Chapter 32: The Stolen Toothbrush

September 12th, Saturday, a wonderful holiday.

9:33 AM.

The Sleeping Beauty who turned off her alarm—Li Xingya—obviously did not realize the crisis… quietly approaching.

“Hee.”

A light, playful giggle sounded in her room.

And Li Xingya’s consciousness only slightly awakened.

‘Hmm, did someone enter my room?’

She turned over, facing away from the sunlight at the window, without opening her eyes.

‘Whatever, if they came in, they came in.’

‘Finally, it’s the weekend, no need to wake up early. I need to sleep a bit more.’

Clearly, between confirming danger and enjoying sleep, Li Xingya decisively chose the latter.

Then.

Poke—

Li Xingya felt her left cheek sink inward.

Obviously, someone was poking her with a finger.

Poke, poke, poke, poke—

And after that, her cheek began to rhythmically repeat the process of being poked down and bouncing back up.

Throughout the whole process, Li Xingya naturally became more and more awake.

‘So annoying.’

‘Doing this kind of thing first thing in the morning.’

Even with Li Xingya’s good temper, having her peaceful dream disturbed would make her unhappy.

“Ugh.”

From Li Xingya’s throat came an indistinct, grumbling sound.

“…Go away.”

Lin Jin’an, crouching by the bed, looked at Li Xingya, whose brows were furrowed and whose upper eyelids kept twitching, and smiled even more happily.

‘So cute.’

‘I really want to hide you away like this.’

‘No wonder Jiang Chiyue’s possessiveness over you is so strong.’

Lin Jin’an thought to herself, then switched targets. Her gaze slowly moved to Li Xingya’s small, upright nose tip.

‘Give it a flick?’

Lin Jin’an extended her index finger and gently scraped her fingernail across Li Xingya’s nose tip.

Li Xingya shrank deeper into the blanket. The ticklish feeling made her want to sneeze.

If the teasing continued, Li Xingya would really be woken up.

Lin Jin’an propped her chin on her left hand and tilted her head slightly to observe the curled-up Li Xingya.

‘She really doesn’t want to wake up, does she?’

‘Did she stay up late last night?’

No.

Li Xingya didn’t stay up last night. As usual, she went to bed at ten o’clock.

She just slept for a long time, that’s all.

Seeing that Li Xingya really didn’t want to wake up, Lin Jin’an stopped disturbing her. She just sat quietly on the floor and began to observe Li Xingya’s charming sleeping face.

Click.

With the sound of a phone shutter, a photo that could easily become a trending topic on StarJoy was saved into Lin Jin’an’s photo album.

[Top-tier Idol Lin Jin’an secretly photographs sixteen-year-old girl sleeping] — If such a topic got out, it would probably be very bad, right?

‘I have to hide this photo well, can’t let anyone know.’

‘Especially that stingy Jiang Chiyue.’

Just as Lin Jin’an was thinking this while staring at Li Xingya on her phone, she suddenly felt a sharp gaze.

Stare—

Li Xingya woke up.

She was staring at Lin Jin’an with a suspicious expression.

Stare, stare, stare—

“Hi~”

Lin Jin’an waved at Li Xingya.

“How did you get into my house?”

Li Xingya said coldly.

“Of course, I came by car.”

Li Xingya blinked.

“And why are you in my room?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

Lin Jin’an put away her phone and gave Li Xingya a very idol-like smile.

“I came to your house, of course, to see you.”

Li Xingya’s expression visibly turned disgusted.

‘So gross.’

‘Like a creepy stalker.’

Li Xingya sat up in bed and shouted loudly toward the door.

“Sis!!!”

“Sis!”

“Sis—!”

She called out several times in a row but didn’t hear Jiang Chiyue’s response.

‘Where is my sis? How is she gone so early in the morning?’

“Stop shouting. Your sis went to work early this morning.”

Lin Jin’an stood up and sat down by Li Xingya’s bed. In her eyes sparkled a light of excitement like seeing “prey.”

“In other words, today, the whole day… it’s just the two of us.”

‘Just hearing that sounds great, right?’

Unease.

When she realized that only she and Lin Jin’an were in the house, a wave of unease surged in Li Xingya’s heart.

She blinked again.

‘I’m doomed.’

Li Xingya silently moved from the edge of the bed to the center and wrapped herself tighter in the blanket.

Li Xingya hated Lin Jin’an.

This woman could always see through her expression at the first moment.

“Xiaoya.”

Li Xingya: “…”

“Why did you click ‘Reject’ on the friend request I sent you earlier?”

Lin Jin’an still had a smile on her lips, but Li Xingya inexplicably felt threatened.

“…I clicked wrong.”

“You clicked wrong?”

“Mm.”

Li Xingya nodded very obediently.

“When I saw you add me as a friend, I got excited for a moment… and accidentally clicked wrong. Really.”

“I see.”

Lin Jin’an squinted her eyes.

‘Liar.’

‘She obviously did it on purpose.’

‘Only sixteen years old, and not a single truthful word comes out of her mouth. I really wonder how she’ll manage in the future.’

Lin Jin’an didn’t stoop to Li Xingya’s level. She just took out her phone and sent another friend request.

“Let’s agree again?”

“Okay.”

Li Xingya’s finger trembled slightly as she pressed on the word “Agree.”

‘Ugh.’

‘Forced to add a hated person as a friend.’

‘She’s supposed to be an idol, why doesn’t Lin Jin’an understand any social etiquette?’

‘I already clearly rejected her… and she still pesters me.’

Jiang Chiyue is one.

Lin Jin’an is another.

Neither of these two have any trace of how adults should behave!

To this, the mature (self-proclaimed) Li Xingya expressed great disappointment.

Seeing that the friend request was accepted, Lin Jin’an contentedly patted Li Xingya’s head.

“Get ready to get up. I’ll prepare breakfast for you. Today, let you taste the skills of the great idol Lin Jin’an.”

After leaving these words, Lin Jin’an left the room.

Only Li Xingya was left sitting on the bed, helplessly smoothing her hair that had been messed up from sleeping last night.

She wasn’t interested in Lin Jin’an’s cooking. Even just eating a sandwich would be fine.

But…

‘But did Jiang Chiyue go to work?’

‘If Lin Jin’an wasn’t here, wouldn’t I be the only one in the house?’

‘Hmm.’

‘Well, she’s already here, and the weather is so hot.’

‘For now…’

‘For now, I won’t kick her out.’

Li Xingya thus convinced herself internally, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom to wash up.

And washing up naturally starts with brushing teeth… brushing teeth… brushing, huh?

Li Xingya suddenly noticed that her toothbrush, which should have been blue, had turned green.

Moreover, judging by the bristles on the toothbrush head, it seemed to be a newly opened one.

‘Ah.’

After a brief thought, Li Xingya immediately understood what had happened.

‘So gross!’

Thump thump thump thump thump thump—!

The sound of Li Xingya’s footsteps immediately echoed from the second floor.

She rushed to the first floor, dashed to the kitchen, and angrily shouted at Lin Jin’an, who was inside unpacking takeout to pass off as breakfast.

“You—

Give me back my toothbrush!”

‘Steal a minor girl’s toothbrush?’

‘What a joke.’

‘I’ll call the police!’