Unwilling

In her original imagination, today’s lunch was supposed to be lighthearted and pleasant.

After all, beyond the fact that she and the Professor had grown increasingly familiar through their recent time together, Yuehua had also spent a significant amount of time with him and had clearly changed her opinion of him for the better. As their relationships grew closer, there should have been plenty of common ground for the three of them to discuss.

The reality, however, was starkly different.

The moment the waiter served Yuehua’s order, the table fell into a state of bizarre, suffocating awkwardness. No one spoke; the only sound was the crisp clatter of cutlery against porcelain.

Furthermore, this silence wasn’t the “cold war” variety—the kind where people who despise each other maintain a facade of civility. It was something far more subtle: an indefinable, complex sense of restraint.

To be honest, Ning Rou found this low-pressure atmosphere unbearable. Her skin felt like it was crawling. To break the silence, she forced a smile and tried to pull a topic out of thin air.

“Come to think of it… Yuehua, you rarely come out like this… Did something happy happen today?”

She expected Yuehua to nod and smile, but the reaction she got was beyond her expectations. Yuehua slowly lifted her head and glanced at her, the emotion in her eyes so veiled that Ning Rou couldn’t decipher it. Then, with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she replied:

“No. Actually, I came out because I was feeling irritable.”

“Oh… I-I see?”

Ning Rou felt a wave of embarrassment. Yuehua’s voice carried an inexplicable stiffness that wasn’t part of their usual dynamic. Was it because sitting next to the Professor made her uncomfortable? Ning Rou pushed down her doubts and forced herself to believe it.

Yes, that must be it.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, Yuehua did something startling. She flippantly nudged the Professor—who was sitting so upright he looked rigid—with her elbow. With a sugary-sweet smile the likes of which Ning Rou had never seen, she spoke:

“As for what I’m irritable about… the Professor should have a good idea, right?”

Ning Rou wasn’t sure if it was a hallucination, but at the moment of physical contact, the Professor’s movements with his fork and knife suffered a suspicious hitch before he resumed eating with an expressionless face.

“Student Yuehua is joking… how could I possibly understand such things…”

“…”

In an instant, Yuehua’s expression went cold. Truthfully, Ning Rou had never seen anyone’s face change that fast; the blatant displeasure on Yuehua’s features made her heart turn cold.

This bizarre sense of pressure… she was never like this before…

As if on the verge of an outburst, Yuehua set down her cutlery and stared coldly at the Professor. At this rate, is she going to pick a fight with him? Ning Rou opened her mouth, wanting to de-escalate the situation.

But Yuehua seemed to catch Ning Rou’s distress out of the corner of her eye. She quickly withdrew her gaze, turned back to her friend, and displayed that sugary smile once more.

“Just a joke… the Professor is just so stiff.”

As she spoke, she deliberately wrapped her arm around the Professor’s shoulder right in front of Ning Rou.

“If the Professor acts like this, he’ll make Ning Rou think we’re strangers…”

“!!!”

The sudden movement caused both Ning Rou and the Professor to freeze in place. The previous bickering was one thing, but this hugging—wasn’t it a bit too intimate? Was this really how a student and professor should behave?

And the Professor—why didn’t he push her away? Why did he just lower his head in silence, feigning deafness? As a professor, shouldn’t he be more concerned about his professional boundaries? Why were both of them acting like this was perfectly natural?

However, since neither of the parties involved said anything, Ning Rou, as an outsider, had no standing to object. Despite the storm raging in her heart, she could only echo Yuehua’s words against her better judgment.

“Haha… yeah… the Professor has always been like that…”

Yet, in her heart, she whispered: No, he’s not.

The Professor isn’t “stiff,” he’s just not good at expressing himself…

It was strange. Even though she could guess from their behavior that the relationship between the Professor and Yuehua was deeper than she had imagined, she couldn’t help but try to prove something to herself, chanting silently: Yuehua, you used to be the same way. You only changed because the Professor helped you…

“Haha, not at all…” Yuehua stared at Ning Rou’s face, her tone carrying a hint of—was it boasting? “I’m kidding… the Professor is just cold on the outside and warm on the inside, right, Professor?”

