Chapter 22: A Touch Too Close

Later that week, Shen Yu found himself working late in the student council room. The others had already left, but Lu Zhixuan remained, claiming he had paperwork to finish. Shen Yu suspected otherwise.

The soft rustle of papers filled the room, along with the quiet scratching of pens against paper. The atmosphere should have been peaceful, but there was an underlying tension—one Shen Yu was desperately trying to ignore.

He kept his head down, pretending to focus on the stack of forms in front of him. Yet, every time he looked up, Lu Zhixuan's sharp gaze was on him, his smirk unreadable.

"You're distracted," Lu Zhixuan remarked, his voice smooth as he leaned back in his chair.

"No, I'm not," Shen Yu muttered, flipping a page a little too aggressively.

Lu Zhixuan didn't look convinced. Instead, he stood up and strode toward Shen Yu's desk, his footsteps slow and deliberate. Before Shen Yu could protest, Lu Zhixuan leaned over him, one hand braced on the table, the other reaching for a paper near Shen Yu's arm.

The sudden proximity made Shen Yu's breath hitch.

His senses sharpened—he could feel the warmth of Lu Zhixuan's presence, the faint scent of fresh pine and ink lingering around him. The desk, which had felt spacious moments ago, now felt impossibly small.

Then, Lu Zhixuan's fingers brushed against his own.

Shen Yu tensed. It was barely a touch, a fleeting graze of skin, but it sent an unexplainable shiver up his spine.

"W-What are you doing?" he stammered, cursing himself for how unsteady his voice sounded.

Lu Zhixuan didn't move away. If anything, he leaned in slightly, his breath warm against Shen Yu's ear. "Just testing something," he murmured.

Shen Yu's pulse skyrocketed. "T-Testing what?!"

Lu Zhixuan smirked, his dark eyes gleaming with amusement. But instead of answering, he straightened and walked away, the warmth of his presence vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

Shen Yu remained frozen, gripping the edge of the desk as if it could ground him. His heart was beating way too fast, and he had no idea why.

This wasn't in the original plot.

And yet, for some reason, it felt dangerously real.