Who Are You Sulking With?

Seeing Wang Dong's slightly reddened eyes, Huo Yuhao was at a loss for a moment. "What's wrong? Why do you look like you're about to cry?"

Wang Dong abruptly turned her head and raised a hand to wipe at her eyes, but there were no tears. She only messed up the loose strands by her temples even more. Her fingers wrinkled the sleeve of her gauzy dress, and her voice came out hurried and hoarse, carrying a hint of a sob even as she stubbornly put on a brave front. "W-Who's crying? I just got sand in my eyes!"

Yet as soon as she said it, the tip of her nose uncontrollably stung.

After a long while, Wang Dong finally asked, "Hearing that little girl call you 'big brother' in that soft, sweet voice... feels pretty good, doesn't it?"

Huo Yuhao froze. Only when he saw Wang Dong clutching the sleeve of her dress so tightly that her knuckles had turned white did he belatedly taste the sourness in her words. He could not help but chuckle, the light in his Spirit Eye as gentle as melting ice. "What's so great about it? Xiao Xiao calls me big brother because she sees me as family. Just like... just like how you always bicker with me, but you're not really angry with me."

Wang Dong snapped her head up, her pink-blue eyes wide. "Who says I'm not really angry with you? Last time, you deliberately tickled my knee. I still remember that!"

"That was because you were too tense." Huo Yuhao took two steps closer, lowering his voice further. "Look, Xiao Xiao calling me big brother makes your hackles rise. When I massage your leg, you blush. And now, after I tell you the truth, your eyes are red again—Wang Dong, do you... care a little about how I see you?"

Those words were like a fine needle, gently piercing through the hardness Wang Dong had forced herself to wear. She instantly looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, retreating half a step. Her cheeks reddened as though they could drip blood, but her voice turned fiercer. "Who cares about you! I'm worried you'll charm that little brat Xiao Xiao out of her wits and have her drag us down in tomorrow's assessment!"

"Oh?" Huo Yuhao raised a brow and deliberately teased her. "Then if I said that after tomorrow's assessment, Xiao Xiao wanted to call you sister-in-law, would you agree?"

"I wouldn't..." Wang Dong's words caught in her throat. Seeing the mischievous smile in Huo Yuhao's eyes, she suddenly realized she had been led around in circles again. She grabbed a pillow from the bed, but did not throw it at him. Instead, she hugged it to her chest and sat down by the bedside with a sulky huff. "Can't be bothered with you."

The hem of her gauzy dress spread over the edge of the bed like a blooming blue flower. She lowered her head, her long hair hiding half her face, leaving only the tips of her slightly red ears visible. Seeing her like this, the little confusion in Huo Yuhao's heart had long since vanished, replaced by a soft smile.

He sat down beside her, leaving half a foot between them, and said softly, "Xiao Xiao is like a little sister. It's different."

Wang Dong said nothing, but her grip on the pillow loosened slightly.

"Training with you, arguing with you, thinking together about what we should do in the future..." Huo Yuhao's voice was very soft, like an evening breeze brushing over the lake. "That's different from Xiao Xiao calling me big brother."

Wang Dong's shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly. After a long while, she finally muttered, "...You talk too much nonsense."

But she did not chase him away again.

The dormitory fell quiet, with only the halo of the wall lamp swaying gently across the floor. The fragrance of locust blossoms drifted in through the window, mingling with the faint aura of soul power between them and creating an indescribable peace. Wang Dong hugged the pillow, unconsciously picking at its fabric with her fingertips, while something seemed to fill her heart to the brim—slightly sweet, slightly hot, and carrying a joy she could neither explain nor name.

"Go to sleep." She suddenly stood and turned toward her own bed, though her steps were lighter than before. "If we lose tomorrow, just see how I deal with you."

"Sure," Huo Yuhao replied with a smile. "But if your lineup can't even win the first match, I'll have to see whether someone is deliberately throwing the match to put on a show for me."

Wang Dong froze just as she reached the bed. When she looked back, her pink-blue eyes seemed to sparkle with starlight as she glared at him, both annoyed and amused. "Who would throw a match?! Our group has Zhou Ming controlling the field, Xiao Xiao's Soul-Quelling Cauldron, and me..." She paused, deliberately lifting her chin. "Even without you, winning the first match will be as easy as drinking water!"