She roughly tightened her grip on his shoulder, nearly forcing the Professor to lean against her.

Ning Rou instinctively swallowed. Watching Yuehua’s movements, she felt an inexplicable discomfort. She lowered her head like a defeated chicken, not daring to meet Yuehua’s eyes, repeating words in her mind she was too afraid to say aloud:

Even as a joke, this isn’t right… the Professor isn’t some prop for your amusement… Yuehua, you’re being disrespectful. This is unfair to him.

But no matter how perfectly she phrased it in her head, she lacked the courage to speak up.

Clink, clatter…

The sound of forks piercing pasta and hitting the plate echoed in her ears, sounding gratingly loud. As she chewed mechanically, the sweet and sour pasta tasted like wax.

It shouldn’t be like this. Time spent with the Professor shouldn’t feel like sitting on a bed of nails. Unknowingly, a heavy sense of regret surfaced in her heart. Except this time, she didn’t ignore the negative emotion for the sake of her friendship with Yuehua. Instead, she couldn’t help but indulge in a grievance-filled fantasy:

If I hadn’t agreed to let Yuehua join us… no, if we had chosen a different restaurant… would the result be different?

“Hehe…”

Xiao Yuehua’s light chuckle lingered in the air. In just a few words, she had completely seized control of the table and easily crushed Ning Rou’s confidence. Her mood seemed much improved.

Withdrawing her gaze from the dejected Ning Rou, who sat with her head hanging like a drenched bird, Xiao Yuehua downed her juice in one gulp.

“Speaking of which, why is the Professor so quiet today? Is your meal so delicious that you won’t even lift your head?”

She set the empty glass down softly. Her gaze was like a slithering snake, sliding all the way up to Jiang Li’s tense face.

“…”

Jiang Li remained silent for a long while before finally giving a curt nod.

“How surprising. Looking at your expression, Professor, I thought you were angry because I crashed your date with Ning Rou…”

Xiao Yuehua’s words were loaded with intent. Her left hand, hidden from view, began to creep mischievously downward toward Jiang Li.

What does this crazy girl think she’s doing?!

Jiang Li’s mind was a mess. He summoned his courage and, beneath the table, tried to discreetly restrain her hand.

“Yuehua… Student Yuehua!” Jiang Li spoke with difficulty, trying to warn her. “Please, stop with these disrespectful jokes.”

“Aw~ is that not allowed? I thought the Professor and I were already best friends who could talk about anything…”

Xiao Yuehua narrowed her eyes, her smile as sharp as a blade. “But if we aren’t friends… then what exactly is our—relationship?”

As she spoke, her hand easily broke free from Jiang Li’s grip, sliding under the hem of his clothes, her touch cold and greedy as she stroked his chest and abdomen.

Teacher and student.

Jiang Li desperately wanted to say those words. But the moment his lips twitched, he stopped, frozen by the extremely dangerous glint in Xiao Yuehua’s eyes.

If he dared to utter those two words, Xiao Yuehua would go completely insane. That was the threat he read in her gaze.

As if caught in a vortex, Jiang Li felt waves of intense vertigo crashing against his brain. He was powerless against this chaotic, spiraling scene.

But Xiao Yuehua had no intention of letting him off.

“Why is the Professor quiet again? ‘What is our relationship’—is such a simple question worth hesitating over? Or… does the Professor have some little secrets hidden away?”

Yuehua curled her lips wickedly. The movements beneath his clothes became larger and more suggestive, and the gaze she fixed on his lips began to simmer with desire.

Jiang Li was suffering in silence, yet he didn’t dare show a single sign of abnormality in front of Ning Rou. Under the double pressure of Xiao Yuehua’s “caresses” and her mental games, even his [Poker Face] was reaching its limit. He couldn’t stop himself from trembling slightly.

His pupils lost focus as he spoke hoarsely. “It’s… it’s…”

Screeeech—

Whether by coincidence or not, at that exact moment, Ning Rou stood up abruptly. Her chair scraped against the floor, creating a piercing noise that drowned out Jiang Li’s words.

