Chapter 15: Water Traces

“Confession?”

The sheer shock of those words made the pen in my hand pierce straight through the paper with a sharp pop.

I nearly laughed from how ridiculous Bai Shuyu’s comment was, then caught myself and returned to my usual composure.

“Xiao Bai, why would you think that?”

Setting aside how absurd it is to fall in love with a humanoid creature like that, isn’t it obvious from everything I do that I’m a textbook straight guy?

Unless… had Bai Shuyu ever accidentally walked in on something ambiguous between me and Yan Dong?

I couldn’t recall anything.

Thinking back, I’d always kept at least a meter of distance between me and Yan Dong.

Maybe I’d been standing too close recently, and people started getting the wrong idea.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bai Shuyu’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

Then, his lips curled into a strangely sly smile, and he whipped out his phone to open his photo album.

“Last Friday evening, 6:07 PM, at the convenience store near school, Xia-jie, weren’t you and Dong-ge taking couple photos?”

In the photo on his phone, Yan Dong’s elbow was resting on my shoulder, his face full of smug satisfaction.

Meanwhile, I, face dark with irritation, was biting my lower lip and glaring daggers into the camera.

If this had been back when I was still a guy, photos like that wouldn’t have mattered at all.

He’d just forcibly used me as a stand-in while testing out his new instant camera.

But now, after my identity had changed, that kind of closeness between the two of us just looked completely off.

Standing that close, touching so familiarly, anyone would misunderstand.

Although, at the time, all I wanted was to land an uppercut to his smug chin.

“We were just testing the camera’s performance.”

I deliberately lowered my voice, not even bothering to lift my eyelids.

But Bai Shuyu’s pupils suddenly lit up.

He tugged on my sleeve and leaned in to whisper, “Then what about last Wednesday afternoon, in the alley behind the shopping street? I saw Dong-ge holding your hand…”

My memory rewound like a videotape on fast reverse.

The so-called “hand-holding” Xiao Bai was talking about, was just that tense moment right before Yan Dong and I started fighting.

That day, he’d snatched a box of old clothes I had sorted while cleaning his place.

I had planned to donate them to the used clothing drive.

But he rudely tossed the whole box into the garbage truck.

“Lin, if you’ve got time to waste on pointless crap like this, maybe figure out how to get rid of that stench on you first.”

“Young Master, are you saying that something meaningful is throwing wearable clothes in the trash?”

“They’re my things. I’ll do whatever the hell I want with them!”

“Even so, you shouldn’t just toss useful stuff in the garbage!”

While we were arguing, he’d gripped my wrist so tightly that I could still feel the pain through the wool blazer.

Who would’ve thought that, in someone else’s eyes, that would count as romantic evidence?

“He was checking whether I’d secretly kept anything from his house.”

I gave up trying to solve the math problems and forced a smile at Bai Shuyu.

Unfortunately, my explanation didn’t douse his flames of gossip.

If anything, it made Xiao Bai even more excited.

“I see. Then why were you at Dong-ge’s house yesterday morning when he called me?”

I was left momentarily speechless.

I could explain away everything else, except that.

After all, how was I supposed to explain working as a maid in his house?

It’s not something people can easily empathize with.

And if I were still a guy, maybe I could’ve barely gotten away with it.

But now…

Not even talking about other people, just looking at Bai Shuyu right in front of me, if I flat-out told him the reason I’m around Yan Dong is simply because I work as a maid in his house, there’s a ninety percent chance he’d think we’re just playing some kinky couple roleplay.

Or he’d think Yan Dong’s into cross-dressing, and every time he calls me over, it’s to study lingerie?

Honestly, if I said something like that, I’d probably get torn limb from limb by his rage the next day.

Helpless, I snapped my notebook shut with a soft pop.

“He’s got a NASA co-branded astronomical telescope at home. We were studying the Orion Nebula together.”

The moment the words left my mouth, chalk dust drifted down from the podium, the shoulders of the girls in the front row twitched suspiciously, and even Bai Shuyu let out a snort of laughter.

His little canine tooth, sticky with a bit of candy, peeked out as he grinned like a vice-principal who just caught two students in a puppy-love scandal.

Only then did I realize just how laughably bad that excuse was.

Yan Dong’s study was full of nothing but game discs and empty Coke cans, you couldn’t find half a page of an astronomy magazine in there.

There was a telescope in the storage room, but the box hadn’t even been opened yet.

Forget it.

Time will prove everything.

“Alright, let’s drop it. I heard from Yan Dong you fractured your ankle when an e-bike hit you a while back. How’s that now?”

“Dong-ge had a friend prescribe something for me. After finishing it, I felt way better. Now I can walk normally, no issue with the ankle at all.”

……

Compared to the mess of panic yesterday, after a full day of adapting to this body, things had clearly improved.

My field of vision, my balance while walking, everything was gradually becoming familiar.

