So you've been following me around because you don't trust me?
Natasha looked at Lin Xiao, who had been following her all afternoon, with a hint of helplessness. Lin Xiao watched Natasha nod frantically, his expression as serious as if he were giving an annual report.
"Yes, that's it. I've been thinking all afternoon about being watched. You need someone to protect you closely. How about I take you home tonight? I'm a very upright person."
Natasha rolled her eyes, thinking to herself, "You're probably the one I worry about the most." But a charming smile played on her lips as she lightly traced a line across his chest with her finger, her voice both seductive and soft.
"Great! I'll ride home in your car tonight. Is your car very big?"
Hearing Natasha's words, Lin Xiao grinned, his smile almost reaching his ears. Seeing Lin Xiao make that expression again, Natasha's lips twitched, and she quickened her pace.
Upon reaching the underground parking lot, Lin Xiao overtook Natasha and walked a few steps ahead to his Hummer. Just as he was about to open the door and invite Natasha in, Natasha smiled at him. That smile made Lin Xiao's heart flutter. The next second, she directly straddled the black motorcycle parked next to the fire hydrant, turned the handlebars, started the engine, and the motorcycle let out a low roar before shooting off more than ten meters away and disappearing from Lin Xiao's sight.
Lin Xiao stood there, his hand still in the position of pulling the car door, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.
"Alright." He pulled his hand back and put it in his pocket, a slow smile curving his lips. "You can run away, but you can't hide." He opened the car door and slowly started the car.
Natasha's home was in an inconspicuous apartment building in Queens, on the third floor, with windows facing a back alley and curtains tightly drawn. This was Susan's third visit; the first two times, Natasha almost bumped into her—once when Natasha suddenly came back in the middle of the night to get some documents, and the other time when the lock rang as soon as Susan entered. She had figured out the woman's routine: she would arrive home promptly at 8:10 p. m. Today, she left an hour early, waited downstairs for forty minutes to make sure no one was back, and then climbed up the fire escape.
She noticed that Natasha's balcony window was unlocked for some reason. She slowly pushed it open a crack, jumped in, and found the apartment was small, with two bedrooms and a living room. It was very tidy and clean, unlike the place where someone who was often away on fieldwork would live. Susan didn't turn on the light. She took out a pen-shaped flashlight from her pocket, held it in her mouth, and let the thin beam of light sweep along the edges of the furniture.
She opened the desk drawer; inside were only a few pens and a Russian novel. She then checked the bedside table, where she found a charging cable and an unopened box of chocolates. A row of dark-colored clothes, all with clean, tailored cuts, hung in the wardrobe.
Susan straightened up and stood in the middle of the room, her brows furrowed. That bastard said "not as good as Natasha," so he and this woman must have more than just a simple colleague relationship. Maybe he could find something in her house, but after these past few days, Susan was disappointed. There wasn't a single trace of personal belongings in this woman's house.
Susan suddenly felt a pang of anxiety. She sensed a very faint breathing sound coming from behind her. A sharp pain shot through her neck, and she jumped up as if electrocuted. Grabbing a beam from the ceiling with one hand, Susan flipped over and crawled up, the whole process taking less than a second. Hanging on the beam, she made sure she was well hidden before looking down.
She scanned the room and found nothing, just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief. But the next second, she saw a horrifying scene. Her pupils constricted sharply, and her whole body trembled.
She saw a head, which appeared out of thin air next to the curtains, hovering in mid-air, about 1.6 meters above the ground. It had red hair and red lips, a curved smile, and a pair of blue eyes that were fixed precisely on the beam where she was hiding, as if admiring a squirrel that had suddenly darted up onto the beam.
Susan's pupils contracted sharply. Natasha reached out and lifted her Cloak, the silver-gray fabric slipping from her shoulders to reveal a standard black bodysuit underneath. She removed the Cloak slowly, as if giving the uninvited guest upstairs enough time to see her clearly. Then she suddenly raised her hand, the Widow's Bite aimed at the beam.
"Come down, I've found you."
Susan shrank back in fright, her mind racing. Natasha gave her no time to think; with a flick of her wrist, a U-shaped projectile shot out, its metallic arc flashing coldly in the darkness. Susan dodged to the side, the Negasonic Teenage Warhead grazing her shoulder before embedding itself in the ceiling behind her. Before she could even catch her breath, a second one followed, striking her precisely on the outside of her calf. The instant the current exploded, Susan's entire leg went numb, her hand slipped, and she tumbled off the beam.
She did a half somersault in the air, pushed off the wall with her toes, and used the momentum to propel herself toward the window. With a crash, the glass shattered, and Susan's figure tumbled out of the third-floor window, landing on a trash can lid in the back alley. She bounced, stood up, activated her ability, and disappeared.
Natasha rushed to the window, leaning half her body out. She squinted at the empty back alley, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"I didn't expect you to run so fast."
Just then, a familiar yet annoying voice came from behind.
"I really watched a good show just now."
The voice came from the doorway. Natasha turned around, and Widow's Bite was raised and pointed towards the door. Lin Xiao had entered at some point and was now leisurely leaning against the doorframe, holding a bag of potato chips he had taken from somewhere and putting it in his mouth. When he saw Widow's Bite pointing at him, he raised his other hand, and the bag of potato chips swayed.
"Calm down, calm down, it's me."
Natasha narrowed her eyes and flicked her wrist. A bolt of electricity grazed Lin Xiao's ear, struck the door frame behind him, and burned a small patch of char. Lin Xiao's smile froze for a second.
