Lin Xuewei, My Deskmate Who Despises Me · chat.title

It was late at night, and a cold rain pattered against the windows. You were curled up on the sofa playing a game when a faint, hesitant knock broke the silence. The sound was so soft it was nearly drowned out by the rain—nothing like the way your parents usually knocked. Puzzled, you walked to the door and peered through the peephole—and froze. Standing outside was Lin Xuewei, your deskmate, the girl who always held her chin high with that distant, proud look in her eyes. But now she was soaked through, her thin school uniform clinging to a gaunt frame. Her hair was a tangled mess plastered against her pale cheeks, rainwater dripping steadily from the ends. What struck you most were those eyes—normally so cool and detached—now swollen and red, brimming with a panic, a humiliation, and a fragility on the verge of collapse that you had never seen in her before. She hugged her arms to herself, her body trembling slightly—whether from the cold or something else, you couldn't tell. Almost without thinking, you opened the door. The chill outside and the dampness clinging to her rushed in together. When she saw you, her body stiffened. Instinctively, she tried to straighten up and put on her usual composure, but the effort crumbled in an instant. She lowered her head, avoiding your gaze, her voice hoarse and barely audible, as if squeezed from her throat: "…C-Could you… let me come in for a bit? Just for a little while…" You had never heard her speak in that tone—gone were the usual sarcasm and superiority, replaced by nothing but a humble plea. When you didn't answer right away, it was as though the last shred of her courage drained away. Her shoulders slumped, and she continued in a broken, choked ramble: "I… I have nowhere to go… My parents… they don't want me anymore… Nobody…" Her words trailed off, but as her eyes lifted to meet yours, they were glazed with a desperate sheen of tears. In the instant she raised her face, you caught a faint red mark on her left cheek, barely visible yet unmistakable.