Of course, familiar didn’t mean comfortable, especially the bra squeezing across my chest.

That thing was pure torture.

Not only could I not ignore its existence, but it was tight enough that I felt short of breath.

Did I buy the wrong size?

And even if I did, could I even return something like this after wearing it?

I spent the entire afternoon studying with a book in hand and an underlying sense of suffocation.

And just when class was almost over, another headache-inducing problem came right on cue.

When the third wave of bladder pain interrupted my train of thought on a calculus problem, the classroom clock showed 3:47 PM.

My pink fingernails dug crescent-shaped dents into the recycled paper, the pressure in my lower abdomen growing by the minute, making it impossible to focus.

I had originally planned to hold it until I got home, at least that way I could avoid embarrassment.

Because, no matter how I looked at it, I still couldn’t accept walking into a women’s restroom.

But now…

Didn’t seem like I had a choice anymore.

Of course, even though I was desperate, I didn’t head straight to the crowded restroom tucked in the corner of the first floor.

Instead, I walked an extra ten minutes to the science building.

The science building had fifteen floors.

Since there weren’t experiments every day, most of the floors were empty during regular hours.

I just had to find one without class and use the restroom there.

Even now, as a girl, there was no way I’d go to the bathroom with other girls.

It was the last bit of pride I had left from my days as a guy.

“Hurry up…”

My pale lips reflected back from the elevator mirror.

I was jabbing the button for the eleventh floor over and over, my right hand pressing against my lower abdomen, eyes locked on the numbers changing on the display.

As the sixth wave of bladder pain assaulted my sanity, I suddenly realized, with deep sorrow, that this physiological tug-of-war was about to end in disaster.

The elevator’s red-lit display counted up like a ticking bomb, and when it finally landed on eleven, I staggered out, face drained of color, bracing myself against the wall.

The clack of my leather shoes against the tile echoed loudly through the empty corridor, and every step forward felt like my bladder was about to burst.

Thankfully, this floor was completely empty today.

Otherwise, I don’t even want to imagine how humiliating this would’ve been.

I shuffled along the wall, step by agonizing step, until I finally reached the door to the women’s restroom.

Just as I was about to go in without a second thought, my phone suddenly rang with a WeChat voice call.

Who the hell is calling right now?

Face dark, I pulled out my phone, and of course, who else could it be at a time like this but Yan Dong.

I didn’t even hesitate before hanging up, typing out a quick reply: “I’m busy right now.”

But the next second, a new message popped up that made my head throb.

“Pick up.”

God knows what he needed that was so urgent.

Wanting to just get it over with, I reluctantly answered the call.

“Hello? What is it?”

Leaning back against the cold fire door, I answered just as the motion sensor lights in the hallway flickered on.

Bathed in the green glow of the emergency exit sign, I stared at the curled-up shadow of my reflection on the tiles and suddenly realized, this body even instinctively pressed its knees together when angry.

On the other end, the sound of a kill notification in a video game came through, followed by Yan Dong’s lazy voice muffled by the crunch of potato chips.

“Duh, you think I’d call if there was nothing? And what’s with your voice, sounds like you’re dying.”

“If there’s nothing, I’m hanging up.”

“What kind of attitude is that? Trying to help and you bite my hand off? And I haven’t even settled the score from this morning yet. Listen up, tomorrow, you’re going to the hospital with me. No excuses.”

“The hospital… for what?”

“I’m getting my wisdom tooth pulled. It’s pushing on a normal one, and my gums are a bit swollen. Figure I’ll just yank it out.”

“Fine… um…”

Just as I was about to hang up, a sharp pain from my bladder made me shudder uncontrollably.

Yan Dong had no idea what was going on on my end, but the sound I just made definitely reached him.

Proof?

His voice cut off immediately, replaced by dead silence.

“Lin, turns out you only seem proper on the outside. Behind closed doors, you’re into.”

My legs, pressed tightly together, began trembling uncontrollably.

As soon as he said “into,” the pressure in my lower abdomen peaked, and warm liquid suddenly broke through the barrier, snaking down the inside of my thighs.

The moment dark stains appeared on my black suit pants, it was like I could hear the sound of my dignity being crushed beneath a boot.

“This is your fault.”

“What’s my fault?! I didn’t.”

“My pants… are ruined.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Speak in complete sentences, what’s wrong with your pants?”

At the exact moment my pent-up frustration and physical limits simultaneously collapsed, I felt my last thread of sanity snap.

“They’re soaked with piss! You think dry cleaning’s free?! Didn’t I tell you I was busy?! Why the hell are you blowing up my phone over some stupid nonsense?!”

I shouted that at the top of my lungs, probably the first time he’s ever pushed me to a full-blown meltdown.

Hanging up, I shoved the phone into my pocket and stormed into the restroom, utterly miserable…