Getting Outsmarted By The CEO

e contemplated for a bit and took back the hand that was about to press the elevator button.
She started at a slightly quickened pace, but once she reached the doors, she began running and soon arrived in front of Gu Jue.
She was so fast that she couldn’t stop herself and crashed into his arms.

Good thing he had steady legs and caught her without taking even a step back.

Under the lamplight, his expression told of surprise.

“Why did you come back out?”

Ruan An’an didn’t know either, but her intuition told her, Gu Jue was in a bad mood.
She just thought… even without knowing why, she had to go comfort him.

“Gu Jue,” she tilted her head and asked bluntly, “You’re not happy, are you?”

Gu Jue’s expression stiffened, “… Yes, I am.” More than not happy.

“But something feels wrong.
You weren’t like this when we first got onto the car…”

Gu Jue clenched his teeth, “… really.” I’m about to burst with anger.

Ruan An’an looked up at him, unable to see any indication of something wrong that he was hiding.
Her brain was mottled, interfering with her ability to read expressions.
In the end, she gestured to him with her finger, “Come here, lower your head.”

Just now, she asked, and he answered—once out loud, once to himself.
Now, his body immediately executed her simple command without his brain.

He saw the young lady get on her tiptoes as he lowered his head.

Feeling something drawing close, he reflexively closed his eyes.
The next second, he felt a moist and soft sensation imprinted on his eyelid.

Ruan An’an grabbed his hand after the kiss.

“I gave you a goodnight kiss too.” She smiled and shook his wiggled his fingers, “Don’t be unhappy, okay?”

Since they were already back at school, Ruan An’an planned to sleep in Yin Yuan’s room.
After all, it was late and she drank.

Ruan An’an decided her effort to cheer her boyfriend up was successful and hummed her way up.

The graduate dorms were much better than the dorms for undergrads.
Yin Yuan also applied for a single room, which had even better conditions.
Both the spaciousness and the amenities were a tier above the rest, something resembling a high-end condo.
Of course, the rent also reflected this.

It was over half an hour of drive from the university to the Yin Estate, so Yin Yuan lived here out of convenience.

In these past two months, Ruan An’an had frequented the room for naps.
Naturally, she had a set of keys and easily found her way.

As she was taking off her shoes, she heard Yin Yuan shout, “AHHHH This instance is too hard—!”

“…?”

Ruan An’an followed the sound and found Yin Yuan on the living room couch with her laptop.

She had pajamas on and hair in a bun.
She was aggressively staring at the screen and typing away aggressively.
Likely complaining to someone.

Yin Yuan had heard the door.
She knew that Ruan An’an was the only other person with keys, so she asked without lifting her head, “How come you’re here?”

Yin Yuan had her A/C on, making her room a comfortable temperature.
Ruan An’an took off her jacket as she answered, “I drank during the class gathering.
My boyfriend brought me back to school, and I don’t want to drag myself back home… darling, let me sleep over tonight please.”

Yin Yuan agreed, “Sure.
Go shower.
You know where the pajamas are.”

Ruan An’an found it amusing that she had not gotten much attention during this whole exchange, “What are you playing? You finished your programming?”

“A game, ‘6 Realms’,” Yin Yuan tsked, “I’m really impressed with the young Mr.
Gu.
This game is so addictive.
I’ve been playing less than 2 weeks and already put in almost 100 grand.”

Ruan An’an laughed, “Don’t be silly, 100 grand is nothing to you.”

The pair bantered a bit, but sleepiness was claiming Ruan An’an, so she left without watching her friend play.
It wasn’t until the next morning that she saw the game interface of 6 Realms.

Yin Yuan was in the kitchen, frying up some eggs for them both.
“Ruan Ruan? Can you check if my game disconnected?”

“Ok, I’ll go check.” Ruan An’an left for the living room.

When she reached the computer screen, she was stunned.

After playing a few online games, Ruan An’an knew at a glance that the game was put on auto-grinding.
It was just… the location was especially scenic.

It was in a sea of flowers.
All the monsters were cute too, being flower fairies and grass fairies.
The graphics were high-def and well-rendered, with a bit of 3D effect too.
The monster models were beautiful, and the character models were even more so.

On the screen, there were 2 characters, a man and a woman.
The man sat on the ground, stroking a guqin, looking like a saint in his pure white clothes.
The woman danced through the flowers with her word, her white dress floating about.
Their clothes were clearly a matching set.

It was extremely dazzling when the characters released their skills.
The effects weren’t blinding.
Instead, they looked well-designed.
Painful too, judging from the numbers popping up.

From the map to the skill effects, everything looked crisp and clean.

Ruan An’an began to understand why this game was so popular and widespread.
Even as someone who’d never played, the scene in front of her made her hand itch.

Just as she was about to return with her mission completed, she glanced at the characters’ IDs.

Woman – [Yin&Yuan] Man – [Dawn&Dusk]

Ruan An’an: …

As she ate breakfast, the two IDs stayed glaring in her mind.

On her last bite, she blurted out, “I saw the one that… uh, you teamed up with…”

Yin Yuan looked up, “Hm?”

Ruan An’an studied her expressions, “The ‘dawn’ in his ID…”

Yin Yuan grabbed the knife beside her, lightly casting her eyes over, “What about it?”

“…” Ruan An’an shut herself up, “no, no, no, nothing.”

Yin Yuan tossed the knife aside, “You and Jiang Yi are too sensitive… I met this guy by chance.
He’s a well-known god in the game and has been playing for a long time…” She paused, adding emphasis, “Most importantly, his personality is completely different from Xue Zhao.”
TL/N: Xue Zhao’s “Zhao” is the character for “dawn”

Ruan An’an may have overthought it a little.

When she tried to rope some answers from Gu Jue, in the “there is no pure friendship between a guy and a girl, if there is, then one of them is being dumb” story, the girl who had realized her first crush was Yin Yuan, and her dumb childhood friend was Xue Zhao.

“… We’re not oversensitive.
We’re just scared of you falling in again.” Ruan An’an released her breath, “I mean, it’s good if you really forgot about that idiot.
He isn’t worth all the pearls of grief you dropped during high school.
Not worth it at all.”

Yin Yuan raised an eyebrow, “I totally forgot about him until you mentioned it.
I don’t have time to date in real life, so all I can do is a lighthearted internet romance with some game god.”

Ruan An’an gave her a seal of approval, “Brilliant!”

It was Monday, after all, and they both had morning classes.
So, without further ado, they cleaned up the table and headed their separate ways out of the dorm.