Back at school, Lilian nervously dove into her thesis preparation. As soon as it hit nine, she joined her classmates to meet with their advisor and discuss revisions. By the time she returned to the dorm, it was already late.
Her phone had been on silent during the meeting, so when she finally checked it, she saw several missed calls — all from Morrison.
Quickly, she called him back.
"Mr. Morrison, did you need something?"
His voice on the other end was lazy and teasing.
"Can't I just call you for no reason?"
Lilian blushed a little.
"I didn't mean it like that. I just had my phone on silent during the meeting… I saw you called a few times…"
She wanted to explain that she noticed his calls and worried he might need her.
He chuckled softly.
"I wasn't calling for anything important. Just wanted to check if you made it back okay."
"Oh, yeah, I'm back in the dorm, just about to wash up and go to bed."
Lilian answered honestly. He replied with a simple,
"Alright then, sleep well. Good night."
"Good night."
After saying goodbye, Lilian quickly hung up.
After hanging up, Lilian pressed her hand to her chest and leaned against the bed, letting out a long sigh. How could someone's voice be so unbelievably good? Especially in the quiet of the night, through the phone receiver, that deep, rich, cello-like tone just wrapped around her ears—totally intoxicating.
Lost in her thoughts, she suddenly heard a shout from the girl in the next bed.
"Hey, Lilian, what's with that look? You're acting like you're lovesick or something!"
Startled, Lilian jumped, feeling both embarrassed and awkward. She quickly defended herself.
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
She wasn't ready to let anyone know about her relationship yet. After all, they'd only just started, and who knew how long it would last?
Sure, everyone around her was constantly flaunting their happy relationships, making her curious about love. But since her own romance was still in its early days, she decided to keep it under wraps for now.
"Yeah, right. You don't even have a boyfriend—how could you be lovesick?"
The girl pouted, leaning closer with a teasing look.
"Lilian, we're about to graduate, and you've never even had a boyfriend? Isn't that a little sad?"
"Look at that face, that figure... tsk tsk, it's a shame you don't have any guys chasing you…"
Another roommate came over carrying freshly washed clothes, her tone dripping with sarcasm as she spoke to the girl next to Lilian.
"You really worry about nothing. Lilian's bound to have a boyfriend sooner or later, and he'll definitely be someone good—probably from Burg Eltz. You know, some rich, handsome heir!"
This girl's name was Angela. Ever since she found out Lilian was the daughter of the prestigious Burg Eltz family, she had developed a strange kind of resentment toward her, always finding reasons to pick fights.
In truth, Lilian kept a low profile at school—never bragging or showing off. But with her background, and the comfortable conditions her parents provided since she was little, she naturally had better clothes, food, and things than most.
The dorm had four girls in total. The other two got along well with Lilian and didn't treat her any differently after learning about her family. But Angela? She seemed to go out of her way to throw cold jabs and sarcastic remarks at her, even calling her fake—pretending to be low-key and inconspicuous, when really it was just to draw more attention.
When the other two girls relayed Angela's words to Lilian, she was speechless.
"Pretending to be inconspicuous to attract more attention?"
If only she had that kind of cunning. Then she wouldn't get scolded by her brother for being brainless all the time.
As for Angela's sharp words, Lilian thought maybe Angela herself was just full of schemes, so she assumed everyone else was just as calculating.
When it came to Angela's petty attacks, Lilian chose to ignore them.
Often, when others lack manners, you don't have to stoop to their level.
Like now, Lilian just smiled and let it slide.
Lilian grabbed her things and headed to wash up, while the girl in the next bed shot a quick retort at Angela.
"Tch, sour grapes because you can't have it," she said, rolling her eyes before turning over to go to sleep.
After washing up, Lilian lay on her bed, closing her eyes, but all she could hear was that man's beautiful voice playing softly in her mind. She grabbed her phone and opened her personal Weibo account, thoughtfully typing:
Day one of officially being in a relationship, but it doesn't feel like I'm in one at all.
She put her phone away, ready to sleep, but a moment later, she picked it up again. This time, she deleted the post and rephrased it with one extra line before reposting:
Day one of officially being in a relationship, but it doesn't feel like I'm in one at all… though his voice sounds really good when we talk.
Only then did she fall asleep peacefully.
For the following week, Lilian was buried in thesis revisions, so busy she completely forgot she was now someone's girlfriend.
Of course, her boyfriend seemed to have forgotten too, as neither of them reached out to each other during that time.
After submitting her second round of thesis edits, Lilian finally returned to her small apartment for a proper rest. She was fast asleep when her phone suddenly rang. Groggy, she grabbed it without checking who was calling and answered.
"Are you at school?" the voice asked.
Still half-asleep, she replied,
"No, I'm home."
"Alright, see you later."
After saying that, he hung up. Lilian tossed her phone aside and went back to sleep.
She had no idea how long it had been when suddenly the doorbell rang. Lilian felt like dying as she dragged herself out of bed to answer it.
When she saw Morrison standing outside, still half-dazed, she thought, Why is he here? We barely even know each other.
Then it hit her—she was his girlfriend now. They were officially dating. It made perfect sense for him to show up unannounced.
Glancing down at her current state—hair a mess, face unwashed, still in pajamas and no bra—she quickly called out through the door,
"Morrison, please wait a moment!"
She dashed to the bathroom, splashed water on her face, brushed her teeth as fast as she could. She didn't bother with makeup; after all, she rarely wore any. Then she hurried back to her bedroom and slipped into something a little more decent before rushing to open the door.
But in all the chaos, she'd forgotten one important thing—she hadn't put on a bra.
The moment she opened the door, a cold breeze rushed in, sending a chill across her chest. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms tightly around herself, freezing in place as she looked up at the man standing before her.
He looked a little worn out from travel, with a large suitcase resting by his feet.