Translator: Doggotranslation Editor: Doggotranslation
“Apologized?”
Under Chu Yuan’s cold gaze, the words I was about to say were stuck in my throat. Her ridiculed look was like saying how spineless I was. I really wanted to explain to her that it was not like what she thought it was. However, I found it very hard to say. Suddenly, Chu Yuan got up one staircase, stood before me, and grabbed my collars while looking down at me. Her face was so close that it almost touched my nose.
“Wha- What, what are you doing?”
“Are you dumb?” Chu Yuan wrinkled up her little nose and retorted his words.
“How could she be sincere when she apologized to you at a party? She was probably putting on an act! Not only would that make you forgive her, but it would also make the clients feel that she was actually a sincere and kind person as well. Huh! How dumb do you have to be that you actually believe in her? And take a smell of your clothes. You drank a lot of drinks for her, didn’t you?”
‘Is this bratty girl really only sixteen? Her thought is too dark.’ I shook my head and smiled. “As long as you know the reason why I was late. Okay, let’s go back.”
Hearing this, Chu Yuan’s face suddenly blushed. Realizing that she had misunderstood me tonight, she felt embarrassed. However, not knowing how to get out of the embarrassing situation, she simply stood there.
Just at this moment, the door of the flat opposite to mine was opened. Then a head suddenly popped out of it. Probably he had heard the noises in the stairway, so he came out to check the situation.
The man was in his mid-thirties. Seeing Chu Yuan and I were holding hands while standing in the middle of the stairs, he was confused for a second. Then he suddenly smirked as if he realized something, “Young couple, are you having an argument?”
‘Young couple? This joke is not funny.’ Chu Yuan immediately hid behind my back, and now even her neck had also turned red because of embarrassment. She only dared to throw a tantrum in front of me when there was no one around, but before a stranger, she did not even dare to speak.
I nodded to that man and greeted him. This man was a tenant of this building, just like me. Although he had moved here for almost half a year, we seldom met each other. In order to be polite, I just smiled at him and explained, “She is my little sister.”
“I know, I know,” the man dismissed my explanation and showed an expression as if he knew everything.
“Nowadays, young men all like to call their girlfriends, little sister. Hahaha, I’m sorry, if I have interrupted you. You may continue. It just so happens that there is also a little sister waiting for me in my room, hahaha…” Probably he was impressed by Chu Yuan’s beauty, he gave me a look of envy and respect. Before I could properly explain anything, he immediately went back to his flat and closed the door. Vaguely, we could hear a woman’s voice calling him licentiously.
I sighed helplessly. Since this man was my neighbor, sooner or later, he would surely find out that Chu Yuan was indeed my little sister. So I was not concerned about being misunderstood by him at the moment. I just pouted my lips and said to Chu Yuan, “Let’s go home; or do you really want to stand here and continue doing it?”
“Continue? Continue doing what?” Hearing the lascivious noises that still wafted out from the gap of the door, Chu Yuan clenched her hand into a fist and waved it before me, “I’ll punch you!”
After this small incident, although Chu Yuan still looked like she was angry, she did not want to stay outside the door anymore. She simply let me hold her hand and take her back to the flat. I had long been used to her tsundere character. Waiting for her to come back to the flat by herself was almost impossible.
Yesterday, I had accidentally made a comment about Chu Yuan’s underwear, it made her take the whole bamboo basket that had her dirty clothes back into her room. I took off the clothes that were covered with the alcohol smell and casually threw it on the bathroom basin. After I had a shower, I put on my pajamas. When I came out of the bathroom, Chu Yuan was still sitting in the living room, and it seemed like she was still angry.
“Yuanyuan, why do you want me to come back so badly? What’s the matter?”
“Who wanted you to come back so badly?” Chu Yuan instinctively retorted to me, but from her twinkling eyes, she obviously felt guilty. “There… there is one, but it’s too late today, I will tell you tomorrow. I need to go to bed now.” With that, she turned off the TV and went back to her room with a hello kitty pillow in her arms.
