Skadi, My Wife

After saying that, Chen An closed the door.

Two seconds later, the door suddenly opened again, and Chen An poked his head out. "Oh, right. Remember to come over for dinner tonight, and don't forget to bring Texas."

After that short sentence, the door closed again... No, before closing it, Chen An did one more thing: he pointed behind Exusiai and shouted Texas's name. While she was distracted, he chopped her on the head again, making her squat down and clutch her head once more.

Served her right for looking down on him!

After shooting Exusiai, who was crouching on the floor, a disdainful look, Chen An slipped back inside with a whoosh and shut the door.

Exusiai: "..."

After standing there blankly for a while, Miss Exusiai finally realized that Chen An had not only tricked her, but ambushed her again. She immediately exploded, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Ahhhhh! How dare you treat me like this?! Chen An, you bastard, just you wait! I'm definitely killing you tonight, ahhh!!"

A Shower, a Shower Scene?!

After taking a shower, changing into comfortable, snug pajamas, and getting some sleep, Exusiai and Texas finally woke up refreshed. By then, it was already evening.

Without even changing clothes, the two of them strolled next door in their pajamas.

After getting off work, Swire had been sitting inside reading while waiting for dinner. As she waited, she suddenly saw two people in pajamas walk in and froze.

Then, after recognizing them, she froze again, suspicion rising in her heart.

They were dressed so casually. Were Chen An and these Penguin Logistics hooligans really that close?

Swire saw them, and Exusiai and Texas saw her as well.

Like Swire, Exusiai and Texas were briefly stunned upon seeing her. After Chen An explained that she was now their neighbor too, Texas had no particular reaction, but Exusiai felt the same suspicion Swire did.

A senior inspector from the Lungmen Guard Department, a ridiculously wealthy young lady, yet instead of living in her own villa, she had come to stay in this shabby apartment. Something was off about her, wasn't it?

Seemingly seeing through each other's thoughts, Swire and Exusiai stared at each other for a moment before both smiling. Their smiles were all skin and no warmth, the sort that made even Skadi wonder whether the two of them had something wrong with their heads.

Fake!

After smiling, they both gave the other's expression the exact same assessment in their hearts.

After dinner, Swire left.

Then...

Exusiai fell in love with An... Pah! No, that was wrong. Exusiai took Chen An down.

Still holding a grudge over the humiliation of being made to squat and clutch her head twice during the day, Exusiai grabbed a couch cushion after Swire left and smacked Chen An hard several times. Only after Chen An begged for mercy, and she felt she had avenged herself, did she proudly let him go.

After getting her revenge, Exusiai did not choose to go home. Instead, she stood on the sofa and spiritedly declared that she would make up for all the entertainment she had missed while away in one go. They would throw a party here and party until morning.

Her plan was loud and clear, and her slogan was shouted with enthusiasm, but Chen An immediately smacked her in the face with a cushion, strangling her beautiful plan on the spot—was she kidding? They did not live in some huge detached villa. Throwing a party in an apartment building would keep all the neighbors upstairs and downstairs awake. They would get complaints, okay?!

Knowing she could not mess with Chen An when he got serious, Miss Exusiai could only give up on her original plan in disappointment. She changed the old plan of partying until morning into a new plan of staying up all night playing games until morning—she still would not go home and would mooch off Chen An's place. After all, staying here meant there would be late-night snacks.

Texas had no objections. She could do whatever Exusiai liked.

Exusiai happily played games, dragging Chen An and Texas along with her.

Skadi was not very interested in games. After watching for a while, she ran back to her room and brought out her beloved... or perhaps not-so-beloved? guitar.

She had bought this guitar some time ago.

There was nothing special about the guitar, nor was there anything special about why she bought it. Skadi simply thought that since Chen An could play the flute, she ought to learn an instrument too. That way, she could not only perform with him in the future, but also play the guitar for Chen An herself, just as he always played the flute for her.

She would secretly buy it, secretly practice, then surprise Chen An and see the delighted expression on his face.

With that dream in mind, Skadi secretly bought herself the guitar.

But—

After secretly practicing the guitar a few times, not only did she fail to learn even the slightest bit of guitar technique, she also snapped every single string because she was too strong. She had nearly gotten so angry that she smashed the guitar to pieces with a bang, bang, crash! After that, Skadi gave up struggling.

She stopped hiding the fact that she had been secretly teaching herself and instead chose to ask Chen An for help, letting him teach her—not just the flute. Chen An knew a little about other instruments too, the kind of "little" where he understood eight or nine out of ten things, and the guitar was included.

Unfortunately, Chen An was a good teacher, but Skadi was not a good student.

Even now, Skadi still had not learned how to play the guitar properly. It was not because she was stupid, but because...

Twng!

She accidentally failed to control her strength again and snapped a guitar string. Skadi looked at Chen An in frustration and made her usual plea for help. "Chen An, my guitar string broke again."

Chen An: "..."

"So I told you, why not learn the flute or some other instrument instead of the guitar?"

With a helpless sigh, Chen An handed the game controller to Texas, came over to Skadi's side, and began repairing her guitar.

There was no need to fetch any tools. Since Skadi snapped strings almost every time she played the guitar, whenever she took it out, she also brought out the repair kit.

Skadi secretly stuck out her tongue. She was unbearably adorable.

Then she sat properly beside Chen An, propped her chin on both hands, and quietly watched him repair her guitar with rapt attention—Chen An looked so charming when he was serious about something~

The atmosphere at Chen An's place was harmonious, like one big happy family. Next door, however, Swire tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

"Texas, be careful."

