Dania Invites You to Share a Bed

As soon as Dania got home, she ran off to her room and fell fast asleep. She really must have been exhausted.

Xiao Ling had planned to have her eat dinner before going to sleep, but now he could only wait until she woke up.

After sorting through the things they had bought that day, Xiao Ling flopped down on the sofa.

He checked the day's expenses. Yep, supporting a 2D wife really was expensive. In a single day, he had blown through two months' worth of living expenses.

"Oh, right, the apartment. I need a bigger one, with at least one more bedroom." Xiao Ling suddenly remembered that he still needed to find another place to live.

His current apartment had one bedroom and one living room, which was perfect for someone living alone. But now that he had a little cutie living with him, he had to consider moving somewhere bigger.

There was no helping it. He couldn't sleep on the sofa forever, and making Dania sleep there clearly wasn't his style either.

As for sleeping together... he didn't think he and Dania were close enough for that yet. It would be better to give each other some privacy.

Just then, a voice call interrupted Xiao Ling's thoughts. He picked up his phone from the table and glanced at it. It was his best bro.

"What is all this commotion? If you have business, present it; if not, court is dismissed!" Xiao Ling declared in a booming voice.

"Oh, screw off. Talk normally. How long has it been since feudal society ended?" the man on the other end said with a laugh.

"All right, enough acting. What are you calling for?"

"Come play Honor of Kings."

"Got it. The little addict wants to sneak in some ranked matches again, huh? Log on. I'll carry you."

"Don't drag me down once we're in," his bro shot back.

After hanging up, Xiao Ling opened the game, invited his best bro, and began their climb up the ranks.

Time slipped quietly by amid the sounds of battle and Xiao Ling and his bro roasting each other.

Absorbed in the game, Xiao Ling didn't hear the bedroom door click open. After waking up and taking a shower, Dania walked out wearing her camisole and athletic shorts, gently rubbing her hair with a towel.

She spotted Xiao Ling sitting upright on the sofa with his back to her, playing a game, and tiptoed over.

The fresh scent of body wash briefly brought Xiao Ling back to reality. He looked up to see Dania staring wide-eyed at his game, and a broad expanse of snow-white skin entered his field of vision.

He discreetly turned his gaze back to the screen, only to misstep and charge into a crowd of enemies, who immediately focused him down.

"Hey, hey, hey, come on, bro! That kill was worth a lot!" his bro complained through the phone.

"My hand slipped," Xiao Ling said, feigning composure. "It's fine. They can't make a comeback."

About five minutes later, after Xiao Ling and his bro had crushed the opposition and blown up their crystal, he turned to Dania, who was watching him play intently.

"I'm hungry," Dania said softly.

"I'll go make you something." Xiao Ling patted Dania's still-damp hair.

"Something came up, so I'm getting off. Let's play another day."

After saying a few words to his bro on the phone, Xiao Ling immediately closed the game and got up to cook for Dania.

The familiar symphony rang out in the kitchen once more, with Xiao Ling again conducting the whole affair.

Dania lay on the sofa, fiddling with her new phone and occasionally watching Xiao Ling produce one colorful, fragrant dish after another as if by magic.

"Dinner's ready. Come eat."

After bringing the final dish, a fresh soup, to the table, Xiao Ling called Dania over from the sofa, where she was still playing on her phone.

"Okay, coming." Dania sat up, slipped her feet into her slippers, and walked over.

To Dania, happiness had once been a distant word.

She was nothing more than a creation of the Fractsidus, a tool to be discarded once it wore out.

It wasn't until she came to Star Torch Academy and met Sigrika and her other friends that she truly felt there were people who loved her.

Perhaps leaving the academy and the friends she cared about was bound to be painful for her, but she wasn't afraid.

As long as tomorrow arrived on schedule, she would still have a chance to wait for the day she reunited with her friends.

But the unexpected always came before tomorrow.

Even she didn't know how she had come to this unfamiliar world. She had simply woken up to find herself far from home.

