Chapter 10. The Secret Fan.

As soon as my father stepped into the elevator and the chime signaled its descent, Tan Yen and I exhaled a sharp, simultaneous sigh of relief. We traded a weary glance, breaking into helpless smiles like two survivors who’d just dragged each other through the apocalypse.

“Man, that was intense. Your dad’s dominating aura is seriously next-level,” Tan Yen muttered, rubbing his chest. “My heart almost burst right out the window.”

I nodded frantically in complete agreement, blinking up at him. “We’ve definitely got a long road of hurdles ahead of us. Are you scared?”

Tan Yen gave an honest nod. “A little shaky, sure… but scared? Not a chance.”

Pfft. You’d better stay that brave.

Stepping inside, I headed straight for the sofa and sank into the cushions, grabbing a glass of water and taking a huge gulp to steady my nerves. Watching Tan Yen tilt his head back to drink, his throat moving rhythmically, I swallowed dryly and let my curiosity get the better of me:

“Hey, Tan Yen… back at the bar, you said you almost laid everything out on the table with me back then, but backed off at the last second. Why?”

“Why do you think? Because of you!” Tan Yen let out a heavy breath, turning to shoot me the aggrieved look of a neglected husband.

“Back then, after your dad cornered me, my first instinct wasn’t to pack my bags and run. It was to go find you. I’d made up my mind on the way over — if you said just once that you genuinely liked me, I was ready to risk it all. I would’ve gone toe-to-toe with your dad to the bitter end without a single regret.”

“Except when I finally found you in the student lounge, I accidentally overheard your conversation with Ly Suong…”

I gasped. Even though it had happened years ago, my brain suddenly made the connection. “Wait… were we sprawling over the windowsill, sneaking peeks at the guys playing basketball down on the court?”

Tan Yen’s face went dead dark, giving me a firm, heavy nod.

My face instantly flushed a brilliant shade of crimson. Kill me now! It was that cringey moment?!

That day, Ly Suong and I were admiring the toned legs and youthfulness on the court. She’d asked me if I wanted to move on to one of those fresh-faced cuties after getting rejected by Tan Yen so many times. The weather had been gorgeous, the sunlight making me lazy, and I’d blurted out:

“God knows I want to, but it’s my fate — physically, I’m set on dying on Tan Yen’s hill!”

What I’d meant was: even my stubborn physical body was loyally set on him, so there was zero chance my heart would ever change; I was fully resigned to being spun around his finger for the rest of my life. Who could have known that right after I said it, I’d hear a faint noise behind us, only to turn around, see no one, and shrug it off?

Turns out this stoic blockhead had been eavesdropping, totally misinterpreting my devotion as pure physical lust!

“Well, thank God we cleared up the misunderstanding now,” I sighed wistfully. “Otherwise, we might’ve missed each other for the rest of our lives.”

“There was no missing each other,” Tan Yen said softly, suddenly stepping forward. Cupping my face in both hands, he pinned me back against the soft sofa cushions. His voice turned low, thick with a dangerous edge: “Even if you hadn’t pulled that stunt hiring those escorts to rile me up, I had a whole plan mapped out to capture you on your birthday anyway. I waited so damn patiently for you to graduate. I wasn’t about to let you run wild out there any longer.”

“Oh, right! I almost forgot, who was the random person who took a screenshot of your feed and sent it to me?!”

“Shh. Classified police secrets.”

“And what about the sudden vice raid at the hotel… that was you tipping them off, wasn’t it?!” Otherwise, how could the cops have busted in at the exact second, down to the precise location?!

“Look at you, suddenly getting smart,” Tan Yen smirked wickedly.

“Then… then what about—”

“Shh. Save the questions for later. Stop talking and save your energy.”

“Hey! You… mhm…”

Every objection I had left was swallowed whole by sweet, breathless gasps. Inside my head, the system’s cold, robotic voice suddenly exploded like celebratory fireworks:

[Ding! Lifespan +50 days!]

—

Lately, I’d noticed something strange: the hater comments on my channel had magically evaporated into thin air. Before, the keyboard warriors were out in full force, but lately, their accounts kept getting scrubbed every few days. I’d assumed my real fans were going on reporting sprees for me.

“Tan Yen! My channel just hit a million followers! A bunch of major agencies are reaching out to sign me!”

“Quick, grab your phone, leave a like, and boost the engagement on my new video! Hurry, hurry!”

I clutched my phone in pure excitement, practically going crazy as the notification count climbed. Launching myself into the bedroom, I dove straight onto the bed and landed right on top of Tan Yen.

Tan Yen had worked a brutal night shift and was dead to the world. Without even bothering to open his eyes, he blindly handed me his phone. “Be good. Like it yourself.”

Curling my lip, I took his phone and opened his video app. But looking at the logged-in account name, I froze completely.

This… wasn’t this the handle of my very first OG fan—the one who’d followed me from the literal first day I made my channel when I had zero followers?! He’d been the first to drop a like on every single upload, and during my live streams, he’d drop heavy cash on massive gifts just to sit comfortably at the top of my leaderboard!

So that rich, obsessive fan… was Tan Yen all along?! He’d been secretly keeping tabs on me from the very start?

Curious, I tapped into his system notifications. A long string of alerts flooded the screen: [Report for policy violation successful.] Scrolling through the list of accounts he’d reported, every single one belonged to someone who’d left malicious, abusive comments under my videos.

Then I checked his “Following” list… sitting there all by itself was just one single account: mine. He’d created this entire profile just to be my personal guardian angel.

While my jaw was still practically on the floor, a WeChat notification popped up on his screen from a contact simply named “Hacker.”

The message was short and sweet: “Cleaned up those internet dogs barking in your girl’s comment section. I also installed a smart keyword filter for her—the toxic garbage will automatically get hidden now. Go back to sleep.”

My fingers trembled as I scrolled up through their chat history, it stretched all the way back three years ago, right around the time I was facing the absolute worst cyberbullying!

Wait a second, this profile picture… why did it look so familiar? My heart skipped a beat as a wild realization struck me. Exiting the chat, I pulled up Tan Yen’s contact list. Sure enough!

Aside from that hacker, I was the only other friend on his entire list. This account had added me back when I was twelve, introducing himself as a “younger schoolmate” to ask a few questions before going completely silent like a ghost account.

It was Tan Yen’s alt account the whole time! No wonder he knew about the male escorts at the hotel like he’d planted a hidden camera under my mattress. This guy had planted a spy right inside my inner circle a lifetime ago!

“Tan Yen! You’ve been plotting to get with me since back then?!” How could I possibly let him sleep now? I grabbed his shoulders and shook him like crazy.

Just as I was about to use a little force to drag a full confession out of him, a firm grip clamped around my wrist. The next second, the world spun, and I was hauled down onto the mattress, pinned beneath his heavy frame.

Tan Yen didn’t even open his eyes fully. Wrapping his arms tightly around me, he pressed a warm, lingering kiss against my forehead, his voice deep and thick with sleep:

“Yeah… liked you for a long, long time…”

“Since you went out of your way to wake the beast, you might as well make it up to me.”

“Hey, Tan Yen! Don’t you dare… Let go! Calm down! Show a little restraint!”

—

Inside my head, everything was completely, blissfully silent. From that day on, the lifespan system never showed its face again, nor did it ever drop another single ding notification.

Because… under his tireless, night-and-day effort, my lifespan had long since blown past the cap, stocking up more than enough for me to comfortably live to eighty.

Tan Yen, you absolute wild animal!

For the rest of our lives, please take good care of me!

—

THE END.