“Annoyed”
For some reason, ever since finishing dinner, Li Xingya had been sitting on the living room sofa with a persistent feeling of irritation gnawing at her.
She rubbed the joystick absently, watching her character wander aimlessly across the TV screen, until she finally let out a sigh.
“Forget it, I’m done playing.”
Li Xingya tossed the controller aside carelessly.
‘A farming game… once you stop, it feels so exhausting.’
‘And when I log back in, I have to remember what I was doing before.’
As she thought this, she turned to Lin Jin’an, who was browsing a variety show script, and asked, “Sister, is my room ready yet?”
“Ah… ah?”
Lin Jin’an was clearly taken aback.
She hadn’t expected Li Xingya to suddenly ask something like that.
‘Is her room ready?’
‘The guest room’s been available this whole time anyway…’
Lin Jin’an set down the paper script in her hands.
“Xiaoya, why are you asking about your room all of a sudden?”
“Because Sister said my room wasn’t cleaned up, so we had to sleep together.”
Li Xingya tilted her head back, staring idly at the ceiling.
“Today’s the fifth day I’ve been staying here, right? I don’t want to sleep with Sister anymore.”
‘I’m bored of it.’
‘Sister’s body runs too hot.’
‘I keep waking up from the heat.’
That strange feeling of “irritation” gradually seeped into reality, to the point where even looking at Lin Jin’an stirred a hint of displeasure in Li Xingya.
Lin Jin’an naturally noticed the shift in Li Xingya’s mood.
She asked with concern,
“Did someone bully you at school?”
“No.”
Li Xingya shook her head.
“Then is the coursework too heavy? How about this—I’ll call Lu Wanting and take a few more days off for you.”
“No need… Starseeing Academy is actually pretty relaxing.”
‘I slept in the health room all day today.’
Watching Li Xingya frown occasionally, then grit her teeth, Lin Jin’an was about to ask something else when Li Xingya suddenly spoke up:
“Sister is so annoying.”
Lin Jin’an’s eye twitched.
‘Ah.’
‘This familiar attitude.’
‘…I think I know what’s going on with Li Xingya.’
Lin Jin’an quickly calmed herself down and pulled out her phone.
“Let me order you a milk tea.”
“Milk tea? Yay.”
Even under these circumstances, Li Xingya still had a soft spot for milk tea.
About twenty minutes later, two cups of milk tea arrived at the door.
Lin Jin’an handed the warm one to Li Xingya.
Li Xingya: “…”
Stare—
Facing Li Xingya’s dull, lifeless gaze, even someone as formidable as Lin Jin’an felt her body give a sudden jolt.
‘When she’s in a bad mood, she doesn’t even bother pretending anymore.’
‘So not cute.’
“What’s wrong, Xiaoya?”
Stare, stare, stare—
“Why is my cup warm?”
Li Xingya said flatly.
Lin Jin’an helped insert the straw into Li Xingya’s cup and comforted her,
“Given your current condition, Sister recommends drinking something warm, okay? Otherwise, you might feel pretty miserable when you wake up tomorrow.”
Li Xingya: “?”
‘Drink something warm?’
‘Miserable?’
Li Xingya clearly didn’t understand what Lin Jin’an meant.
She just took a small sip of the milk tea.
Even though it was warm, the moment that mildly sweet, milky liquid touched her lips, Li Xingya’s mood quickly shifted from overcast to sunny.
She fluidly flopped her body over, lying across Lin Jin’an’s lap.
“Sister, how long are you filming the variety show next month?”
Li Xingya’s voice had turned sweet again.
‘Milk tea.’
‘So good.’
‘Love it.’
“If nothing goes wrong with the recording schedule in between, it should take about two months to wrap up.”
Lin Jin’an estimated the time.
“…Two months, that’s so long. Doesn’t that mean I won’t get to see Sister for a really long time?”
“What, you’ll miss me?”
“Mhm, I want to stay with Sister forever.”
‘Two months away from home.’