“Sorry! I… I’m done eating. I’m going back to the academy first…”

Ning Rou’s expression was pained, her ears flushed red. She gave a hurried explanation and then dashed out of the restaurant, her retreating figure a picture of panicked embarrassment.

It was unclear if she had sensed something from the day’s abnormalities, but Jiang Li let out a heavy sigh of relief regardless. Without Ning Rou there to worry about, he could finally let his guard down.

He finally had the breathing room to observe Xiao Yuehua’s expression. She, too, was watching Ning Rou’s departing back. However, for some reason, her face looked cold and hard. In the gaze she directed at Ning Rou, beyond a trace of pity and guilt, there was mostly a sense of triumph—and regret.

Jiang Li couldn’t understand what she was regretting, but he did understand one thing: that look was not the kind one should direct at a best friend.

I might have just destroyed the precious friendship these two girls have maintained for years.

He sighed inwardly and looked at Xiao Yuehua, speaking tentatively. “Yue-Yuehua, we should also—”

“Has the Professor forgotten something again?”

“Yue… Yuehua.”

Jiang Li watched her closely. She was no longer hiding it; the emotions pouring out of her were almost physical, like ink—dark and oppressive. The atmosphere felt like an abyss, making it hard for him to breathe. Even so, he pushed through the pressure. “Lunch is over. We should return to the academy early.”

Xiao Yuehua didn’t answer immediately. She simply stared into his eyes with an unreadable look. Her absolute dominance made Jiang Li feel increasingly guilty.

But in the next heartbeat, her serious, deep expression vanished, replaced by a bitter smile. “Professor, am I very scary right now?”

“…”

It was as if she had lowered her mental walls. Her desire to vent began to swell rapidly, and even Jiang Li’s silence couldn’t stop her. A look of unspeakable bitterness crossed her face, her brows furrowing.

“Ning Rou is my best friend. She’s my only friend. She’s been with me for more than half of my life. If I could, I wouldn’t want to squeeze her out like this. But I have no choice… Professor.”

She leaned back weakly against her chair, looking at him with a complex gaze. “Ning Rou is too outstanding. She’s too dazzling. Standing next to her, I’m completely invisible. In the past, if everyone’s attention went to her, I didn’t care—because I didn’t care about those people. But it’s different now. Now I have you, Professor… Do you know? I’m terrified…”

Tears began to pool in her eyes. In her shimmering pupils, Jiang Li could see the reflection of his own powerless face.

“I’m afraid Ning Rou will be captivated by you, but I’m even more afraid that you’ll turn all your attention to her! She’s more gifted than me, more talented—she already has everything! And I only have you!”

As she spoke, she became more agitated, her delicate face twisting with the pain of her breakdown. She cupped Jiang Li’s cheeks tightly with both hands, her burning emotions nearly setting him ablaze.

Jiang Li had tried to guess her thoughts before, but he had never felt her direct agony so viscerally.

If I hadn’t approached her deliberately, this girl wouldn’t be in this much pain.

A strong sense of guilt made him reach out. His hand trembled as he placed it over the hands she held against his face.

“Professor…”

At the first instance of Jiang Li initiating physical contact, Yuehua’s pupils dilated. Tears flowed freely. “Don’t leave me… don’t look away from me, okay?”

Jiang Li couldn’t answer her. Between his sister in the main world and Ning Rou and Xiao Yuehua in this world, he was destined to fail someone.

As far as the present was concerned, his sister needed him more. She was too innocent and naive; she would never survive the chaotic, demon-filled society of the main world on her own.

In the end, Jiang Li’s silence failed to provide Xiao Yuehua with the security she craved. She broke down and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. This embrace lacked the overwhelming power of her previous ones, but it was precisely because of that fragility that Jiang Li found it impossible to refuse.

He couldn’t give her a promise. He could only pat her back awkwardly and gently, trying to offer what little comfort he could.

However, he failed to notice one thing. On the beautiful face weeping against his shoulder, the grief and fragility were vanishing at an alarming rate. In their place was an eerie calmness—and an intense, burning resentment.