There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 17.2

Gao Hao was stunned.

This was completely different from the panicked reaction he had imagined Qin Ke would have!

What Gao Hao didn’t see was that in the moment she turned away, the girl took a phone from the outer pocket of her coat, which was hidden from his view.

…

Meanwhile.

In another corner of the military training base, outside the group office.

Gu Xinqing took a deep breath and nervously knocked on the door in front of her.

“Come in.”

Wu Qingyue’s calm voice came from inside.

“Teacher Wu.”

Wu Qingyue looked up from his desk and was taken aback, “You are… Oh, Qin Ke’s classmate, right?” He put down his pen. “Is there something you need?”

“Teacher Wu, Qin Ke hasn’t returned to the dormitory tonight. I lent her my phone and can’t reach her, so I’m very worried.”

“Hmm? She hasn’t returned to the dormitory?”

“That’s right.” Gu Xinqing nervously clenched her hands, “She mentioned coming to see you to consult about some academic issues, so I came to see if she’s here…”

Wu Qingyue’s expression grew slightly serious.

“Qin Ke hasn’t come tonight.”

“Ah?… Then where could she have gone?” Gu Xinqing muttered to herself, then looked at Wu Qingyue, “Teacher Wu, could I borrow your phone to call mine and see if I can reach Ke Ke?”

“Of course.”

Wu Qingyue handed her the phone.

“Thank you, teacher.”

Gu Xinqing took the phone and began dialing, but after a few attempts, it seemed that none of the calls went through.

As Wu Qingyue couldn’t contain his worry and stood up, Gu Xinqing exclaimed with surprise.

“It’s connected!”

“…”

Wu Qingyue paused, relieved, with a look of comfort on his face.

However, after a moment, Gu Xinqing’s surprise was quickly replaced by confusion.

She looked at Wu Qingyue.

“Teacher, something seems off on the other end of the line.”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

Wu Qingyue’s expression turned serious.

Gu Xinqing hesitated, then turned on the speakerphone.

A voice came through the phone’s speaker…

The bulletin board group’s tool room.

After Qin Ke sat down at the table, she didn’t speak a word.

And because of her overly calm reaction, Gao Hao was at a loss and remained silent as well, making the room awkwardly quiet.

After a minute, Gao Hao couldn’t hold back anymore.

He cleared his throat, “Junior sister Qin, you…”

“Senior, come sit down.”

The girl suddenly spoke, cutting off his words.

Gao Hao was stunned.

A few seconds later, he was overjoyed—Qin Yan was indeed right, Qin Ke clearly had some interest in him.

Suppressing his excitement, Gao Hao quickly walked to the table and sat down beside the girl.

“Am I sitting too close?”

He asked insincerely after sitting down, pretending to lift himself slightly.

Qin Ke didn’t look at him, her expression calm.

“It’s fine.”

“…”

Joy lit up in Gao Hao’s eyes.

He was about to find a topic to get closer, but suddenly heard the girl speak beside him.

Unlike any previous time, her voice this time carried an undisguised chill—

“Tonight, Senior, you tricked me into coming here, didn’t you?”

“——!”

Like a bucket of cold water poured over him, Gao Hao’s excitement and eagerness were instantly extinguished.

He looked at Qin Ke in panic, then after a while, forced out an awkward smile, “Qin… Qin Ke, what are you talking about? Didn’t you see, I, just like you, got locked in here?”

Qin Ke remained calm, her gaze turning cold.

“I did see, so since I came in, I’ve been thinking.”

“Thinking… about what?”

“I’m thinking about why the person who locked us in here would do this.”

“…”

Gao Hao’s eyes flickered, and he awkwardly avoided the girl’s gaze.

Meanwhile, Qin Ke’s voice remained as calm as ever.

“While we’re still talking inside this room, it’s impossible for someone outside to accidentally lock the door. So, it can only be deliberate.”

Gao Hao laughed awkwardly, “Yeah, I wonder who would go this far…”

Qin Ke glanced at him lightly.

“If someone wanted to lock Senior, they had plenty of opportunities in the long time before I arrived but didn’t take action. And if they wanted to lock me, even if I offended someone in the Literature and Art Department, I think they wouldn’t dare to lock you in without letting you know first, right?”

Qin Ke’s lips curved slightly, revealing an extremely faint smile—a smile that was still beautiful and harmless, yet it chilled Gao Hao’s heart suddenly.

He opened his mouth to explain something but found that the girl’s words left no room for him to maneuver.

Gao Hao gritted his teeth in frustration.

——

Qin Yan said Qin Ke was naive and ignorant?

As far as he could see, Qin Yan was clearly much dumber than Qin Ke!

“Junior sister Qin, please don’t misunderstand, I…”

“I just want to know now.”

Qin Ke’s brows furrowed, interrupting Gao Hao.

“Senior Gao Hao, in the middle of the night, you arranged for someone to lock both you and me in this isolated room—what exactly do you want to do?”

She took a deep breath, her voice showing obvious tremors—

“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll tell the teacher tomorrow?”

Gao Hao was startled.

He quickly forced a smile, “Qin Ke, I didn’t mean anything else, really! And this… this wasn’t my plan at all! It was Qin Yan! Your sister Qin Yan contacted me last night—you can check my phone, there’s our call history! She taught me all this—she said you liked me, so she wanted to give you an opportunity, to help us get together!”

Qin Ke’s face darkened.

After a long time, she spoke with a hoarse voice, “Help me?”

There was a trembling irony and sadness in the girl’s voice.

“How is this helping me? Accusing me of liking you, locking you and me in a room together, having everyone from the bulletin board group see us alone overnight, and spreading rumors all over the school within a day—how is this helping me?”

Qin Ke stood up abruptly, her voice almost trembling.

“She clearly wants to ruin me!”

Gao Hao shuddered.

Upon Qin Ke’s reminder, he suddenly realized the true purpose behind Qin Yan’s actions—Qin Ke was right, Qin Yan clearly wanted to use him to ruin Qin Ke.

Gao Hao’s face immediately darkened.

“This crazy woman, just because I stopped pursuing her… she wants to retaliate like this…”

Qin Ke didn’t care about Gao Hao’s neurotic muttering.

While he wasn’t paying attention, she hung up the call on her phone, which was sandwiched between the designs for the bulletin board, and quickly slipped it into her pocket.

After doing all this, the panic and sadness in the girl’s eyes faded like a receding tide.

Gao Hao’s attention finally returned.

He looked at the girl in the room, his gaze flickering uncertainly, tracing her figure little by little.

At such a young age, she was like a flower, tender, beautiful, and yet to bloom. The girl had features far more attractive than her peers, and every inch of her skin under the room’s light appeared even whiter, more delicate, and fragile.

——

Such a beautiful girl, yet she said she didn’t like him.