She gritted her teeth and lowered her voice: "Duan Shuce!"
"Here." He smiled harmlessly, but quietly hooked her canvas shoes with his toes under the table.
Ning Xiwan retracted her feet as if she had been electrocuted, and the tips of her ears turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
She grabbed her pencil case and pretended to smash it. Duan Shuce immediately raised his hands in surrender, but when she lowered her head, he used the same trick again.
Five minutes later—
"Wanwan." Duan Shuce called her in a low voice.
Ning Xiwan didn't even raise her head: "Speak."
"I don't know how to do this." He pushed over a piece of paper with a crooked supply and demand curve drawn on it.
Ning Xiwan stared at the paper for three seconds, then slowly raised her head: "You're a computer science major, and you're asking me about microeconomics?"
Duan Shuce blinked, his thick eyelashes casting fan-shaped shadows under his eyes: "Interdisciplinary communication."
Ning Xiwan took a deep breath and took the draft paper. As the sunlight shone on the paper, she suddenly noticed a small heart drawn next to the curved line.
She looked up suddenly and was faced with Duan Shuce's triumphant smile - when he smiled, there was a faint dimple on the right side of his cheek, and his eyes were filled with the pride of having pulled off a successful prank.
"Duan Shuce," she said, emphasizing each word, "you got a perfect score in math on the college entrance exam."
"But I just don't know how to do this." He drew out his tone, his fingers quietly climbing up the table and moving slowly towards her hand.
Ning Xiwan couldn't stand it any longer, so she grabbed the "Introduction to Algorithms" and slapped it on his hand, making a crisp "snap" sound.
A girl in the distance looked over in surprise, then turned back with a red face.
"Your junior is looking at you." Ning Xiwan lowered her voice.
Duan Shuce turned around and smiled at the girl, who then lowered her head in panic.
He turned back and leaned close to Ning Xiwan's ear: "She is clearly looking at us."
Warm breath sprayed on her ear. "Do you think they are wondering why the most beautiful girl in the Department of Economics and Management is so obsessed with a freshman?"
Ning Xiwan's earlobes were red enough to drip blood. She slammed her computer shut and said, "I'm going to return the book."
Duan Shuce immediately stood up and followed, grabbing her wrist in the shadow between the bookshelves.
In the dim light, his eyes were surprisingly bright: "Are you angry?"
Ning Xiwan turned her face away from him, but he pinched her chin and turned her back.
He gently stroked her lower lip with his thumb and said in a low voice, "You've been biting your lip all afternoon. It's all red here."
Suddenly, footsteps were heard behind the bookshelf. Ning Xiwan pushed him away in panic, but he hugged her waist and turned her around, hiding behind the innermost bookshelf.
Duan Shuce rested one hand on the bookshelf next to her ear, and with the other hand, he raised the index finger in front of his lips, making a "hush" gesture.
Their shadows overlapped on the bookshelf, approaching and then receding with their footsteps. Ning Xiwan could smell the faint scent of cedar on him, mixed with the smell of sun-dried cotton.
His Adam's apple was close at hand, rolling gently with his breathing.
"Duan Shuce," she whispered, "this is the library."
"I know." He lowered his head and brushed his nose against hers. "So you have to be quiet."
The last word died between their lips. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the bookshelves, casting dappled shadows on them like a secret carnival.
In the distance, the abandoned copy of "Introduction to Algorithms" lay quietly in the sunlight, with a line of small words written on the title page: "To me who is always distracted, and to you who distracts me."
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