Fancy Me, Professor!

[This chapter is dedicated to Q_elleson for leaving such a nice review for my story last month of June. ^^ I have read your review and it has warmed my heart! Thank you so much for this! :3]

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"You know… I'm thinking…"

Shu Xian trailed off, cocking her head to the side as she expressed her thoughts.

"Do you think that we should at least do a small celebration—like ordering food and then calling Shi Lian and her brother, and Zhang Ren to celebrate with us here at home?"

Hearing this, Pan An choked on his food. Shu Xian's eyes widened, making her stand up from her seat as she patted his back to help him.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with what I said?"

"N-no," Pan An answered, Shu Xian now giving him a glass of water that made him drink it in one go.

'It's just that I made something like this for you later and I don't want your thoughts to ruin my surprise!'

Pan An didn't tell her the latter part. With Shu Xian now going back to her seat, she got her bowl and continued eating, urging for Pan An's answer again.

"Well, what do you think?"

"Well…"

Pan An slowly nodded, telling her his answer that made a small frown appear on Shu Xian's face.

"I'll be busy later, so I think we won't be able to do that small celebration."

"Oh…"

There was disappointment evident in her voice, making Pan An immediately feel guilty with the way her voice sounded because a while ago when she said her suggestion, her voice sounded excited!

"No worries—I understand. I know Shi Lian will be asking me out to eat later," she just added, making Pan An stuff a few more rice in his mouth so he could stop himself from telling Shu Xian about the surprise because he wanted to cheer her up.

'Come on, Pan An! Keep it in—hold it in! She will love the surprise later! It's okay to lie for now!'

However, with Shu Xian now quiet as she was eating her breakfast, Pan An couldn't help but feel guilty with how she looks disappointed.

She excitedly suggested of having a small meal with people now that she is involved socially with a few of them.

And with Pan An rejecting the thought of not having a simple party for her and lying that he will be busy, seeing her this sad made his heart ache!

"Shu Xian," Pan An called out, the girl now looking at him.

"Yes?"

With the professor now giving her a small smile, he further apologized to what he said, wanting Shu Xian to understand and at least feel better.

He is doing this for her surprise—and maybe his best friend and his sister are indeed right.

It's cruel to lie to a person on her special day!

"I'm sorry for being busy," Pan An started, letting out a small sigh. "But I'm doing my best to help you with making breakfast and with making lunch with you like you said since you enjoy cooking with someone," he added, making Shu Xian widen her eyes slightly and shake her head.

"Do I really look sad?" she asked, shyly looking at her reflection on her phone screen. "I didn't mean to…"

"No, no… you have the right to be when you were excited about something," Pan An replied, now holding her free hand to comfort her. "I promise—even though it's a late celebration, we're going to celebrate your day special, okay? What do you want to do?"

"What?"

Shu Xian blinked her eyes a few times, not believing what she heard.

"Y-you don't need to make an effort like this, Pan An! You're a busy guy and you know… you might have a lot of papers to check sometime soon!"

"Shu Xian," Pan An said her name once more, a small smile coming to his face. "I'm willing to make it up to you, alright? Let's take this as a way of getting to know each other. You know… like we talked about yesterday—a way to assess our feelings."

"What do you mean?"

With the professor now beaming at her, what he said next made Shu Xian's heart race in her chest, a soft blush appearing on both of her cheeks.

"Let's go on a date this weekend. You want that?"

Shu Xian didn't know how to answer. With the thought of going on a date with Pan An, she couldn't believe that he is actually asking her to go out and have one when all the outings that they had before were only to show a fake image!

"This date…" Shu Xian started, her brows furrowing together. "Is it to make an image for your mother and the others so she won't bother you… or because you really want to?"

Pan An didn't answer her question for a while. With him getting her free hand and kissing the back of her palm, it surprised Shu Xian, along with the answer he told her.

"I really want to now. Why? You think it's because of the agreement that we have?"

Shu Xian didn't want to lie. With her nodding her head slowly once, Pan An let out a soft chuckle, apologizing to the girl.

"I'm sorry. If that's what you thought, do know now that it's not my intention. I really want to sincerely go out with you once this time," he answered and explained, making Shu Xian sweetly smile at him, Pan An mesmerized by her sudden display of beauty.

"Then? Where are we going this weekend?"

Pan An cocked his head to the side as he contemplated for a while. With him letting go of Shu Xian's hand, he then answered her, the girl's excitement now back and with her now having a happy expression on her face.

"It will be a surprise~," he said in a sing-song tone, a wink coming afterward. "You wouldn't want to spoil your surprise, right?"

With that, Shu Xian now felt better, Pan An internally sighing in relief as he now made Shu Xian feel better.

However, it was not only to make her feel better… Pan An sincerely wanted to go out with Shu Xian in a nice date once and see where this goes other than making her happy.