoid getting beaten up by my brother, and I can avoid gossip. And what if you have enemies who might kidnap me to get back at you?"
Thinking of this, Song Luokui recalled the previous kidnapping incident - she was taken hostage to get revenge on her brother. "You don't have any enemies, do you?"
Chi Yu thought back to the intense firefights he was involved in overseas...It wasn't as intense domestically, but there was still covert conflict.
Chi Yu: "...I do."
Song Luokui stared at him for a moment, recalling the villains from books. Then she clapped her hands!
"That's it, you have too many enemies, so we can't expose me."
Chi Yu: "..." He suddenly thought of such a scenario too. Chi Yu pulled her into an embrace, squinting as he started considering hiring bodyguards for Song Luokui - the kind that would secretly watch over her.
Song Luokui checked the time. "It's late, I need to head back to school."
Chi Yu: "Why not stay here? There are guest rooms."
Song Luokui: "No, I'm going back to school."
Chi Yu didn't insist, feeling elated that she had agreed to be his girlfriend tonight. "I'll drive you back."
"Okay."
On the drive back to school with soothing music playing, Chi Yu drove with one hand while holding Song Luokui's hand, occasionally exchanging smiles.
Song Luokui: "Drive carefully, don't look at me. You'll get mocked by your enemies if you get pulled over for reckless driving."
Chi Yu: "...Got it."
Upon reaching the dorm building, Song Luokui remembered Chi Yu mentioning a reward. Her face instantly flushed as she unfastened her seatbelt and leaned towards him. Chi Yu held his breath, watching her move closer.
Song Luokui kissed his cheek, "That's your reward, boyfriend. I'm heading up now, good night."
The moment her lips touched his skin, Chi Yu swallowed hard, his pupils dilating as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. After a while, he finally found his voice, though it was a little hoarse. "Yeah, good night."
Carefully listening, his voice did sound raspy.
Song Luokui waved at him from the car while holding the bouquet before entering the dorm. Meanwhile, Chi Yu touched his cheek, covering his mouth with a fist as he coughed, failing to hide his elation.
He sat in the car for a while, touching the badge on his chest at one point before opening photos of Song Luokui that he had taken earlier, realizing they forgot to take a selfie together.
Ding, Song Luokui messaged him: "Why aren't you leaving yet?"
Chi Yu looked up at the girls' dorm, knowing she must be watching from the balcony even though he couldn't see her.
Chi Yu immediately replied: "Yeah. Heading back now. Good night."
"Good night."
Soon, Chi Yu drove off.
The first thing he did upon arriving home was remove the badge from his chest and place it in a box. Finally unable to resist, he took another photo of it before touching his cheek again and heading to the bathroom.
Back in the dorm, when Song Luokui returned with a blushing face and a bouquet of vibrant roses, her roommates Wang Sisi and the others immediately exclaimed in surprise.
The three of them quickly surrounded her. "Who sent these?"
"Are you being courted?"
"That's a huge bouquet of roses, 99 of them?"
Song Luokui felt a little shy. "I don't know how many, probably 99. As for who sent them, that's a secret. It's late, I need to shower."
She set the bouquet down and quickly grabbed her sleepwear, preparing to enter the bathroom. Before doing so, she glanced out towards the balcony, noticing Chi Yu's car hadn't left yet, so she quickly messaged him.
Only after Chi Yu's car departed did Song Luokui enter the bathroom.
Now as an official couple, Chi Yu no longer needed excuses to meet up, and their dates weren't limited to just dining out.
On Monday morning during the report meeting, the managers noticed the boss seemed exceptionally amiable today, occasionally even smiling while glancing at his phone! Suddenly they felt a bit unsettled - what was going on?
After the meeting ended and everyone filed out of the room, the last person heard the boss making a call, his tone unexpectedly gentle: "I booked two movie tickets, want to catch a movie tonight?"
So that's why the boss was so approachable today! It sounded like he was dating someone!
Song Luokui declined Chi Yu's movie proposal since she had assignments to work on that evening. To focus on her work, she went to the campus study hall, but soon regretted it when the couple in front of her started making out passionately mid-study...
They weren't the only ones - there were two or three other groups scattered around. Finally, a student in black had seen enough and rapped on the table: "Dude, this is a study hall."
That shameless couple wasn't pleased about the interruption. The guy snapped, "So what if it's a study hall? Mind your business, single loser!"
"Watch your tone!" The student in black stood up.
Next thing you know, they were squaring up, shoving each other until an all-out brawl broke out, books flying everywhere. One nearly hit Song Luokui in the head, forcing her to use her laptop as a shield before grabbing her bag and bolting out the back exit while others tried to break it up.
Song Luokui patted her hair, shaken by the close call. She rarely visited the study hall and never expected something like that to happen. She immediately wanted to vent - but to whom? Normally she'd complain to her girlfriends, but now she had a boyfriend to rant to.
Meanwhile, Chi Yu had intended to surprise her at the study hall that evening, having just arrived at the campus gates.
