Chapter 50: I Seem to Have Forgotten to Give You Something

Lin Shouxia drove the car right below the aespa dormitory building.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Karina remained completely motionless, offering no reaction whatsoever.

"Not getting out?"
"It's already very late."

The girl patted the seatbelt fastened across her chest, then raised both of her hands...

Having received Karina's hint, Lin Shouxia naturally found no reason not to act. Looking at this adorable girl, he suddenly realized that recently, she seemed to be growing increasingly fond of acting spoiled around him.

Could this... be considered a sign of her trust and reliance on him?

"Will you be preparing for the drama filming next?"
"Isn't it a bit too early for that?"
"It should still be in the preparation stage. There are still quite a few days before the official shooting begins."
"Then will we still be able to see each other often?"
"Do you want to ring in the New Year together?"

Pushing aside the words his older sister had told him at home, Lin Shouxia once again took the initiative to extend an invitation to the girl.

"I already told you, if you ask me out, I will definitely come." The girl covered her mouth with a stealthy smile; dates with Lin Shouxia put her in an exceptionally good mood.

Perhaps... just as Giselle had said, one must learn to grasp happiness firmly in one's own hands.

Unawares, the two chatted in the car for quite a while longer. It wasn't until Karina finally became conscious of the time that she pulled open the car door with a hint of reluctance.

Yet, she did not hurry to leave immediately. Instead, she walked around to the window on the man's side and tapped gently on the glass.

The window slowly rolled down. Lin Shouxia looked with mild perplexity at Karina, who had yet to leave, unable to quite guess what was on her mind.

"Did you leave something behind?"
"No..."
"There's something I haven't given you yet."

The girl pulled the scarf around her neck a little higher to mask her charming lips, and meeting his puzzled gaze with a blushing face, she leaned in close.

A light snow was beginning to fall, drifting softly and dyeing the world in a delicate layer of white.

………………………………

After parting ways with Lin Shouxia, Karina returned to the dormitory, and unsurprisingly, as soon as she opened the door, she was greeted by three gossiping faces.

"Confess honestly!"

As the three closed in, a rosy hue bloomed across the girl's cheeks.

Guilty conscience!

Giselle and Ningning exchanged glances, instantly understanding the situation. Only Winter lingered right in front of Karina, hoping to extract some intelligence straight from the source.

"What, what is there to confess?"

Karina stammered, not daring to meet her teammates' eyes.

Flirting was undeniably exhilarating, but being interrogated by others was thoroughly vexing—or rather, quite nerve-wracking.

"Where did you go?"
"Just the night market. We walked around the night market for a bit. Look at the headband he bought me."

Fortunately, the girl had come prepared. She pulled a reindeer headband out of her bag, placed it on her head, and asked quite vanity-struck:
"Do you think it looks good?"

"What does it matter if *we* think it looks good?" While filing away the scene in her mind as material for future fanfiction, Giselle gave the girl a suggestive nudge on the arm.
"He has to be the one who thinks it looks good."

"Him?" Karina began playing dumb. "Who is he?"
"Unnie's boyfriend," Winter added helpfully, earning an appreciative rub on the head from Giselle.

"He's not my boyfriend yet." Karina plopped down onto the sofa, her face still dyed with a blush. She pinched her cheeks—damn it, they were still burning hot.

"Even if he isn't yet, it should be soon, right?" Giselle sat down beside her close friend. Just looking at the girl's actions and expressions told her that Karina had completely fallen.

Truth be told, she was quite happy for her.

As the older-line members of the group, the two of them understood each other better than anyone else.

She understood the vulnerability hidden beneath Karina's strong exterior, and she deeply hoped that vulnerable Karina would find someone willing to embrace and pamper her.

Karina wore an expression of sheer disbelief. What did "soon" mean? Where on earth did Giselle get the idea that the two of them would definitely end up together?

True, she genuinely liked that person and relied on him a lot, but surely that couldn't be taken as proof that they were destined to be a couple?

What if... he wasn't willing?

Besides, there was still that hurdle named Lin Yinglu to clear.

If that Hanjo friend of theirs ever found out that she was attempting to poach her own younger brother to be her boyfriend, she wondered what kind of reaction she would get.

"What stage have you reached now?"
"We haven't reached any stage~"
"Have you kissed?"
"Yyah, Aeri!" Karina felt a surge of embarrassment turning into anger, raining a flurry of little fist blows onto her best friend's body.

Who said anything about kissing? No, they hadn't kissed! No way!

They had just brushed against each other—and even then, it was through their scarves!

"Ah, so you have then?" Giselle wasn't the least bit upset. Having immersed herself in fanfiction for years, she naturally understood the principle that "denial is affirmation."

"No!"
"We just held hands..."
"Ooh, ooh, ooooh~~!"

Jeering laughter instantly echoed around the room. Gossip was human nature, after all, let alone when the subject of the gossip was the leader they lived with day in and day out.

Karina's lips twitched slightly...

She really shouldn't have yielded to her teammates' tyranny and told them about Lin Shouxia in the first place.

Now she had lifted a rock only to drop it on her own feet.

"I'm going to take a shower."

Refusing to be teased by her teammates any longer, Karina brushed past the circle of girls and bolted straight into the bathroom.

Taking a hot shower should have helped induce sleep, but lying in bed, the girl tossed and turned, tormented by insomnia.

The moment she closed her eyes, her mind would automatically replay the scene with Lin Shouxia right before returning to the dorm.

Extra scenarios even began playing out on their own: she looped her arms around Lin Shouxia's neck and whispered softly in his ear, "Well, do you like it or not?"

Ah...
How mortifying!

Like a little snake, Karina wriggled back and forth beneath the covers, her face burning red enough to kill her.

She even seriously considered whether she should continue contacting Lin Shouxia in the days ahead.

Mainly because she still hadn't figured out how to face her own increasingly restless romantic impulses.

Coincidentally, in a building not too far away, Lin Shouxia was likewise unable to fall asleep.

He lay on his single bed, biting his lips into a goofy grin.

That masked kiss through the scarf had been sweet, sinking deep into his heart. Setting aside that phone call he'd received earlier, today had actually been quite blissful.

"Why is there not a single message?" Before going to sleep, Karina checked her phone. It was completely silent; the man who had taken advantage of her hadn't even sent her a single text.

She didn't know how to face Lin Shouxia, but shouldn't Lin Shouxia take the initiative to contact her?

Could it be... that he didn't like it?
Surely he didn't dislike it, right?
He seemed to enjoy holding her hands quite a bit.

Or had their affair been discovered by that Hanjo friend of theirs?
Was that guy back home pitifully taking a tongue-lashing right now?

The girl's mind was in a chaotic mess, wishing she could just fly over and see what the man was actually doing.

Fortunately, she wasn't left to agonize for too long. The Great King Mangosteen, tossing and turning with wild thoughts in bed, soon received a text message from her heart's desire.

"Are you asleep?"