Although this was Qin Haiyue’s house, the girl still rarely felt a moment of peace while taking a bath. After all, she finally didn’t have to face that terrifying face of Qin Haiyue anymore — it really made her feel much more relaxed.
The exquisitely crafted wall shelf was filled with all kinds of bath products: body lotion, essence water, moisturizing cream, and a whole bunch of expensive-looking English-brand items she didn’t recognize at all. The girl had no idea how to use most of them. She barely managed to figure out which was shampoo and which was body wash by looking at the instructions, then roughly smeared them over her body.
Soon, the girl finished her bath and stepped out wrapped in a bath towel. She found a towel on the bathroom rack and began drying her dripping wet long hair.
She couldn’t go home tonight, which made her very worried that Lin Ziyàn might do something drastic. Even so, she had no solution at all. Right now, the most urgent thing was to figure out how to deal with the clearly abnormal Qin Haiyue of today.
While wiping her body, her gaze swept around the room. She gradually frowned as she vaguely felt something was missing.
Wait… where are my clothes?
She clearly remembered putting her clothes in the basket here just a moment ago, but now both the clothes and the basket had completely disappeared.
Could it be… Qin Haiyue took them?
It really sounded like something she would do…
Pressing her lips together nervously, the girl felt lost. This sudden situation left her unsure of what to do. Was Qin Haiyue planning to bully her while taking advantage of this moment?
Still, staying here forever wasn’t an option. After some hesitation, the girl finally decided to step out.
When she opened the door, steam still rose from her body. White mist drifted around her slender figure, which was wrapped in a white bath towel.
Qin Haiyue was sitting on a chair. Hearing the door open, she turned her head.
“Done showering? Go try on the clothes I bought for you.”
The girl didn’t dare meet her eyes. She lowered her head and spoke in a tiny, soft voice: “Um… did you… take my clothes…?”
“Oh? Your clothes? I threw them in the trash outside.”
“Huh?” The girl froze in shock.
“You… how could you…! What am I supposed to wear to school tomorrow?!”
Her voice actually rose for once — what Qin Haiyue did today was really too much! Throwing away her clothes — what was she supposed to wear?!
But Qin Haiyue didn’t seem to care at all. Instead, she narrowed her eyes dangerously.
“Why would you keep that pile of rags? Tomorrow you’ll wear what I bought you to school.”
“But… people will notice!”
“Notice what?”
The girl suddenly fell silent. She didn’t even know what she wanted to say anymore.
“Notice that you’re involved with me, Qin Haiyue? Notice that you’re wearing clothes I gave you? It’s fine, it’s fine~ I don’t mind at all~”
…But I do mind…
The girl kept her head down in silence for a moment, then suddenly turned and walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Qin Haiyue asked with some amusement.
“I… I’m going to get my clothes back!”
“It’s minus seven degrees outside right now. You’re going out like that? If you catch a fever, I’m not going to buy medicine and take care of you like your class president does, you know.”
“Then what do you want?!” The girl whipped around and asked angrily.
“Tsk. Did I spoil you too much today? Now you even dare to yell at me?”
Hearing those words, the girl belatedly realized that the person in front of her was definitely not someone to be trifled with. Her body trembled slightly.
“S-sorry…” She apologized instinctively.
“Tsk. I’ll let it slide this time. I already told you, didn’t I? I won’t hit you.”
The girl stayed quiet. Her trust in Qin Haiyue had always been in the negatives, but even so, she couldn’t help but hesitate now.
“Alright, stop buzzing around in front of me like a headless fly. Go try on the clothes I bought you.”
“The ones you bought for me…?”
“Yeah. The size should be fine — I specifically showed your photo to the shop assistant. I bought several sets of underwear too. Just try them on one by one and wear whichever fits.”
“You even threw away my underwear…?”
“Tch. You actually treasured that cheap street-stall stuff? What, did your class president give it to you?”
“No, it’s not that…”
“Then whatever, it’s thrown out. It’s not like you stole it from your little stepsister, right? Tsk tsk tsk, didn’t expect you to be the secretly perverted type.”
“It’s not like that…”
Although it really was her sister’s item, the truth was the complete opposite — she didn’t steal it; Lin Ziyàn had forced her to wear it. If Lin Ziyàn found out that piece of underwear had been thrown away… would she use it as an excuse to bully her again? The girl felt uneasy, but Qin Haiyue clearly had no interest in her inner turmoil.
“Alright, hurry up. Go try on the clothes I prepared for you.”
In the end, the girl helplessly obeyed. She walked to the bed, one hand holding her bath towel, the other looking at the clothes laid out on it.
“Um… there’s only dresses?”
“There are others too, but try these first.”
“O-okay…”
Pressing her lips together, the girl struggled with the idea of removing her bath towel, but the piercing gaze behind her made her feel as if needles were pricking her back.
“Can you… not look…”
“No.” Qin Haiyue rejected her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The girl’s face immediately flushed bright red.
“But…”
“But what? I’m a girl too. I’m not going to force myself on you.”
The same kind of excuse… she seemed to have heard something similar from Lin Ziyàn this morning. But this time, the feeling was completely different. If being with Lin Ziyàn only made her feel embarrassed, right now she genuinely felt that Qin Haiyue might actually do something to her.
Even though she didn’t know whether girls could do that kind of thing to each other, the person behind her was Qin Haiyue… she just felt extremely unsafe.
Who knows whether she might secretly take photos again to threaten her later.
But no matter how much she hesitated, it wouldn’t change anything. Taking a deep breath, she finally picked out a set of underwear that seemed roughly the same size as the one Lin Ziyàn had given her. Then, in a flash, she dropped the bath towel, slipped on the underwear, reached behind to hook the bra, and pulled on the panties — the whole process was so fast it looked like she was guarding against a thief.
“Alright, try the black-and-white set first.”
She had just let out a small sigh of relief when the voice from behind made her tense up again — did she do something wrong?
But since she wasn’t scolded or hit… it should be fine… right?
“Mm, okay…”
Obediently, she picked up the outfit lying on the bed. Black and white in color, full of complicated decorative elements, it looked like a one-piece dress, but the fabric was very thin — clearly not something suitable for this season. What made her even more uneasy was that the back was completely open, and there was a large cut-out at the chest area. It looked like something meant to be worn in a very… private setting.
“This… is this really for me to wear…?”
“What else would it be for? Stop dawdling and put it on. Let me see how it looks.”
“Okay…”
The girl had no idea that this outfit was actually called a maid costume. And obviously, it wasn’t designed for actual maids — it was the kind of outfit made for couples to spice things up.
If she knew, she would probably feel even more embarrassed, wouldn’t she?