Now that they sat face-to-face, Zhou Lei realized that Fan Xinyue was as, if not more, beautiful than his sister. She was still a distance away from Lin Guiying, his idol, but in terms of people he met in real life, she would be tied for second place along with Zhou Zhenya.

Objectively speaking, Zhou Xiang was the most beautiful woman in close proximity with him.

Next to her would be Fan Xinyue and Zhou Zhenya. When the latter grew up, she would probably be prettier than the former, but for now, this was their placements.

After those two was Ma Xiaoli, the sleeping princess, Wen Hui, their homeroom teacher, Ye Muqi, the cla.s.s monitor, Lu Xi, the school delinquent, Ruan Juan, their science teacher, and finally, Lin Hanying, his best friend.

This thought crossed Zhou Lei's thought at random. He didn't think too much of it.

A couple of minutes pa.s.sed with no one talking. Fan Xinyue stared at Zhou Lei's eyes as it was the only visible part of his face.

Meanwhile, more random thoughts crossed Zhou Lei's mind...

A total of ten minutes had pa.s.sed. Zhou Lei had already received his coffee and was about to sip on it before he noticed the girl sitting across him.

Oh, I almost forgot about her...

He sipped coffee and raised his head.

The two made eye contact with each other. Of course, this was no coincidence as Fan Xinyue had been staring at him all this time.

"So...?" He started the conversation.

Hearing his voice shook Fan Xinyue to the core. She didn't let on these emotions on her face, though. It remained the same, impa.s.sive and cold. "So... what?"

After her reply, Zhou Lei became speechless. It was already difficult for him to take the initiative to talk, but this girl just shot his attempt down.

Fan Xinyue saw that the person in front of her had conflicted emotions. "Ah, I mean..."

How could I not have noticed...! Of course things would get awkward. I greeted him out of nowhere. He's still probably reeling the shock he got from that.

Being one of the more perceptive people of her generation, it was not hard for her to deduce all of this. Her thinking was just stalled by the other party's appearance.

I need to find an excuse, and quick.

Her eyes landed on a cup. This cup was full of Vanilla Latte a while ago, but now a quarter of it was gone. Most likely, when Zhou Lei finishes his drink, he would just go away.

Gears started spinning in Fan Xinyue's brain so their short meeting in the mall wasn't going to be an awkward one.

...Aha! That's it!

"That's right, Zhou Lei, I need you to do me a favor." Fan Xinyue finally spoke, breaking the silence.

It wasn't long before Zhou Lei responded, "Hmm? What favor?"

"Actually, I need to ask you this first... Do you want to be a model?" Fan Xinyue looked concerned now, a complete difference from the persona she showed earlier.

"A model?" Zhou Lei's eyes widened as he spoke, "What a coincidence! I was thinking of ways to become an idol."

Expecting to hear a neutral answer from Zhou Lei, his actual answer shocked Fan Xinyue, to say the least.

Excitement came after the initial shock. This incomparably handsome man, becoming an idol? Is this heaven?

She could already imagine it...

His body full of sweat as he continued singing on stage, him screaming his love for the fans, and most importantly, his smile.

Oh, that wonderful smile.

"You're planning to become an idol? Tell more about that!" At this point, Fan Xinyue didn't care about keeping up appearances anymore and let out her emotions. A smile emerged from her previously apathetic face.

Zhou Lei saw that this girl was way too excited about this topic. Before he mentioned it, her expression was stoic which made him feel kind of nervous.

He hurriedly shook his head to correct her understanding. "I really have no interest in this kind of thing."

The light in Fan Xinyue's eyes dimmed for a bit.

"My mom told me that there's money involved, and I am in need of that sort of thing," Zhou Lei continued to explain, "Really, I'm just in it for the money."

"Oh..." Disappointment flashed through Fan Xinyue's eyes, but she didn't let it show. "Then can you do me this favor?"

To her question, Zhou Lei gave a hesitant look. "Well..."

She sensed this and spoke, "There's money involved."

"I'm in."

.....

With a face full of sweat, Lin Guiying rushed to the mall. Not responding to Zhou Lei's text made her feel bad, so she made sure to finish up as early as possible today.

Her employers, the company, and even Shao Lingxin was shocked. She had never seen her be this efficient before.

Because of that, Shao Lingxin reluctantly allowed Lin Guiying to go to the mall, but only if she wore her school disguise.

"He should still be there, right?" Lin Guiying didn't know whether her friend had left the arcade, but she was pretty sure that it would be otherwise.

After all, he had spent an hour straight just playing DDR. It made her think that he was addicted to the game.

"d.a.m.n that manager...!" Despite the fact that Shao Lingxin let her go here, she didn't give her back her phone.

Instead, she received Shao Lingxin's old phone that was only capable of texting and calling.

Otherwise, she would have responded to Zhou Lei's message by now.

Eventually, Lin Guiying reached the arcade. The smell of snacks and pizza wafted through the air, and there was also this unknown stench...

As she got closer to the DDR machine, a sound came into her ears. It's 'Despaghetti[1]'! That means... Lei must be there.

'Despaghetti' was the hardest song on Dance Dance Revolution and was the song that Zhou Lei despised the most.

She arrived at the machine, expecting to see a familiar hoodie. Instead, there was a random guy stepping on random tiles.

"Uh..." Lin Guiying clicked her tongue. I thought it would be Lei...

She left the arcade with a tired expression. d.a.m.n it, I just wasted my time.

Home was now her current destination. However, she wanted to stop for a coffee break first.

Near the arcade was one café named StarLars[2]. It was relatively popular.

She went closer to the café, until she saw a familiar hoodie through the gla.s.s wall.

"Zhou... Lei?" Lin Guiying's eyebrows raised. Indeed, it couldn't be mistaken.

To drink his coffee, Zhou Lei had his facemask down, which made it easy for Lin Guiying to identify him. What is he doing there?

His mouth moved. He's talking? To who?

She gazed in the direction that Zhou Lei was looking at and saw a girl with dark skin and similarly dark hair facing him.

"That is Fan Xinyue..." At that moment, Lin Guiying felt her heart shake.

She left the mall despondently.