Cold

It was already pitch-black outside the window.

Lin Zhishui glanced at the clock on the wall. It was past ten, so he went back to She Xilu's bedroom door, pounded on it a few times, and shouted, "Little Snake, it's almost ten thirty! Haven't you slept enough? If you don't get up soon, I'm going to starve to death!"

Yet even after he knocked away for quite a while, there was still no response from inside.

He felt a little helpless, but all he could do was lower his hand, return to the living room sofa, and keep waiting for the girl to wake up.

Little Snake had no real sense of security. She could never fall asleep with someone beside her, so she almost always locked her bedroom door when she slept, terrified someone might come in.

-So sneaking into her room at night was something he could only dream about.

But She Xilu usually went to bed at seven or eight in the morning and woke up at seven or eight in the evening, getting a full twelve hours of sleep every day. Why had she slept so long today?

"I've heard people sleep a lot because their health isn't very good... Should I take her to the hospital...?"

Lin Zhishui was a little worried. Then he rubbed his rather empty stomach and grew even more worried.

He had finished cooking an hour ago.

But he couldn't eat first by himself.

A long time ago, probably when they had first moved in together, he had once lost patience and eaten dinner alone. After Little Snake got up, she hadn't said anything and had quietly finished her meal by herself. But when dinnertime came the next day, she said she wasn't hungry and went without food until Lin Zhishui went to bed. Only then did she cook for herself.

He didn't know what sort of thinking lay behind that, but he could make a guess. She probably felt excluded and forgotten. She had pretended nothing was wrong at the time, then afterward would rather go hungry and eat alone.

The girl was sensitive and fragile, as timid as a mouse, yet fiercely proud, and she liked to bottle everything up.

Only online did she seem more confident, like a completely different person from who she was in real life.

Contradictory, yet united.

That was why Lin Zhishui no longer dared to eat first by himself.

Pounding on the door didn't seem to help, either. Surely she wouldn't wear her hearing aid while sleeping. If she slept on her side with the ear that still had some hearing pressed against the pillow, she most likely couldn't hear him.

He couldn't exactly break down the door.

What else could he do besides wait on an empty stomach?

He could only forgive her, just like a father.

When she wakes up, she's getting at least three smacks on the butt! Lin Zhishui thought.

A little while later, a faint sound came from the bedroom door.

Finally awake?

Lin Zhishui stood up and walked out of the living room, just in time to see She Xilu emerge from her bedroom in white cartoon-print pajamas.

She was barefoot, her small feet pale, and her head hung low. Her slightly disheveled long black hair spilled loose like Sadako's, and she wasn't wearing her glasses. Her body swayed a little as she came out. Her footsteps were perfectly steady, yet her body twisted strangely, her partly exposed waist as slender and supple as a water snake's.

"Oh, I was just about to break down your door."

Lin Zhishui walked over with a smile and smacked her on the butt, chiding her, "You've kept me starving for two hours. Letting me kiss you later isn't too much to ask, is it?"

"Hmm?" She Xilu stopped. Without lifting her head, she merely tilted it toward him and made a questioning sound through her nose.

"What do you mean, 'hmm'? Why did you get up so late? Are you sick?"

Lin Zhishui sighed helplessly. He reached out to brush the hair away from her forehead, intending to check her temperature, and said softly, "Don't you usually brush your hair after getting up before you come see me? Why didn't you today... Huh?"

As he brushed aside She Xilu's loose hair, he froze for a moment.

Her face held none of the timid shyness or startled, doe-like panic he had expected. Instead, it was completely expressionless. Her slightly pale skin seemed like ice and snow, and her utterly unfocused eyes stared coldly at him.

Cold.

Apart from that icy chill, there wasn't a trace of warmth in those eyes, not the slightest emotion.

That look was as though she were sizing up a stranger... No, it was as though what she saw wasn't a human being at all, but an inanimate object!

"What's wrong?" Lin Zhishui frowned slightly.

Was she angry?

Had being woken up set off a bout of morning grumpiness?

Who knew this girl could be so cranky after waking up... Though that made sense. She usually got up fairly early, and he rarely disturbed her like this.