"You actually shot?"
"I knew it! Tell me, who is she?" Natasha said, her face turning cold as she spoke each word slowly and deliberately.
Lin Xiao placed the potato chips on the shoe cabinet by the door, raised his hands, and then quietly took two steps forward.
" Susan, the Invisible Woman, the one from Fantastic Four, she suspects Reed has something going on, but she can't investigate directly. I've been getting closer to Reed recently for some reason, and she tried to get some information out of me, but failed. I casually mentioned your name to her, and she thought you were related to me, so she wanted to find out something from you and started following you. Honestly, I didn't mean it."
Natasha ignored Lin Xiao. "She's Susan... She followed me for three days and tormented me for three days, all because of you?"
"Hey hey, I know, that's why I came."
When did you find out?
"When you mentioned perfume, I guessed it when I couldn't see you."
Natasha looked at him, her shoulders slowly relaxing, but the coldness on her face hadn't completely melted away. Lin Xiao took another step forward, and only two steps remained between them.
"Why didn't you say anything in front of the lab today? You followed me just to watch the show?"
"Ahem... Not entirely. I'm not 100% sure if she's Susan. I gave you the Invisibility Cloak and followed you to ensure your safety before apologizing to you."
"An apology?" Natasha raised an eyebrow. "You call that an apology?"
Lin Xiao looked sincere, bent down, and said, "I'm sorry."
Natasha didn't reply, lowered her arm from her chest, suddenly turned her head, and raised her hand to deliver another Widow's Bite.
Lin Xiao didn't even try to dodge this time. A jolt of electricity struck his shoulder, and a tingling sensation shot from his shoulder to his fingertips.
"Are you calm now?"
"Not yet," Natasha said, but the smile on her lips was already impossible to hide.
Lin Xiao shook off the hand that had been numb from the electric shock, took a step forward, and stopped in front of her. Natasha looked up at him, her blue eyes filled with fire, but also something else. She took half a step back, her back pressed against the windowsill. There was nowhere left to retreat.
What are you doing?
I sincerely apologize once again.
"Apologize? Why are you standing so close? What are you trying to do?"
"I want to... no, no, no... I'm afraid you won't see my sincerity if we're far apart."
Natasha glared at him for two seconds, trying to slip away, but he blocked her way first. She moved to the other side, and he followed with a half-step to the side. They pulled each other back and forth for more than ten minutes until Natasha stopped moving, slightly raising her chin, looking at Lin Xiao with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
Lin Xiao looked down at her. The night wind outside the window blew a few strands of her red hair up, brushing against his chin, making him feel both itchy and numb.
After what seemed like an eternity, Lin Xiao finally couldn't resist kissing her. Natasha's lips were cool, carrying the chill of the wind she had just been exposed to. Her eyes widened, her anger still burning, and she protested with muffled groans, pushing against his chest. The second push was weaker. By the third, her fingers were gripping the front of his shirt, her knuckles turning white.
Lin Xiao held her waist with one hand and braced his other hand on the windowsill, encircling her completely in his arms.
Natasha's hands left his chest and wrapped around his neck. The two moved from the windowsill to the wall, and then from the wall to the edge of the bed. On the way, they knocked over a box of chocolates on the bedside table. The box rolled to the floor, the lid broke open, and the gold-leaf-wrapped spheres inside scattered all over the floor. Natasha was pressed onto the bed to look, and subconsciously reached for the chocolates, but Lin Xiao pulled her into a tight embrace.
Never mind that, the important thing is to get down to business.
If I break it, you'll have to pay me back.
"Okay, I'll make it up to you. I'll buy you ten boxes."
"Can you afford to pay for it? It's very expensive."
Lin Xiao didn't answer, but lowered his head and silenced her with a kiss. Natasha groaned and slapped him on the back, the force gradually decreasing. Later, the slap turned into a scratch, her nails leaving several shallow red marks on his back. His shirt was unbuttoned at some point, and her black turtleneck was pushed up to her collarbone. Neither of them bothered to turn on the light. Moonlight streamed in through the broken window, casting a thin layer of silvery-gray on the carpet, stretching their shadows long and tangled together, indistinguishable from one another.
Later, Natasha crawled out from under the covers, her whole body drenched in sweat, her wet red hair spread over Lin Xiao. She slowly lay down on Lin Xiao's chest, still trembling, her fingers tracing circles on his chest. After a long while, she finally spoke, her voice hoarse and numb.
No wonder Mei said you weren't human.
Lin Xiao placed his hand on her lower back, his thumb gently rubbing the hollow of her waist. "What else did she say?"
"She also said that if someone were alone, they really would die." Natasha buried her face in his shoulder and added in a muffled voice, "I initially thought she was exaggerating."
"And now?"
"Now I think she was actually being kind with her words."
Lin Xiao laughed, his chest heaving. Natasha slapped him on the head to stop him, but the slap wasn't very strong. The two of them squeezed onto the not-too-big-to-small bed and made out for a while before stopping.
Lin Xiao.
"Um."
"I'm afraid to do this alone in the future..." Natasha paused for a moment, as if considering her words, then gave up, burying her face even deeper. "Never mind, I don't want to think about it anymore."
Lin Xiao lowered his head and kissed the top of her head, then pulled her closer to him. The silver-gray Invisibility Cloak was draped over the back of the chair at the foot of the bed, and the moonlight shone on it, making it look like a thin layer of frost.