Is My Cat Secretly Crushing on Me?! - Chapter 9
Just in case, Lin Miao also asked other cats for confirmation.
He found a very smart black cat in the dorm area.
The black cat was lying lazily on the flower bed, its dark fur having a faint reddish hue in the sunlight.
To be precise, this should be a “Xuan Mao” (a type of black cat often associated with good fortune).
Lin Miao used gestures and explanations to ask it for a long time, and even brought it to look under the windowsill.
The black cat tilted its head: “Orange cat? That new orange cat that smells very much like a human?”
It jumped onto the windowsill and sniffed for a long time with its nose twitching: “There is indeed a very strong orange cat scent inside.”
Lin Miao blinked, feeling bewildered.
So… was Lan Shen really hiding it from him?
The black cat confirmed again: “It seems a little strangely different, can’t quite put my paw on it.”
A cat’s attention span is short, and the black cat quickly turned its head to look at the birds in the tree.
Lin Miao didn’t press it; it was enough to confirm this much.
He fed the black cat a cat treat stick, thanking it profusely.
The next time the two of them went to the pet hospital, Lin Miao held his phone up to Lan Shen’s face.
“See for yourself.” Lin Miao pursed his lips, then felt his tone wasn’t good, and paused.
“Didn’t you say you don’t keep a cat? Then why is Darling trying to get into your dorm?”
Lin Miao frowned slightly, looking at Lan Shen, his tone carrying a hint of the grievance of being deceived.
“You’ve been so concerned about Darling before, is it because it’s actually your cat?”
Lan Shen saw that Lin Miao seemed genuinely hurt and quickly raised his hand to swear: “I really don’t, I’m not lying to you.”
“It wants to get into our dorm. Maybe I just have good ‘cat-luck’.”
“But clearly, why…” Lin Miao paused, then stopped talking.
He couldn’t exactly say that the other cats smelled it.
He felt quite frustrated.
“How about this, I’ll take you to my dorm to check, then you can be relieved, right?” Lan Shen proposed the solution he had already planned.
Lin Miao’s eyes lit up: “Okay, let’s go today.”
Not giving him a chance to tidy up and hide things.
Lan Shen was even more eager.
As soon as Lan Shen got off work, he took Lin Miao to his dorm.
Since they were all boys, the dorm supervisor wasn’t too strict, and Lin Miao easily slipped inside.
“Here, check it out.” Lan Shen opened the door wide.
Lin Miao cautiously poked his head in and turned on the light.
Lan Shen’s dorm was indeed very clean.
Seniors lived in the old dorm building, which didn’t have desks under the beds, but two sets of bunk beds with four desks beside them.
Lan Shen’s desk was very tidy, with his professional books placed on it.
Lin Miao quickly looked away, feeling reserved.
There was no cat bed, no cat tree, no cat wand, no litter box, and absolutely no cat-related supplies.
He didn’t even see any cat food.
There wasn’t a single cat hair on the floor.
Everything else could be hidden, but Lan Shen couldn’t possibly clean up every single cat hair.
And if someone kept a cat at home, there would be a very specific atmosphere.
But Lan Shen’s dorm clearly didn’t have one.
So how could the black cat think that the little orange cat was in this dorm…
The suspicion in Lin Miao’s mind was fleeting, but he still felt something was off.
A thousand words can’t outweigh seeing with one’s own eyes.
Lin Miao looked at his clean wardrobe and bed, and pursed his lips.
“Sorry, I misunderstood you.”
He lowered his head in shame.
Lin Miao was always straightforward in social interactions.
He would express gratitude for help and apologize and compensate when he made a mistake.
In a situation like this, where he had wrongly accused someone, he felt even more apologetic.
Lan Shen had seized on this very characteristic.
“I, I apologize to you.”
Lan Shen waved his hand, but his face feigned a hurt expression: “It’s nothing, we’re friends, how could I lie to you… I’m so sad that you actually doubted me.”
Lin Miao naturally felt even more self-reproachful, burying his head even lower.
“I, I must have had water in my brain. I’ll make amends. Whatever you want is fine. Treat you to a big meal?”
Lan Shen raised an eyebrow: “Anything is fine?”
