CH 18

It took almost half an hour for their takeout to arrive.

Outside the rainstorm continued to beat down and the sky was already completely dark. Luckily when their takeout arrived it was still warm, not at all cold yet.

He Xun had ordered quite a lot, not only were there dishes, but he had also added on milk tea and barbeque. Even though milk tea and barbeque weren’t healthy, indulging in it once in a while was also okay.

The TV was on and flipped to a music channel. (1) The swinging melody of an old 80’s song, “Sweet As Honey” was lowly sung by a woman’s tender and gentle voice.

(1) More accurately, something like a music video channel.

Peijin felt an indescribable kind of peace.

Clearly all because she and He Xun didn’t want to go home, didn’t get any concerned calls from their family members, and didn’t want to travel in the rain, the two had consequently chosen to stay here overnight. However the actuality of it was, she didn’t feel miserable by any means. On the contrary, she had a feeling of peace.

Did what they were doing count as huddling together for warmth?

After they finished eating, He Xun had the receptionist to send over a variety of disposable items. Then, he took a brand-new pair of briefs and a night robe with him as he went to shower. Peijin sat on the bed, her emotions a nervous wreck.

Obviously when they were in their dorm, He Xun would frequently take showers. After he had done this several times, she had long since gotten used to it, but how come now that they were at a hotel, why was she getting so flustered when e Xun took off his clothes to bathe? It made it seem like they were going to do something.

But in reality, she knew very well that nothing would happen.

The sound of singing still drifted over the TV, but Peijin wasn’t in the mood to listen.

A while after, the sound of running water in the bathroom stopped.

He Xun’s hair was damp when he emerged, “The bathroom is pretty clean, water’s hot too, you can wash up now.”

Peijin took the given hairdryer, “I’ll dry your hair first.”

He Xun lied down on the bed with his robe on, his voice was lazy and rather sluggish, “Too tired, don’t wanna move.”

Peijin rolled her eyes, knowing that this was just an excuse. She jokingly roasted him, “Brother Xun, if you died from laziness you’d forget.” Yet as she teased him, she still resigned herself to help dry his hair. Boys had short hair, and although He Xun didn’t have a crew cut, his hair wasn’t considered long and dried quickly.

After she finished blow-drying his hair, Peijin took the disposable items and entered the bathroom.

The restroom held a slight lingering warmth. He Xun’s smell seemed to still be here.

Peijin washed herself as fast as she could. Once she was done she put on the robe, but just as she was ready to go out, she suddenly realized she had overlooked something very important.

Boys’ generally had thick, dense leg hair, yet her legs were smooth and white, with barely any hair!

Thank god she hadn’t walked out of the restroom door yet, or else wouldn’t she have accidentally revealed her identity? With this thought, Peijin hurried to take off the robe and put back on the clothes she had been wearing today.

Before she went out, Peijin didn’t forget to repeatedly check how she was dressed, only after she made sure everything looked fine did she slowly walk out.

He Xun, utterly bored, was in the middle of flipping through the tv channels. When he saw Peijin all dressed up, he frowned, “Didn’t you take a bath?”

Peijin nodded, “Yeah.”

“Then why aren’t you wearing a robe?”

The night-robes sent by the receptionist had been pre-packaged. Peijin felt that saying it was unclean to justify it definitely wouldn’t work. She thought for a moment and could only think of one poor reason, “I feel uncomfortable wearing a robe.”

He Xun clicked his tongue, “Shy, huh? Afraid of exposing your pale, weak figure?”

Peijin nervously hummed in reply. He Xun wasn’t wrong, she was a tad bit shy.

Although she and He Xun had been roommates for ages, the two had never shared the same bed. And, in their bedroom, their beds were actually pretty far apart.

While Peijin’s imagination went wild, she sat down on the very edge of the bed. Luckily, the king suite’s bed was large enough, that when she sat on the side, it still left her some space from He Xun.

He Xun flung the TV remote to the side and turned over on his side, propping up one side of his face with a hand and said, “Nerd, come here, let’s talk.”

Peijin’s eyes widened, completely bewildered, “Talk about what?”

He Xun slightly smiled and chucked, “In the past, were you around women for too long?”

Peijin “ah’ed”, her heart rate speeding up, “W…What?”

This statement could be taken many different ways?

He Xun lazily said, “Sometimes you’re too meek, men, need to be more assertive, quit being so shy all the time, like a timid pussy.”

Peijin nodded her head and gave an ‘oh’. She knew that she wasn’t assertive enough, but even if she knew in her heart, it didn’t mean that she had the courage to be so.

In her previous life, she had just become an adult and had never experienced sleeping in the same bed with a boy the same age as her. However, as He Xun had put it this way, she could only silently take off her slippers and jacket, then quietly slipping under the covers after.

“Hey, hey, Nerd, you like sleeping with your socks on?”

“Mhm.”

“It’s only September and you’re wearing thermals?”

“I am.”

“Why are you all bundled up?”

“I can’t stand getting cold.”

He Xun pushed himself up, his alluring eyes narrowing, “Did you really stay around girls for too long? Did all your yang energy(1) get sucked away by those women?”

(1) What He Xun refers to here is ‘yang’ energy, which usually refers to males/men

Hell do you mean sucked dry!

Peijin didn’t know whether she should nod or shake her head.

