Forced into a romantic relationship

I already said you should just say what you mean...

Han Zhou chuckled inwardly. He had thought that the "broken alarm clock" was just an excuse to keep him there, and that the girl probably wanted to exchange staying overnight for going to school together the next morning.

Or perhaps both are excuses. She was simply acting out of kindness, but was hesitant, so she tried to find a reason to convince herself to avoid letting a "poor" alien walk back in the middle of the night in the pouring rain.

But when he went back into the room, he found that the alarm clock on the bedside table seemed to be really broken.

Even so, this shouldn't be a reason for Xiao Wang and Leng Qiu to keep him here...

Han Zhou was suspicious, but unfortunately he didn't get a chance to ask, because Xiao Wang Leng Qiu had already asked him to leave the room, locked the door, and gone to sleep.

According to the child, she usually goes to bed at nine o'clock, and today she went to bed very late. In addition, her alarm clock broke, so she was worried about oversleeping tomorrow morning.

The reason she stayed up late tonight was, of course, because she spent the whole night watching TV with some "alien".

So does this mean I have to take responsibility?

Han Zhou stood outside the door, lost in thought. Something felt off, but he could only wait until tomorrow to ask about it.

"But speaking of which, where am I supposed to sleep tonight?"

The reason he concluded that Xiao Wang Leng Qiu's idea to let him stay overnight was because the child only left a message saying, "You can rest here with me tonight," and then went back to his room to sleep without explaining anything else, without even arranging a room for him.

With no other option, he had to make do with spending the night on a bench in the main room.

As for Uncle Xia, although he knew the other party would probably be worried, he didn't even have Uncle Xia's phone number, so he could only go back as soon as possible after dropping Xiao Wang and Leng Qiu off at school tomorrow morning.

Silent all night.

Han Zhou didn't sleep well that night.

But that's normal. Anyone would have trouble sleeping on a cold chair on an autumn night. He was half-asleep and had many dreams, including one about Wang Lengqiu after he grew up. He couldn't remember exactly what happened in the dream.

Such dreams come quickly and go even faster, often fading away completely within minutes of waking up. However, the lingering emotions are difficult to dissipate in a short time—it's an indescribable feeling of unease.

Dreaming of a long-lost first love often evokes a wave of regret in one's heart;
Dreaming of deceased relatives will inevitably lead to an uncontrollable urge to search for and touch any traces they left behind after waking up;
Even a dream of an ordinary afternoon in my youth, with sunlight streaming through the classroom window and falling on the hair of someone in the front row—a memory that is otherwise uneventful, yet it is always gilded with a gentle golden edge in my dream, leaving me stunned for a long time after waking up.

When Han Zhou dreamed of Wang Lengqiu, his strongest emotion was naturally guilt.

So much so that when he opened his eyes and met those clear eyes that were scrutinizing him, he subconsciously said, "I'm sorry."

"sorry?"

Xiao Wang Leng Qiu tilted her head, "Why should I say sorry?"

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment before realizing that he was not dreaming and that the person in front of him was the real Wang Lengqiu, but only twelve years old.

The girl was already awake, standing in front of him holding a blanket, her face glowing with an orange-red light from the electric heater.

This scene immediately reminded him of the night Wang Lengqiu came to find him "not long ago." He was momentarily lost in thought, and the emotions in his heart grew stronger. It took him two seconds to come back to his senses, pick up his phone from the chair, and hurriedly get up.

"Sorry, it's already seven o'clock... I'll take you to school now."

It's only three o'clock now.

Xiao Wang Leng Qiu placed the blanket on the stool beside him, clearly noticing his unusual behavior, and asked softly, "Did you have a nightmare?"

Han Zhou turned on his phone screen. Just as the other person had said, it was exactly three in the morning. He had only slept for a little over four hours, but the continuous dreams gave him the illusion that he had slept for a long time.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief and gradually calmed down from his previous emotions. He pressed his temples and asked, "You got up at only three o'clock?"

“I got up to use the bathroom and saw you sleeping here.”

Xiao Wang Lengqiu turned to look at the heavy rain outside the window, but didn't continue to ask the question from before. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, "Why don't you go to your room to sleep?"

Han Zhou gave a wry smile: "You didn't say which room I should sleep in." "Didn't I say you should sleep in my room?" Xiao Wang Leng Qiu asked, puzzled.

Han Zhou was taken aback: "When did you...?"

and many more.

He suddenly realized something and said with a strange expression, "Could it be that 'resting here tonight' means sleeping in your room?"

"Is there another meaning to this?" Xiao Wang asked, puzzled.

"Of course, and didn't you tell me to go out back then?"

"I told you to brush your teeth and wash your face. Don't aliens brush their teeth and wash their faces?"

Han Zhou was speechless for a moment. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that the other person had indeed said that, but he had misinterpreted it as urging him to leave the room.

but……

"We've only known each other for one day, and you've already allowed me to sleep in your room?"

His expression was serious. This child's vigilance was far too low; this was not a good thing.

“My house only has two rooms. My grandfather has been sick recently. Sleeping in his room might cause me to get infected.”

Xiao Wang Lengqiu naturally couldn't let Han Zhou sleep with her, so she made a makeshift bed on the floor in the room. Because she was worried that the floor would be cold in autumn, she specially put several layers of blankets on the floor. Then she fell asleep because she was too tired. But when she woke up, she didn't see Han Zhou. Instead, she found him on a chair in the main room.

This child is far too rebellious, preferring to sleep on a cold, hard chair rather than on a makeshift bed on the floor.

Xiao Wang Leng Qiu's face was expressionless, but Han Zhou seemed to hear a hint of "Do you think I wanted this?" in her tone, though he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.

Is the child angry?

He was stunned for a moment. He had never seen Wang Lengqiu angry before, whether in the past or the future. This was the first time he had seen her so emotional—let's just call it a minor emotion for now.

But what is the reason for the child's anger?
Moreover, this reason is far too far-fetched. Would a twelve-year-old girl really allow a stranger to sleep in her room so easily?
Even if he were an alien, and a good-looking one at that, such a thing is still highly unlikely to happen.

There must be other reasons.

Could it be... that in such a short time, less than half a day, this child has already fallen for me?

—How could that be? I'm not dreaming.

He couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it and shook his head, saying, "Thank you, but I'll just sleep here. You should go back to your room and rest so you don't catch a cold."

Xiao Wang Lengqiu came out to use the restroom, wearing only pajamas without a coat. Staying outside like that would easily make her catch a cold.

Upon hearing this, the girl didn't say anything more and turned back to her room.

Looking at the closed door, Han Zhou remained silent for a long time before suddenly sighing.

"Another opportunity to share a room."

After I refused her last time, Wang Lengqiu disappeared the next morning.

Under the warm orange light, the dream that should have faded away seemed to become clearer, as did Wang Lengqiu's pitiful face.

But he dared not look too closely, nor dared he think too much.

Outside, the wind and rain continued to rage, and the air was icy cold.

He suddenly began to worry that Xiao Wang Leng Qiu might also disappear when he woke up, and he couldn't fall back asleep. He simply sat up and decided to wait for dawn. (End of Chapter)