"Marcus, wait for me for a moment. I need to go to the restroom."
Sofia's makeup had smudged a little, and she wanted to find an excuse to go touch it up. The main reason, however, was that she wanted to quickly take a photo of herself carrying the new Chanel bag and post it on Moments to show off.
She certainly wouldn't feel comfortable taking the photo right in front of Marcus, so she had to find an excuse to step away for a bit. Girls of this age are all vain. They all want their classmates to envy how well they are living.
Marcus naturally didn't know about these little schemes in Sofia's heart and just assumed she was really in a hurry to go to the restroom.
After Sofia left, Marcus aimlessly strolled in front of the various display windows.
At this moment, Mia quietly and carefully approached Marcus from behind.
"Hello, excuse me, are you Marcus?"
Mia was still wearing her cosmetics store uniform, and Marcus recognized her at a glance as the cashier from just a moment ago.
"Yeah, that's me. You're the one from just now..."
"Ding. Detected that the host is conversing with a member of the opposite sex. The host's current Heartbeat Value is twenty points, meeting the binding conditions. Binding successful!"
Marcus was speechless.
How could this system start up in zero frames! There wasn't even any skill wind-up time!
However, truth be told, Mia's features were quite good, and Marcus had noticed this girl while he was in the store earlier. Although she looked a bit familiar, he couldn't quite remember where he had seen her before.
Moreover, Mia was still wearing the cosmetics store uniform. To attract customers, the cosmetics store had designed the uniforms to be exceptionally form-fitting. Beneath the white shirt, her boobs were ready to burst out, and those few buttons looked as if they might pop open at any second. On her lower body was a pleated skirt that ended at her thighs, and her snow-white, delicate legs were so tender they looked like they could drip water if pinched.
Just a moment ago, Marcus was thinking that spending money on Sofia no longer yielded cashback, and he was wondering how to scout for the next target.
Unexpectedly, just as he was getting sleepy, someone handed him a pillow. Mia's appearance at this moment was just perfect.
"I'm the clerk from the cosmetics store just now, and I'm also your senior. My name is Mia!"
Seeing Marcus's gaze sweep over her body, Mia proudly puffed out her chest.
Upon hearing the name, Marcus finally realized that Jessica seemed to have a roommate named Mia.
Marcus used the system to open Mia's personal information interface.
Name: Mia Khalil
Age: 19
Favorability toward Host: 30 points
Identity: Student of the Department of Chinese Literature at Ashford University
Height: 162cm
Weight: 51kg
Jessica was in the Department of Chinese Literature. It seemed this Mia was indeed Jessica's roommate.
Unexpectedly, Mia was not as tall as Sofia, yet she weighed a bit more than her. Seeing that button on Mia's shirt that was on the verge of popping open, Marcus snapped back to his senses.
Although Mia had a hot figure, Marcus felt a bit of revulsion upon learning she was Jessica's roommate. However, considering she was a tool character bound by the system, he couldn't just burn bridges with her.
"Student Marcus, we've all heard about what happened between you and Jessica. Actually..."
Hearing this, Marcus instinctively felt that the other party was here to act as a lobbyist for Jessica. She was surely going to tell him something about how love without material substance is just a heap of loose sand, urging him to recognize reality sooner and stop pestering Jessica.
Marcus waved his hand impatiently.
"Rest assured, from now on, Jessica and I are people from two different worlds. I won't pester her, and I ask that she not disturb my life either!"
After saying this, Marcus turned around to leave.
Mia hurriedly blocked Marcus's path.
"No, Marcus, you've misunderstood! Actually, what I wanted to say is that I've long been disgusted with Jessica's behavior. I hope you can see her true colors sooner and stop being so deeply trapped!"
These words were quite unexpected for Marcus. His figure, which was just about to leave, paused slightly.
Seeing Marcus stop, Mia hurriedly continued.
"As Jessica's roommate, let me apologize to you on her behalf!"
Mia bowed deeply and sincerely to Marcus.
This action left Marcus completely bewildered. He muttered to himself in his heart.
"Jessica dumped me. What does it matter that you're apologizing to me... You're not her mother, after all..."
However, Marcus's gaze was still drawn to Mia's bowing motion. The cleavage between those two little hills was clearly revealed at this moment, making Marcus feel a wave of dry-mouthed thirst.
This was the first time he had encountered such a steamy scene in real life. He hadn't expected that on the very first day of reporting to university, he would meet two beauties one walking arm-in-arm with him while shopping, and the other taking the initiative to show off her cleavage.
People always said university life was great, but Marcus hadn't believed it before. Now it seemed... it was indeed great!
Although he had lost one crooked tree, he had gained a whole forest!
"Senior..."
After staring carefully for a dozen seconds, Marcus finally helped the deeply bowing Mia back up.
"You don't need to apologize to me. You aren't the one who did anything wrong."
Marcus's face was slightly flushed at this moment, and he didn't quite dare to look Mia in the eyes.
Mia saw all of this. She took the opportunity to step forward, almost pressing herself against Marcus. With breath as fragrant as orchids, she whispered.
"Actually, there are many girls in our university whose looks and grades are not inferior to Jessica's. Just don't be discouraged. You are so outstanding, you deserve someone better!"
After saying that, Mia blinked shyly at Marcus.
"Holy crap, she doesn't like me, does she!"
Marcus was startled. Seeing Mia's lovestruck expression, if not for the glaring "Favorability: 30 points" status floating over her head, Marcus might have actually believed it.
According to the system's favorability classification, 30 points was at most the ceiling for a passerby's favorability — not even reaching the level of a friend, let alone love.
It seemed this girl had ulterior motives for approaching him. Could it be that she saw him buying a bag for Sofia just now?
Thinking of this, Marcus understood instantly. Mia's timing was too perfect, appearing right after Sofia went to the restroom. This meant she had been observing him nearby the whole time.
She must have seen him spending money lavishly and wanted to get a piece of the pie as well.
But that was fine too. Since she was a tool character bound by the system, he might as well make use of her! Plus, she was Jessica's roommate. He was just worrying about how to make Jessica regret her actions!
This was the perfect opportunity to use Mia, who had delivered herself to his doorstep.
With that thought, Marcus instantly put on a wronged expression.
"You might not know this, but Jessica was my first love. I had very high expectations for this relationship. But she hurt me like this... I think I probably won't take the initiative to like a girl again in the future..."
Marcus specifically emphasized the word "initiative" when he said it.
Mia fell for it, as expected, and asked in confusion.
"So then what about the girl who was shopping with you just now..."
"That girl is pursuing me, and she even said she wants to invite me to dinner at the Dunmore Hotel tonight. But I don't want to date right now, and I haven't confirmed a relationship with her either. It's just that she's too enthusiastic toward me, so I thought I should give her something as a return gift."
Hearing this, Mia suddenly realized everything. It seemed Jessica had truly misjudged him.
In Mia's mind, she had already pegged Marcus as a low-key and innocent second-generation rich kid who usually didn't like to reveal his true identity to others.
As an admirer, Sofia had only shown a little goodwill by offering to treat him to dinner, and Marcus had already generously bought her a Chanel bag. Then, if she were to pester and pursue him relentlessly...
Thinking of this, Mia was overjoyed.
"So would you mind having one more girl by your side."