Acting Coquettish with Her Archenemy: Could You Rub It for Me?

The air turned a little awkward.

Lu Xiaoxiao bent over, clutching her stomach, her face pale. Half the pain was feigned, and half was an act for Shao Enci to complete the system's mission.

She hadn't expected the boy beside her to fall for it so easily.

He abruptly left his desk, walked over, and crouched in front of her. His normally cool, aloof features showed unmistakable concern. "Does it hurt a lot? Put on the heat patch I bought first."

With that, Shao Enci took a heat patch from the shopping bag and handed it to her. Then he pulled out a box of motherwort granules and prepared to stand. "I'll get some hot water and mix this for you."

Seeing him about to leave, Lu Xiaoxiao found courage from somewhere and reached out to grab his wrist. Biting her lower lip, she asked a little stiffly, "Could you... rub it for me?"

037's notification sounded at just the right moment: [Say it in a coquettish tone.]

Shao Enci turned his head at her words. The lines of his profile were sharp and refined, his long lashes lowered, a trace of puzzlement surfacing in the depths of his dark eyes.

Lu Xiaoxiao took a deep breath and recreated the state she had been in during the earlier mission. Deliberately softening her voice, she said coquettishly, "Could you rub it for me? My tummy hurts so much."

Facing her, the boy bent down and lightly pressed the cool back of his hand to her forehead. The corners of his eyes lifted slightly as he casually curled his lip. "You don't have a fever. How did getting your period make your IQ drop too?"

The icy touch of his fingertips brushed her skin, making Lu Xiaoxiao's heart tremble, but his words instantly left her too choked up to respond.

She immediately put on a pitiful expression. "Mom always rubs it for me when I have cramps, but she's at work today."

Shao Enci: "..."

After a brief silence, he settled back into a crouch in front of her.

The distance between them narrowed until their noses nearly touched. Lu Xiaoxiao could distinctly smell the clean, distinctive scent of mint and locust blossoms on him, fresh and pleasant.

Looking down from where she sat, she could see his fair, smooth skin, the clean lines of his jaw, and his sexy Adam's apple bobbing several times.

A wave of untamed hormones washed over her, making her breathing quicken slightly.

Lu Xiaoxiao hurriedly looked away and forcibly suppressed the stray thoughts in her mind, warning herself over and over: Stay calm. Don't be seduced by his looks. Completing the mission is what matters most.

Just then, the boy narrowed his eyes slightly, his deep, magnetic voice sounding by her ear. "Lu Xiaoxiao, rubbing a girl's lower abdomen is something only family or a boyfriend would do. Am I your boyfriend?"

That one question made Lu Xiaoxiao's throat tighten.

She instinctively looked up and met his brown eyes, a hint of cunning hidden in them. The boy seemed loose and lazy, but his gaze held intense probing and pressure.

Those words also brought Lu Xiaoxiao to her senses.

That was right.

All the embarrassing missions issued by the system were, at their core, intimate interactions between couples. If she simply started dating Shao Enci, wouldn't every mission after that be as easy as lifting a hand?

She immediately asked the system in her mind, 037, can I take the initiative and start dating Shao Enci?

037 replied mercilessly: [No. Mandatory system rule: the host must complete a cumulative total of at least 50 designated missions before unlocking the permission to ask him out.]

Lu Xiaoxiao immediately wilted.

Sure enough, there were no free shortcuts in this world.

She avoided the boy's scrutinizing gaze, and her eyes darted as she began playing a word game, her face unflushed and her heart steady. "You're my 'boy' friend."

A male friend was a boy friend too.

The simple verbal trap made the boy in front of her stiffen slightly.

Shao Enci's eyes flickered abruptly, an inexplicable ripple stirring in his heart. He lowered his gaze to the girl's profile as she pretended to be calm, images from the past three years flashing through his mind.

The Lu Xiaoxiao of the past had been proud and prickly, always giving him the cold shoulder whenever she saw him. Let alone showing weakness or acting coquettish, she couldn't even speak to him properly.

