Who is stalking who?

"Guo Shen…" Xu Jiao whispered, her voice barely above a whisper. The young man was nonchalantly leaning against the entrance of the pavilion with his arms crossed over his chest; the whole person gave off an air of a big cat found in the depths of Sub-Saharan forests, lazily sunning in some wild meadow.

Snapping out of her daze hearing a deep-throated chuckle that not only resonated in the air but also rang pleasantly inside her ears, Xu Jiao looked up to see amusement playing across the other's chiseled features. She could already feel the heat crawl up her neck all the way to the top of her head within mere seconds and her embarrassment only increased further when the devil incarnate in front of her raised one eyebrow of perfect thickness in derisive amusement.

[I-I-I must look red like a cooked lobster now, r-right?]

[No, wait…. Which has a higher possibility of being true? Is it that I find a man's eyebrows look sexy or⎯or that I might actually be crazy?]

For some reason or other, even though she felt so embarrassed and flustered to such extents that she felt like wishing the earth would open up and swallow her whole, Xu Jiao still couldn't drag her gaze away from the other's eyes that looked to be smiling but also seemed to have a slight coldness in their depths. But that chill disappeared in a flash that made her think that maybe she imagined it amidst her fluster?

"We meet again…" Guo Shen finally drawled -yes, he drawled, like literally- still keeping eye contact with her, which made her quite breathless, to be honest.

[That voice is not helping things either…] Xu Jiao thought rather feverishly, watching the man slowly prowl his way over to her, each footstep measured and firm. And then, he just as purposefully turned to the side and went over to a chair to the left of where she was sitting, and sprawled his tall frame over it.

Xu Jiao⎯ Xu Jiao simply fell speechless. Even without turning her head, she could already envision the smirk that might already be gracing those perfect pair of lip⎯ nonono… Wait! What is she even thinking? That's not the point here, right? Could it be that she's really going nuts after all?

[This damn brat! He-he… he did it on purpose!]

"By any chance… are you…"

"A-am I⎯" Xu Jiao coughed to clear her suddenly parched throat. "Am I what?"

Guo Shen paused for a few seconds before answering, enjoying the way this little girl perked up her ears within the rather flagrant pause, impatience evident on her face while waiting for him to answer.

"Are you perhaps…" another pause, which succeeded in making Xu Jiao even more jittery, which was probably what this bastard was hoping for as well. "Stalking me?"

And then Guo Shen fell silent, relishing the way how the other's expression first looked confused, then shocked which turned into horror, and finally ended up with anger and disbelief. The play of emotions across her tiny face looked so vivid and colorful, and he felt something akin to amusement filling his heart, which by itself is quite surprising since it had been quite some time since he felt such a…

[She has such an expressive face. It's really… eye-catching.]

"I'm not… Why should I stalk you?" Xu Jiao laughed angrily, still in disbelief over this jerk's narcissistic attitude. "I mean… why? Why should I even stalk You?"

[Who does he think he is!?]

"One time can be a coincidence. Let's just say that the second time is also by⎯ chance? But can you even consider that to be by coincidence if the same thing happened for a third time?"

"Huh?"

"Us meeting of course… like this"

"What!?"

"I have this vague suspicion… That day did you really faint, or…" Xu Jiao suddenly felt like she couldn't let this guy mouth off as he wished, or the next thing coming out of those lips would be even more outrageous. She was sure of it, but,

"Or? Or what?" Her heart was complaining but her mouth had other ideas, it seemed.

"Or you faked it?"

"..." She knew the other was trying to goad her and she also knew that the other knew he succeeded in his endeavor just by seeing that satisfied expression on his face which looked like a cat who ate the canary, but she just couldn't help it.

The anger that burned in her chest seemed to consume her whole self so much so that she even forgot her previous embarrassment and fluster. Or was it her embarrassment that made her angry in the first place? Honestly, she didn't know if it was because of that, and she didn't pause to ponder on this matter any further as well. Anyway, wasn't it her who ate such a huge loss on that day when she was brought to the medical center by this guy? Why is he the one making a fuss now?

