A social phobic can also fall in love.

“Are you okay?” He Shiyang asked, retreating to climb onto the upper bunk, keeping a wary eye on Yan Tingmo as if he were a thief.

“I’m fine.” Yan Tingmo stopped in place and tilted his head, asking, “Can’t you hug me?”

“No,” He Shiyang firmly rejected.

Yan Tingmo was puzzled. “Why not?”

He Shiyang clicked his tongue, looking down at him from the top bunk. “There’s no reason. I said no, and that’s it.”

“Oh.” Yan Tingmo nodded thoughtfully, “I understand.”

He Shiyang: “…?” What do you understand? I didn’t say anything, and you already understand?

He was confused but held back his questions as he looked at Yan Tingmo’s innocent and clueless expression.

He had thought that he had just gotten an impulse to get close, but since he had clearly rejected him, he should have given up by now. However, to his surprise, Yan Tingmo turned his attention to Zhou Wen, who had just returned from a date.

As soon as he entered, he sensed something was off. He slowly closed the door and looked up at He Shiyang lying sideways on the upper bunk. “What’s going on with you two?”

He Shiyang let out a surprised “Ah” and replied, “Nothing happened.” Then, he quickly sat up, leaned forward, and smiled. “How did the date go?”

“I had spicy hotpot tonight.” Zhou Wen suddenly said.

“Huh?” He Shiyang didn’t understand. “What does hotpot have to do with me?”

Zhou Wen countered, “What does my date have to do with you?”

“Damn.” He Shiyang laughed in disbelief. “You’re something else.”

Yan Tingmo sat by the desk, occasionally glancing at Zhou Wen as he moved.

Zhou Wen changed clothes, he watched; Zhou Wen did his homework, he watched; Zhou Wen went to the bathroom to take a shower, he kept watching.

Zhou Wen: “…?”

He asked him, “Do you need to use the bathroom?”

“No.” Yan Tingmo blinked and straightforwardly said, “Can you hug me?”

“Oh.” Zhou Wen became interested. “Why do you want me to hug you?”

Yan Tingmo tilted his head in thought. “Do I need a reason?”

“Don’t I need one?”

“I don’t know.” Yan Tingmo said honestly, “I just want you to hug me.”

Zhou Wen sighed silently, placing clean clothes on the shelf and started explaining the situation. “First of all, you’re a guy. Secondly, only people who like you can hug you.”

Yan Tingmo widened his eyes. Zhou Wen continued, “If you don’t like me and I hug you, you’ll be uncomfortable. I don’t want our roommate relationship to get awkward.”

“No, no, it’s not…” Yan Tingmo was a little flustered. “It’s not because I like you!”

He was about to refute Qi Xing’s feelings for him, but Zhou Wen misunderstood, “Of course I know you don’t like me. Aren’t we good friends?”

Yan Tingmo, confused and unaware, nodded. “Yeah, good friends.”

Zhou Wen smiled.

Yan Tingmo suddenly asked, “Good friends can’t hug?”

Zhou Wen: “…”

He was speechless. Couldn’t get past this topic, huh?

“Fine.” He said. “Fine.”

Under Yan Tingmo’s eager gaze, he leaned in and gave him a brief, light hug.

Yan Tingmo was unmoved, even a little confused. “Not uncomfortable.”

Zhou Wen helplessly said, “You really are… so slow to catch on.”

Satisfied with the conclusion from Zhou Wen, he finished his homework, took a shower, and went to bed.

He had done a month of tutoring for Zhi Zhi, but Zhi Zhi was too playful, so he decided to stop by mid-March, on a Saturday.

The brief tutoring job gave him some extra cash, and Qi Xing no longer made an effort to appear frequently as he had started his internship.

Zhang Miao was a small rich second generation, his parents had already arranged a position for him in the company, just waiting for him to officially start.

Yan Tingmo, however, was troubled about what job to do. By the second semester of sophomore year, many classmates had already started internships.

Actually, Qi Xing had asked him about it, but he had responded that he would figure it out when the time came.

At that moment, he had briefly thought about the issue.

Propping his chin in boredom, he gazed at the boys playing basketball on the field. He vaguely felt something was off and watched them for a while, only then realizing that Qi Xing was nowhere to be seen.

The familiar Qi Xing, who loved to play basketball, was absent from the crowd.

It was strange.

He half-leaned on the desk, peering outside.

When He Shiyang returned, he saw this alluring, graceful posture of his.

“What are you… doing?” He asked awkwardly.

“What?” Yan Tingmo turned and looked at him. “You’re back?”

He Shiyang put down the snacks he bought from a convenience store and came over to his side. They both leaned over the desk, staring outside.

A moment later, Zhou Wen and Zhang Miao entered one after another, and after a long pause, they both seemed to silently agree and walked toward the window.

Two minutes later.

From the window of the third-floor dorm room, four round faces could be seen.

Qi Xing had gone home for a small family gathering and had returned to school before dark.

Lu Ze had just returned from outside the school, and the two of them ran into each other at the school gate.

Qi Xing looked at him with a half-smile. “Did you go on a date?”