Lin Miao nodded heavily.
Lan Shen smirked, just about to speak, when the sound of the door opening came.
“Damn it, I’m exhausted.”
Yue Zi’ang sighed deeply, his eyes meeting Lin Miao’s confused expression. He instinctively stepped back: “Hey, hey, hey, sorry, did I come into the wrong dorm?”
The other two roommates behind him were confused and stumbled back: “What’s wrong? This is our dorm.”
Yue Zi’ang then saw Lan Shen beside him: “Right, Lan-ge, who is this?”
The roommate behind him, Liu Ling, poked his head out when he heard the noise: “What? Lan Shen brought someone back to the dorm!”
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Gao Xiangxiao covered Liu Ling’s mouth, keenly noticing Lan Shen’s face was faintly dark.
Lan Shen gritted his back teeth, sighing at his bad luck. He had forgotten that these little rascals had finished class.
Lin Miao instinctively hid behind Lan Shen, avoiding the three pairs of spotlight-like eyes. He was unaccustomed to being the focus of attention.
Lin Miao looked back, appealing to Lan Shen for help.
Lan Shen quickly forced a smile, speaking in a deliberately polite tone: “Ah, these are my roommates, Yue Zi’ang, Liu Ling, and Gao Xiangxiao.”
The few of them nodded one by one.
“This is Lin Miao. He came to see me about something.”
Lin Miao cautiously peeked out his head: “Hello.”
“This kid is so well-behaved? Are you a senior?” Yue Zi’ang asked Lin Miao.
Lin Miao softly replied: “Junior.”
Liu Ling’s eyes twinkled with gossip: “Tsk tsk tsk, I bet Lan-ge painstakingly lured him back. What matter requires you to come back to the dorm to talk about?”
“You’re full of sh—” Lan Shen glanced at Lin Miao and changed his words, “Stop talking nonsense.”
He only heard a chorus of ‘tsks’ from his roommates.
“How did you two meet?”
“What major is Lin Miao studying?”
Seeing that his roommates were practically preparing to check Lin Miao’s family registration, Lin Miao was truly at a loss.
He tugged on Lan Shen’s sleeve: “S-since your roommates are back, and I don’t have anything else to do, I’ll be leaving now.”
“Don’t go yet, ignore them.” Lan Shen glared at them, signaling them to behave. “You finally came all the way here, sit down and have a glass of water.”
Lin Miao obediently nodded and looked around: “Where, where do I sit?”
Lan Shen paused: “My chair leg is broken, it’s not stable. I forgot to fix it.”
“You can just sit on the bed, any bed.”
Lin Miao let out an ‘oh’ and prepared to sit down nearby.
“Wait.” Lan Shen reached out to stop him.
Lin Miao was startled and stood up again.
“This, uh, this is Liu Ling’s bed. He’s a germaphobe and doesn’t like others touching his things.”
Lan Shen walked to the lower bunk opposite and patted the space beside him: “Sit on my bed, come here.”
Lin Miao looked at Liu Ling, who immediately understood and nodded emphatically: “Yes, I have mysophobia.”
A trait he had developed two seconds ago.
Lin Miao didn’t doubt him and apologized politely: “Sorry, I didn’t touch it.”
Lin Miao sat down, and Lan Shen got him a can of milk: “I remember you like this. Here, drink it.”
He helped Lin Miao insert the straw and handed it to him.
Lin Miao took it habitually: “Thank you.”
Liu Ling’s eyes darted: “Lan-ge, why don’t we get any?”
Lan Shen looked at the three third wheels and said grumpily: “There’s hot and cold water in the water dispenser, get your own.”
Gao Xiangxiao was slow to catch on and went to get water himself.
Yue Zi’ang and Liu Ling sensed something was up and sat opposite Lin Miao without drinking water.
Lan Shen gave a heavy cough when he saw their actions.
Liu Ling instantly reacted, pushing Yue Zi’ang onto the floor with a shove.
Yue Zi’ang fell hard on his butt, his mind blank from the pain: “F***—”
Liu Ling hurriedly interrupted: “I-I-I have mysophobia! You know that, don’t get on my bed!”