‘That means I can play games as much as I want without any restrictions.’
‘Perfect.’
Hearing this, Lin Jin’an happily stroked Li Xingya’s hair.
“If only those words were true, Xiaoya.”
For the rest of the time until they finished their milk tea, the two stayed quiet in mutual understanding.
Lin Jin’an had a peculiar quirk—she liked Li Xingya exactly like this.
And Li Xingya knew that, so she basked in that affection without the slightest guilt.
***
Late night.
Li Xingya woke up.
‘So hot.’
She kicked off the air conditioner blanket, shoved Lin Jin’an away from where she was clinging to her, then deftly turned the AC down two degrees.
Finally, she even cranked the fan speed up a notch.
‘Tch.’
That wave of “irritation” surged back into her heart.
Accompanying it was a distinct physical discomfort.
‘Did I catch a cold?’
In the darkness, Li Xingya’s amber eyes blinked as she quietly studied Lin Jin’an beside her.
‘So pretty.’
‘But no matter how pretty a face is, it gets old after staring at it long enough.’
Li Xingya lay in bed, recalling the comfortable life she had now.
‘Even though I’m tired of Lin Jin’an,’
‘I still have to hold it in.’
‘Let’s just sleep.’
***
The next morning.
When Li Xingya woke up, she only felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her lower abdomen.
It was an unfamiliar ache she had never experienced before—not overwhelmingly painful, but enough to make her entire body feel uncomfortable.
“So that’s why she told me to drink something warm yesterday…?”
At that moment, Li Xingya finally understood what was happening.
It was only in this situation that she would inexplicably feel irritated by all sorts of things.
‘Being a girl is such a hassle.’
With that thought, Li Xingya forced herself to sit up in bed.
‘It’s not just my body—my head hurts.’
Li Xingya looked up at the air conditioner above the wall.
“Last night… I think I had the cold air blowing directly at my head the whole time.”
“What was I even doing.”
She muttered to herself.
Taking soft, heavy steps, Li Xingya headed straight to the bathroom after getting out of bed.
Sitting on the toilet, she took a deep breath after a moment, mentally prepared herself, and then looked down.
What met her eyes was a large patch of red liquid.
‘So this day has finally come.’
Li Xingya tried to open her mouth.
‘Don’t want to talk… my head hurts.’
Fortunately, she had brought her phone.
Li Xingya pulled out her phone and sent a message to Lin Jin’an.
[Sister, do we have any sanitary pads?]
[I’ve had them ready for ages. Do you want me to bring them to you?]
Unexpectedly, Lin Jin’an replied very quickly, which slightly lifted Li Xingya’s spirits.
[Mhm, I’m in the bathroom.]
A moment later, the door opened a crack, and Lin Jin’an passed the sanitary pad in.
“Thanks, Sister.”
Even though Li Xingya was exhausted and irritable right now, she still forced herself to say those words.
Her biological father in her previous life had always been a hopeless drunk, and Li Xingya knew very well how exhausting it was to take care of someone.
So at the very least, basic gratitude was a must.
“Xiaoya, do you know how to use a sanitary pad? Do you want Sister to teach you?”
“…No need.”
Li Xingya furrowed her brow.
Even though she knew the words carried no ill intent, for some reason, hearing something like that come out of Lin Jin’an’s mouth made her inexplicably feel like the woman was a bit of a creep.
‘And it’s all because Lin Jin’an stole my toothbrush before.’
“Sister, don’t worry. I can handle it on my own.”
Li Xingya dismissed Lin Jin’an with a single sentence.
‘Honestly.’
‘At the end of the day, I’m an adult on the inside.’
‘How hard can changing a sanitary pad be?’
Ten minutes later…
Lin Jin’an, who was preparing breakfast on the first floor, received another message on her phone.
It was a voice message from Li Xingya, about ten seconds long again.
As expected, the beginning was filled with a long stretch of static, until the last two seconds when Li Xingya’s voice came through, sounding like she had made up her mind.
“…Sister, help me.”