My Parents Were Not at Home on the Weekend

The late September sun was viciously hot.

Under the basketball hoop on the field, Zhu Jianming held a basketball, striking a "lonely master" pose. Sweat dripped down his gelled hair, stinging his eyes as it flowed in.

He checked his watch again.

Twelve forty.

Aside from a few passing students looking at him like he was an idiot, there wasn't even a bird on the field.

Meanwhile, on the second floor of the cafeteria.

Chen Zhi was unhurriedly eating the cafeteria's "pig slop."

"Class rep, aren't you going?" A boy from the front desk walked by with his tray, looking gossipy. "I saw Zhu Jianming baking out there for half an hour. His face is the color of pig liver."

"Go do what?" Chen Zhi spit a bone onto his tray and wiped his mouth with a tissue. "If I don't go, he's an idiot; if I go, then we're both idiots. So as not to drag down our class's average IQ, I've decided to sacrifice myself and let him shine alone."

A few students around them couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.

That day, Zhu Jianming not only failed to wait for Chen Zhi, but was also carried into the infirmary by the school doctor due to heatstroke. Rumor had it he was still muttering, "Chen Zhi, you have no martial virtue."

...

Friday after school.

The setting sun dyed the classroom orange-red, and everyone was packing their bags to welcome a beautiful weekend.

Only Lin Wanwan was slumped over her desk, sighing heavily at a math test paper, looking as if she wanted to stare a hole through it.

"What's wrong? Does the great Miss Lin also have worries?" Chen Zhi, carrying his shoulder bag, paused as he passed her seat and casually flicked a stray strand of hair sticking up on her head.

"Don't bring it up." Lin Wanwan buried her face in her arms, her voice muffled. "Middle school math is way too hard. Who even invented this? Are we really going to use this stuff in the future?"

She looked up, staring pitifully at Chen Zhi. Her big eyes seemed to speak: "Brother Chen Zhi~ You're the best~"

Chen Zhi felt a chill and rubbed the goosebumps on his arms. "Be normal. Just say what you want."

"I want you to tutor me." Lin Wanwan clasped her hands together and blinked her eyes. "Look, you're a math genius now. You can solve geometry problems in three different ways. Please save this poor child!"

Chen Zhi was just about to refuse and say he wanted to sleep at home over the weekend.

Lin Wanwan leaned in closer, lowered her voice, and said sneakily, "My parents are going to a neighboring city for a wedding this weekend. No one will be home tomorrow."

After saying that, she even raised an eyebrow at Chen Zhi. No matter how you looked at it, her expression seemed like she was trying to abduct an innocent boy.

Chen Zhi looked at her sly little appearance and found it funny.

"Fine." He sighed, pretending to be very reluctant. "For the sake of you calling me brother, tomorrow morning at nine. Don't be late."

"Yay! Chen Zhi, you're the best!" Lin Wanwan instantly revived. She grabbed her schoolbag and rushed out. "Then I'll go home and prepare snacks!"

...

Saturday morning.

Chen Zhi rang the doorbell at Lin Wanwan's house.

The door opened quickly.

Lin Wanwan had obviously just woken up not long ago. She was wearing a loose, pale yellow loungewear set. The neckline was a bit wide, revealing her delicate, fair collarbones.

Her hair wasn't tied in a ponytail like usual, but casually pinned up in a bun. A few loose strands hung by her ears. She lacked her usual flamboyance and had a bit more of a lazy, cute charm.

"So punctual." Lin Wanwan yawned, stepped aside to make way, and casually handed Chen Zhi a pair of men's slippers.

Chen Zhi changed his shoes and walked into the living room.

The Lin family was very rich, but the decoration was cozy, not overly luxurious like a nouveau riche household.

A faint scent of jasmine filled the air. It was hard to tell if it was air freshener or the scent of Lin Wanwan's body wash.

"My room or the living room?" Lin Wanwan took a bottle of cola from the fridge and handed it to him.

"Living room." Chen Zhi glanced at her bedroom door, which didn't look very tidy. "I'm afraid if I go into your room, it'll be so messy I won't have a place to step."

"Tch, my room is very neat, okay!" Lin Wanwan rolled her eyes, but still obediently moved her books to the coffee table in the living room.

The tutoring began.

The two sat side by side on the carpet, separated by a low table.

"For this problem, let X be..." Chen Zhi held a pen and drew diagrams on the scratch paper, explaining very seriously.

But he soon noticed that the person next to him wasn't making a sound.

Turning his head, he saw Lin Wanwan resting her chin on one hand. Her big, watery eyes were staring unblinkingly at his profile, a silly smile hanging on her lips.