This bratty girl’s character was really not lovely. I poured a glass of ice water, and sat on the sofa, which still had the temperature of the little sister. After gulping down the water, the icy cool feeling made me feel very comfortable; the groggy feeling was also quickly reduced, and I slightly sobered up. At the same time, a gloomy feeling also emerged in my heart. My thoughts could not help but fly back to a winter night during the first semester at the college.
At that time, Chu Yuan was still twelve years old, and she did something similar to what she did tonight. Although it was not rolling down the stairs, the nature of both incidents was the same. Its danger and the degree of absurdity were way worse than what happened today. That time, I didn’t take it seriously. As a result, Chu Yuan lay in a hospital for a whole week. Even now, I was still worried whenever I thought about it.
She had almost died just because of a letter…
Although that thing had already passed for a long time, every time I recalled the scene of the pale-faced Chu Yuan lying in the hospital bed, the wisps of regret that was lingering in my heart was so thick that it just could not be dispersed. Maybe from then on, I began to feel that Chu Yuan was very unreasonable. It was also probably from that day that I no longer showed my dissatisfaction directly towards her…
“Buzz… Buzz…”
The cell phone on the table suddenly rang.
“Hello? Chu Nan babe, are you sleeping now?” A languid voice was heard from the other end of the phone, and I instantly recognized who it was.
“Can I answer my phone if I am sleeping?” I was speechless, but then I slowly stopped being gloomy. Liusu was certainly like a happy pill that would always do its job without fail.
“Oh, me too, I also haven’t slept…” I couldn’t tell whether she was sleepy or drunk again. She was just constantly mumbling about something unimportant.
I had a vague feeling as to why Liusu called me this late, but I tried to avoid thinking about it. Instead, I just jokingly said, “So, the little dissatisfied housewife is calling her husband to make sure that he did not cheat on her?”
“Get lost,” said Liusu. The image of her grinding her teeth in anger clearly appeared in my mind, “stinky Nannan, you are making fun of me again, aren’t you? Tomorrow, I will definitely break your balls and make you become a virgin forever!”
“You are so evil. In that case, I will follow you forever and ask you to feed me.”
“Okay,” Liusu giggled, “I think I will have a puppy then.”
“I don’t mind becoming a puppy, I will just poop in your bed every day.”
“Ewww, you are disgusting!”
“Haha…”
During the conversation, Liusu’s tone also seemed to become more energetic. I cleared my throat and said, “Okay, let’s stop playing around. What’s the matter? Why are you calling me this late, anything important?”
“Nothing…” Liusu said softly, “you don’t drive often, so I am a little worried, and can’t sleep. I just want to make sure that you are safe… ”
Hearing her say this, a stream of warm feeling was flowing throughout my body. She paused for a second and asked, “Oh right, how is everything with you and Ms. Mo Fei?”
Although Liusu asked in a playful tone, I always felt that there was something more behind her tone.
“Nothing. I just accompanied her to entertain a few clients and then sent her home… ”
I lied. I didn’t even know why I lied.
“Really? You are really dumb. Heaven gave you another opportunity, but you wasted it again. Haha, but I have already expected it. If you are not dumb, then you are not the Nannan I know, hehe…”
‘I may have really become the Chu Nan you are not familiar with…’
Without hesitation, I lied to Liusu; at the same time, there was also a pang of immense guilt rising in my heart. Hearing the way she felt pity for me with a sympathetic voice that was mixed with a faint discordant joy, I felt lost.
‘Liusu, perhaps, you have also become the Liusu that I am not familiar with…’
Hanging up the phone, I got up. Then from the corner of my eye, I noticed that Chu Yuan’s door moved. I could not help but think, ‘did this bratty girl try to listen to my phone call?’ But then I just shook my head, thinking it was an illusion. ‘How could Chu Yuan be interested in my conversation with other people?’
