“Walking in the rain without an umbrella, Yun-jie, are you trying to look cool or something?”
Lin Xiu looked at the silly woman in front of him—her hair completely drenched—and couldn’t help but tease.
Liu Yun shot him a glare, turned her head away, and muttered softly,
“I didn’t bring an umbrella.”
“If you didn’t bring one, why didn’t you wait out the rain somewhere?”
Right now, Lin Xiu was actually a little angry. If he hadn’t spotted this foolish woman, she probably would have just walked all the way home soaking wet, right?
But Liu Yun was already in a bad mood. Hearing the boy’s words only made her more irritated. She immediately glared back at him.
“None of your business! What’s wrong with me liking to get rained on?”
To Lin Xiu, she currently looked exactly like an angry, puffed-up little cat hissing at him.
Lin Xiu was a bit baffled. Hadn’t her period just ended? So why was she acting like a walking powder keg again?
Since he couldn’t figure it out, he simply stopped trying.
Instead, he directly pulled Liu Yun into his arms, ignoring her struggles.
“Yun-jie, if you like getting drenched on the way home, I can join you for a shower in the bathroom later. But for now, you’ll just have to make do and share my umbrella.”
Caught off guard by the sudden embrace, Liu Yun’s pretty face flushed red the moment she reacted. She cursed under her breath,
“Pervert!”
Meanwhile, the girl standing to the side watched the two of them flirting and bickering, then couldn’t help rolling her eyes before interrupting.
“Hey, bro, can you two at least consider how a single dog like me feels?”
Lin Xiu remained unfazed and continued teasing the mature yet adorable woman in his arms.
Liu Yun, however, froze when she heard the girl’s words. After a long pause, she asked in surprise,
“He’s your brother? Then you’re his little sister?”
Lin Xiyue nodded, then grinned mischievously.
“Yup! So don’t misunderstand, sis-in-law. Nice to meet you—I’m Lin Xiyue.”
Hearing the girl introduce herself, Liu Yun’s brain lagged for a second before she blankly replied,
“Hello… I’m Liu Yun.”
Only after saying it did she realize what she’d just done. She hurriedly waved her hands.
“You’ve misunderstood—I’m not your sister-in-law…”
Even so, the gloom that had been weighing on Liu Yun earlier vanished in an instant—a change she herself didn’t even notice.
Lin Xiyue blinked at Liu Yun’s denial, then narrowed her eyes with a knowing smile. That look made Liu Yun feel extremely awkward.
Only now did she realize she was still trapped in the boy’s arms. Saying something like that in this position… had zero credibility.
Fortunately, Lin Xiu cleared his throat at that moment. His hand continued to misbehave, rubbing along Liu Yun’s slim waist as he turned to Lin Xiyue.
“She’s not your sister-in-law yet… but she definitely will be in the future.”
Lin Xiyue clearly already knew about Liu Yun’s situation. She gave her older cousin a helpless glare before smiling again.
“Then I’ll do the same as bro and call you Yun-jie from now on.”
“Bro, thanks for being my pack mule today. You can go ahead and walk Yun-jie home now. I’ll head off first~”
With that, Lin Xiyue snatched one of the bags from Lin Xiu’s hand, gave a playful wink, and quickly walked away.
Liu Yun watched the girl leave, and gradually a sense of unease crept in. She squirmed in the boy’s hold, trying to break free.
“Y-you… don’t hold me so tight…”
Lin Xiu looked down at the woman who had gone soft in his arms and suddenly understood something. He chuckled lightly.
“Yun-jie, were you jealous just now?”
Liu Yun’s body immediately stiffened. She reacted strongly on reflex.
“How could I be?! Of course not!”
But that intense reaction was exactly like a cat whose tail had been stepped on—Lin Xiu saw right through it.
This made him quite happy deep down. It meant the woman in front of him was finally starting to care about him.
So he reassured her.
“Don’t worry, Yun-jie. Other than you, I have zero interest in any other woman.”
Saying so, he buried his face against the neck of this mature, alluring woman and took a deep, greedy inhale of her intoxicating fragrance.
Liu Yun’s neck tickled from his breath, but what unsettled her even more was the strange flutter in her heart. Helpless, she could only lightly pound his chest.
“S-stop… not here… people are watching…”
After all, they were standing right on a busy main road. Passersby kept glancing over at them.
Lin Xiu teased back with a smirk.
“So if there’s no one around, then it’s okay?”
“N-no… that’s not what I meant either…”
But whether it was okay or not ultimately depended on whether the boy felt like it—because at this point, he already had her completely wrapped around his finger.
…
By the time they got back to the apartment building, even though they shared one umbrella, both of them were thoroughly soaked.
Lin Xiu watched Liu Yun, who was clearly eager to hurry inside, and reminded her,
“Yun-jie, take a hot shower later, okay? Don’t catch a cold.”
Liu Yun paused mid-motion while unlocking her door. She glanced at the boy, hesitated for a second, then walked over and shoved the potted succulent she was holding into his hands.
After that, without looking back, she went inside and firmly shut the door.
Lin Xiu looked down at the black mage succulent in his hand, raised an eyebrow, and happily accepted it.
Back in his own apartment, Lin Xiu took a look around before deciding to place the pot on the living room balcony. Then he went to take a hot shower.
After he finished and came out, he thought for a moment, opened his laptop, grabbed a small notebook, and started searching online for how to care for succulent plants…
After all, this was the first gift Yun-jie had ever given him. If he let it die, that would be beyond embarrassing.
And since Yun-jie had given him a gift, shouldn’t he return the favor with something?
The first thing that popped into his mind was a ring—but if he gave her a ring now, she definitely wouldn’t accept it.
So he shelved that idea and started thinking about other possibilities.
Meanwhile, back in her apartment, Liu Yun had originally planned to take a hot shower too.
But when she remembered what the boy had said at the door, a wave of stubborn defiance rose in her chest.
So instead, she just wiped her hair, changed into dry clothes, and lay down on the bed—refusing to take a shower no matter what.
She knew full well how childish she was being right now, but she just didn’t want to do what that guy told her to. Otherwise it would feel like she really was his obedient girlfriend…
Yet when she thought back on everything that happened today, she was forced to confront the truth inside herself.
She had been running away from it for so long, but now there was nowhere left to hide. She… really seemed to have developed feelings for that guy…
Rubbing her temples, Liu Yun muttered to herself,
“It’s fine. This is just because we’ve spent so much time together. I can control it.”
Isn’t that how it works? The longer you’re around someone, the more feelings develop—even toward a kitten or a puppy, right?
But Liu Yun absolutely refused to let herself fall for that guy. That’s why self-control was so important at times like this.
Although her marriage with Xiao Xin was now only in name, she had already taken the first step toward betrayal. She couldn’t keep making the same mistake over and over.