Jiang Zi Yun and Lin Guiying sat on opposite sofas, their legs crossed elegantly.

"What are you doing, Lei? Sit here." Lin Guiying "kindly" gestured beside her. The sofa was wide, after all.

"Sit here instead." Jiang Zi Yun smirked, tapping on the s.p.a.ce beside her as well. Her sofa was also wide...

In between them stood a dumbfounded Zhou Lei. Why was he standing still like an idiot instead of sitting?

He had no choice!

If he chose either couch, it would be like choosing a side! He couldn't pick one without antagonizing the other...

Zhou Lei was close to crying...

'I beg of you to stop. We already did this schtick earlier...'

"Uh, I'm fine here, thanks." With an accommodating but awkward smile, Zhou Lei ignored the two's offers.

"Never mind that, I'll introduce you both."

Gesturing to Lin Guiying, Zhou Lei said, "Zi Yun, this is Lin Hanying, my.. friend from school. Er, cla.s.smate."

Jiang Zi Yun bit her lip, feeling a little threatened. 'She's his cla.s.smate, huh? Makes sense, given her uniform and all matching his. So he'll be meeting her almost everyday then.'

"And Ying, this is Jiang Zi Yun, also a friend from school..."

Lin Guiying frowned. 'She's technically a childhood friend then. Argh, childhood friends are annoying! She's also as beautiful as me, tsk!'

"...although we only met again today after 5 years," Zhou Lei continued.

After that, though, she sneered. 'Five years ago? Hmph, that's too long a gap. They're going to need to familiarize with each other again.'

Zhou Zhenya, who was observing from afar, almost couldn't control her laughter.

When Zhou Lei finished speaking, Lin Guiying and Jiang Zi Yun stared off at each other again. This made him feel difficult.

"Um, I'll be off to make coffee!"

Of course, this wasn't just an excuse to escape. After all, this was his original objective anyway.

Zhou Lei rushed to the kitchen, away from the heavy atmosphere of the living room.

After he left, Jiang Zi Yun made the first move. A corner of her lips curled up. "So... how does it feel being here?"

"Hm, pretty good decoration, I'd say."

A perfunctory answer. As expected of Lin Guiying. 'Why'd she feel the need to ask about his house? It's not like it's hers...'

"You're right, it is very homely here. I'm grateful that Leilei let me stay over."

Lin Guiying's smile froze. She started panicking.

"Stay over?"

Right after, she calmed herself down. 'Right, right. It's fine for someone to stay over a friend's house. Tsk, but that means that she's close enough to him that she's fine with staying over.'

Lin Guiying's smile softened.

"Yes, I'm staying over here starting today."

"S, starting today?"

Lin Guiying's whole face stiffened... She forcefully suppressed her shock. "Until when?"

"Hmm..." Jiang Zi Yun showed a contemplating face.

'Don't tell me... she's only now thinking of it?' Lin Guiying bit her lip.

"...until I feel like it, I guess."

Utter defeat! K.O.! No recovery!

Lin Guiying saw these three phrases fly through her mind.

From first sight, she knew that this Jiang Zi Yun girl had her heart set on Zhou Lei! Them essentially living together was the worst case scenario!

Since their second hug in the arcade, Lin Guiying had realized that she had a crush on Zhou Lei. His sudden invitation only served to fan the flames, to further her expectations.

However, with a rival that just so happened to live with him, her chances fell from astronomical heights to an all-time low.

'Not to mention that she has plenty of chances to capture his heart because she would live here, just the fact that Zhou Lei allowed her to stay here implies that their relations.h.i.+p is already that deep!' Lin Guiying lost hope.

'I wonder, if I asked Zhou Lei, would he let me stay here...?'

Soon enough, Zhou Lei returned with two cups. Steam rose from the dark brown coffee, the slightly bitter aroma wafting throughout the room.

"Here's some coffee, hehe."

As he got closer, he noticed that the scene had turned gloomy. Jiang Zi Yun gloated as Lin Hanying had her head down.

"Hmm? Something happen here?"

"Oh, nothing. We just had a pleasant conversation." Jiang Zi Yun was the first to answer.

Lin Guiying weakly nodded in response.

"Hm." Because neither of the girls were willing to reveal what had transpired while he was out brewing coffee, he decided not to pry any further. He would find out eventually.

Placing the two cups of both sides of the table, he was stuck with the problem he had earlier: where should he sit?

Before he could decide, a 'ting' sound rang inside his brain.

"Congratulations for completing the quest. The reward of 100 Exotic Coffee Beans and 10 upgrade points ready to be received."

'Well... that was unexpectedly easy.'

Meanwhile, Lin Guiying, the one who sipped the coffee first, felt a piping hot sensation on her tongue. It had been freshly brewed, after all. Why wouldn't it be hot?

However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to spit it out or drink it in. It was as if her tongue magnetized the coffee—it was stuck.

Her expression did a 180, from that of depression to full-on ecstasy. The coffee tasted absolutely magnificent!

The bitter remnants of the beans and the sweetness of the cream, mixed in perfect harmony. Even the aroma she inhaled while drinking enhanced her experience.

After a whole 10 seconds, she finally swallowed the coffee on her tongue.

Zhou Lei's eyes brightened. Seeing the positive reception Lin Hanying had towards his coffee, as well as the fact that his Taste stat didn't affect his drinking experience, he might as well give it a try then! He left for the kitchen again.

Jiang Zi Yun was skeptical about Lin Hanying's expression. Maybe she was just doing it to please him. Because in her memories, Zhou Lei didn't have jack skill in preparing anything consumable, whether it be food or drinks.

With an eyebrow raised, she grabbed for her cup and started to sip as well.

'Ah!' Unsurprisingly, it was hot. However, she felt the need to keep it on her tongue. As for the instinctive reaction of spewing it everywhere because of the heat? What a joke.

Needless to say, she, too, fell in the same trance that Lin Hanying did. And so did Zhou Lei, who was in the kitchen, rejoicing the fact that he could taste again.