 The familiar ticking of the timer on the paper strewn desk ticked on. In the distance, the sky was slowly bleeding into the familiar oranges and purples of dusk. Yanghua took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. She yawned as she stretched her arms above her head. Suddenly, the ear-piercing alarm of the timer on her desk jolted Yanghua out of her daze, and she finally looked at the clock on her computer. Oh? It's already 8:43? Ugh, how long have I been working again, Yanghua thought frustratedly.
"Yo! Yanghua let's go out tonight, Tucker's throwing a massive party at the frat today for the new pledges, hurry and get ready! We have about an hour before it starts!" Yanghua's roommate burst through their dorm door. Yanghua whipped around in her chair to stare at her roommate. "And I guess Stacy and Paula decided to break up, for the tenth time, so they're going separately, and I totally heard that tonight, Dmitri will be at the party, so you're going to be my wing woman right," her roommate paused her chattering to look at Yanghua. "Look, Holly, you know I literally just broke up with Justin and I am not going to that party, because guess what? Justin's best friend is Tucker, they're brothers. So, no Holly, I'm not going to get ready." Yanghua sighed as she glanced at her phone. My favorite novel is about to update today, no way in hell am I going to suffer through some party, instead of cozying up and reading the latest chapter of my trashy web novels, Yanghua thought. Holly huffed as she touched up her makeup. "Yanghua, look it's been almost two months since you broke up with Justin, you can't keep avoiding the world by holing up in our room. You've got to get out there, move on! Hell, get revenge on Justin by getting with Tucker! I don't know…I just hate seeing you be a shell of your former self." Holly got up from her vanity and moved closer to Yanghua. "Come on, it's going to be fun, just like old times." Holly said, pleading with Yanghua. Yanghua understood how Holly was trying to help her, but this was not the right time to go out partying when her ex ran her reputation into the ground. "Holly, as much as I love and appreciate you, let's do this next time ok? I promise I'll go with you to the next opening." Yanghua compromised as she took Holly's hands into hers. Holly sighed as she slipped her hands out of Yanghua's and grabbed her purse. "Alright Yanghua, I'll see you later than…" Holly said as she opened their door. "Mmh! Have fun, stay safe!" Yanghua said as she waved to her roommate.
Once their heavy door clicked shut, Yanghua let out a sigh of relief. She padded across the room to her bed and sat down. Yanghua gently placed her glasses on her nightstand and snuggled into her comforter. She quickly opened the latest web novel she was chasing. Yanghua was disappointed to see that it was only still around 9:22, so she went ahead and found another trashy web novel to read while she waited. As soon as Yanghua started to get into this new web novel, she saw a notification pop up. Quickly Yanghua sat up in her bed, adjusted her pillows, and shifted her comforter around her legs. Yanghua clicked onto the familiar cover of "Does the Emperor Love Me, or Does He Hate Me?" Yanghua savored the author's delightful descriptions of the seemingly romantic relationship between the female lead and the villainess of the novel. Like the feelings of fans that read web novels, Yanghua soon reached the dreaded end of this week's chapter. She sighed as she read the 'to be continued' words. Ugh, I guess I'll have to wait another week for this novel to update. Yanghua thought dejectedly. Oh well, let's check the comments, I wonder what everyone else thought about this week's chapter. Yanghua hummed as she scrolled down to the comments of the chapter.
The comments were flooded with well wishes and condolences. Wait, wait no way? Yanghua thought. Right below the words 'to be continued' was a message from the author. PrincessSparkle6788 was announcing that they were going to take a hiatus because they recently found out they had a chronic disease. Yanghua's heart panged as she read through what the author wrote. She quickly wrote out a few words of sympathy and encouragement and sent out her comment. Hopefully this would reach the author and give them some strength in this stressful time, Yanghua thought. Yanghua stretched and got up to shut off the lights in her room. She glanced at the clock next to her door, and it was almost two in the morning! Yanghua quickly dove back into bed to catch some hours of sleep before her Chemistry 982 lecture later that day. As Yanghua drifted off to sleep, she thought about PrincessSparkle6788 and the fate of their novel, she sincerely hoped that the author would get better soon.