"Lin Wanwan." Chen Zhi put down his pen and looked at her helplessly. "Can you see the answer by looking at me? Do I look like an answer key or a formula?"

"Hehe, just looking because you're handsome." Lin Wanwan had no awareness of being caught at all. Instead, she leaned in closer, her nose almost touching Chen Zhi's shoulder. "Chen Zhi, how come I never noticed before that your eyelashes are so long?"

The distance between them was extremely close.

Chen Zhi could even see the fine peach fuzz on her face and her slightly trembling eyelashes as she leaned in.

The sweet scent of the young girl drilled straight into his nose, tickling his heart.

"Be serious." Chen Zhi put on a stern face, took the cap of his ballpoint pen, and lightly tapped her smooth forehead. "Do the problems."

"Ouch!" Lin Wanwan exaggeratedly covered her forehead, complaining with teary eyes. "It hurts! Chen Zhi, are you committing domestic violence?! You knocked me silly!"

"Then you're doomed. You weren't smart to begin with."

Chen Zhi had a sharp tongue, but his hand honestly reached over and gently rubbed the spot he had just tapped.

As his fingertips touched her warm, delicate skin, both of their movements stiffened for a moment.

Lin Wanwan stopped talking. Two red clouds flew onto her cheeks, and she obediently lowered her head to start calculating the problems.

The living room quieted down, with only the rustling sound of the pen tip scratching across the paper and the sound of their intertwined breathing.

This atmosphere was a bit too ambiguous.

After studying for an hour, Lin Wanwan started rolling around on the sofa, throwing a tantrum.

"I can't take it anymore, my brain is going to explode! I want to rest! I want to play games!"

She threw her pen aside, dug out two controllers from under the TV cabinet, and forced one onto Chen Zhi. "Play a round of King of Fighters with me. If I win, I'll keep studying!"

Lin Wanwan's dad was clearly a veteran gamer too, having not only the latest PS4 but also a whole set of games.

From a pile of games, Lin Wanwan found the most classic King of Fighters '97 remake.

Chen Zhi was helpless and could only humor her.

However, Lin Wanwan's gaming skills were as touching as her math grades.

In less than three minutes, her character was pinned to the ground and crushed by Chen Zhi, with no power to fight back.

"Ahhh! Why didn't you go easy on me! I don't care, you can't play Orochi, you can't play Iori Yagami, you can't play Chizuru. Anyway, you can't play anyone strong." Lin Wanwan was exasperated, looking at the big "KO" on the screen, her mindset completely collapsed.

"Then let's just declare you the winner. In esports, being a noob is the original sin." Chen Zhi calmly put down his controller, picked up his cola, and took a sip.

"You're the noob! Your whole family are noobs!"

Flustered and enraged, Lin Wanwan threw down her controller and pounced like a little tiger, wrapping her arms around Chen Zhi's neck in an attempt to exact her revenge with a chokehold.

"Do you yield?! Hurry up and admit I'm the best!" she demanded, hanging off Chen Zhi's back and baring her claws.

"Stop messing around, that tickles," Chen Zhi laughed, reaching up to catch her hands.

The two of them wrestled together on the sofa.

Just then, Lin Wanwan's foot slipped. Losing her balance entirely, she brought Chen Zhi down with her as they both collapsed onto the large fabric sofa.

A muffled thud echoed.

The world fell silent.

Chen Zhi lay flat on his back on the sofa, with Lin Wanwan sprawled directly on top of him. Their position was incredibly compromising.

Lin Wanwan's hair had come loose, a few strands falling across Chen Zhi's face and tickling his skin. Her face was as red as a ripe apple, her breathing was shallow and quick, and her panicked eyes were mere inches above his.

Chen Zhi could clearly feel the soft sensation pressing against him, along with the violent pounding of a heartbeat, though he couldn't tell if it was hers or his own.

Time seemed to freeze in that very moment.

Just as the two were staring wide-eyed at each other, the atmosphere hurtling wildly in a highly suggestive direction...

Click.

The sound of the front door unlocking rang out abruptly.

Immediately after, the heavy door was pushed open.

"Oh my, the wedding was really lovely this time, and the bride..."

Lin Wanwan's mother, Lin Jing, walked in carrying bags of all sizes, the smile from her unfinished sentence still hanging on her face.

Following right behind her was Lin Wanwan's perpetually stern father, Lin Shuxian.

The older couple's voices came to a dead halt.

The air by the doorway instantly froze.

Four pairs of eyes locked in the living room, completing the staring contest of the century.