Sheng Kuang stood at the door, his expression calm. When he met her gaze, he didn't flinch, staring directly at her for two seconds before shifting his eyes slightly to He Lin.
He Lin, seeing Sheng Kuang look at him, quickly spoke up, "Just watched the competition, you were amazing. Congratulations."
Sheng Kuang offered no response to He Lin's congratulations.
His face remained expressionless, and nothing seemed overtly wrong, yet Lin Jing felt as though the pressure radiating from him had dropped a few degrees.
Lin Jing wasn't sure if she was imagining it. She stared at Sheng Kuang for a few seconds, then silently reached for a bottle of water on the table.
Just as she was about to twist off the cap, He Lin, sitting beside her, suddenly reached out, took the water bottle from her hand, easily unscrewed the cap for her, and handed it over.
Lin Jing said thank you. Holding the bottle, she was about to take a drink when she noticed the atmosphere had become a bit strange. She blinked and slowly turned her head towards the door.
Sheng Kuang's gaze, at some point, had shifted from He Lin to her face.
He stared at her, unblinking, his expression still blank, but the pressure he exuded had lessened even further than before.
Lin Jing was momentarily stunned by his stare, then looked down at the mineral water in her hand. She then glanced at He Lin beside her before finally fixing her gaze back on Sheng Kuang with a look of understanding.
He was jealous.
He was jealous because He Lin had opened her bottle cap for her.
Lin Jing, on instinct, held the water bottle forward. "Do you want some?"
Sheng Kuang continued to stare at her for two seconds, his gaze dropping to the water bottle in her hand.
He let out a "tsk," looking thoroughly displeased.
Without a second thought, Lin Jing stood up and brought the water to him. "This bottle, opened by the class monitor, is for you."
Sheng Kuang looked at her, narrowing his eyes, as if he were thoroughly angered.
He closed his eyes, ignoring her deliberate emphasis on the class monitor opening it. Then he opened them, suppressed his anger, and said in a very low voice, "Come out with me."
"Huh?" Lin Jing was taken aback. This script seemed to be developing in a direction she hadn't expected. She instinctively twisted her head to look back at the class monitor.
This action, in Sheng Kuang's eyes, almost made him laugh in exasperation.
He didn't even want to talk anymore. He directly reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her out of the lounge.
He pushed open the door opposite them. Seeing that no one was inside, he, still holding Lin Jing's wrist, walked in.
His series of actions genuinely startled Lin Jing.
She had seen him unhappy before, but this level of unhappiness was something she had never witnessed.
"Oh no, oh no. He's not going to lose his mind from jealousy and beat me up, is he?"
Lin Jing spoke without hesitation. "Um, don't misunderstand. The class monitor just opened it for me as a classmate. He definitely doesn't have any romantic intentions towards me..."
Before she could finish, Sheng Kuang turned to look at her, lowered his head, and asked expressionlessly, "He's the one you find most pleasing to the eye?"
"Huh?" Lin Jing was taken aback by the question. After a two-second pause, she realized he was referring to the class monitor and quickly shook her head. "No."
"Not him? Then you brought him to watch my competition," Sheng Kuang nodded, adding calmly, "and used the tickets I gave you."
The corners of his lips were tightly drawn, his expression broadcasting a clear "I am extremely displeased."
Was he really angry?
Logically, he shouldn't be. Where did it go wrong?
Lin Jing blinked. "You don't like looking at him?"
Sheng Kuang's voice was deep. "Should I like looking at him?"
Lin Jing paused. "I think you should."
Sheng Kuang narrowed his eyes, the grip on her wrist visibly tightening.
Lin Jing tugged her arm outward but couldn't break free. Her action made his expression even worse. Feeling a little timid, she hunched her neck. After thinking it over, she concluded that Sheng Kuang was simply too tsundere. He had been seen through by her, and now he was embarrassed and angry.
She swallowed hard, then whispered, "I know you're embarrassed and being contrary."
"..."
Embarrassed? Being contrary?
Sheng Kuang couldn't understand at all. He suspected the girl in front of him might be under some kind of spell, speaking nonsense.
Lin Jing pursed her lips. Seeing that Sheng Kuang seemed to be listening to her, she continued, "Although you haven't said it out loud, I know the person you find most pleasing to the eye is the class monitor."
"..."
"You know nothing."
Sheng Kuang truly felt that the girl in front of him was possessed.
Lin Jing pouted. "You're just angry because I saw through your feelings. But I still want to remind you, this isn't how you pursue someone. Being so tsundere will make people think you dislike them, and it will push them further away."
Sheng Kuang: "?"
Sheng Kuang lowered his eyelids and stared intently at Lin Jing for a long while before finally asking, "You say I'm pursuing whom?"
"Pursuing He Lin, my class monitor," Lin Jing replied.
"..."
Sheng Kuang stared fixedly at Lin Jing, grinding his teeth fiercely. "Which eye of yours saw me pursuing him?"
Lin Jing blinked. "Aren't you trying to pursue him?"
Sheng Kuang turned his head away in anger, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and after a long moment, squeezed out from between them, "...No."
Logically, Lin Jing should have thought about why the answer was no. But somehow, upon hearing those words, her first reaction was that the slightly heavy mood she'd been feeling these past few days had suddenly lightened inexplicably.
Yet, it still felt somewhat unreal. She looked at Sheng Kuang, hesitated for a moment, and cautiously confirmed again, "You're really not pursuing him?"
Sheng Kuang glanced at her expressionlessly.
Lin Jing quickly added, "I saw you giving me merchandise and tickets, so I thought you were trying to pursue him."
Sheng Kuang stared at her for two seconds. "Why didn't you think I was pursuing you?"
"I'm a girl," Lin Jing blurted out. "And you don't like girls."
Sheng Kuang fell silent for a moment, then turned his gaze away, staring out the window for a while before saying casually, "What if I said, I do like girls."
ps: There's one more chapter coming after I wake up. I'm a bit stuck today~