"You dared to hit me?" She Xilu's voice was rather cold.

Lin Zhishui suddenly realized that when this girl was angry, she didn't stutter at all.

"Are you still half-asleep?"

He certainly wasn't afraid of her. With an amused chuckle, he reached out and gave her butt another firm smack. "So what if I smack your butt? Keep making a fuss, and I'll pull your pants down before I do it. Try me."

She Xilu seemed not to have expected him to dare hit her again. Her expression went blank for a moment, and then her body slowly began to tremble.

Just as Lin Zhishui was about to give her another smack to defend his position as head of the household, her eyes suddenly rolled back, her body went limp, and she fainted on the spot.

"Huh?"

Lin Zhishui hastily caught his Little Snake and sat down, letting her lie in his arms. "Hey, come on, isn't that a bit much?" he said helplessly. "How many times have I smacked your butt before? How did you get so angry you fainted? Uh... You must've fainted from hunger. Nothing to do with me..."

But She Xilu was already unconscious. Her neck rested in the crook of his arm, her head tipped limply back, revealing her long, pale throat.

"Oh?"

Although they had lived together for nearly a year, this was the first time Lin Zhishui had seen her without glasses or hair hiding her face.

Her faint brows were delicate. With her eyes closed, he could clearly see her long, thick lashes. Her nose was straight and dainty, her rosy, thin lips turned up slightly, and the contours of her face were very soft. Though her skin was a little pale, it looked like jade.

Her peaceful sleeping face was like a painting.

Lin Zhishui hadn't expected the girl to be so pretty once she took off those clunky glasses with their huge, thick black frames. Especially that faint hint of allure in her eyes and brows-normally, those glasses hid it all.

He stared in a slight daze for a while before coming to his senses and gently pinching She Xilu's cheek. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Mmm..." The girl seemed to feel the pain. A soft sound escaped her nose, and her lips pursed slightly, making them look even more turned up.

"Are you pretending to sleep? Want me to wake you with a kiss? Then I'll oblige."

Lin Zhishui smiled and slowly lowered his head toward her lips.

But he had only just lowered his head and hadn't even drawn close when She Xilu opened her eyes. She stared blankly at him, looking rather confused, her long lashes fluttering.

Then her face flushed red in an instant.

Seeing that she was awake, Lin Zhishui instantly dipped his head with a lightning-fast, bells-ringing, no-holds-barred flourish and brushed her lips with a kiss as lightly as a dragonfly skimming water.

She Xilu froze, then hurriedly pushed Lin Zhishui away in a panic. Not even caring that she landed on her little bottom on the floor, she scrambled to her feet and backed away a few steps, her face red.

"W-what... what are you doing...?" Holding her sore bottom, she glared at Lin Zhishui, embarrassed, indignant, and aggrieved. Yet there was little real anger in her eyes, which looked rather vacant because of her severe nearsightedness.

Lin Zhishui deliberately licked his lips and said with a grin, "Oh, my princess is awake! After Rapunzel ate the poisoned apple, she really was woken by a kiss from the frog prince who found the glass slipper. Fairy tales aren't all lies after all."

"W-what... what are you talking about...?" She Xilu looked utterly baffled, as though question marks covered her forehead.

"That's what you get for pretending to sleep. Consider it a little punishment."

Lin Zhishui smiled and turned to walk into the kitchen, saying casually, "Go wash up. Dinner's almost ready. I've waited so long for you that I'm starving to death."

"P-pretending to sleep? I wasn't p-pretending..."

She Xilu looked bewildered. She squinted at her blurry surroundings and realized she wasn't in her bedroom, leaving her stunned again. "H-how... how did I wake up here...?"

All she remembered was having a terrifying nightmare. When she woke up, she had found herself here.

Had that guy forced her door open?

She Xilu suddenly realized that she hadn't brushed her hair, washed her face, or brushed her teeth. He had seen her looking utterly unpresentable. A little flustered, she stopped worrying about anything else and hurried back into her bedroom on bare feet.

He kissed me just now, and I hadn't even brushed my teeth. What if I had bad breath...?

Her face reddened at the thought.

PS: There's another standalone chapter after this.