CHAPTER 25: LYNN JOYNER’S AWKWARDNESS

Mia Sutton loved using her alt account to browse Weibo, replying to comments without any pretense, one after another.

Her replies had a particular pattern; under those comments criticizing her, her responses were always concise: "Scram!"

As for those praising her, she would reply with joy, even praising herself without a hint of guilt.

When someone commented she was pretty, she would reply: "Yeah, yeah, I’m super pretty. You’ve got such good taste."

If someone commented: "I want to dance on the tip of your heart," she would reply: "Go ahead, go ahead."

After replying to comments almost enough, she’d switch to her alt account again and start a whole routine of voting and posting, doing it so proficiently, and her voting target was Lynn Joyner.

After finishing all these operations, Mia lay on the bed, feeling a bit idle. Today’s show aired, and the production team gave them a day off, but they weren’t allowed to post on Weibo, preventing trainees from posting things that might influence fans or audiences.

Some others had already gone out, some were still practicing. Mia put down her phone, finally got up from bed, checked the time—it was already afternoon, so she went to the trainee dorm next door.

The dorms were four-person rooms allocated randomly.

Speaking of it, since Mia arrived here, she hadn’t really talked to anyone except Lynn Joyner.

Mia is a sucker for good looks; as long as someone is good-looking, everything is negotiable with her.

Last Friday afternoon, after practice, they could arrange their own time, most people weren’t around, and Mia was the only one left in her dorm.

There were some ingredients left from last time in the dorm, and for once, Mia didn’t feel like ordering takeaway, she planned to cook something for herself.

She was cooking and listening to the song chosen for her first performance stage when a knock sounded at the door.

The person knocking seemed to be quite conflicted, knocking slowly, a ’thump, thump’ sound.

Mia, busy with her hands, had porridge boiling in the pot, raised her voice and said, "Come in."

She didn’t turn around to see who it was, it wasn’t like they were looking for her anyway, probably a colleague from the same company looking for someone else, while stirring the porridge with a spoon, she said, "They’re not here, probably won’t be back tonight either. If you’re looking for someone urgently, you could make a call first."

A long time went by without hearing an answer, so Mia turned her head and saw the visitor, her eyes lit up with a bit of surprise.

Lynn Joyner was standing at the door, probably just removed her makeup, her face was clean, without the cover of makeup, she looked less distant than usual.

Her lips were tightly pursed, eyes full of internal conflict, with a hint of regret on her face.

Mia looked at her and smiled, tilting her head, sweetly asked, "Miss, is there something you need?"

For pretty girls, her attitude was always gentle—her usual style.

Lynn seemed a bit awkward, after a long silence she said, "Our dorm has no one."

Mia didn’t speak, just smilingly looked at her, knowing that was just an opening line, so she quietly waited for what was next.

Sure enough, after a pause, Lynn continued, "I’m a bit hungry," with a dash of grievance in her voice.

"I don’t like eating takeaway," she said, her voice growing smaller, probably feeling that coming over directly to freeload was not very appropriate, her fingers subconsciously fidgeted a bit.

Mia chuckled, a few days ago looking at her appearance, she almost really thought she was a cool ice beauty—but who would have thought... quite adorable.

Mia turned around putting the spoon into the pot when she heard from behind, "Sorry for bothering you," then saw Lynn preparing to leave.

......

"Aren’t you going to come see if the porridge is missing something? I made it to my own taste."

Lynn’s foot, just about to step out, stopped, hesitated for a few seconds, then clutched her fingers before turning back around.

She saw Mia standing not far away, holding the spoon she had just used, mid-air.

After a while, Lynn was already sitting by the table, with the cutlery she had just gone back to the dorm to retrieve, sitting upright, looking seriously at Mia who was cooking.

A slight feeling of reluctance in her heart, yet no regret at all, even though her agent had told her to stay away from Mia, she felt that there was no need for that at all.

Next time she could earnestly tell her agent, Mia was great, especially her cooking, even better!

Mia put everything on the table, then pushed it over towards Lynn, saying, "Try it, see if it’s good?"

Lynn hesitated a little and then picked up her chopsticks; she had tasted the porridge just now, it was delicious, now she tried other dishes, the fragrant aroma exploded in her mouth, stimulating her taste buds, her eyes narrowed slightly, like a cat who was usually arrogant, but adorable when given good food.

"Delicious." She earnestly said to Mia, adding, "Even better than my home’s cook."

After that day, Lynn gradually got to know Mia better, though she still didn’t talk much, but when she saw Mia, she would arch her eyes, showing a touch of a smile.

Usually always cool and distant, such little smiles were truly irresistibly charming.

Otherwise, why would someone like Mia cook for her several times?

Mia went to the dorm next door, and after knocking, she heard the sound of slippers moving inside, soon the door was opened.

Lynn was wearing a T-shirt, pulling Mia in, pointing to the ingredients on the table, asked, "Are these okay?"

"Sure," Mia replied.

"Oh."

After saying that, she sat on one side sensibly, watching Mia cook, with no extra expressions on her face.

"The first time you came over to find me, when you saw me not talking, were you about to leave?" Mia asked on purpose, smiling.

Lynn’s expression froze for a moment, then she seriously said, "No, I was just thinking of going back to get some utensils."

Yes, that’s all, definitely not out of shyness.

Mia chuckled, not pressing further, this person could be so proud.

After finishing the meal, the two of them went to the practice room to practice dancing, although they weren’t performing in the same group, they could help each other with the moves.

After practicing with Mia, Lynn realized just how capable this so-called flower vase was—familiar with many dance styles, all of them impressive, not just superficially acquainted.

With that, she enjoyed spending even more time with Mia.

After practice, Mia was exhausted, lying on the floor with a bit of sweat on her forehead, and saw Lynn gently wiping it off with a towel.

......

Ever since Jensen Sterling made that call, the production team never again deliberately tried to use negative tactics against Mia for hype.

This time, what they released were some behind-the-scenes clips, essentially just showing the trainees’ daily lives.

There were cameras in the dorms capturing footage to be used for these snippets.

Lynn, already a popular contender in the show and a hot candidate for the center position, was sure to have plenty of screen time.

Then the director team noticed she was spending a lot of time lately with Mia, and the dynamic between them was awkward yet harmonious.

This... is pure content gold!

After thinking it over, the director decided that since it wasn’t negative content about Mia, why not use it? The show needed to thrive.

They decisively edited the clips and released them.

Fans eagerly watched the footage, and upon seeing it......