27. Little Crybaby

"Tap... tap, tap..."

By the time Tara left the art studio, it was already 9:30 PM.

The entire Arts Building was empty and desolate.

As she headed down the stairs to leave, she felt as if a faint, phantom-like sound of footsteps was echoing behind her.

But when she turned back to look closely, she found nothing.

Still, the hair on her arms stood up. Her pace quickened until she was practically sprinting.

Just as she finally burst out of the Arts Building and was about to heave a sigh of relief, a hand suddenly clamped onto her shoulder from behind.

Tara shrieked in terror, twisting her shoulder and trying to bolt forward with all her might.

But the hand behind her held on tight.

"Tara, it's me!"

A familiar voice followed immediately. Tara’s screaming stopped. She looked back, stunned. "Cassie?"

...

"What? A stalker?"

In a restaurant on the University Golden Street, a hotpot was bubbling away.

Through the thick rising steam, Tara was sweating from the spice, her eyes fixed intently on Cassie.

The argument from that day seemed to have miraculously vanished with this meal.

Cassie stuffed a piece of beef tripe into her mouth and nodded. "Yeah, I heard several girls have been followed. They never caught the guy, and since no one was actually hurt, the matter just faded away."

"So, don't walk alone late at night anymore. It’s not safe."

Tara nodded. "Okay, I understand."

She proactively placed a piece of tripe into Cassie’s bowl, her gaze sincere. "Thank you for warning me, Cassie."

Cassie looked at her beautiful, shimmering eyes and shifted her gaze slightly. "It’s nothing. No need to thank me."

After speaking, she handed Tara a tissue and asked as if casually, "Are you going back to the company dorm tonight?"

Initially, Tara had planned to sleep at the company dorm.

But now...

While she was hesitating, Cassie suddenly called her name. "Tara."

Tara looked up. "Mhm?"

"I was in the wrong the other day. I apologize to you."

This was an unexpected turn of events.

Tara looked at her in surprise.

Cassie, however, awkwardly looked away.

"I know you like things clean."

She spoke quickly, glanced at Tara, and then sheepishly lowered her eyes again.

"So, I’ve already cleaned up the dorm."

The air grew quiet, with only the sound of the hotpot broth boiling.

Seeing that Tara remained silent, Cassie finally couldn't help but ask directly, "So, are you coming back tonight or—"

Before she could finish, she looked up and saw Tara looking at her like a little rabbit, her eyes brimming with red.

She looked as if she were going to burst into tears at any second.

Cassie’s expression froze.

"Wait, what’s... what’s wrong with you?"

Tara: "I'm happy."

Cassie: "Then why are you crying if you're happy?"

Tara: "Tears of joy."

Cassie: "..."

It was an hour and a half later when they returned to the school dormitory.

Cassie finished washing up and fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed.

However, in the bathroom...

Amidst the rising steam, Tara was squatting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees. Her head was buried deep as she bit her lower lip, her whole body trembling.

Killian’s symptoms were flaring up again.

Strange sensations kept rippling across the surface of her skin.

Scalding, abrasive—even rough.

Tara usually scrubbed herself when bathing, but never this crudely.

It felt like her skin was about to peel off.

That brute, Killian! He might as well be using a knife to scrape himself!

Another ten minutes passed, and there was no relief; on the contrary, it was getting worse.

Unable to bear it any longer, Tara simply turned off the shower, threw on some clothes haphazardly, and left the bathroom.

By now, Cassie was fast asleep, snoring loudly and completely undisturbed, unaware that Tara had secretly left the room.

It was midnight in the owner's suite on the top floor of the Galaxy Building.

Knock, knock.

The door was suddenly pounded, one knock after another.

At this hour, besides that guy Sean, no one usually dared to knock.

Killian took a deep breath, ran a hand through the wet hair on his forehead, turned off the shower, and grabbed a bath towel to wrap around himself as he walked out.

"Do you have a—"

Killian opened the door, his irritated words cutting off the moment he saw the person standing there. "Tara?"

His eyelid flickered, and he instinctively moved to close the door.

However, in that split second, Tara moved with lightning speed, reaching out and shoving him back inside.

Slam.

The door was shut heartlessly.

Having done this, Tara let out a tipsy hiccup and looked around.

Wait, where was he?

She squinted her eyes, wandering dazedly toward the interior.

The next second, "Ugh—"

A sharp pain shot through the area just above her knee.

Tara accidentally collided with the sharp corner of the coffee table and fell to the floor, tears instantly spilling from the pain.

Killian, who had scrambled into the bedroom to urgently put on clothes, felt his expression darken when he heard the noise. He quickly dressed and walked out.

When he saw the drunk girl sitting on the floor whimpering piteously, he felt a massive headache coming on.

"So stupid."

Despite his words, he leaned down, hooked his arms under her knees and waist, and picked her up.

The moment that firm, warm strength transmitted through her skin, the pain—which felt like ten thousand ants biting her heart—gradually began to fade.

Tara let out a soft, comfortable hum and immediately reached out, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

Killian, who was about to let her go, stiffened.

"Tara!"

He was forced to stay hunched over, their breaths mingling. The frustration made the veins on his forehead bulge. "Let go!"

However, in the face of his stern command, the girl’s red, rabbit-like eyes just stared at him unblinkingly.

A moment later, her eyes welled up with crystalline moisture.

"No!" she said, sounding exceptionally aggrieved by whatever she was thinking.

"I... I'm being killed by the pain you're causing, do you know that?"

She sobbed, tossing her accusation at him.

"Then just endure it!" Killian irritably replied, dismissively treating her words as drunken nonsense.

Yet, the moment he said it, he couldn't help but look down at her injured leg.

A dark bruise was already clearly visible on her fair, delicate skin.

She was so fair and her skin was so tender that the bruise looked exaggeratedly dark and startling.

"Serves you right!"

Killian’s teeth were practically grinding with anger. "Let's see if you dare to drink this much next time!"

"And dare to knock on a man's door in the middle of the night!" He reached out and pinched her soft cheek with resentment, scoffing, "Tara the Brave, how are you so capable, huh?"

He finished scolding the dazed little rabbit in a barrage of words, then forcefully pried her hands from his neck and walked into the bedroom.

Tara was indeed stunned by Killian’s fierce scolding.

But being scolded was secondary.

As he left, the intense stinging and restless itching deep within her skin returned.

Tara watched the direction he had gone. It felt like her world was ending; she could no longer hold back the tears, and they fell like a broken dam.