"Chen An, why are you taking so long fixing that guitar? Can you hurry up and come replace Texas? She's still so terrible."

"Watch your mouth. I can get angry too."

The apartment's soundproofing was poor. When Swire had someone renovate the place, she had not specifically asked for better soundproofing. It was late at night now, and she was alone in her room. Although the voices from next door were not loud and only came through faintly, Swire still found them unbearably noisy, especially that Exusiai.

Listening closely, it seemed like all she could hear was Exusiai's voice.

Her tail stood upright and swayed, while her ears twitched irritably. Swire had been lying in bed with her eyes closed, trying hard to endure and force herself to sleep, but she suddenly opened her eyes and sat up.

She had had enough!

Right now, immediately, at once, she was going to make that unbearably noisy Sankta shut up!

So Swire rushed out of her room and angrily knocked on the neighboring door.

Texas opened the door, looking somewhat surprised. "What do you need?"

Looking at Texas, who was still wearing pajamas, Swire suddenly felt an inexplicable surge of anger.

As girls, these two Penguin Logistics women were staying in a man's home late at night in pajamas. Did they have no sense of propriety at all?

And what was with that tone? Was she treating herself as the lady of the house?

At that moment, Exusiai popped her head out from behind Texas. She blinked and grinned. "We were just thinking things weren't lively enough in here. Officer Swire, want to come in and play some games?"

Officer Swire?!

Swire's brows shot up, and her face turned livid. She nearly exploded on the spot.

"Don't call her that. The rich lady's surname isn't Shi. Swire is her surname, and she hates it when people get it wrong."

Chen An followed them out. He first glared at Exusiai for misspeaking, then smiled at Swire. "Even though Exusiai said the wrong thing, I think she had a good point. Rich lady, how about coming in and playing some games to relax?"

Her stiffly raised tail drooped. Swire wore a disgusted expression. "I'm not like you people who enjoy wasting time on nonsense. I don't like games."

I'm No Good at Romance, but I'm Great at Running from Marriage

Twenty minutes later.

"What is wrong with this game?! I obviously dodged it, so why did I still die?!"

Staring at the gray screen on the television, Swire was furious enough that she nearly smashed the controller into it.

Exusiai kindly explained, "It's a mechanics issue. That boss skill has an aftershock. If you don't get far enough away, you still die. You just need to jump at that moment."

Texas nodded, agreeing with Exusiai's explanation.

Even after receiving the explanation, Swire was still seething.

"I'm not playing anymore. This game is always targeting me."

Her spoiled young-lady temper flared up. She tossed aside the controller and sat down on the sofa in a huff.

No one tried to persuade her. Texas picked up the controller and began playing with Exusiai.

The living room was brightly lit.

In front of her, Exusiai and Texas played games excitedly, shouting and laughing.

Chen An held the guitar with its newly repaired strings and tuned it while Skadi watched without blinking.

There were clearly plenty of people around, but Swire suddenly felt lonely, as though she did not belong here at all.

She turned to look at Chen An, pressed her lips together, and was about to say goodbye when she saw him suddenly put down the guitar in his arms and look over.

"Rich lady..."

"—Don't call me rich lady!"

Swire cut him off almost instantly, embarrassed and furious. "My name, my name! How many times have I told you to call me by my name? Beatrix Swire. I told you my name ages ago, didn't I? Why do you never use it? Not only do you not call me by my given name, you do not even use my surname. Are you deliberately trying to make me angry?"

Chen An looked innocent. "Why would you think that? I just think rich lady suits you better, and it only has two syllables, so it's easier to say."

"Then why do you call this Lupo by her name?"

Swire shot back. "Her name is Texas, which is also four syllables. Why don't you give her a shorter nickname too?"

"Well~~"

After briefly considering it, Chen An declared with absolute certainty, "She's cute!"

Her ears were soft to the touch, her tail was fluffy, and even her hair felt wonderful. So it was perfectly reasonable for her to receive special treatment, right?

Texas: "..."

Both her ears and hands twitched, and the game character she was controlling immediately died.

Exusiai keenly noticed Texas's unusual reaction. She stole a glance at her and curled her lips.

When it came to drugging someone, she had thought Texas was impressive. Yet now, just because someone called her cute, her hands were shaking. Tch, she was clearly a pure-hearted rookie too. Why had she been acting like some experienced seductress all the way here?

Hey, wait. Why had she said "too"?

Miss Exusiai suddenly fell into deep thought.

Swire nearly choked on her breath and almost died of anger on the spot.

Texas was cute, so was she not cute... no, beautiful? She was not only beautiful, she was rich too, okay?

She grabbed a cushion beside her and viciously threw it at Chen An, then stood up with puffed cheeks.

"You. Come outside with me. I have something to say to you."

Swire had something to say to Chen An.

So Chen An went outside with her.

But after they stepped out, Swire suddenly realized that she did not seem to have anything she wanted to say to Chen An.

She wanted to speak but stopped, stopped but wanted to speak... Um, maybe I should just tell him to go back?

Caught in that state, Swire looked up at Chen An. Her eyes shimmered like water, her red lips parted slightly, and the tail behind her swayed back and forth as she fell into an awkward silence.

Chen An patiently waited for her to speak.

So the two of them looked at each other, standing in the hallway and playing a staring game.

For a moment,

the atmosphere fell into a subtle, awkward silence.

After waiting a while longer without hearing Swire say anything, Chen An could only take the initiative. "Didn't you say you had something to tell me?"

"Ah, well..."