Chapter 41: DELUSIONAL ONE.
Hua Rong had been wandering around the academy for what felt like hours, aimlessly watching students light up with joy as their friends and families came to visit. She passed by groups laughing in the garden, a boy getting tackled by his younger sister, and even someone giving their mother a dramatic tour of the cafeteria as if it were a five-star restaurant.
But no one had come for her.
Not that it mattered, of course.
"Xue didn't come... but it's fine," she muttered to herself, arms folded tightly. "She said she's busy."
It was a lie she repeated enough times to almost believe it.
At one point, Lin Zeyan's mother showed up. The woman was lovely, gracious and refined—and even took the time to smile warmly at Hua Rong and ask how she was doing.
It was sweet. Too sweet. Almost suspiciously sweet.
And maybe it was that slow boil of boredom, or the quiet itch under her skin, but something pushed her feet toward the studio building. She didn't know why she was going. She told herself it was just a whim.
But as soon as she turned the corner and looked through the tall glass windows—she saw them.
Tang Moyu and Xu Lingwei.
This time, Tang Moyu had both her arms around his back. She was hugging him. Not a polite hug. A full, almost possessive kind of hug.