Just... like this?
Yan Huan couldn't quite determine An Le's purpose at the moment, but it was a good thing she didn't use Pleasure on herself right now.
She was planning to change the topic anyway, and if it could lift her gloomy mood, that would be even better.
Thinking of this, Yan Huan smiled slightly and said,
"Alright... then, let me tell a story about the Ugly Duckling..."
Actually, Yan Huan considered himself average at storytelling; he wasn't the romantic type in his past life, otherwise, he wouldn't be single up to now.
Thus, from South District until now, his storytelling skills remained rather clumsy and dry.
At first, Yan Huan was somewhat absent-minded, as he still couldn't quite grasp An Le's intentions.
But as he started speaking, the small room seemed to quiet down, as if there was nothing else but the story of the Ugly Duckling.
"In the end, the Ugly Duckling turned into a swan with white feathers... so, this story tells us that gold always shines in the end..."
Even after a long time, when Yan Huan had almost finished speaking, An Le showed no reaction.
This surprised Yan Huan, prompting him to turn his head and look at An Le beside him,
"I'm done..."
He was about to smile and speak when he suddenly froze.
Because the girl beside him was quietly looking at him.
Teardrops slid down the edge of her eyes as she stared at him, gathering on her chin and falling onto the pillow.
Yet she didn't blink, just kept staring at him blankly.
That gaze felt familiar to Yan Huan...
Because in childhood, when they were sleeping together, she often looked at him like this.
But at this moment, only at this moment, he didn't know why she was full of tears.
"..."
Looking at the tear drops that appeared crystalline under the moonlight, Yan Huan's smile slowly faded...
Like flowing water, it washed away the mask of expression on his face.
"An Le..."
He couldn't help but murmur, snapping the girl who was looking at him out of her daze.
She hurriedly raised her hand to awkwardly wipe her tears at the corner of her eyes,
"Sorry, I... I'm just too happy, it feels like I've returned to the past with Xiao Huan, so..."
"..."
After wiping away her tears, she began to smile foolishly again,
"Xiao Huan should... should find it strange, right? We're already so grown up, yet I'm still reminiscing about childhood..."
"... No."
Yan Huan simply felt...
A bit guilty?
Because he actually lay down with caution, but he didn't expect... it to be like this.
At this moment, looking at An Le's smile as she wiped her tears away, Yan Huan didn't feel the "happiness" she spoke of.
Maybe there was a bit, but mostly it was sadness.
For some reason, Yan Huan really wanted to soothe that deep sadness right now.
So, instead of wearing a mask, he raised his hand, and through the quilt, he embraced An Le.
"Woo..."
The distance wasn't closing, but An Le's eyes slightly contracted, making a cute sound.
"We... we're in that kind of relationship now, right? So, can I hug you?"
Listening to Yan Huan's voice beside her ear, An Le's lips slightly trembled.
The tears she had just wiped away appeared again from somewhere, she bit her lip and lightly nodded,
"Xiao Huan, you can do anything to me..."
"Don't say weird things, alright..."
Yan Huan smiled helplessly, though his expression was a bit complicated where An Le couldn't see.
But because An Le's limbs didn't have much feeling, and Yan Huan was separated by a quilt, An Le felt nothing clearly.
Thus, the next second she acted bravely, raising her hand and placing it on Yan Huan's arm, deepening the embrace.
This wasn't Yan Huan's first hug.
Just before, in the hypnosis, Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi had hugged him.
Ye Shiyu's hug always felt suffocating, as if she wanted to swallow a person.
But An Le's hug felt very unusual.
It was as if his body was something precious, so she approached cautiously, afraid of damaging it.
Only then did Yan Huan realize, his previous caution towards An Le...
was like treating her as though she was Ye Shiyu.
And it was in the moment when the caution gradually relaxed, that everything about the girl transformed into perception, flooding into Yan Huan's brain.
The slight fragrance of her hair by her temples, her impressive softness, her faint cool body temperature...
Everything seemed like fuel, throwing into the furnace in Yan Huan's lower abdomen, starting to burn fiercely...
Correction!
At this moment, in Yan Huan's Brain Command Room, several little Yan Huans were in chaos.
"No, she's a childhood friend, we treated her like our sister!!"
"Indeed, indeed..."
"But, clearly, I just told a story, yet she..."
"Then why did she use the modifier to do that to us before?"
Several little Yan Huans pushed and shoved at each other in front of the command room, carrying out a heated analysis of the current situation.
Just at that moment behind them, the small-headed little Yan Huan stood on the command platform without anyone noticing.
"Everyone quiet down!!"
"Huh?"
The little Yan Huans who were pulling each other's hair and clothes simultaneously looked there, only to see little head Yan Huan showing a confident smile,
"It's time to change the unhealthy trends in this brain!"
"Unhealthy trends?"
"Yes, what's all this about flat-chest preference, haha... utter nonsense!!"
Little head Yan Huan sneered coldly, then leaped down to the console, placing his hands on the levers like he was controlling a mech.
"Correction!! He... he wants to..."