Lin Ran looked up.
Lu Feng appeared at the doorway of the art studio. He was wearing the same white shirt and black trousers from the morning, with his sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing slender yet strong wrists. The drafting board from the architecture department was slung over his shoulder, accentuating his straight shoulders and lean waist.
His face remained infuriatingly cold under the dim, yellowish light.
He walked steadily, each step as if measured with a ruler. His deep eyes held no apology for being late, only indifference.
“Student ID,” he said, stopping three steps away.
“You’re late,” Lin Ran raised an eyebrow.
“I never promised to be on time.”
Lin Ran tilted her head, her posture against the chair even more languid, but her tone cooled slightly. “Is this how you ask for a favor, Lu?”
“I’m not asking. You’re the one threatening me.”
“Is there a difference?” Lin Ran chuckled, rising and walking toward him. The click of her heels against the floor seemed to strike right at Lu Feng’s heart.
His thin lips pressed into a tight line, and he instinctively took half a step back.
Lin Ran stopped just that half-step away.
At this distance, she could smell the faint scent of soap on him, mixed with a hint of pinewood—a clean, aloof fragrance often used in architectural models.
The more he maintained this demeanor, the more Lin Ran wanted to control him.
“Give it to me.”
“What’s the hurry?” Lin Ran pulled the hard-paper student ID from her crossbody bag, pinching it between her fingers. “Let’s talk terms.”
“Terms?” Lu Feng’s brow furrowed slightly. “You stole my student ID, and now you want to negotiate terms?”
“Stole?” Lin Ran waved the student ID in front of him. “I found it.”
Her provocative look was like a little fox wagging its tail, utterly brazen.
Lu Feng’s expression stiffened.
He couldn’t argue with her, nor did he want to prolong the entanglement. He could only ask stiffly, “What terms?”
Just as Lin Ran was about to speak, footsteps echoed from the hallway outside, accompanied by a familiar voice.
“Yes, I know, teacher. I’m heading to the art studio now. Mhm… I’ll submit it before twelve, I promise…”
Su Wanyu’s voice grew closer, clear and distinct in the empty, silent corridor.
Lu Feng’s body tensed almost imperceptibly.
Lin Ran’s eyes, however, lit up.
Not with surprise, but with excitement!
Lu Feng took a step to leave, but Lin Ran moved faster.
She grabbed his wrist and pulled him toward the equipment cabinet in the corner.
It was a brown wooden cabinet used to store painting supplies, plaster statues, and other miscellaneous items. The door was old and slightly ajar.
“Get in,” Lin Ran pulled the door open, her tone leaving no room for argument.
“No.”
The young man stood straight, refusing to bend.
Lin Ran wasn’t annoyed. She leaned in and whispered mockingly, “Your dear little sister is about to arrive. If she sees you alone with me in here, I don’t mind, but what do you think she’ll imagine?”
The words struck a nerve with Lu Feng.
He froze for a moment.
Seizing that moment, Lin Ran pressed her hands against his shoulders and pushed him hard!
Lu Feng stumbled backward, his drafting board hitting the cabinet wall and falling to the floor. Lin Ran squeezed in after him, pulling the cabinet door shut behind her.
Darkness descended instantly.
Only a sliver of light, about a finger’s width, filtered through the gap at the top of the door, illuminating dust motes dancing in the beam.
“Huh? Why is the door open?”
“Is anyone here?”
Su Wanyu’s voice drifted in.
The art studio fell silent.
Inside the cramped cabinet, the two were inevitably pressed close together.
Lin Ran’s back pressed against the cabinet wall, with Lu Feng almost entirely pressed against her front.
Her forehead rested near his collarbone, her breath seeping through the thin shirt onto his skin.
In the cramped space, body heat, scent, and the sound of breathing were all magnified infinitely.
Too close.
It was truly too close…
Lu Feng suppressed his breathing, but his heartbeat uncontrollably quickened.
Lin Ran didn’t deliberately pant aloud; she too deliberately suppressed her breathing, as if playing a thrilling game of hide-and-seek.
Outside the cabinet door, Su Wanyu’s footsteps moved around the studio.
She moved easels, adjusted canvases, and the sound of water filling a plastic bucket splashed loudly.
Everything was close at hand, as if the cabinet door might be pulled open at any moment.
Outside the cabinet, time flew by swiftly, but inside, it became thick and drawn out.
Suddenly, Lin Ran moved.
She raised one hand and climbed onto his shoulder.
Lu Feng stiffened all over, his hand braced against the cabinet wall tightening abruptly.
“Don’t move.”
He warned in a low voice.
