Tune Them Out

Before he even realized what was happening to him, those two words came out of his mouth naturally.

"You're pretty."

And just as soon as he said those, it was as if Lim Xian immediately came to his senses again which made him think back of what he said just now.

Upon realizing what he did, Lim Xian can't help smacking his face with his right palm mentally. He himself can't believe that he literally just said a few seconds ago.

On the other hand, Li Meilin was rendered speechless because of what happened. As her heart began to flutter, she tried her best to shush it by convincing herself that this was all part of her demon master's scheme, whatever that may be.

There was a moment of silence that filled the air as both of them refused to speak for a while.

It was only interrupted a few seconds later when Lim Xian chose to speak once more.

Clearing his throat, he said,"What I mean is that you are pretty annoying since that is what I think of you--"

"Yes, master Xian, I get it now so could you please shut up already?" Li Meilin interrupted him all of a sudden, her voice sounding irritated and disappointed at the same time.

Wait, is she disappointed? Li Meilin began to wonder. Why would she even be upset in the first place?

She is already used to this sort of behavior of her master since the day she was hired so there is no point for her to be disappointed.

Just then, Li Meilin happened to look at her phone for any new notifications when she got a glimpse of time that currently says ten-thirty in the evening.

"Gosh, it's late already?" Li Meilin burst out, her eyes widening in disbelief.

"What? You have a curfew or something?" asked the oblivious Lim Xian.

Without looking at him, Meilin responded, "I've got a lot to study about because unlike you, I have to work really hard just to have the privilege to enroll in a prestigious school."

Somewhere deep in his heart, Lim Xian felt sad knowing that Li Meilin will be leaving now that they were enjoying the game really badly. (Despite him losing to her every round.)

Before Li Meilin totally left the room, she caught a glimpse of her master's dinner that was untouched on the side table since they decided to play.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Li Meilin pointed at his food and said, "Do you know that's really important to eat your meals on time? You better eat your dinner right now or I swear to God!"

"Alright, alright. Just leave already!" Lim Xian says while he raised his hands in mock surrender. "Are you my mother or what?"

Li Meilin ignored that and started to go straight for the door. But before she twists the doorknob though, she made another pause as if she remembered something important.

"Oh, before I forget…" Li Meilin trailed off, which made Lim Xian arch one eyebrow at her.

"I wanted to thank you for defending me to M. Yu earlier. Setting aside the part where you literally dropped me on the floor, I wanted to thank you for what you said back there."

Before Xian could even say anything to her, Li Meilin immediately bowed her down after saying all those things and hurriedly left the room, leaving Xian dumbfounded.

"I can't believe she just walked out on me. Geez," Lim Xian says to himself, sneering. "But who would have thought that woman knows how to appreciate kind words?"

Smiling to himself, Lim Xian stands up from the couch and picks up his dinner along with the eating utensils placed on his plate before he starts eating it on his sofa.

***

The next day at Shenzhen High, Li Meilin earned several sharp looks early this morning from Lim Xian's die-hard fans as she walked on the hallways that will lead her to her next class.

Li Meilin figured out the reason behind it and started cursing Xian inside her head for putting her in this kind of awkward situation.

If it weren't for his stupid announcement, Li Meilin would still have a peaceful life in her last year in high school.

["You're pretty."]

Lim Xian's words from yesterday flashed inside her head all of a sudden that got her irritated.

Li Meilin smacks her head for almost believing that Lim Xian was genuine to his words.

["You're pretty annoying."]

'Yes, Lim Xian,' Li Meilin thought to herself. 'I'll make sure that I will be the most annoying person you'll ever meet. Just you wait.'

When Li Meilin was able to reach her classroom, she was just about to push the door open when she heard her female classmates saying something ill about her.

"I can't believe Xian picked an overly-boring girl."

"Totally! My guess is, Meilin purposely did all those things to Xian just so our prince would notice her."

"Gross. Is she really that desperate? I think she even seduced him or something while acting as if she's all innocent."

"Well, don't worry girls. It would only be a matter of time before Lim Xian gets tired of her only then would he toss her out like a garbage bag."

"Yup. A trash like her doesn't even deserve someone as hot as Lim Xian."

"Totally!"

Series of laughter soon follows after that which made Li Meilin's right hand curl up into a fist for being so angry right now.

She was so ready to enter and tug all those girls' hair down at once when Li Meilin felt someone putting his hands on both her ears at the moment which stunned her for a bit.

"When someone says something bad to you and you know it's not true, there's no point in getting affected by it."

Li Meilin swiftly twirled around and ended up being face-to-face with her friend, Zhao Chen.

Smiling at her, Zhao Chen added, "It would be much easier if you'll just tune them out of your head."