"For how long do I have to sit like this?" Hua Rong muttered, shifting slightly in her seat as she glared at Wuhao Li, who was calmly working in front of her.
"Come on, it's only been fifteen minutes," he replied without even glancing up, his voice carrying a lazy amusement. "I had to ask you fifteen times before you finally agreed. And now, after only fifteen minutes, you already want to run away?"
Hua Rong let out an annoyed sigh. She still didn't understand why he had chosen her of all people. It wasn't as if they were friends, and she certainly wasn't interested in being some kind of model for him. If anything, she was convinced he had chosen her just to get back at her—for that day when she had interrupted him and given him a lecture.
"Don't move," he warned when she shifted again.
She rolled her eyes but remained still, crossing her arms. The silence stretched between them, the only sounds being the faint scratching of his pencil against the paper and the occasional murmur of students passing by.
Wuhao Li sat with a relaxed elegance, dressed in a crisp white shirt and black pants, his sleeves casually rolled up to his elbows. His ash-gray eyes flickered toward her now and then, sharp and observant, before he returned his attention to the canvas.
Hua Rong fidgeted. Something about the way he kept studying her face made her uneasy.
"Are you even drawing anything?" she finally asked, her patience running thin.
Instead of answering, Wuhao Li smirked, his gaze still locked on his work.
Suspicious, she stood up and marched over to peek at his canvas—only to freeze in shock.
It was almost empty.
All that was there were four thin, black strands.
Hua Rong's eye twitched. "What… is this?" she asked, voice dangerously calm.
Wuhao Li leaned back in his chair, resting his arm over the backrest, his expression filled with mischief.
"That's your hair," he said simply.
Hua Rong felt her last shred of patience snap. "You only sketched four strands of hair?!"
He shrugged with an infuriatingly smug look. "You're difficult to draw."
Hua Rong was about to retort when suddenly, Wuhao Li reached out and gently tilted her chin up with his fingers, his thumb brushing against her jaw as he studied her face up close.
"You've got sharp features," he murmured, his gray eyes tracing over her expression. "Thin, overlined lips… and those round, expressive eyes."
For a brief second, Hua Rong felt caught off guard, her breath hitching slightly at the unexpected proximity. His hand was warm, and his gaze was far too intense.
But just as quickly, she snapped out of it. What the hell was she doing?!
She yanked his hand away with a glare. "Stop flattering me!"
Wuhao Li smirked, completely unfazed, as he leaned back lazily in his chair.
"Oh no, my muse is running away. What do I do?" he said dramatically, resting a hand on his chest as if heartbroken.
Hua Rong shot him a glare over her shoulder. "Then imagine me. That's what artists do, isn't it?"
And with that, she turned on her heel and walked away.
Behind her, Wuhao Li let out a quiet chuckle, his pencil tapping lightly against the blank canvas.
.....
The study room was quiet, filled with the rustle of pages and the soft scratching of pens. Hua Rong sat across from Lin Zeyan, who was patiently explaining a problem to her. She furrowed her brows, deep in thought, before nudging his arm.
"Tell me this one," she asked, pointing at the next equation.
Before Lin Zeyan could answer, the door opened, and Zhou Yifen and Gong Yifeng walked in, carrying their books. Zhou Yifen had already mentioned that he would be joining them, but Hua Rong hadn't expected Gong Yifeng to tag along.
"Where's Xu Wenhan?" Lin Zeyan asked as he glanced up. "You said he was coming too."
Zhou Yifen chuckled, setting his books on the table. "He changed his mind after finding out Hua Rong was with us."
Gong Yifeng smirked. "Xu Wenhan said he'll ace this test, so there's no point in struggling like Hua Rong."
Hua Rong stilled at those words. So that's why Xu Wenhan had asked her yesterday if she was aiming for the top rank—he had been confirming his competition. Her mind wandered further back to their first encounter. Even then, he had asked if she planned to be the top student. Was he always this competitive?
Pushing the thought aside, they got to work. They solved each other's questions, compared notes, and jotted down important points. An hour passed in quiet concentration, until the sudden sound of hurried footsteps broke the silence.
Zinchen Liu burst into the room, panting as he stopped near their table. He slammed a small device down in front of them. It looked like a CCTV camera.
"What's this?" Zhou Yifen asked, eyeing it curiously.
"A camera," Zinchen Liu said between breaths.
"We can see that," Zhou Yifen deadpanned.
"No, it's different from the others," Zinchen Liu clarified, leaning forward. "Its features are more advanced, and there's a chip that connects it to something outside the academy."
That caught everyone's attention. Hua Rong frowned. "How did you get this?"
Zinchen Liu smirked, clearly proud of himself. "There was a fight in the dormitory hallway, and it got knocked loose."
Hua Rong sighed. "Another fight…"
Lin Zeyan, ever the skeptic, crossed his arms. "Do you even know how this thing works?"
Zinchen Liu grinned. "Of course! My dad's an engineer—I've been around this stuff my whole life."
"Then we should report it to the teachers," Gong Yifeng said, reaching for the camera.
But Zinchen Liu snatched it back. "Nope. I found it, so I'll be the one to expose who's been spying on us. If we hand it over to the teachers, we'll never get any real information."
He had a point.
"But we should trust the adults with something like this," Hua Rong reasoned.
Zinchen Liu scoffed. "If they were that reliable, how did someone manage to install these cameras inside the academy without them noticing?"
That shut everyone up. He had a point again.
No one pushed the matter further. Zinchen Liu was too excited, like a kid who had just found a hidden treasure, and arguing wouldn't change his mind. They returned to their studies, but Hua Rong couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling in her chest.
Just who had planted these cameras? How long had they been there? And why hadn't the school's security system detected them?
The questions lingered in her mind, refusing to let go.