And the ordinary-looking young man before her was the Rover known as the savior in that world.

She felt sorry for the Rover. The so-called savior was merely a prisoner placed upon a throne, running himself ragged for the ideals in his heart yet never receiving anything in return.

That world only bared its fangs at kind people, while those who measured everything by value always got everything.

So when Dania first felt this world's kindness toward her, it seemed as unbelievable as a dream.

"Because Dania is a very, very good girl!"

Ha, even she hadn't known she was a good girl.

But she was truly happy, because this world really was gentle with kind people, almost excessively so.

And then there was the boy in front of her, who didn't look much older than him.

Dania drank her hot soup and stole glances at Xiao Ling across the table.

He was eating while scrolling through Bilibili, occasionally grinning along at a funny video. He was just an ordinary boy next door.

Dania knew Xiao Ling was the Rover from that world, but she had never truly seen him as the Rover.

He was just an ordinary person, yet he had helped her fit into this world and had warned her very seriously to keep her resonance abilities hidden. Though he looked only a few years older than her, he was always putting on the airs of an elder.

He laughed heartily when something made him happy, got jealous when someone of the opposite sex noticed her, and earnestly commented on every outfit she picked.

She thought it was wonderful. In this world, he wasn't the savior who had to shoulder a great burden, and she wasn't the counterfeit born bearing lies.

She could ask for even more, but this was enough. She was very satisfied with her life now.

"Still eating? That's your third bowl, isn't it? Careful, you'll get fat," Xiao Ling teased when he saw her fill another bowl with rice.

"Mind your own business!" Dania rolled her eyes adorably.

By the time Xiao Ling finished washing the dishes and mopping the floor, the clock had reached ten at night.

"It's that late already?" Xiao Ling wiped away his sweat, marveling a little at how quickly time had passed.

He looked over at Dania, who was sitting cross-legged on the sofa. The television was playing a domestic animated film that had been popular in recent years.

"You were born a demon orb! Stop struggling. It's your destiny!"

"Screw your damn destiny! Whether I'm a demon or an immortal is for me to decide!!!!"

Dania chewed on potato chips, the soft crunching from her little mouth sounding quite rhythmic.

"Oh, right," Dania suddenly said. "Why don't you sleep in the bed tonight?"

"Then where will you sleep?" Xiao Ling asked, puzzled.

"The bed."

"Together?" Xiao Ling asked again to make sure.

"Mm-hmm." Dania answered absentmindedly. It seemed her attention was still on the movie.

Huh?!

Happiness had come so suddenly that Xiao Ling was sunk before he could prepare himself.

(Forgot the beginning, forgot the rest. Anyway, Wuthering Waves... no... (ten thousand words omitted))

Lost in his rosy daydreams, Xiao Ling clearly didn't notice the blush spreading from Dania's ears to her cheeks.

Sharing a bed with the opposite sex was still a little too exciting for her.

Even so, she had no intention of taking back the invitation. Sleeping on the sofa really was uncomfortable, and Xiao Ling had been so good to her. She couldn't just watch him suffer, could she?

Besides, everyone else saw them as a couple... Sleeping together was no big deal... right...?

If, after reading what came before, you thought the story was about to have sparks of romance fly between a man and a woman alone together, then I'm deeply sorry.

Given Hajiling's gentlemanly character-or rather, his beastly nature-he wasn't ready to share a bed with a character he liked.

He felt that such things should happen naturally when feelings ran deep enough. Being able to look but not touch was still asking too much of him.

So he decided not to think about sharing a bed for now and to hurry up and find a new home to move into instead.

Dania was a little disappointed, but also somewhat relieved.

If he had really accepted her invitation, she probably wouldn't have slept well all night.

Because it really would have been embarrassing... Sharing a bed and all, something strange might have happened.

She wasn't ready for that sort of thing yet. If he really wanted to, what should she do?

But it was all right. There would be plenty of time, and time was the one thing she had in abundance now.