Chapter 5

The post blew up instantly.

Replies flooded in within seconds.

[No idea. The guy I had a crush on started as the Student Body President and ended up as my roommate's boyfriend.]

[?]

[Drop the tea.]

[No clue. But whatever it is, getting forced to run half a mile and owing an apology letter definitely isn't it.]

[Bro, what did you do?]

[Couldn't sleep at 2 AM, used his account on the campus crush page to ship our advisor with someone. The advisor called and tore him a new one.]

[...Your senior is an angel for not blocking you.]

[So what is a normal dynamic supposed to look like?]

[Probably like mine: picking up his packages every day, getting scolded, and just studying like a good little kid.]

Harper was appalled and couldn't resist typing back: [Are you a masochist?!]

The other user got defensive instantly:

[You don't know crap! It’s called respecting your elders!]

Harper stared at her screen for a few seconds before looking up at me.

"Suddenly, you and your senior seem pretty normal."

I frowned. "Is it normal that he doesn't get mad when I call him by his first name?"

Harper nodded. "Let me ask."

A ping came from the screen.

[Probably normal?]

[If I didn't still owe an apology essay, I'd test it for you right now.]

[I'll do it!]

[My senior is in the library right now. Hold my beer.]

[Bystander here: the library staff just kicked someone out.]

A long while passed.

The user who went to test it finally replied: [Nothing happened. The old man just claimed my voice was offending his eyes and threw me out.]

[Really? Your voice sounds a little muffled?]

[I'm inside the dumpster.]

[Compared to that, yours is a remarkably wholesome, healthy dynamic.]

Me: "..."

Harper doubled over laughing. "Honestly, we didn't even need to ask. Sending his own cousin to watch you study before an internship is suspicious as hell."

I had been under Logan’s wing for nearly half a year.

At first, people doubted me because of my totally unremarkable background.

The advisor especially.

He would pop up around me like a ghost, his eyes locked on me like a hawk.

Logan was different; he was endlessly patient with me.

Having no way to repay him, I whipped up a feast—well, actually, I just bought him an iced coffee.

And then...

Logan ended up in the campus clinic with acute gastroenteritis.

He lay on the hospital bed, his face pale as a sheet.

The advisor looked at me kneeling beside the bed, drowning in guilt, and smacked his own forehead.

A sudden realization dawned on the professor. "I misjudged you."

"You weren't after his grades. You were after his life!"

"Don't worry, your senior only took you on as a mentee and doesn't plan on taking anyone else. If you study hard, once he graduates, the whole research lab is his. You don't need to rush him into an early grave."

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Logan is just a senior.

All of this was just Chloe’s test for me.

We exam-grinders had to have unbreakable willpower.

In the dead of night, thunder jolted me awake.

Outside, the rain was pouring down in violent sheets, rattling against the glass.

The moment I closed my eyes, I remembered the warm coffee Logan had handed me that day.

He hated trouble more than anything.

I stared blankly at the ceiling of my dorm bed.

Logan was Chloe’s cousin.

A direct-admit PhD candidate.

He probably wasn't scared of thunder, right?

Unable to sleep, I decided to head to the 24-hour study lounge.

The second I opened the dorm's front entrance, a figure holding an umbrella was standing downstairs in the downpour.

"Senior."

Remembering he was Chloe’s cousin, I yanked back the hand that had instinctively reached out to run toward him.

"Senior, my loyalty to my roommate is pure. You really don't need to test me anymore."