But over the past few days, she had been unusually different to an absurd degree.

Her little switch in meanings just now had left him inexplicably irritated. A moment later, his eyes, once as bright as stars, suddenly darkened, his expression unreadable.

He neither exposed her wordplay nor pressed her further.

He only raised his hand tentatively, placed his palm over her soft lower abdomen, and asked, "Does it hurt here?"

The warm touch seeped through the thin fabric, instantly easing more than half of the dull, dragging pain.

It was the first time someone of the opposite sex had touched such a private part of Lu Xiaoxiao's body, and her cheeks flushed despite herself. She bit her lower lip tightly and spoke in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "Right there... It'll feel much better if you rub it gently."

Shao Enci watched the girl's shy expression with a languid look, easing the pressure of his fingertips. Then his lips curved slightly, and he patiently rubbed her lower abdomen.

037: [Congratulations to Xiaoxiao on completing mission 7.]

As the system notification ended, before Lu Xiaoxiao could calm her racing heart, 037's new mission followed on its heels: [Issuing mission 8: say to your archenemy in a coquettish voice, "Hubby, that feels so good." Countdown: 4 minutes 59 seconds.]

Lu Xiaoxiao: "..."

She really wanted to drop dead on the spot.

Embarrassment swept over her. Staring at the boy's sharply defined profile, Lu Xiaoxiao stiffly pitched her voice higher, her soft tone deliberately flirtatious. "Hubby... that feels so good..."

The girl's coquettish voice made Shao Enci's scalp tingle. His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately pulled his hand away from her lower abdomen, his fingertips curling involuntarily. His expression grew serious. "Lu Xiaoxiao, something's been very wrong with you lately."

"It's like you've become a different person." His deep eyes fixed on hers, trying to find a flaw in her expression.

Lu Xiaoxiao pressed her lips together and breathed slowly, so mortified she could have dug into the floor with her toes.

At that moment, 037's punch-worthy notification sounded: [Congratulations to Xiaoxiao on completing mission 8.]

Her rigid body finally relaxed.

Across from her, Shao Enci was still staring at her without blinking, quietly waiting for an explanation.

The atmosphere had grown unbearably tense.

Lu Xiaoxiao lowered her eyes and asked in return, "If someone else's soul had transmigrated into my body, shouldn't you be happy?"

At least he'd have one fewer archenemy constantly crossing swords with him.

Shao Enci looked away from her, his gaze unexpectedly drawn to the pink carousel music box on the upper right corner of the bookshelf. He raised his eyes for a closer look, and his heart abruptly clenched.

It was the birthday gift he had given her during the summer after their first year of high school. She had once thrown it into a nearby trash can right in front of him.

Following his gaze, Lu Xiaoxiao saw a row of exquisite birthday gifts on the bookshelf, all from her classmates. She was popular no matter which school she attended.

She leaned to the side, and her gaze fell on the familiar pink music box. Her eyes widened, and she sat up in a panic.

It was the birthday gift Shao Enci had given her during the summer after their first year of high school.

That day, Lu Xiaoxiao had just turned sixteen. When she came out of the hotel after her birthday party, she saw the boy in a white shirt, standing under the blazing sun with a gift in his hands.

The strands of hair at his temples were damp with sweat. Clearly, he had been standing outside for a long time.

That was the year Lu Xiaoxiao's prejudice against him had been at its worst. She crossed her arms and frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Happy birthday, Lu Xiaoxiao." The boy held the exquisitely wrapped gift box out to her.

She didn't take it. Instead, she lifted her chin and said disdainfully, "We're not friends. I don't need this gift."

The boy had his pride too. He stuffed the gift into her arms and said indifferently, "If you don't want it, you can just throw it away."

So she took the gift and tossed it into the trash without hesitation, then turned and left without sparing him another glance.

That scorching summer left another scar on the boy's heart, one that could never heal.

But more than three years later, that scar could finally scab over on its own.