The Buggiest System 119 Saving Grace

However, an uneasy feeling rose in her heart, an emotion not usually present in her mind. She was calm and collected at all times, but only now did she feel that opening the moveable and transparent gla.s.s walls that blocked her infiltration of the establishment required a ma.s.sive amount of courage that she did not have.

'Ah, I'm overthinking this. I've handled more intense cases before, pretty sure my crush having a date is mild.'

Her arm reached for the metal handle embedded onto the gla.s.s doors. As one of her fingertips made contact with the cold metal, her arm retracted on impulse.

'd.a.m.n, this is harder than I thought.' Fan Xinyue scratched her head.

Her plan was to directly interfere by joining the two with their taste-testing of the various coffees available in the shop. Of course, by joining, she meant stopping Lin Hanying, that transfer student, from further progressing her relations.h.i.+p with Zhou Lei.

However, with nothing covering her face from being seen, her shamelessness would be exposed. She would need to have a thick skin to endure acting oblivious that they made plans to come here.

'f.u.c.k it, here goes nothing...!'

Fan Xinyue shook her head and pulled the gla.s.s door open!

Instantly, the aromas inside the café a.s.saulted her olfactory system, making her unconsciously moan with pleasure. Her face became flushed, smelling the pleasant scent that coffees gave off.

'...That feels relaxing.'

All of her worries were cast aside temporarily, courtesy of the fragrance of the drinks in the café. She headed for her usual seat, or the sweet spot, as she referred it to.

Right beside the gla.s.s wall separating the café from the rest of the mall, this seat offered a silence that wasn't too silent, and a noise that wasn't too loud. Also, the seats were recently minted, making Fan Xinyue love this seat even more.

When she headed there, she received the shock of a lifetime!... Well, not really.

She saw the two she was supposed to wait for sitting on the pair of chairs right beside the "sweet spot"! What's more, she saw Ma Xiaoli, that quiet girl, sitting with Zhou Lei and Lin Hanying!

'...d.a.m.n that honor student! Thinking of the same plan as me, huh?' Fan Xinyue thought of all the preparation she did just to do this plan, and she almost flared up in anger as the sight of the three in the vicinity of each other bothered her to a slight degree!

.....

Right before Fan Xinyue made it inside...

Lin Guiying led the way inside the café to show off her capabilities. Well, you could say that utilizing acting was one of them...

She was just as inexperienced as Zhou Lei in this field, but she couldn't help boasting about her fake seniority in this field. After all, that guy just bested her in cooking, and by a large degree.

She barely qualified as an amateur, while he was probably one of the masters, if not "the master", when it came to cooking. The food that he prepared made her lose herself in the pleasurable sensation of taste alone. She even used her tongue to lick all over the spoon that recently entered his mouth!

Right after that incident, her compet.i.tive tendencies flared up, causing her to brag about her expertise when Zhou Lei brought it up.

She glanced at the guy beside her, who had a ma.s.sive smile on his face. He noticed that she took a peek at him, and she smiled in response. Inside, she was freaking out.

'Oh my gosh, what'll I do when that waiter comes to me and takes my order? What will I do?!' She suppressed her inner emotions and found an unoccupied seat.

"Let's sit here, Lei."

"Oh, okay." Zhou Lei was feeling quite excited as of now. He couldn't wait to taste the wonders of coffee!

That Vanilla Latte he tasted the other day exceeded his expectations, but Lin Hanying said that it was for normies, and that there existed way better tasting coffee mixes!

This Zhou Lei was blissfully unaware of the motives that she had by telling him that the coffee he drank and enjoyed thoroughly was common and quite possibly one of the low-tier drinks.

In his head, the only intentions that Lin Hanying had were the purest of intentions. Even he, a good-natured person, would be unable to have intentions as pure as hers...!

As such, he couldn't resist smiling in front of the inwardly exasperated Lin Hanying.

Once they were seated, they waited for some person to take their order. The two's feelings conflicted with each other. One was eager for the waiter to come, while one hoped that no one would come at all.

A dozen minutes pa.s.sed, without anyone taking their order. Zhou Lei was nonplussed about the situation, and even a bit sad.

Lin Hanying saw her friend's enthusiasm diminish by the second, and it made her feel not only guilt and shame, but also elation and satisfaction.

However, just as her feelings were about to reach their respective peaks, Zhou Lei's lit up as he saw someone in uniform walking toward them.

"Ying, he's finally here!" Zhou Lei, who was resting his chin on his hand, stood up and slammed the table, the slight dejection he felt earlier completely obliterated by the sight of the waiter.

Lin Guiying, on the other hand, felt crestfallen.

At the last second, the waiter appeared? What is this, some kind of stupid novel plot?!

Right before she was about to lose all hope and come clean, someone else appeared in front of them. It was Ma Xiaoli, the honor student!

"C-c-cla.s.smate Ma! You're here!" Lin Guiying had a jovial expression when she saw Ma Xiaoli making her way towards them.

"Huh? Cla.s.smate Ma?" Zhou Lei turned his head around, and sure enough, he saw a girl in school uniform, the same as theirs, walking over.