The Senior Next Door Is My Biggest Hater

Late at night, he was the mysterious creator “Chuanliu,” whose music she listened to on repeat. She was his sharpest-tongued and most perceptive “top fan hater” in the comments beneath his work.

When a sudden downpour hit, he took her hand and ran with her through the rain.

One night, testing the waters from opposite sides of a wall, he answered her tentative guitar humming with a melody on his MIDI keyboard.

In the fan group, the “head hater” pinpointed every subtle nuance in his new song.

In real life, the cool and aloof upperclassman’s gaze always wandered when he was training.

Luo Chuan looked at the screen, then glanced at the flimsy wall.

Suddenly, he realized

Some connections are wonderful when they’re made online.

Unless the person you connect with lives right next door.

And more dangerous still, as the line between reality and the internet began to blur,

he couldn’t tell whether he was more eager to see “Xi” leave a new comment

or to find out if she would pass through his world again tomorrow.