Lin Jing froze on the spot.
Sheng Kuang pressed a towel to his head, haphazardly drying his damp hair with one hand while holding his phone in the other, tapping the screen a few times.
Suddenly, the phone in Lin Jing's hand rang.
Sheng Kuang jumped, then after a couple of seconds, he slowly turned his head towards the window.
The young girl he had seen off back to school was now standing alive and well before him, not far away, her eyes wide open, staring intently at his upper body.
Sheng Kuang found it somewhat unbelievable. He stared at her, unblinking, for a while before accepting the truth.
He thought his own reactions had been quite stunned, but the girl before him was even more so, as if she had gone dumb. The vibrating phone was in her hand, yet she showed no reaction at all.
Sheng Kuang cleared his throat and ended the call. "What are you doing here?"
The girl, who used to live next door, finally blinked a little at the sound of his voice.
He thought she was going to speak, but two seconds later, her gaze shifted from his chest down to his abdomen.
Sheng Kuang: "..."
Seeing her lose focus again, Sheng Kuang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Never mind.
If she wanted to look, let her look.
A guy being shirtless wasn't a huge deal. He wasn't a woman, so he couldn't make a fuss just because someone saw a bit of skin.
Sheng Kuang, pressing the towel to his head, continued to dry his hair leisurely as if nothing had happened.
He used to frequently take off his shirt to wring out sweat when he played basketball and felt extremely hot at school. So many girls watched from a distance, sometimes girls would scream, and sometimes girls would even run over to offer him water up close. He never paid it any mind.
But now, he found himself feeling restless, and even a little... embarrassed, by the way the girl in front of him was looking.
If the girl wasn't blushing, he couldn't possibly be the one to crack first.
Sheng Kuang thought to himself that no matter what, he couldn't flee to the changing room to put on clothes. He casually tossed the towel aside after drying his hair, lowered his head slightly to run his fingers through his hair, and walked towards her with feigned composure. He raised his hand and closed the balcony door behind her.
He was so close to her, yet she not only didn't shy away but her gaze clung to him even tighter.
Sheng Kuang closed his eyes, completely unable to take it anymore. "Stop looking."
"Huh?" Lin Jing took a couple of seconds to process what he had said. Her mind was entirely focused on his upper body, thinking about how her previous drawings weren't very accurate and that she needed to be careful next time she drew. As a result, her response to him seemed a bit absentminded. "If you show it, isn't it for people to see?"
Sheng Kuang: "..."
Damn it.
What kind of pick-up line was this?
It was no different from the heartless people who said to female victims online, "You were wearing so little, weren't you inviting trouble?"
Sheng Kuang looked down at her, remaining silent for a long time.
She didn't think there was anything wrong with it and continued to stare at him with audacious boldness.
Her gaze was particularly fixed.
Sheng Kuang felt like a pervert at that moment, actually having an inappropriate reaction to a girl staring at him.
He closed his eyes, slowly leaned in, and whispered in her ear, "I can show you more. Do you want to see?"
Lin Jing thought for two seconds and then looked up. "Do you want to be my nude model?"
"..."
"I've thought about it. Forget it. My sketching skills aren't very good," she paused, then added, "Thanks."
Thanks...
Sheng Kuang was almost infuriated to death. "You're quite polite."
Lin Jing patiently explained, "It's not that I'm being polite. The current extent is enough. If it were any more, the drawing wouldn't be publishable."
Sheng Kuang: "..."
Having seen what she needed to see and remembered what she needed to remember, Lin Jing finally noticed that her arm, which had been holding the large bag, was getting tired.
She placed the items on the table. The room temperature was high, and she had worn a thick jacket when leaving the dorm, so she was a little sweaty. She took off her crossbody bag and her outer layer, draping it over a nearby chair. Seeing Sheng Kuang still standing there shirtless, she turned her head. "Um, aren't you going to put on a shirt?"
"..."
Lin Jing looked at him and said again, "Although it's not cold in the room, the temperature has dropped recently. Be careful not to catch a cold."
"..."
Sheng Kuang gritted his teeth silently, suppressing the urge to pry open the girl's head in front of him and study what made her different from ordinary people. He strode into the changing room.
Standing in front of the closet, Sheng Kuang casually grabbed a T-shirt and put it on.
He didn't rush out. Instead, he leaned against the closet door, rubbing his temples with a headache.
She was staring at him just to gather reference material, while he had been foolishly thinking she was attracted to his physique and had even felt embarrassed.
I thought I had seduced you with my good looks, but it turns out I'm just drawing material.
Her mind was as pure as a blank sheet of paper, only thinking about how to draw. In the end, she even kindly reminded him to put on a shirt to avoid catching a cold, while his mind was filled with all sorts of inappropriate, R-rated images.
What the hell was this?
Sheng Kuang's headache worsened as he thought about it. He sighed and, after his body's reaction subsided, stood up straight and walked out of the changing room.