The dismissal bell rang, making the teacher who was lecturing annoyed. On the other hand, the students were overjoyed.

Of course, to ruin the feeling of satisfaction, the teacher gave homework!

'Homework again? So irritating!' This brought the students back to earth from heaven...

Zhou Lei stood up from his seat and approached Lin Guiying who was ready to leave the cla.s.sroom without being noticed, just like before.

"Ying!" He placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her a slight shock. "Let's go home together."

"Eh? Huh?" Lin Guiying didn't expect her friend to do something like this, so she had no idea what to respond with. 'Sh- should I say yes or no? Hmm, but my house, if manager is there... I should make some prior preparations first!'

Zhou Lei watched as Lin Hanying took out her phone and called someone. "Wait a minute," she said.

She walked to the corner of the room and covered the microphone of the phone with her palm so that only her voice would be heard amidst the ruckus in the cla.s.sroom.

"Mom? Mom, can you hear me?"

"Ah, my Guiying, what is it?" A sweet voice sounded out the phone.

"Is Manager Fang there?" Before her mother could answer, Lin Guiying continued speaking. "Actually, don't tell me. If she isn't there, then don't do anything. But if she is there, please drive her out of the house!"

Zhou Lei saw his friend in the corner of the room squirming her feet subtly. He found it kind of cute!

It took a couple of seconds until Lin Guiying heard her mother again. This time, her tone was of intrigue. "...You're bringing someone home?"

"Huh?" Lin Guiying said that, but in her mind, she got nervous. 'How did she know? Why does she have an amazing sense when it comes to these things?'

"Ohoh! Don't worry, your mom won't get in the way~"

"I- I'm just walking home with someone! Nothing else!" Lin Guiying could hear her playful tone through the speaker and quickly interjected to correct her a.s.sumptions!

"Well, there's nothing to worry about. Shao Lingxin isn't here. You can bring your friend inside~"

"I already said that he won't go inside!" Lin Guiying didn't realize what she had just said.

"...Did you say 'he'? A guy? Oh my~"

'Oh s.h.i.+t, it just slipped out!' She worried way too much. "We're just friends!"

"My cute little daughter, don't worry, I won't let her know you're friends with a guy!"

"Well, she already knows..."

"Why am I the last one to know of this? Wait, if she knows in the first place, why would you need her to be driven out before you can bring this friend of yours inside?"

"Because..." Lin Guiying fell silent. Of course. She already gave me a warning last time.

"...Oh, I get it. Don't worry. If you don't want to be an actress anymore, I won't stop you."

"..." Lin Guiying didn't answer.

Zhou Lei twiddled with his own thumbs waiting for Lin Hanying to finish her call. Suddenly, he saw that her expression turned quite sad.

He stood up and walked toward her. "Ying, are you okay?"

This brought her back from her imagination to reality. "Shh! I'm still talking with my mom!"

"...He has quite the soothing voice." A voice came from the phone.

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

"Well, time for me to cut this call off! After all, he seems to be waiting for you~"

"Mom, wait, stop-"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Lin Guiying got frustrated by her mother's teasing. She grabbed Zhou Lei's hand. "Let's just go..."

On the other hand, Zhou Lei was fl.u.s.tered. That is, because his hand was grabbed! Of course, he had no problem with that. On the contrary, the feeling was quite gratifying.

As they approached the exit, more and more students stared at Zhou Lei's hand... and the owner of the other that was holding it!

It was only when the pair exited the school did Lin Guiying notice that the usually noisy Zhou Lei wasn't talking.

"Hmm? Lei, is something wrong? You're not usually this quiet." She turned around and saw Zhou Lei fiercely blus.h.i.+ng.

"Why are you so red?"

Zhou Lei looked at his hand. Lin Guiying saw his pupils moving, making her look in the same direction.

"Ah!" She quickly removed her grasp and her face turned red as well.

"I, uh..." "It's, well..." Both of them spoke over one another.

Lin Guiying stopped talking. Seeing that his friend halted her speaking, he opened his mouth. "It was... nice."

With that comment, both of them was flushed. They walked outside as the security guard watched the two. "Ah, youth..."

On the sidewalk.

The two of them returned to their normal states, however they burnt that memory somewhere deep in their minds.

"Are you going to the arcade again?"

"Yeah, I'm planning on perfecting that song by this Thursday..." Zhou Lei omitted a part. '...because that's the limit.'

"What's with the hurry?"

"Nothing. I'm just really eager!" Zhou Lei omitted a part. '...for those rewards from System!'

Lin Guiying picked up on the fact that he was hiding something from her. "Hmm... Do you still remember what you said to me at the mall?"

'What?' He recalled everything that he said to her at the mall from their first meeting... 'There's too many! I don't know what you're talking about.'

"That if I had any problems, then I could tell you?" Lin Guiying sensed that Zhou Lei was browsing his mind.

"Well, I share the same sentiments as you. If you have any problems, you can share with me, and I'll try my best to help you out!"

Zhou Lei felt touched by his friend. A smile appeared on his face. "Don't worry, I don't have any of the sort."

"Just letting you know." Lin Guiying shrugged it off.

After that, they separated on a street, making plans to meet later in the arcade.