Could it be the person you mentioned you have a crush on… (1)

Yue Qianling wasn’t sure if she had misheard, but she had a feeling that Lin Xun’s tone wasn’t quite right when he asked that question.

It was as if the idea of her having a crush on someone was some unbelievable event.

However, the fleeting emotion was too subtle, and it didn’t leave Yue Qianling much room to ponder. And then, the chilly voice came through the phone’s receiver again.

“Who is it? They’re in such a miserable situation?”

Yue Qianling: “…”

It had been a long time since she had heard such a provocative question.

“Miserable?”

“Being liked by a girl who is as beautiful and talented like me, and can also accompany you to play games and watch sports together is a blessing earned from three lifetimes of good deeds, you know?”

“Is that so?”

The person on the other side of the call chuckled and still had a hint of mockery in his tone.

“Why are you still single, then?” Lin Xun asked.

Yue Qianling: “…”

It was truly a soul-piercing question. Yue Qianling didn’t even know how to answer it.

In the silence that lasted for three seconds, Yue Qianling found herself completely at a disadvantage in this conversation. Lin Xun, on the other hand, leisurely responded with an extended “Oh” and then abruptly asked, “A secret crush, huh?”

The emphasis he put on the word “secret” was heavy, hitting right at Yue Qianling’s weak point.

She suddenly sat up straight, unsure of how to respond, blinking her eyes several times in panic.

“I…”

But then she realized something.

Wait a minute, why should she feel guilty talking to an online friend?

That’s right. Yue Qianling decided to put her phone on the table and turned on the speakerphone. She raised her chin proudly and said, “So what if I have a secret crush? What’s so surprising about it? Haven’t you ever had a secret crush on someone?”

“Nope.”

Lin Xun responded quickly.

Yue Qianling didn’t immediately react to this, and for some reason, Lin Xun remained silent as well. The phone call fell into another moment of silence.

After a while, Lin Xun continued in his usual nonchalant tone, “I can’t do the whole secret crush thing.”

Even though there were no profanities in his words, Yue Qianling could still feel a sense of disdain in his words, as if having a secret crush was something shameful.

Whatever.

Why should she bother explain herself to him?

“Keep talking if you want,” Yue Qianling put on her headphones again. “Are you logging in or not? Hurry up.”

The call was abruptly ended from the other side, leaving Yue Qianling puzzled. She rubbed her neck and sent two messages to Yin Xue before logging into the game.

“Is it just you and me?” Yue Qianling opened her friend list. “Why haven’t Xiao Mai and Luo Tuo logged in yet?”

As soon as she asked the question, both Xiao Mai and Luo Tuo came online, one after the other.

Xiao Mai, as usual, forgot to turn on his microphone, while Luo Tuo immediately asked, “Huh? Lin Xun, why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to have a company gathering tonight?”

Lin Xun responded with a nonchalant “Mmm,” and continued in a tone with a somewhat high pitch, “I got stood up.”

“Wow.”

Yue Qianling chimed in. “How do you manage to sound so arrogant even when you’ve been stood up?”

Luo Tuo laughed heartily and said, “He’s always been this cocky since childhood!”

Yue Qianling curiously asked, “Oh? You’ve known each other since childhood?”

Luo Tuo said, “Yeah, we practically grew up wearing the same pair of pants.”

Xiao Mai finally turned on his microphone and added, “We used to live upstairs and downstairs from each other. Back then, we could hear how his parents scolded him at night in our kitchen.”

“……”

Suddenly, Lin Xun interjected, “How about I go solo for a bit, and you guys can have the chat room to yourselves?”

Xiao Mai took a look and then realized that he hadn’t clicked the ready button yet.

Lin Xun didn’t say anything else after entering the matchmaking queue, wearing a cold expression. However, Yue Qianling, with an intrigued voice, asked, “So, has he ever had a crush on a girl since he was a child?”

Her words were followed by an eerie silence in the headphones, followed by the sound of an airplane passing over a rainforest in the background.

Then, Luo Tuo burst into a brief laughter.

Amidst the noisy background, Yue Qianling was left utterly puzzled.

After a moment, Luo Tuo asked, “Why do you want to know about that?”

Yue Qianling replied, “We were just chatting earlier, and he said he could never do the whole secret crush thing. I thought he was just showing off.”

Luo Tuo then said, “Well, I wouldn’t know. After all, I’m about ten years older than him, and he doesn’t confide in me about these things.”

Luo Tuo then turned to Xiao Mai and asked, “Xiao Mai, do you know anything about this?”

“I have no idea,” Xiao Mai earnestly responded, “But to be honest, I’ve never seen him get close to any girl, nor have I ever heard him mention any girl…”

It seemed like Lin Xun was quite the otaku. He probably couldn’t muster secret crushes, as he had dedicated his love to his 2D waifus.

Just when Yue Qianling was starting to lose interest, Xiao Mai suddenly said, “Wait! He has been mentioning a girl quite frequently lately.”

Both Yue Qianling and Luo Tuo were instantly intrigued.

“Really?”

“Who is it?”

Xiao Mai answered, “You.”

Yue Qianling blinked in surprise, “Me?”

Xiao Mai continued, “Yeah, he said he’d never seen a girl in a game who would chase after a a whole squad of players like you. You’re the first.”

Luo Tuo: “…”

Yue Qianling: “…”

“I appreciate that,” Yue Qianling replied with a wry smile.

Seeing that she was about to land after parachuting, she quickly moved away from Lin Xun’s pursuit.

But something didn’t feel right.

Lin Xun, who was the center of gossip, had been unusually quiet and hadn’t refuted anything, which was not like him at all.

While wondering about this, Lin Xun’s lazy voice finally chimed in.

“Miss,” his tone was deliberately slow, “Why are you so interested in my love life?”

“……”