The only person he could blame was himself. It was nighttime, and the motion-sensor light in the hallway outside his rented apartment was dim. He'd been standing off to the side, watching the drama unfold, and hadn't realized right away that the two girls fighting were none other than his other two targets.
Wen Nan first looked at the student on his left. She'd just been through an intense "battle," and her long hair was a mess, covering half her face. Even so, her delicate features were unmistakable, and her fair, smooth skin made her a textbook beauty in the making.
Her school uniform was rumpled, too. She pressed her lips together and looked at Wen Nan with reddened eyes, like a lop-eared rabbit desperate for her owner's comfort.
[Name: Wang Jialing (Lingling)]
[Identity: Girl Next Door You Watched Grow Up]
[Background: Lingling was the niece of your college roommate, Old Wang, who slept in the bunk next to yours.
You and Old Wang had become close friends in your first year of college. You were both from the same city, and one winter break, you traveled home together. Old Wang took you to visit his family, where you met Wang Jialing, who was twelve at the time and had just started middle school.
She was only six years younger than you, but she called you "Uncle Nine" because of the difference in your seniority. You'd teased her into calling you that, and after the first time, she never called you anything else.
Back then, Wang Jialing was still a little girl with her hair in two braids. In your eyes, she was a quiet, well-behaved younger relative.
But to young Wang Jialing, you, fresh into college and in the prime of your youth, seemed to glow. Every gesture and