Chapter 27: Very Suspicious
Thankfully, the two of them moved fast enough to reach the classroom just before the bell rang.
“Huff… huff… That was close! Almost late, thank goodness.”
Back in her seat, Lin Muqing leaned forward with her fists on the desk, breathing heavily.
The moment she sat down, the warning bell rang. Right after that, the teacher appeared at the stairway on the first floor and started catching late students.
Their classroom was on the third floor, but even from there, they could clearly hear the director’s booming voice.
No doubt he was scolding the students who were late.
Lin Muqing felt lucky, if she had been just two steps slower, she might have been caught too.
“Are you feeling really bad?”
Ye Ziming frowned as he looked at her gasping for air, his eyes full of concern. He was clearly worried about her condition.
Compared to Lin Muqing, who was red-faced, sweaty, and struggling to breathe, Ye Ziming looked completely fine, calm and composed, not even slightly out of breath. He didn’t look like he had just run at all.
At least, that’s how it looked to her.
“Huff… I’m okay. I just need a moment to catch my breath.”
She panted a few more times, her chest rising and falling rapidly. As she tried to speak, Lin Muqing felt her throat become dry and scratchy, and even her voice started sounding hoarse.
She reached into her backpack to get her water bottle.
But when she unscrewed the lid and tilted it to her mouth, nothing came out.
That’s when she remembered she had already finished all her water before the end of class that morning… and had forgotten to refill it.
“Here, drink mine.”
At that crucial moment, Ye Ziming instinctively handed her his own water bottle. He opened it and held it in front of her.
Seeing her in such discomfort made him uneasy. He even thought about taking her to the school clinic, just in case something serious happened.
“Haaah~”
Without thinking or even looking at the bottle, Lin Muqing grabbed it and started gulping the water down.
She hadn’t had a single drop of water since waking up, and after all that running, her throat felt like it was on fire.
That first gulp of warm water felt like a spring of life. After drinking it, she felt instantly refreshed.
“Ahh~ That’s better. Thanks, Boss.”
Her throat no longer hurt, her voice was back to normal, and she wasn’t panting anymore. It was clear that water helped a lot.
It was only then that she noticed the bottle in her hand looked kind of fancy… and familiar.
She looked closer, and sure enough, it was the birthday gift she had spent a lot of money on last year… for her best buddy.
No wonder it looked so familiar.
Emmm… This feels a little awkward.
“If you’re still thirsty, drink more.”
Seeing Lin Muqing start to feel better, Ye Ziming also relaxed. But he noticed she still hadn’t drunk that much, so he gently encouraged her.
“Ah… I’m good, I’m good. If I drink more, I’ll be too full.”
She quickly waved her hand and refused, then lifted her arm to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. She had drunk so fast that some water was left on her lips.
To be honest, she did want to keep drinking. She even considered finishing the whole bottle.
But then she remembered it was his water bottle. If she kept drinking… it felt kinda like an indirect kiss.
And that thought made her hesitate.
“Your hand’s dirty.”
When he saw Lin Muqing wiping her mouth with her hand, Ye Ziming suddenly frowned, narrowed his eyes slightly, and spoke in a tone that sounded clearly unhappy.
“Huh?”
Hearing that, Lin Muqing instinctively looked down at her hands. Both the one holding the water bottle and the one she’d used to wipe her mouth.
She blinked at her best buddy, tilting her head in confusion, unsure what he meant.
Ye Ziming took the bottle from her hand without a word, set it on the desk, and then pulled out a pack of wet wipes from his bag.
With practiced hands, he opened the packaging, pulled one out, and turned back to her.
“Wha—!?”
What happened next completely shocked her.
Ye Ziming actually reached out and used the wet wipe to clean her mouth.
And he didn’t stop there. After wiping her mouth, he grabbed her hands and started wiping those too.
“Uh, I… I can do it myself…”
She tugged gently, trying to pull her hands back, but Ye Ziming held on firmly, as if he wouldn’t let go until they were completely clean.
In all her life, hardly anyone had treated her like this. Maybe only her late parents.
It gave her a strange feeling in her heart, like she was being taken care of. And not just casually, but carefully and thoughtfully.
For more than a year, she had been taking care of herself. But now, suddenly, someone else was doing it. And to her surprise, it actually felt kind of nice.
As she thought about it, Lin Muqing lowered her head a little, her eyes slightly unfocused, lost in her own thoughts.
“All done. Get ready for class.”
Ye Ziming ignored her protest, gently finished wiping her small hands, and finally let go.
Then he glanced at her again, noticed the teacher had already entered the room, and turned away to take out his book and get ready for class.
“Ah… oh, right.”
Snapping out of it, Lin Muqing looked up at the front of the room and realized the teacher was already there.
Only then did she remember she hadn’t even taken her book out yet.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and quickly pulled her textbook from the desk to prepare for class.
While doing that, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
Ye Ziming picked up the water bottle from the desk and casually finished the rest of the water before putting it away.
Lin Muqing froze.
Her eyes widened. Her mouth dropped open.
Earlier it was just maybe an indirect kiss…
But now… she was pretty sure there was nothing “maybe” about it anymore.
“What is it?”
He also noticed, from the corner of his eye, that she was staring at him. So Ye Ziming turned and asked, a bit puzzled.
To him, it was nothing. He never treated Lin Muqing like an outsider, so this kind of thing felt totally normal.
“Ah… it’s nothing.”
Feeling awkward, Lin Muqing quickly looked away and forced herself to focus on the class.
Seeing her like that, Ye Ziming blinked, then turned to look at the board and started listening to the teacher as well.
Since class had just started and the teacher was still writing on the board, he didn’t notice the little scene between them, so they narrowly escaped trouble.
What they didn’t notice, though, was that Lin Wenbin, sitting nearby, had seen the whole thing.
“What the heck!?”
His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open. It took him a long moment to recover from the shock.
Because what he just saw… was way too suspicious.
That kind of interaction, he had only ever seen it between couples. Never between two guys.
And now, remembering how both of them didn’t seem interested in girls… a scary thought popped into Lin Wenbin’s head.
Wait a second… don’t tell me those two are actually—
“Lin Wenbin! What are you staring at? Get up and answer the question!”
Right in the middle of his daze, a white chalk suddenly flew down from above and smacked him right in the forehead.
Then came the angry roar of the chemistry teacher at the front of the room.
“Ah, crap…”