Peninsula: I'm being supported by a top idol.

"When did it start?"

The agent looked serious.

"Don't lie, I heard everything! That guy said you two were a couple! You're actually dating, right??"

"No..." Liu Zhimin's face was burning hot, and his eyes involuntarily looked towards the door, wondering if Cui Shi'an was still outside.

"Still not admitting it?" The agent's face darkened.

"Do you really have to make a scene until everyone knows before the company has to clean up the mess? I felt something was off before, and if you keep being so stubborn, then I'll have no choice but to report it to the company truthfully."

Liu Zhimin said helplessly, "You really haven't been dating? What are you asking me to admit?"

"If they're not dating, why is he here?"

"...I'm here to train too..." Liu Zhimin said, looking completely innocent.

The agent stared at her for a long time, then slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, lowered his voice, and said with a hint of earnestness:

"Jimin, I've raised you for so many years, you're like my little sister. I'm not trying to stop you, but I need to know the situation. What if... I mean, what if one day you're photographed leaving his house, or worse... and I don't know anything? How am I supposed to save you? How am I supposed to save Aespa?"

Liu Zhimin nodded: "Yes, I know."

"Then... I'll ask you one more time, are you dating that person?"

"no."

"Okay." Seeing that she still denied it, the agent nodded emphatically: "Then can you keep your distance from him in the future? Don't let people misunderstand."

Liu Zhimin frowned slightly: "No."

The agent, with an "I knew it" expression, asked again:

"You mean we'll talk about it in the future?"

Outside the door, Cui Shi'an was also caught by the gossipy fitness coach, who asked him what his relationship with Karina was, and whether they were really a couple.

"In my past life it was."

The coach rolled his eyes, clearly thinking he was talking nonsense: "And what about this lifetime?"

Just as Cui Shi'an was about to answer, the door opened, and his manager came out. As he passed by, the manager gave him a deep look and said:

"Remember to be more careful in public next time."

Cui Shi'an nodded subconsciously: "Mm."

Ji Ren looked at him, remained silent for a second, his gaze complex as if he were assessing a high-risk asset, and finally just sighed softly:

"...Then let's go in quickly, Karina is still waiting for you."

Before Cui Shi'an could say anything, the fitness instructor next to him immediately revealed a knowing smile:

"Anxi, you go first then, I'll come back to find you later."

What's going on?

Choi Si-an returned to the room with a puzzled look on his face, and Yoo Ji-min was already on the treadmill.

"What did your agent say to you?"

"She didn't say anything." An unnatural blush still lingered on her face.

"Didn't they ask what our relationship is?" Cui Shi'an asked curiously. In the situation just now, they would have asked no matter what.

"You asked?" She casually wiped her sweat with a towel. "I said it was nothing."

Cui Shi'an's eyes widened: "That's it?"

"Then what else do you want?" The girl turned around and gave him a reproachful glare.

"Alright." Seeing this, Cui Shi'an didn't ask any further questions and went to the side to start working on the bench press machine.

For a moment, only the breathing of two people remained in the room, one slightly heavy, the other long and deep.

For Cui Shi'an, several hundred kilograms was no problem at all; he even had time to tilt his head and unconsciously follow the figure on the treadmill.

It wasn't about appreciating the curves, though they were certainly pleasing to the eye; it was about hesitating whether or not to reveal the method the bearded man had mentioned.

In fact, although Liu Zhimin was running, he was still watching him out of the corner of his eye.

Seeing him staring at her, she felt both proud and a little shy.

At this moment, as if he had made up his mind, Cui Shi'an stopped what he was doing, turned to her, and said in a serious tone as if discussing a training plan:

"Um... after this is over, how about we try... taking a nap together?"

He wanted to say something more academic, like "trying to empathize in dreams," but when he got to the point, he found those words even stranger, so he had to use the simplest expression.

Liu Zhimin nearly fell off the treadmill in shock. She quickly pressed the pause button, turned around, and stared at him with a face flushed from exercise, or perhaps more than just exercise, looking both surprised and embarrassed.

"Hey! Choi Si-an! Are you thinking about something weird again??"

"No...you've misunderstood." Cui Shi'an realized the ambiguity of his words and quickly gestured to explain.

"I mean, maybe if we sleep together... uh, at the same time, it might... help me dream? The method the bearded guy told me about the other day..."

He spoke softer and softer as he spoke, because the explanation sounded more like a poorly crafted excuse.

"You still dare to talk back?!"

Liu Zhimin was both embarrassed and annoyed. How could someone ask such a direct question?

She recalled the way he had stared at her earlier, and combined with this blatant invitation, she blurted out:

"Even if you've never seen a girl before, you can't act so... so bluntly and strangely!"

"I'm not..." Cui Shi'an's face turned a deep purplish-red.

Little did he know that the more embarrassed he appeared, the more Liu Zhimin felt he had guessed correctly, and so he sarcastically remarked:

"Would you like me to lend you a bra?"

boom!

In a moment of impulsiveness, Cui Shi'an recklessly challenged her: "Fine! Lend it to me if you dare!"

"Okay! I'll grant your wish!!"

Liu Zhimin also got angry, and pulled a spare sports bra from his training bag and threw it at his head:

"Go to the bathroom and take care of it yourself! How disgusting!"

Cui Shi'an picked it up and looked at it, then laughed in anger:

"Hey... are you crazy? I mean, yesterday that bearded guy told me that if I can't enter a dream on my own, I should try to enter one with you!"

As he spoke, he took out the arrowheads and placed them on the treadmill: "I even brought these!"

Liu Zhimin's eyes widened in surprise, and he immediately realized that he had probably misunderstood, but he would lose face if he admitted his mistake now.

After all, she had even taken out a spare bra. If she admitted her mistake, wouldn't that just prove that she was the one with a dirty mind?

"...There's another way..." She forced a smile. "Will it work?"

"How will you know if you don't try?" Cui Shi'an said irritably.

"...You wouldn't do anything to me while I'm asleep, would you?"

"...Hey Liu Zhimin!"

"Alas..." Liu Zhimin avoided his gaze, pretending to be nonchalant: "Why are you being so fierce... Let's try it here in a bit."

"Tch, I'm speechless... How could you think of me like that..."

"Then...then give me back what you have in your hand..."

Cui Shi'an glanced at her shy face, a mischievous glint in his eye: "What should I do? I suddenly need to go to the bathroom, how about I give it back to you later?"

He expected Liu Zhimin to explode like before after hearing this, but to his surprise, she turned her face away, her voice revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Then... remember to wash it clean for me..."