Liam, feeling guilty, dodged the question.
"Liam, why don't you have her desk brought back directly?"
Liam's eyebrow perked up warningly,
Niel, oblivious to the danger, continued with his plan,
"Or use a diversion tactic to pressure the class adviser into sitting you two closer together.
Once she has moved closer to you, feign distress as if the teacher had forced it upon you.
Doesn't this then logically bring her back to you?
No need to risk getting a sore neck from all the continuous glances, you might end up with a cervical spondylosis."
Upon hearing the last sentence, Liam nearly threw a book at Niel,
"It's her who's trying to soak me, not the other way around! Which eye of yours saw me wanting her to sit back with me?"
Niel shrunk his neck defensively.
And Liam erupted,
"What ridiculous suggestions! When did I ever say I wanted to share a desk with her?
Didn't you notice that I had a good sleep when she left me alone the whole morning?!"
"Right, right, right."
Niel quickly agreed,"
I wondered how Liam could fancy her so."
Liam snorted disdainfully. Niel continued to flatter,
"Pity, the transfer students do not know to cherish the privileges.
They even dare to play hard to get with you."
However, Liam's brow furrowed, "What are you saying?" Niel: " Liam said,
"I threw her desk away first thing in the morning, it's only natural for her to feel upset.
Don't measure the heart of a young girl by your mean spirit, your 'playing hard to get' comment sounds harsh."
Niel: "----" Fine, it's all his fault. Being a man is so difficult.
The afternoon classes passed by in a blink of an eye.
Today, there is evening self-study and the assignments assigned by each subject teacher have increased.
Additionally, Maureen is busily replying to messages on the forum regarding proxy exam requests.
Hence, for a while, she has no time to think of a way to get closer to Liam.
She glanced at her potted plant which had no progress throughout the day and remained at seven seedlings.
She felt a bit worried in her heart:
"Liam dislikes me and doesn't want to be my desk companion.
Do you have any other methods that can increase luck at once?"
Just helping with errands and delivering desserts, each time only two or three seedlings are grown.
It's too slow.
When will it get there? The system said: "You've read novels, haven't you?"
Maureen: "I've read a lot." The system asked:
"When reading novels, which part gives you the most pleasure?"
Maureen thought for a while and said:
"It's natural when the male and female protagonists have physical contact."
"That's right." said the system,
"By giving gifts and running errands for Liam, from the perspective of the original book's readers, you are acting like his henchman.
He might develop a bit of liking for you, but not too much - would you remember one of many assistants of a trendy character?
That's why by doing these, luck won't increase much at once."
"But - if you can have more contact with them and not just be trendy characters' assistants, the amount of luck you get at once will be more."
Maureen immediately understood: "So, physical contact with the people on the list can increase more luck?"
The system:
"Yes." Maureen didn't feel well at once.
Even when she just wanted to become Liam's classmate, Liam showed a lot of reluctance.
If she forcibly hugs him, she fears that she may not die from serious illness at the age of twenty-three, but under Liam's punch at seventeen.
The system coaxed, "Just give it a try, touch his skin, see how many sprouts will grow.
If it's just a touch without leaving a trace, he shouldn't hit you."
Maureen began to rack her brains, thinking about how she could touch Liam's body as if nothing had happened.
After going around in circles, it seems that she would still have to end up as Liam's desk mate.
Once they are desk mates, she could accidentally bump into Liam's elbow, apologize, and no one would notice.
=========
It remains unclear whether Maureen's strong desire to survive has reached the heavens.
During the break of the second class, when the Classroom teacher saw her sitting alone in the back row, she was surprisingly called to the office and asked if she was adapting.
Immediately seizing the opportunity, Maureen shook her head,
"Not really, it's too far away from the blackboard."
Maureen spoke very little, her eyes were pitch black, and her hair was soft and obedient.
The classroom teacher had a positive impression of her and asked,
"So where do you want to move to?"
Maureen hesitated, then said, "It seems like the only seat left is next to Liam."
Mentioning this tyrant, the Classroom teacher's brow furrowed enough to squash a fly,
"If you want to be his desk mate, I advise you to keep sitting by yourself."
However, Maureen firmly replied,
"Just let me sit there.
Liam is very good at English, he can help me... actually, he isn't too bad as a person."
The last sentence was very hard for Maureen to utter.
Anyway, regardless of whether the Classroom teacher agreed or not, there was no harm in trying.
=========
Outside the door, Niel who had been eavesdropping with a group of people was stunned, and promptly ran back to the international class classroom.
"Liam, the transfer student just requested to become your desk-mate!"
One of his underlings imitated Maureen's tone, plaintively saying to Williams Liam,
"Let me sit there, Liam is not a bad person."
"Scram, scram, scram."
