In the kitchen, the baked cake layers gave off a warm, sweet fragrance.
The fluttering excitement from the room had yet to subside completely. Chen Shi'an could almost still feel the delicate heat of the girl's cheek against his lips.
He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and began preparing the cream and fruit for the cake.
An extremely faint rustling suddenly came from the doorway.
He turned slightly and caught a glimpse of a figure by the kitchen door out of the corner of his eye.
Lin Meng Qiu had slipped out at some point. She neither spoke nor came inside, merely holding Chen Shi'an's buckwheat pillow quietly in her arms.
She held the pillow rather high, almost burying most of her face in it. She looked just like a kitten that had stolen some dried fish and was afraid of being discovered, hugging her favorite toy as she secretly watched from a safe distance. Only her large, glistening eyes showed, fixed unblinkingly on his busy figure.
Perhaps it was a lingering effect of that kiss.
The Class Monitor was being almost excessively quiet and well-behaved.
Her cheeks were still flushed, and her pupils trembled with thoughts he couldn't guess. Occasionally, she would secretly raise a hand to touch the spot on her cheek Chen Shi'an had just kissed. Shyness, bewilderment, and a trace of unconcealable, sweet delight mingled in her eyes. She looked utterly dazed, her brain still on standby after overloading, as though she hadn't recovered at all.
Noticing Chen Shi'an looking her way, she quietly slipped entirely behind the door.
Once Chen Shi'an looked away, she silently poked her head around the doorframe again.
Chen Shi'an: "..."
Wait, why do you look so afraid I'll keep being a creep?!
Seeing the Class Monitor like this made