Yue Zi’ang swallowed his curse words, standing beside him with his hands tucked into his sleeves.
Lin Miao vaguely felt their way of interacting was a bit strange. Lan Shen reassured him: “Ignore them, they’re always like this.”
Lin Miao silently drank his milk.
He wasn’t good at this kind of social situation anyway; the more he talked, the more likely he was to make a mistake.
Lan Shen withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Lin Miao.
Lin Miao was looking down, concentrating on the milk in his hand, exposing his pale, clean neck, sitting obediently on Lan Shen’s bed like this.
Lan Shen’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
He wondered what shampoo Lin Miao used, as he smelled so good.
He then thought of the bedding that had just been washed and dried a few days ago, which still gave off a faint scent of sunshine.
The two scents blended together, stirring his nerves.
Lan Shen glanced at the three people opposite him, who were staring with curious eyes, like three meerkats.
If it weren’t for these three mood-killers…
Lan Shen silently moved up his plan to rent an apartment.
“Ahem, ahem, Lin Miao, why did you come to our dorm building? Is something the matter?”
“Right, right, just say the word if you need help.”
Facing Lin Miao, the rough guys couldn’t help but soften their voices.
Lan Shen explained for him: “He’s checking if anyone is secretly keeping a cat in the dorm. There’s a new stray cat downstairs recently.”
The few of them suddenly understood: “Oh, I don’t think so, right?”
Liu Ling thought back: “Definitely not in our major. Everyone’s busy with internships, and a lot of people are living off-campus. No one is keeping a cat in the dorm.”
Lin Miao frowned slightly: “Then Darling, I mean, the orange cat might have run over from somewhere else… like a stray cat, right?”
Lan Shen rubbed his head, speaking very seriously: “Don’t worry, I’ll ask around for you again these few days. It’s fine if it’s a stray cat, we’ll find it a good home then.”
Lin Miao sighed in relief and nodded.
The few of them chatted for a while, the topic loosely revolving around Lin Miao.
However, Lan Shen managed to brush them off, which made Lin Miao feel much more comfortable.
Soon, Lin Miao finished his milk and tugged on Lan Shen’s sleeve, signaling that he was done.
Lan Shen understood: “Want to go back?”
Lin Miao nodded. Although it was a bit impolite, he really didn’t want to make awkward small talk here anymore.
Lan Shen was, of course, happy to oblige and walked him to the door: “I’ll walk you back.”
Lin Miao waved his hand: “No need, no need, I can go by myself, it’s just across the way.”
Lan Shen frowned.
“Besides, your roommates are back, you should keep them company…”
Lin Miao waved goodbye to the people inside: “Um, sorry, I have something else to do, I’ll be going now.”
“No worries, no worries, come visit often.”
Lan Shen could only watch him leave: “Text me when you get back to your dorm.”
Only after Lin Miao had successfully left the dorm building did he turn around and re-enter the room.
He was immediately cornered by the three of them at the door.
“Spill it! What’s the deal!”
Lan Shen’s lips curved slightly, and he uttered four words: “No comment.”
“Why even ask? There’s definitely something going on. Have you ever seen Lan Shen this attentive?” Liu Ling’s tone was sour: “Lan-ge is an old beast, going after such a well-behaved kid.”
The few of them weren’t shocked by Lan Shen’s sexual orientation.
After all, if a person hasn’t had a girlfriend for four years and hasn’t had any rumors with any girl.
Coupled with the fact that Liu Ling changed boyfriends faster than he changed clothes, his roommates had long become numb to it.
And Liu Ling, true to his name (“Ling” meaning lively/smart), was very sharp.
Since getting to know Lan Shen, he had a feeling that the two of them might be of the same kind.
At first, he was secretly happy to have met such a high-quality ‘top’.
But Lan Shen, despite not looking serious, was actually impervious to both soft and hard tactics, and was surprisingly clean-living.
Liu Ling had been extremely tempted, but he simply couldn’t hook him.
After much effort, Liu Ling finally managed to pry out of him that he already had someone in his heart.
He could only give up regretfully.
Thinking of this, Liu Ling suddenly realized: “You? Lin Miao? Then what about your little first love?”