Liam was now fully awake, he picked up a book and threw it at them, hitting the blackboard with a crisp 'pop' sound.
The male student quickly dodged, and the whole class was filled with a lively atmosphere.
Liam irritably ruffled his hair, wearing an expression of anger and resentment but unable to prevent the redness creeping up to his ears.
What the hell is with the transfer student? How could she be so clingy?
Wasn't able to put up with it for a whole day.
He hadn't seen her make a move in the morning, so he thought she gave up, but then she secretly sought out the class teacher in the afternoon.
She's really clingy! Maureen returned from the office, and from a distance, she could hear the class making a fuss, but once she entered, it came to a sudden halt.
More than forty pairs of eyes in the class were staring at her.
What happened? The class teacher popped her head out from behind and said to Liam,
"You get a few people to help Maureen move her seat back, don't bully the transfer student.
How is it proper to let a girl sit at the back all by herself?!"
The class's underlings all looked towards Liam.
If Liam didn't say anything, they wouldn't dare to move.
Liam crossed his arms, propping up his leg, stubbornly locking eyes with the class teacher, a disgruntled look on his face.
He was feeling quite anxious— What was wrong with these people, not listening to their Classroom teacher?
The Classroom teacher was so annoyed that his head ached,
"Move it now!" Still, no one moved. Liam:
Liam put down his legs, stood up reluctantly with a frown, and mumbled grudgingly,
"Just for the sake of our Classroom teacher, let's move."
Two of his followers immediately started to move the stuff. Seeing this, the Classroom teacher glared at Liam before turning around to leave with his teaching materials.
Soon after, Maureen, holding her books, followed from behind and sat back next to Liam.
=========
Because the class had started, the inexplicably noisy atmosphere in the class also had to quiet down.
Maureen sneaked a glance at Liam.
Liam continued to lie on the desk with his jacket, wearing noise-canceling headphones, his head buried in his arm.
His facial expression was not clear, but his ears were very red, almost as red as his rebellious red hair—Maureen guessed he was angry.
Having been forced to sit together, he must be pissed.
She speculated that because of this incident, Liam might dislike her even more, which could affect her approach to him in the future. Therefore, she wrote a note.
"Sorry, it's arranged by our Classroom teacher, I didn't know about it in advance."
Maureen used a bit of cunning.
From the corner of his arm, Liam slightly lifted his gaze only to see that delicate white hand pressing on the note, gingerly pushing it his way, then immediately shrunk back, as if running away.
The note she handed over seemed to carry a scorching warmth.
Liam hummed from his nose, neglecting to lift his embarrassingly flushed face.
He simply stretched out two fingers, feigning impatience, and pulled the note over.
After a quick glance at the content, the corner of Liam's mouth began to curl up involuntarily.
She was clearly the one who initiated talking to the class teacher about changing seats. Yet, she put it this way.
Liar. He understood.
A girl's crush is always poetic, isn't it?
With a cold hum, Liam lifted his head.
He supported his chin with his left hand, partially hiding the blush on his face, while his right hand picked up a pen from the table and quickly scribbled a few strokes on the note.
Then, he crumpled it into a ball and tossed it back.
Since he didn't look that way, he accidentally missed his aim, the ball landed on the upper right corner of Maureen's desk.
The teacher at the podium seemed to be heading over.
Liam quickly reached out to grab the note.
Maureen glanced at him, seeing this as a good opportunity.
She pretended to pick up a note too, allowing her fingers to casually touch his.
She wondered how many sprouts this could produce.
The opportunity was too precious to be lost. Maureen quickly reached out her hand.
Sure enough, their fingers brushed against each other.
Liam's fingers were cold, but instantly felt the soft warmth of the girl's finger pads.
Feeling a touch similar to an electric shock, he quickly pulled his hand back in annoyance, questioning in a low voice,
"What are you doing?"
"Sorry."
Maureen apologized softly too.
Maureen then unfolded the note, and Liam had only written two indifferent words on it -
"Whatever." Maureen breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Liam was not very willing, but he didn't want to make a fuss about this trivial matter either.
With this development, she felt more at ease sitting at this spot.
Soon, Maureen lifted her eyes, and immediately discovered five new sprouts had appeared on her plant within an instant.
Including the original seven, the sprout count had suddenly become twelve.
What was happening?
Could merely brushing hands boost the sprout count so significantly???
Maureen wished she could touch the hands of everyone listed on the front row of the name list.
Liam continued to use his book as a shield, his peripheral vision catching the unhidden arc of joy in Maureen's eyes.
His face instantly flushed as his heartbeat quickened.
Was it really necessary?
It was just a touch, not as if she had won his heart.
Why was she so pleased?
It made him think she was quite clingy.
What was he going to do about her in the future?