╔═══ Author's note ════╗

Proofread by P.D Webb.

P.D.Webb: I'm literally going to cry since Psycho S isn't editing from here on. I was just editor number 2 but now I'm editor number 1, this is scary T-T.

╚═════════════════╝

It took Xuan Mu five hours to arrive at Bing Shi's hometown.

Stepping down from the bus, a wave of emotion washed over Xuan Mu as his eyes immediately landed on Bing Shi. She stood there in the middle of the bustling street, wearing a burgundy blouse with rolled-up sleeves and a long black skirt. Her black hair was braided to her left side while black-framed glasses rested on her nose.

His heart raced for a moment and he wasn't sure what to do, feeling out of place like he was a country bumpkin in a land of high society. Compared to him, she looked so...put together... like the sophisticated ladies that came from old money.

When Xuan Mu came near her, he lifted his hands, wanting to assure himself that she was real.

"No touching," Bing Shi looked at the tall youth clothed in all black with a guilty face.

"Why are you so pretty? I want my murderer back," Xuan Mu responded with a light smile; he put his hands inside his pants pockets, clutching them hard.

"Your sense of beauty is so strange. At that time, I was a fat girl with pimples all over my face! I'm not as fat as before, but still… I am a little plump," she giggled, "But thanks."

"Bing Shi, shouldn't you be blushing from my compliment?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Nah, I'm overpraised. It's hard to make me blush. Even if you put a half-naked model before me, the chances of me puking is higher than me blushing."

"Bing Shi look at me," he requested and looked her way.

"Hm?" she looked him in the eyes; her face instantly turned red.

'Did he just give me a flying kiss?!'

Xun Mu let out a loud laugh, "You liar! Making you blush is easier than I thought."

Bing Shi hid her tomato-colored face behind her palms, "You got me, how come you don't blush?" She looked at him through the gap between her fingers.

'He doesn't blush at all!'

His face was pale without a color.

'And why doesn't he wear glasses? Shouldn't his eyesight be as bad as mine?!'

"I don't know. Maybe all the blood is collected in my heart," Xuan Mu responded, trying to keep his rapidly pounding heart under control.

"What a cheat! Do you see that shopping center? It's ours. My parents took a day off just to meet you." As a taxi drove across the road, Bing Shi pointed at the shopping center amidst buildings of various colors.

He looked at the large shopping center, and the crowded streets, then back at her, "Bing Shi, why me? I'm a nobody. Aren't there plenty of men who are better than me?"

"For me, you are the best!" Bing Shi showed him the streets where she spent her childhood, "You don't smoke, drink, or gamble. You are faithful, gentle, caring, and smart. I like your sense of humor, and we have many things in common, like our opinions, likes, and dislikes."

They passed by a city square with a fountain in the middle. A stream of water flooded out of a jug of wine in a female statue's hands. Here, the paths spread out in different directions. Every building was different. Weaving through the maze of streets, the citizens minded with their business; the trees and street lamps shuffling their order in a periodical manner.

Xun Mu couldn't care less about the city and its citizens, his eyes and mind were consumed by Bing Shi, "I have no money."

"You are only seventeen. You'll make money later. What's the rush? I, too, have no money. But my parents are rich, aren't they? We should use them while we still can. Let's use them to the fullest," said Bing Shi, full of determination.

He chuckled, "What a bad girl." Knowing that his relationship with his 'rich' parents was beyond repair, she didn't ask him to reconcile, "Where has my innocent Bing Shi gone?"

Bing Shi giggled, "See? Another reason. We can be our true selves before each other, without pretending to be good."

Xuan Mu rubbed his chest in discomfort, "I'm nervous."

Bing Shi sent him a thumbs up, "No worries. I bragged about you so much that they think you are some kind of a god, haha!"

"..." Xuan Mu was speechless; he couldn't shrug off the thought of how inferior he was compared to her.

Seeing his downcast expression, Bing Shi opened her purse, "Show me your hand. I got a present for you." She pulled out a bracelet with transparent white beads and gave it to him.

