𝐅𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬

4. the truth of this world

You were frozen silent by the protagonist's acceptance towards your light-hearted confession, not to mention the way he had coquettishly hugged you; your previous self would have murder you out of jealousy if she knew. That reminds me, you wondered what's up with the words in the bracket earlier, and why does Chen Miao's respond differed from the one that was chosen for him?

"Ah Miao," you pulled away for answers only to see that he was asleep.

In the end, you can't help but indulge yourself by touching him further, pushing a few strands of his hair away from his sweaty and flushed face before pushing him down on the bed. You concluded that it's probably because the protagonist of this world was sick, causing bugs to occur.

Of course, there is also the possibility that he would become a setient being like you, but you found that hard to believe, mainly because he's the protagonist, and a protagonist seldom would be replaced.

ーnot like you.

Even if you weren't there to kill him, this man would still die in the hands of another.

Though frustratingly, you noticed that he would always die in a different way whenever time rewinded back; either by a natural disaster or a car accident or even targeted by a serial killer. It's always different, so you cannot help much even if you wanted to. All you can do is just be there by his side and protect him, but even that, he doesn't allow.

You sighed as you caressed the bruises on his neck gently. You thought it would be okay if you stick closed enough to him during classes but you didn't expect that disaster would even strike him at home. That brought you to a question; how can you protect Chen Miao when the two of you aren't closed enough to live under the same roof? The only answer that you got is to be his best friend or girlfriend, but to develop until that point, how to do that when he doesn't even give you a chance?

"I bet you probably won't remember what you said to me earlier," you smiled bitterly and laid your head on his bed, yawning.

You read enough books and watched enough dramas to know that he definitely won't remember his acceptance towards your lighthearted confession.

It would be a miracle if he did though.

After a few hours of falling asleep, you were woken up by a sudden movement on the bed. You rose your head groggily, staring at the healed protagonist trying to sneak out from the bed only to fail greatly. In the dark room where the only source of brightness was the moonlight, you can see how fluster he looks.

You frowned, grabbing ahold of his hand. "Where are you going?"

You thought that he would pull his hand away from yours like always, but you didn't expect that he would obediently let you hold him. You assumed that it's probably his way of expressing his gratitude for taking care of him.

Speaking of that. "Chen Miao, were you aware that I was the one that took care of you?"

He shook his head.

"Then, you don't remember what you said to me before you fell asleep?"

He shook his head again passively. It makes you wonder if he was speaking the truth or pretending not to remember because he doesn't want to shoulder the responsibility, and seeing the way he's behaving, the urge to tease him emerge so you feign hurt, smiling mischievously at this poor, innocent man.

"You told me that you would repair my kindness with your body," you pouted. "How can you forget that?"

His face quickly went red from anger or shyness, you can't tell.

"IーI would neverー!" His voice was still hoarse and he ended up coughing from the sudden noise he made.

You laughed before heading out to grab a glass of water for him.

After things were calm, you glanced at the bruises on his neck and decided to ask again.

He reflexively touched his neck with a pale expression, looking hesitant to tell you.

"Come on, I've been working my ass off to take care of you. The least you can do is tell me," you poked his cheek.

"I-I didn't ask you to," he pursed his lips, turning away from you.

"Look, Chen Miao, I'm worried about you," you sighed. "I noticed that you would always get hurt, either by tripping on the stairs or injuring your fingers during home economics. It's like this world is against you, and right now, I just wanted to help."

He seemed suprised by your word, moved even. You're just glad that he's not creeped out by the fact that you've been watching him.

「The dangerous classmate doesn't seem that dangerous anymore. Still, you can't help but be vigilant. Should you trust her?」

• 「Trust; "_____"」

• 「distrust; "I don't need your help."」

Finally, he chose to trust me! You're pretty sure _____ means that the player is able to type anything they want in there and the protagonist would convey it with his mouth.

ーbut you didn't expect the player would drop a bomb like that.

Chen Miao looked down at his hands. "You may not believe me, but this world is actually a game."

"..." You almost doubted your ears for a while.

"I'm a player who controlled Chen Miao's body. In my world, there is a forum where people can play a life-changing games for free. This game is one of them," he said. "I played this game because I heard that it can change my life to a better one and it's true; anything that happened to Chen Miao, happened to me too. If Chen Miao got good grades, I will miraculously passed my test without studying. If Chen Miao is rich, then I will suddenly won a lottery."

His honesty is so sudden and out of nowhere that you found it hard to believe him.

"But then, the challenge started; just like you said, Chen Miao would always end up in a life-threatening situation, and that happened to me too for no reason. Last night, an intruder I didn't know come into my room and choke me. Fortunately I was able to get away. I found out that almost everyone who played this game would mysteriously die while the others would go missing," tears started to roll down his cheeks. "I don't know who to ask for help.I don't have a father and my mother suddenly went missing on the day Chen Miao's mother went on a vacation. The polices didn't believe me at all when I informed them. I don't have any friends because the students around Chen Miao, while they looked up to him, none of them were closed enough to be called a friend. Only you were strange enough to get close to him so suddenly."

He wiped his tears away. "Yet strangely, the parallel you didn't appear in my lifeーthough I can still feel the care you had for Chen Miao inside of me."

You were speechless, finding it hard to take in all the words he said. You heard once somewhere that most of people tend to talk too much after midnight because it's their emotional times, but you didn't expect that it would be the truth.

The player must have been emotional enough to go as far as to confide with an NPC.