Give Me Another Smile

/h12>

“Big Brother!” Fang Ling immediately grew unhappy and glared at her elder brother when she heard the other party's comment about her.

Yin Zhao-an was used to “solving violence with violence.” This was the first…no, the second time she had met such a polite and gentle person, with the first being Zhao Yu, so she didn't really know how to handle such people.

“Hello,” Yin Zhao-an responded with a curt greeting.
Then, she pointed at Tang Yu with one hand and a certain direction with her other hand, saying, “This is my big sister, and we live close to each other.
I can send her home, so…”

Fang Lang responded with a dragged-out “Oh” to Yin Zhao-an's introduction.
Then, he said, “I'll take my sister with me, then.
Goodbye.”

Yin Zhao-an nodded, deliberately ignoring Fang Ling's begrudging stare.

After the Fang siblings left, Yin Zhao-an was startled to realize that Tang Yu had remained silent all this time.
Immediately, she couldn't help but wonder if she had angered her Tang-Tang.

In reality, though, Tang Yu wasn't angry at Yin Zhao-an.
She was just mildly troubled by the current situation.
According to her original plan, she would continue spending more time with Fang Ling to naturally avoid a certain someone.

Yet, now, that certain someone had chased Fang Ling away!

It was a truly troublesome situation…

“…Should we go home?” Yin Zhao-an tentatively asked.

Tang Yu quietly rolled her eyes.
If not home, where would they go?

Tang Yu felt extremely uncomfortable throughout the journey home.
She felt like superglue was applied to the hand holding her.
The more she struggled to break free, the more tightly the grip over her hand became.

“Tang-Tang.”

“Uh… Hm?” Tang Yu responded in a slightly startled manner.

Frowning slightly, Yin Zhao-an asked, “Are you…unhappy?”

Tang Yu churned her brain, trying to understand Yin Zhao-an's question.
What exactly was Yin Zhao-an trying to ask? Was she asking about the present?

“E-Everything's fine…” Tang Yu answered, ultimately choosing to go with a response that was equally vague as Yin Zhao-an's question.

Yin Zhao-an's expression darkened, inwardly writing off Tang Yu's answer as a lie.
After all, she had read that book already.

[I know there is someone who likes me, but I seem to lack the ability to love others.]

Tang Yu naturally wouldn't know that Yin Zhao-an had secretly switched their respective copies of No Longer Human when they were having their meal together.

Tang Yu's copy of the book had many sections marked and underlined with black ink.
However, one particular sentence in the book was marked with red ink.

What was her Tang-Tang trying to express? Was she asking for help?

Yin Zhao-an wasn't knowledgeable in psychology.
She also didn't know how psychology would analyze Tang Yu's personality.
However, the things she managed to gather from Tang Yu's copy of the book were already enough to scare her.

What exactly was her Tang-Tang afraid of?

“So long as you wish for it, I won't refuse any request from you,” Yin Zhao-an said out of nowhere.