"A bracelet?" he asked, putting the bracelet on; creating a contrast to his all-black outfit.

"Couple bracelets! I got a black one for myself," she showed her hand. She had the same bracelet, but the beads were the color of black.

"Thanks, weren't you the one to say no presents?" he caressed the bracelet, treasuring it.

"Yes, but I changed my mind when I saw them online."

Xuan Mu smiled helplessly, "I have a surprise too. I started school again."

"Woah, are you sure? Which one?" Bing Shi looked at him in surprise.

"Because you always liked those CEOs in novels, I chose Economy and management high school, distance learning."

"You! I give up...You are a lost cause..." she facepalmed herself, "Why don't you choose something you like?"

"There's nothing I like besides you," he grinned at her 'cringe face'. If it was before being her boyfriend, such cheesy words would send him into a block list. Being her exclusive boyfriend had so many privileges, "Jokes aside. I have some business plans already."

"You matured fast, didn't you?" she smiled back at him.

"That's because my girl is going to be a leftover woman soon," he looked away innocently, muttering, "I have to catch up fast."

Bing Shi whined in protest, "Stop it! I'm only nineteen!"

His taunting was so obvious; she could see that he wanted her to break the 'no touching rule' by having her beat him!

'Smart move ♪♫'

A few minutes of chatting eventually turned to many, with the conversation seemingly never ending. Bing Shi created some distance between them before saying, "We have a problem. I'm falling for you more and more."

Xuan Mu got closer to her, "A huge one because you are not the only one."

"We are doomed," she said, her face filled with misery as she looked at him, "Are we going to turn into love-struck fools?"

Xuan Mu chuckled and copied her expression, "I suppose so."

· · ────────── · ⊱❈⊰· ────────── · ·

At Bing Shi's house...

Bing Shi, Xuan Mu, and her parents were in the spacious kitchen, about to have lunch together. As if taken straight out of the magazine, the simplistic, geometrical layout of colors and trendy furniture added a modern touch to the house's architecture.

While her mother was a beautiful woman in her mid-forties; her father was below average with a beer belly pot. Both of them clothed luxuriously, ready to welcome the mysterious boy.

When her parents first saw this boy, they were more than dubious; how could this boy assure their daughter's comfort in the future?! He looked like a kid who was still wearing diapers! What was their daughter thinking, bringing a boy home? Most importantly, what did she see in him?! He wasn't even that handsome or rich!

They didn't believe the boy, but Bing Shi had their full trust. She told them about how she found a male friend online, preparing them beforehand, so they wouldn't receive such a shock if that friend, one day, appeared before their front doors.

It was also for her safety. One could never be careful enough when meeting people she met online.

"This is Xuan Mu, seventeen years old. You know lots of things about him already. Even though he dropped out of school, he is better than me in everything! Don't worry; he won't touch me until I finish school, a promise. If he breaks this rule, we are done," Bing Shi said proudly, her tone serious.

Her parents stared at her in disbelief, "..." Did she have to introduce him as a dropout? Was it something to be proud of? They looked at Xuan Mu skeptically, "If you don't attend school, do you at least work?"

Xuan Mu facepalmed himself, feeling embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I'm living off my parents. Few hours a day, I help with managing one of our family's branch offices," he smiled to himself, "So my father could go play golf with his friends."

Bing Shi chimed in, "And he is doing it for free! When he is at home, he does all the house chores like Cinderella. But never did he receive a word of thanks from his parents..."

Both Bing Shi and Xuan Mu cooperated to change her parents' current opinion of him. None of them was lying, just the way they presented it...

Xuan Mu was already planning how to win her parent's over — not touching until she graduated from university? That was too easy; it's not like he was with her because of her body — props for being a younger man. After five years, he'd still be young, he thought to himself.

Both Bing Shi and Xuan Mu didn't fall behind when it came to socializing. Even though they didn't go out to meet others, their communication skills were top-notch, the same as their straightforwardness. That's because they trained themselves.