“So nervous?” Lin Ran’s breath brushed against his sharp Adam’s apple, carrying an infinite sense of ambiguity.
As soon as the words fell, the hand on his shoulder turned into an embrace, her body pressing even closer against his outline.
Almost instantly, Lin Ran sensed his entire body tense up.
The young man’s cool and reserved demeanor suddenly turned dangerous.
“Lin… Ran.”
He squeezed the two words out from between his teeth.
[Ding! Detected male lead’s emotional fluctuations! Task progress: Emotional Out of Control (3/3) completed.]
[Current male lead affection value: (-100)]
[Host, please do not continue to gain affection value in reverse.]
“Shut up and watch carefully,” Lin Ran warned the system in her mind.
She raised her other hand and slowly moved it to Lu Feng’s side, her fingertips lightly touching his belt.
Lu Feng seemed to sense something; he gasped sharply, freeing one hand to stop her, but it was already too late.
Lin Ran tugged out one side of his shirt, her fingertips slipping beneath the hem.
Her soft fingertips wandered freely, stirring waves of tingling sensations in him.
Lu Feng’s tense body trembled uncontrollably.
Lin Ran looked up at him, the clear corners of her eyes tinged with a humiliated red, her gaze swirling with anger and an unknown emotion.
As if teetering on the edge of suppression and loss of control.
Like walking a tightrope, one wrong step and all would be lost.
Lin Ran rose on her tiptoes, her lips almost brushing against his ear, her voice lowered to a whisper.
“If you make a sound… your little fish sister will hear.”
Lu Feng’s breath hitched.
Lin Ran’s fingertips traced his taut abdominal muscles. “You don’t want her to see you like this, do you?”
Her voice continued, each word like a honey-coated dagger, piercing straight into Lu Feng’s heart.
“Cooperate nicely, and I’ll be gentler~”
After saying this, she turned her head and bit his earlobe.
A burst of fireworks exploded in Lu Feng’s mind.
The warm, wet sensation spread rapidly from his ear.
He could no longer suppress his breathing, which grew ragged.
Faster than anger came shame, burning through him like fire!
Seizing his mind, consuming his reason!
Lu Feng knew full well that this was the humiliation Lin Ran was inflicting upon him.
Yet beneath this overwhelming humiliation, something was breaking through the surface.
A completely unfamiliar, dangerous, uncontrollable restlessness crawled up his spine.
Outside the cabinet, Su Wanyu hummed a tune as she painted on the canvas, completely unaware of the heart-pounding battle unfolding just a cabinet away.
Lin Ran attacked relentlessly, while Lu Feng resisted desperately.
The two engaged in a silent struggle.
Time passed second by second.
Each second seemed infinitely stretched.
Lin Ran kissed all along Lu Feng’s neck, his hands roaming freely, yet he never moved to kiss his lips.
Gradually, amid the complex mix of humiliation, disgust, and anger, Lu Feng felt an unwillingly acknowledged desire stirring within him.
He actually longed for that forceful kiss from before.
His thick lashes cast shadows beneath his eyes, and the boy’s Adam’s apple bobbed as if swallowing this indescribable craving.
The hand pressed against Lin Ran’s waist gradually grew uncertain—whether to push him away or pull him closer.
“Crash!”
A sudden shattering sound erupted outside the cabinet door.
“Ah!”
Su Wanyu screamed, startled by the sound of a vase falling from the top of the cabinet.
Inside the cabinet, the two abruptly froze, ceasing all movement!
In the art studio, Su Wanyu began moving toward the cabinet.
Lin Ran looked at Lu Feng with amusement, whispering in a breathy voice, “Guess… will your dear little sister open the cabinet?”
Lu Feng said nothing, his cool gaze shifting toward her.
The anger, disgust, and humiliation vanished, fading as lightly as a mountain spring, refreshing and clear.
Lin Ran felt a sudden flutter in his heart under that gaze.
Truly the favored male lead, able to calm down so quickly after the earlier humiliation.
Lin Ran fell silent, for Su Wanyu’s footsteps had already stopped just outside the cabinet door.
“Huh, what’s this student ID doing here?”
Su Wanyu picked up a blue card beside the shattered vase, turning it over in surprise.
“Why is this Lu Feng’s?”
“How did he end up here?”
Lost in thought, Su Wanyu held the student ID and muttered to herself, “Never mind, I’ll just give him a call.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Lu Feng stiffened inside the cabinet.
Lin Ran wore a mischievous expression, showing no sign of panic at all.
Just a cabinet door away, Su Wanyu had already turned to retrieve her phone from the table.