The socks, thermals, and long-sleeves she had on all held an important significance. Her feet were white and dainty, if she didn’t wear socks then at one glance someone would be able to tell her feet were a girl’s. The thermals were there to cover a certain part of her body. By doing so, she would be able to delay her downfall. However her appearance would certainly look strange in He Xun’s eyes.

He Xun faintly sighed and said with a slight tone of disappointed exasperation, “You’ll be spending more time with me, at such a young age, what’ll you do with such a weak body?”

Peijin tightly bit her lower lip, “I got it, Brother Xun.”

It had been almost eight when they were eating dinner, nearly nine once they finished showering. After watching TV, it had become ten in a flash.

He Xun turned off the TV, “Go to bed.”

Peijin widened her eyes, still wanting to stall once again, “Brother Xun, it’s only ten.”

He Xun threw her a glance, ”We need to wake up earlier tomorrow morning for school, I don’t care if we’re late. But don’t you care a lot about something like learning, and don’t like being late?”

Peijin weakly replied, “Yeah.” The two had been roommates for so long, every morning it was always Peijin who would push He Xun to wake up for class. He Xun also already more or less knew her habits.

He Xun put the remote on the nightstand and adjusted the AC, “Sleep.”

Peijin gave an ‘oh’. (1)

(1) Clarification by t/l, this oh isn’t like the “oh” in surprise or understanding, but just like “oh, okay”, or “oh” as a response synonymous to okay.

He Xun turned off the lights.

The room fell into immediate darkness. After Peijin closed her eyes, she became all the more conscious of her other senses. She could distinctly feel heat coming from He Xun’s body, and the sound of his shallow breathing.

It was a bit annoying.

She rolled over so that her back was turned to He Xun. Maybe it was because she was a bit tired tonight, but she fell asleep not long after.

Peijin had a dream. In it, she was tightly hugging a two meter tall teddy bear. The teddy bear was comfy and warm, so after she got a hold of it she didn’t want to let go. She even went on to warp her legs atop it. In her dream, she had thought, at any rate it was just a doll, even if she squashed it, a doll couldn’t talk.

Peijin woke up from how hot it was.

Right as she came around did Peijin understand why she had dreamed of a big bear! It was because she had completely taken He Xun for one!

Her foot was still stretched across He Xun’s thigh. And He Xun’s hand, was currently on her waist. The two of them were both sleeping face-to-face with one another.

Peijin didn’t get it, clearly when she went to sleep she had deliberately fallen asleep at the edge of the bed. She had been so far away from He Xun, so why were the two of them so close, their positions so intimate?

After she realized this point, Peijin wanted to quickly retract her foot.

Along the way, in order to avoid waking up He Xun, she was especially careful, bit by bit, she shifted her leg back super slowly.

But when she was just about to succeed something went wrong again!

Her foot, as she was taking it back, accidentally touched something she shouldn’t have!

Peijin could just cry.

But before she could think about it any longer, right then, He Xun appeared about to be waking up. She hastily glanced at her phone, it was already past six in the morning.

This sinful foot of hers actually had shamefully, as chance would have it, stepped on his small tent.

Her heart was sinful, but also bashful.

She seriously wanted to cry! She was sorry for him!

He Xun moved, like he was about to wake up soon. Peijin put on her jacket as quickly as she could, she wasn’t a boy, so she didn’t have this sort of reaction in the morning. With this in mind, she rushed full speed into the restroom, ready to thoroughly pull herself together.

When she was speedily evacuating, He Xun had still been accidentally roused awake by her after all.

He Xun drowsily, in a hoarse and low voice he asked, “Nerd, what’s wrong?”

What’s wrong? What’s not wrong!

My god, the sound of He Xun’s voice when he just woke up sounded way too nice.

Peijin only felt her blood run cold, goosebumps on the verge of rising.

Why was there someone so blessed by god like He Xun in this world?

He was attractive, had a great figure, money, even with this aside, even his voice sounded great. And, He Xun didn’t have a terrible personality and in addition, he had the air of a boss. There was nothing to complain about how he treated his own people, he was reliable and gave people a strong feeling of safety.

He entirely embodied every maiden’s ideal type.

Peijin craned her head out of the restroom and warily said, “Brother Xun, it’s still early, sleep some more.”

By the time Peijin had finished tidying herself up, He Xun had also gotten up.

Peijin bit her lower lip, “Brother Xun, you’re not sleeping anymore?”

He Xun brushed aside his hair and ‘hmm’ed’ in reply, “Any later and we’d be late for first period.”

Peijin pursed her lips, “Brother Xun, it’s fine if we’re late once.”

He Xun looked her in the eye, “First period on Monday’s are Miss. Li’s class, isn’t her class your favourite?”

Peijin’s eyes widened in surprise, He Xun had even noticed this too?

She opened her mouth and said in a conflicted tone, “Brother Xun, how’d you know?”

He Xun yawned and replied as if it was a given, “I have eyes, am I not able to tell?”

Peijin sat in the front and he sat in the very back, as soon as he looked up he would be able to spot the nerd sitting right under the teacher’s gaze.

Everytime it was Miss. Li’s class, when she was writing on the blackboard, the nerd’s eyes were glued to the board. If they were taking notes, their pen would never stop writing. For the entire period, they never slacked off once, didn’t all these signs show that they liked Miss. Li’s class?

He Xun didn’t think much of this, but Peijin had wholly never expected He Xun would actually be quietly paying her so much attention.

After she realized this, a complicated feeling arose inside her heart. He Xun treated her so sincerely, yet she….

Sigh. Life.