Chen Cheng looked at Andy with a serious expression, "Andy, give me one of your fingers."

"Huh?" Andy looked at Chen Cheng, a bit confused.

Chen Cheng nodded encouragingly, and Andy immediately understood what Chen Cheng meant.

After some thought, she extended the index finger of her right hand.

"Whew~"

As Chen Cheng extended his own right index finger, he comforted her, "Don't be nervous."

He rambled on, "We can try with just the nails first. The nail plates don't have nerve cells, so there's no sense of touch there."

Andy swallowed nervously, "Mm!"

"Don't be nervous, take a deep breath."

Chen Cheng reached out his hand while comforting her.

When their fingernails gently touched.

Andy felt relieved instead, because she didn't feel anything unusual.

"See? Nothing happened."

Andy also smiled; it didn't seem so hard after all.

Chen Cheng blinked, "Relax, Andy," and with a flip of his finger, he pressed it against hers.

Andy shuddered instantly and tried to pull her hand back, but Chen Cheng was quick and caught her hand.

It was like triggering a bodily defense mechanism; in an instant, Andy’s hair stood on end, her breathing became rapid, her chin began to tremble, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Chen Cheng held it tightly, not letting her pull away, while offering verbal comfort.

"Andy, don't be nervous. You can do this."

"Take a deep breath~"

"Exhale~"

"Inhale~"

...

After a while, Andy's emotions gradually stabilized, and she smiled with a sense of relief.

Chen Cheng had been observing Andy's reaction the whole time, and he couldn't suppress the smirk on his lips.

Scum extended his left hand, "Let's try the left hand."

This time Andy had confidence; she exhaled and extended her left hand.

Chen Cheng didn't give her a chance to hesitate and grabbed her right hand.

In an instant, Andy's heart rate accelerated again, and she wanted to break free.

After a good while, Andy's emotions calmed down, and she smiled.

The two of them sat there with their hands crossed, holding each other's hands, looking at each other face to face.

A smile curled on Chen Cheng's handsome face, "See? It wasn't that hard, was it?"

Andy smiled and nodded; she was also very happy that she could take this step.

Chen Cheng continued, "Actually, you can think of this as allergy desensitization therapy."

"Touching palms is equivalent to a skin test."

"Isn't it going well now?"

Scum continued his PUA, "Shaking hands with people is actually like anti-tickle training; try it a few more times, and you won't feel anything."

"Anti-tickle training?"

Scum spread his palm, "Come on, try it, tickle my palm."

"Huh?"

Chen Cheng nodded encouragingly.

Andy thought about it and tentatively extended her fingertips to slide across Chen Cheng's palm.

Seeing Chen Cheng smiling at her the whole time, Andy asked in disbelief:

"You didn't actually train for such a weird thing, did you?"

Chen Cheng chuckled and nodded, "I was particularly chuunibyou in middle school. I saw a book about what qualities special forces soldiers should have and how they train, so I practiced along with it."

Pfft~

Giggles~

Andy couldn't hold it in and giggled out loud.

"Chen Cheng, I never noticed you had a chuunibyou side."

Chen Cheng shrugged, "Didn't you know? Men remain boys until they die."

Andy giggled non-stop and only managed to stop after a long while.

She really couldn't imagine that Chen Cheng, a learning genius with super memory, would actually follow a book to practice such strange things.

"Come, spread your hand out too," Scum revealed his true intent.

The inability to have physical contact with others was actually a bodily defense mechanism developed by Andy due to the psychological trauma of losing her mother at a young age and her father abandoning her.

After simple physical contact.

Now, Andy had completely relaxed.

It was time to try breaking through this defense mechanism.

"Huh? Do I have to practice too?"

Chen Cheng nodded, "You know, all human attributes can be strengthened through training."

Andy pondered for a moment, then extended her right hand.

The corners of Chen Cheng's mouth lifted imperceptibly.

He then extended his right index finger and gently slid it across Andy's palm.

"Ah~" Andy shuddered instantly.

Scum had no intention of stopping; he flicked his index, middle, and ring fingers in quick succession across Andy's palm.

Andy gritted her teeth, forcibly suppressing the physiological urge to laugh.

After trying a few times, Andy suddenly pressed down on Chen Cheng's hand and brought her legs together.