Lu Ze, trying to avoid the question, replied, “Didn’t you go home? Why are you back so soon?”

Qi Xing didn’t answer and narrowed his eyes at him.

Lu Ze looked up at the sky, his gaze shifting nervously.

“Tsk.” Qi Xing walked through the gate, tired of arguing.

“Hey, wait for me!” Lu Ze nagged. “I’m serious, you need to change your personality. If you don’t, you’ll never get a wife. Hey, did you hear me?”

Qi Xing ignored him and walked toward the dorm. Halfway there, he instinctively glanced at the left-side dorm building.

One glance, and he was startled.

Having seen many things in life, Qi Xing, who was never easily surprised, put a hand to his chest when his gaze met four pairs of slightly resentful eyes.

After a long silence without a word from Qi Xing, Lu Ze found it strange and followed his gaze. “Oh my god!”

He couldn’t help but curse under his breath.

Qi Xing shot him a cold look, and Lu Ze, realizing his slip-up, gave himself a light slap on the face.

“I meant to say, oh my, what the hell,” he corrected himself, laughing. “I just wanted to say that.”

Qi Xing said, “You’d better.”

Lu Ze rolled his eyes and muttered quietly, “That’s too overbearing. My heart is hurt, and you won’t even let me speak.”

Qi Xing rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on, and paused to pull out his phone to call Yan Tingmo.

The phone was answered quickly, almost immediately.

Yan Tingmo’s soft voice came through the receiver. “Hello, Qi Xing.”

“Yeah, it’s me.” Qi Xing subconsciously softened his tone, smiling as he said, “Don’t lean out the window in the cold wind. Be good, close the window, or you’ll catch a cold.”

“Oh.” Yan Tingmo looked over at him from a distance, then obediently closed the window.

The other three roommates were confused, watching him take the call, close the window, and then climb back into bed, covering himself with the blanket to sleep.

Sleeping?

Wait a minute, something feels off.

Zhang Miao scratched his head, confused about why Yan Tingmo had to hide under the blanket while making the phone call. Was there something they couldn’t hear?

It seems like the little one is starting to be distant.

Only He Shiyang was out of it, staring vacantly for a few seconds before asking, “Why did we have to lean over the desk and look outside?”

Zhou Wen shrugged and turned to leave.

He Shiyang’s gaze shifted to Zhang Miao, who looked even more confused. “Wasn’t it you and Yan Tingmo who started this?”

He Shiyang: “…”

Well, this question had no answer, so they would have to ask Yan Tingmo.

Yan Tingmo, however, was very busy—busy sleeping and busy talking on the phone.

The dormitory soon returned to its usual noisy state.

Zhang Miao and He Shiyang were playing a game together, Zhou Wen was doing his homework, and after finishing his call with Qi Xing, Yan Tingmo casually opened Weibo and browsed his messages.

Most were requests for the original images, with a few asking for commissioned work. He replied to each of the commission requests, then posted an update.

It was an original work he had finished two days ago.

On the deep blue sea, a boy with long hair lay half-reclined. His appearance was androgynous, with delicate features, bright eyes like mirrors, and eyebrows like dark ink strokes. One glance, one smile—he was quite alluring. His platinum hair fluttered in the wind, as if a god had descended.

One minute after the update, he refreshed the page, and his post had received over 200 comments and more than 500 likes.

Monsters Eat People: [Saltwater teacher finally updated!]

BalaLa Little Magic Fairy: [What’s the author been busy with lately?]

I Hate Durian: [The art is so beautiful! Goddess!!]

Long-legged Oppa: [Aaaah! Can I have the original image? I absolutely love it!]

Booming Warrior: [Nice drawing, but is this character from the web novel “Ask Li”?]

At this point, Yan Tingmo frowned. The “Ask Li” mentioned by the user was a popular web novel author who had written a sci-fi themed book that exploded in popularity last year. Many fans online created a character profile for the author, and some even commissioned artists to draw characters based on that profile, claiming it was their “wife.”

Over time, if an artist drew a long-haired girl or boy, people would assume it was “Ask Li” and, if not, they would accuse the artist of plagiarism.

At that moment, he wasn’t sure whether he should reply. If he didn’t, he’d be accused of copying. If he did, people would start to spread the idea that his original work was fan art of “Ask Li.” It was really frustrating.

Modern netizens weren’t always the most considerate; they just jumped to conclusions.

He sighed for a moment and was about to close Weibo when he suddenly saw someone reply to Booming Warrior.

Love Life @Booming Warrior: [Do I look like Ask Li?]

Booming Warrior replied to him: [What the hell, don’t try to get involved. You should take a good look at yourself.]

Love Life @Booming Warrior: [Yeah, I don’t know what you are, but you’re always trying to bring your “master” into everything. How shameless.]

Not once did Love Life mention Yan Tingmo’s original work, but each word was defending him.

Thanks to his response, Yan Tingmo’s fans quickly picked up on it, flooding the comment section under Booming Warrior’s post with sarcastic remarks.

Booming Warrior, unable to stand up to so many people, apologized and deactivated his Weibo account, disappearing in shame.