On Friday afternoon, Shen Miaomiao arrived outside the editor-in-chief's office with her latest printed manuscript in her arms.
These were Chapters Six through Eight, which she'd spent an entire week revising. Ever since Manager Zhang had made trouble and Lu Chen had shielded her, her writing had been going better and better. After finishing a few passages, she'd even found herself wondering, “Is this what falling in love feels like?”
Standing outside the door, she took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock.
Knock, knock, knock.
No answer.
She knocked twice more. Still nothing. Pressing her ear to the door, she listened. The office was quiet; nobody seemed to be there.
“Weird. I saw him in here just now...” Shen Miaomiao scratched her head, took the handle, and tried turning it.
The door wasn't locked.
She pushed it open and found Lu Chen absent. Apparently, he'd been called to an emergency meeting. The desk lamp was still on. Beside it sat a half-finished hot Americano without sugar, beads of water clinging to the cup, suggesting its owner hadn't been gone long.
And the high-end computer on his desk hadn't even been locked!
Shen Miaomiao approached to put her manuscript on the desk. She intended to drop it off and leave without prying into anyone's private life. She was an author with professional ethics, after all.
But as she set the papers down, the corner of her eye happened to catch the bottom right of Lu Chen's screen.
A WeChat message notification had popped up there. The other person's avatar was an unmistakable capital L, white against black!
Clack!
The folder in Shen Miaomiao's hand nearly hit the floor. Her heart instantly skipped a beat!
A white L on a black background?!
Lu Chen's personal WeChat avatar... was actually a white L on black?!
Her eyes locked onto it as ten thousand colorful comments exploded across her brain.
“?????”
“Impossible, impossible! They must just have the same avatar!”
“Wait! Could this L actually be Lu Chen?!”
“Then how much trash have I talked about Devil Lu to him these past few days? Aaaaaah!”
“I called him cold-blooded, rigid, a workaholic, inflexible... I even said his heart was made of iron!”
“If L is Lu Chen, he's read every message! EVERY MESSAGE! AAAAAH!”
“This is what dying of embarrassment feels like, isn't it?! Is it too late to resign?!”
Her mind turned to mush, thoughts flashing past at top speed. Her face went from white to red, from red to green, then finally to an indescribable gray.
She stood in front of Lu Chen's desk, still holding the manuscript, frozen in place, afraid to move.
No! She had to calm down!
Maybe... maybe they just happened to use the same avatar! A white L on black wasn't a unique design. One quick search online would turn up loads of them! Yes! It had to be a coincidence!
Shen Miaomiao patted her cheeks hard, trying to steady herself.
But reason told her it wasn't that simple.
If it was only the same avatar, why did L sound exactly like Lu Chen? Why did L know she loved sweet taro-ball soup? Why did L know her historical-fiction habits made her think of “the rules of the martial world” when faced with conflict? Why could L always guess her thoughts so precisely?
The questions formed a net, trapping her tightly.
Shen Miaomiao drifted back to her workstation like a ghost and sat shivering in her chair. To test this utterly terrifying theory, she took out her phone and began frantically sending L probing messages!
[Anonymous User 9527]: L, my longtime fan! Question! Do you wear glasses in real life?
In the distant meeting room, the phone in Lu Chen's pocket vibrated. Listening to the finance department's quarterly report, he happened to take it out for a glance. When he saw her message, the corners of his mouth rose slightly.
Was this girl finally getting seriously suspicious?
Head lowered, he typed rapidly beneath the table while maintaining the appearance of paying close attention to the meeting.
[L]: Why do you ask?
[Anonymous User 9527]: Just asking! I'm designing the hero's appearance and thought I could use you as a reference!
Lu Chen nearly laughed at the excuse. Designing the hero's appearance? She'd settled that three months ago, and now she was asking?
He didn't expose her, however. He played along.
[L]: Sometimes.
Shen Miaomiao gasped at that one word!
Lu Chen did wear gold-rimmed glasses when reviewing manuscripts and attending meetings! And he didn't wear them all the time. Sometimes he took them off while reading documents. Wasn't that exactly “sometimes”?!
Her heart beat faster and faster. Even her fingers trembled. But she refused to give up and gritted her teeth, launching a second round of questioning.
[Anonymous User 9527]: Then do you work at a publishing house or publishing company?
[L]: What makes you think that?
[Anonymous User 9527]: I... I'm guessing! You sound so much like an editor!
[L]: I told you before that I know the contemporary-romance market quite well. You can think of it that way.
Lu Chen deliberately kept his answer ambiguous. Sitting in the corner of the meeting room, he watched her grow frantic on the other end, amusement filling his eyes.
He could have simply told her the answer. For some reason, though, he wanted to see just how much she'd struggle.
The more she probed, the more panicked she became. Every answer pointed toward a conclusion she couldn't bring herself to believe. Her heart felt ready to leap out of her chest. Her palms were covered in sweat.
At last, she steeled herself and typed a question that cut straight to the point.
[Anonymous User 9527]: You... you don't know me in real life, do you?!
After sending it, she held her breath nervously, staring at her phone. She could hear every beat of her heart.
Three seconds later, L's reply appeared.
[L]: We met in the anonymous group. Have you forgotten?
[Anonymous User 9527]: ...Oh, right.
Reading that answer, Shen Miaomiao let herself be neatly talked around once again.
Right... They'd met in an anonymous group. How could L know her? She must be overthinking it.
But... how did that explain the avatar? Their identical manner of speaking? Those terrifyingly accurate guesses?
Shen Miaomiao felt as though her brain was about to explode.
At midnight that night, Lu Chen asked her on WeChat:
[L]: Why all the questions today? Suspect I'm a scammer?
[Anonymous User 9527]: Of course not! I was just... making conversation!
She certainly wasn't going to admit she'd nearly had a heart attack today!
[L]: Conversation is fine. Don't overthink it, 9527. Whoever I am, my wish to help you is real.
The affection and gentleness in those words sent her heartbeat abruptly racing. Her whole face burned as though it might evaporate.
Clutching her phone, she rolled around on her bed, her heart in turmoil.
Once she'd calmed down, however, she linked every detail from the past few days together in her mind. He knew she drank iced Americanos. He knew she loved sweet taro-ball soup. Their sharp-tongued manner was identical. And there was that white L against black...
Shen Miaomiao clenched her fists, her gaze becoming utterly determined.
No! This was definitely no coincidence!
She had to find an opportunity to verify it herself!