Both actions were completed almost at the same time.

Andy lowered her head and panted, not daring to look up at Chen Cheng.

"Chen Cheng, that's enough. I feel like there's an improvement."

Scum raised an eyebrow, having no intention of giving up; he grabbed her left hand and repeated the previous action.

In a little while, Andy was sweating profusely.

Scum finally put her hand down, satisfied.

"That's it. Practice often, and I estimate you'll be able to shake hands with people normally very soon."

Andy panted, head bowed, and didn't speak for a long time.

Chen Cheng smiled. Having achieved his set goal, and seeing that Andy had also detached from the sadness of learning her brother might have intellectual disabilities, he was preparing to retreat.

[Affection + 3]

Hm?

Chen Cheng froze as he looked at the notification in his mind.

He had known Andy for many years, so her affection was already quite high at 77.

Adding another 3 points made it 80, which was the standard for romantic lovers as defined by the system.

In an instant, Chen Cheng didn't want to leave anymore.

He leaned closer to Andy and sat right next to her.

Without saying a word, he grabbed Andy's hand, "Come on, Andy, let's try holding hands again."

Before Andy could speak, Scum had already interlaced his fingers with hers.

Perhaps because the palm-tickling from earlier was so stimulating, Andy didn't find holding hands to feel strange at all.

Their shoulders were almost touching. Andy turned her head slightly to look at Handsome Chen's profile, then turned back after a while, feeling a strange sensation in her heart.

It was just like the desensitization training from earlier.

The difference was that Andy felt this itch right in her heart.

Slowly, Andy's heart rate began to accelerate, and her face began to flush.

She turned her head, wanting to look at Chen Cheng again, and found that Chen Cheng was looking right at her.

The ambiguous atmosphere grew increasingly intense.

Chen Cheng kept observing Andy's expression; she looked a bit dazed, a bit intoxicated.

Andy had never experienced the feeling of her heart racing because of a man.

This feeling was wonderful, incomparably satisfying, as if the whole world had become beautiful.

It made the corners of her mouth lift, and she felt at ease.

Scum looked at Andy, who was right within reach, and couldn't help but lean in and kiss her.

The moment their lips touched, Andy instantly snapped out of it and pushed Chen Cheng away.

Then, she panted heavily, and it took a long while before she dared to look up at Chen Cheng.

"Chen Cheng, it seems like I've fallen into your trap?"

Chen Cheng shook his head, "No, Andy, you are very smart. If you weren't willing, you wouldn't fall into anyone's trap."

"I..."

Andy was instantly rendered speechless. Yes, if she hadn't let her guard down around Chen Cheng, how could Chen Cheng have manipulated her?

Scum continued to PUA, "Andy, actually, deep down, you also like me."

"At least, your physiology shows it."

"When I hold your hand, you don't show extreme discomfort; instead, you adapted very quickly to the physical contact you used to resist so much."

"Andy, have you ever thought that you might have had a crush on me from the very beginning?"

"It's just that you couldn't distinguish what this feeling really was."

Andy fell into memories. The first time she saw Chen Cheng in the office, she just thought he looked good.

He was also very disciplined and had a great physique.

Later, it was shock—the shock brought by Chen Cheng's freakish memory.

Among most colleagues, Chen Cheng was definitely an outlier.

This made her willing to be friends with him; she felt she had found a companion.

Because in the eyes of her colleagues, she was also an outlier.

Andy looked at Chen Cheng, confused, "Is it really like that?"

Chen Cheng nodded.

With the physical contact from earlier as a foundation, this time he was even more confident than when he was in the Ugly Country. This time, he would absolutely not back down.

"However, there's no rush; you'll know in a couple of days."

"In a few days, you just need to think about whether you occasionally think of me, for example, while working."

"Then I think you will know the answer."

This was where Scum was bad; he directly threw a psychological anchor to Andy.

Even if she didn't have that feeling before, in a couple of days, Andy would think of Chen Cheng because of what he said today.

Andy frowned and fell into deep thought.

Chen Cheng didn't disturb her and quietly exited Andy's home.

Clearly, there wouldn't be any major progress today, so it was better to withdraw and give her space to think.

Anyway, whether it succeeded or not, Scum had already planted the seed.