"You—"
"When you’re sick, you should behave. You sneaked out without a word early that morning. Do you think you slipped out of my sight?"
"..." She felt wronged.
"I hurt you once, and I’m trying to make up for it. Would I hurt you again?"
Su Xiaomeng shifted her gaze away and mumbled softly, "Who knows..."
"Right, who knows. Whoever pretends to be ignorant while knowing the truth is a little troublemaker."
"You’re the one pretending to be ignorant while knowing the truth, you—"
"Why are you so agitated? Could it be that you’re the little troublemaker?"
"I am not!"
Watching Su Xiaomeng argue with him until she was flushed, he felt an inexplicable joy in his heart.
"Don’t get so close to me... you might get infected..."
Su Xiaomeng pushed him away.
Yin Shixiu paused, seeing her awkward demeanor, his heart softened, and he pulled her in for a gentle hug, "Little girl, at least let me take care of you until you recover from your illness, okay?"
His sudden tenderness made her hands lose strength; they went soft and a bit stiff. Retracting them felt wrong, and keeping them straight was also uncomfortable...
At that moment, the dorm room door opened.
Yin Shixiu slightly released Su Xiaomeng and turned around. At the door stood a girl...
When Su Xiaomeng saw the visitor, she was taken aback, "Senior?"
The girl had long curly hair, was tall, and wore high heels. Her name was Xiao Ling, and she was in the same class as Ren Yixuan.
Xiao Ling smiled awkwardly, "The key was left in the door. I knocked, but no one answered, so I let myself in... I’m here to give you the Christmas Eve Finance College dance invitation."
"Thank you, Senior, it’s just..."
"You and Yixuan had a fight, right?" Xiao Ling smiled, "But this invitation is from him for you."
Su Xiaomeng was taken aback again.
"Don’t believe it?"
"No, it’s not that..." Su Xiaomeng glanced at the invitation in her hand, took a deep breath, "Senior, I’ll be there on time!"
Xiao Ling nodded, then glanced at Yin Shixiu, "And who is this..."
"Oh, he’s—" Su Xiaomeng was momentarily at a loss on how to introduce him. Uncle of Yin Meng? But why was Yin Meng’s uncle taking care of her?
"I’m her brother."
Yin Shixiu abruptly said.
Su Xiaomeng immediately looked at Yin Shixiu with shock, bro... brother?!
"Oh, brother... hello."
Yin Shixiu simply nodded.
"Xiao Meng, keep the invitation safe, I’ll head out now."
"Uh-huh, senior, take care."
After Xiao Ling left, she glanced at the tightly closed door, her beautiful eyes narrowing...
Brother? Hah! What kind of brother? Do you take me for an idiot? Su Xiaomeng, you really have no shame! Stringing Ren Yixuan along while fooling around with a mature man, even doing it in the dorm!
Su Xiaomeng glared fiercely at Yin Shixiu, "Uncle, do you have any shame? At your age, calling yourself a brother? The senior would believe that, as if!"
Yin Shixiu sat back in his chair, crossed his arms, "No matter what you say, she won’t believe it."
"..." Su Xiaomeng blinked, not understanding what he meant.
Yin Shixiu had no intention of explaining further, he just urged, "Alright, pack your things and let’s go."
"Go? Where to?"
"To my place." Yin Shixiu stated matter-of-factly.
Su Xiaomeng gave Yin Shixiu a look as if she was seeing a madman, then pointed at herself, "I just managed to escape! You want me to go back?!"
Yin Shixiu raised an eyebrow.
Su Xiaomeng quickly cleared her throat, "No, not escape, I mean... it’s not convenient for me to stay at your place!"