Even so, when she turned around, she quietly tossed the pillow onto the bed with the force of a feather. If she had truly been angry, given her temperament, that pillow would already have smashed into Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao leaned against the head of his bed, gazing at Wang Dong's flushed cheeks. There was a teasing smile in his eyes, yet beneath it lay a softness difficult to detect, like moonlight falling lightly across a lake. Looking at the red tint on her ear tips, even brighter than her gauzy dress, and at her pink-blue hair resting over her shoulders, warmed by the wall lamp's glow, he could not help but laugh softly. "Your face is so red. Did all that talk about it being as easy as drinking water blow heat into your face?"

"You're the one who got blown!" Wang Dong abruptly turned around and climbed onto her bed with movements as quick as if she had been scalded. "Mind your own business!" The hem of her dress swept over the bedside, stirring a fragrant breeze, while the faint gleam at her hair tips flickered as she turned, like a flustered butterfly folding its wings.

She burrowed beneath the covers and wrapped herself up tightly, leaving only the top of her head exposed. Her muffled voice came from under the blanket. "Keep staring and I'll gouge your eyes out!"

Huo Yuhao raised his brows, withdrew his gaze, and lay back on his own bed, though he did not close his eyes. Within the wall lamp's glow, he could see the curve of the blanket raised on the opposite bed and hear the deliberately softened breathing from beneath it. Just moments ago, she had been making threats with such vigor, but now even when she turned over, she was careful, afraid that making too much noise would give him something to laugh at.

His fingertips unconsciously tapped against the bedframe, and the place in his heart softened by the fragrance of locust blossoms filled with another scatter of sweetness. So this prickly butterfly was like this when she was shy—like a flower's stamen hidden inside its bud, clearly wanting to hide yet insisting on showing its brightest color.

After a while, the blanket opposite him shifted. Half a face emerged, and Wang Dong's eyes shone brightly in the darkness, as though they held two stars. "Hey, you're not asleep, are you?"

"No." Huo Yuhao, who had been meditating, opened his eyes.

"Tomorrow..." She paused, her voice growing quieter. "We probably won't be assigned to the same competition zone..."

Huo Yuhao smiled. "Isn't that a good thing? If we don't meet in the same bracket, the earliest we can face each other is the semifinals. What, are you afraid you won't get to see me?"

Wang Dong's ears instantly turned red again. She hurriedly buried her face deeper into the blanket, leaving only her wide eyes exposed. "W-Who's afraid of not seeing you? I mean... Zhou Ming and Xiao Xiao are taking part in such a major assessment for the first time. If you aren't in the same zone and they run into troublesome opponents, no one will be there to give them advice..."

She stopped halfway through her own explanation. Who worried that an opponent might be too strong, only to fret that no one would guide the people in the "enemy zone"? Annoyed, she pressed her lips together and shrank fully back under the blanket, leaving only the top of her hair exposed. Her voice was muffled as if stuffed with cotton. "I was just saying it. Don't think too much."

Huo Yuhao looked at the slightly trembling lump beneath the covers and laughed softly. The teasing in his voice faded, replaced by reassurance. "Don't worry. My Spiritual Detection range is large enough. Even if we're not in the same zone, I can still keep an eye on you. If you really run into trouble, I'll find a way to send a message."

The person under the blanket did not move. Only after a long while did a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum emerge. "...Got it."

The wall lamp's glow gradually softened, and the fragrance of locust blossoms outside the window seemed to settle as well. Only the two of them remained in the dormitory, breathing softly. Huo Yuhao looked at the quiet lump of blanket opposite him, his fingertips ceasing their tapping against the bedframe as the little fragments of sweetness in his heart slowly fermented into a gentler warmth.

He knew that although Wang Dong said, "Don't think too much," she had long since regarded Xiao Xiao as a true teammate they had to shoulder things with together. Just as she had clearly been embarrassed beyond measure, yet still could not resist poking her head out to ask, "You're not asleep, are you?" Clearly afraid of being laughed at, she still hid her concern inside those blunt, stiff words.

"Sleep." Huo Yuhao's voice was very soft, as though afraid of disturbing this moment of peace. "Once dawn comes tomorrow, there won't be time to sleep in."

The person beneath the blanket gave no further reply, but the raised curve seemed to relax a little, and even her breathing grew steadier.

Huo Yuhao closed his eyes. The last thing that flashed through his Spirit Eye was Wang Dong's face as she had peeked out from beneath the blanket—those eyes shining like stars in the darkness, and the faint glimmer clinging to her hair tips, dyed warm gold by the wall lamp.