Xu Jiao pounced toward Guo Shen, all her embarrassment, timidity, fear, and all sorts of other such emotions and whatnot forgotten, and the only goal in her mind being her intent on giving a piece of her mind to this extremely obnoxious male creature.

Guo Shen stared in wonderment at the short form of the girl who was now pointing at his chest, no⎯ she was actually using one slender finger to poke it, and blaming and questioning him, while her pale, glass-like brown eyes flashed in their fury.

"How dare you say something-something like that!? Hah? I mean… I should be the one asking why you're stalking me?"

"Stalking? Me stalking you?" Disbelief could be seen all over the other's face, which somehow grated on Xu Jiao's pride more than that particular accusation about stalking.

"That's right you little brat!! Doesn't it look like you're stalking me, ah? Such a big campus, and you decide to drag yourself over here of all places?!" And seeing the slack-jawed expression on the other's face after she said this, she could feel a sense of fierce satisfaction filling her heart.

"Did-did you just call me a little brat?" Hearing the hesitation mixed in with disbelief in the voice of the male standing in front of her, Xu Jiao grew even bolder.

[It feels so good to see that smirk wiped out of his face!]

"That's right! I did!"

"..."

"What? What now? Got nothing to say, hah? Cat got yo-"

Xu Jiao froze mid-tirade, her eyes wide as she stared at her index finger caught in between the firm grasp of a hand with distinct knuckles and long, artistic fingers which felt slightly rough to the touch.

"Hmm?"

"..."

"I'm waiting… Please continue."

As if she was electrocuted, Xu Jiao dragged her finger out of Guo Shen's grasp and stared wordlessly up at the handsome face which had recovered its habitual smirk.

[What- what did I just do? Was I out of my mind?!]

Face paling slightly, she groped her way to a chair and sat down, all the while aware of the pair of eyes watching her intently. She, Xu Jiao, who had lived two lifetimes had lost all her face today, fighting in such a senseless manner with this man, who's technically much younger than her when comparing their mental ages. Could it be that she woke up in this younger body, and somehow even her mental state regressed from what it was before?

"Oi…"

Hearing the signs of laughter in the other's voice, Xu Jiao silently covered her face, in no mood to appreciate the humor of the situation. Really, why had she acted like that? She knew very clearly in her heart that it was most likely that this guy was teasing her given his personality, so why had she got so angry?

She really can't be this type of immature and loggerheaded female, no?

"I-uh… I'm⎯ I didn't mean⎯"

Seeing Guo Shen raise an eyebrow without saying anything, Xu Jiao finally blurted out her words in a rush.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk to you like that… I'm usually not like thi- I mean, I'm not feeling well today and-and I don't like it when others disturb me when I write⎯"

[Crap! I now said it…]

[Doesn't matter! Cat is already outta the bag... And it's not like he'll know what I write ne!]

"Anyway… It's a mistake so… senior, please be magnanimous and let this pass."

Xu Jiao tried to look as innocent and pleading and remorseful as much as possible while crossing her fingers underneath the table. She really couldn't afford to provoke this black devil, even though it was this person who goaded her in the first place.

Although- although what he said about her stalking him, if considered from an outsider's view can still be considered as something that had a slight probability of happening, what are the odds of this guy stalking her being true? So- so in that way, she's in the wrong, right?

Being too inflexible can invite a lot of trouble. Her goal is to live well so, why should she bother about this little bit of pride?

[Anyway, a real and talented man⎯ I mean a woman… they should know when to bend and when to stretch ne!]

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A/N:

Finally, the long-awaited, (proper) interaction between these two! Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. ≥∇≤

You can of course have more of this in the future, so don't forget to support my work by adding it to your library and commenting on what you think of it *wink*