**Chapter 26: Figured It Out**
After dinner, the task of doing the dishes was supposed to fall to Xia Yu, but for some unknown reason—maybe out of heartache for her—Xia Ling swooped in and took over the task, washing the dishes before Xia Yu could even get to them. Talk about sibling therapy!
So, when Xia Yu finally sauntered over to tackle the dish pile, she was met with the shocking realization that there were no greasy dishes left! Someone had obviously stepped in to play the super sister role.
At that moment, Xia Ling was still wiping her wet hands, and it was glaringly obvious to Xia Yu that her little sister had taken care of the dishes. But the big question was—why on earth would her sister want to help her?
In the past, when there were dirty dishes around, Xia Yu was the designated dishwashing duty head honcho. But Xia Ling washing dishes? Now that was rarer than a blue moon!
And let’s not even get started on Xia Le. That dude just ate and bolted like a rabbit, being the golden child of the family. His parents wouldn’t dare scold him about chores. Xia Yu couldn’t even recall witnessing her older brother washing a dish in her lifetime!
But hey, since the dishes were already scrubbed clean by Xia Ling, that meant Xia Yu had some time to k*ll. So off she went to the second floor of their home, back to her cozy realm. The outdoors was a no-go; who knew what mischief those boys would unleash on her next? A barrage of rubber bullets? No thanks!
Xia Ling was in the same boat. With the basketball court being hijacked for some tournament, she couldn’t rally her gal pals for a jump rope session. Resigned, she too headed up to the second floor to veg out in front of the TV.
Because she was the first upstairs, Xia Feng seized the TV remote and plopped himself down on the sofa, tuning into some anime while, well, Xia Ling finally made her grand entrance.
Upon seeing her sister, Xia Yu thought, “Well, since Xia Ling despises my new look so much right now, she’s gotta sit on the other side of the planet, right?”
Wrong! To her utter surprise, Xia Ling didn’t just sit far away—she plopped down right next to her! Seriously, they were practically shoulder-to-shoulder, just like old times when Xia Ling couldn’t get enough of her twin brother.
For reasons unknown, Xia Yu felt her nerves ramp up. She focused hard on the TV, avoiding eye contact with her younger sister just in case Xia Ling decided to spill the beans about her top-secret situation.
It had been nearly two days since Xia Yu confided in Xia Ling, and during that time, Xia Ling had done a ton of soul-searching about whether her behavior was justified. Spoiler: it wasn’t.
Xia Yu didn’t choose to be put through the weird experiment; it wasn’t like she had a magic wand. Xia Ling recalled her mom’s words about perspective-taking. If she were in Xia Yu’s shoes, having gone through that kind of ordeal and then being shunned by the sister she trusted the most with such a big secret, she’d be crushed.
So, Xia Ling made up her mind. She would embrace her poor twin brother just like before, at the very least—she didn’t want him feeling inferior because of the unfortunate situation. What if Xia Yu, feeling abandoned, did something incredibly silly? Yikes!
Having figured things out, Xia Ling took a deep breath, steeled her resolve, and turned to her sidekick of a brother. “I’m sorry, big bro! I shouldn’t have ignored you earlier.”
Caught off guard by this unexpected apology, Xia Yu felt like a deer in headlights. Wait, did her sister just apologize? This was an unprecedented scenario! After a moment to process (and appreciate her newfound status), she stammered back, “Uh… you don’t need to apologize! You’re my sister after all!”
P.S.: School’s about to start… and really, who wants that? X﹏X
