021. Aunt Flo?
Lin Nan felt a bit guilty and nervous.
People from another world had chased him all the way to Earth and recognized him as the witch Lilith… Thankfully, the Li Na he met this time was pretty chill and didn’t throw a magic blast to his face, but what if there were other pursuers?
It was Sunday, and Lin Nan didn’t feel like playing games anymore.
Not just because of the otherworldly stalkers, but more importantly, he couldn’t shake off the uncomfortable stabbing pain in his lower abdomen that had persisted since last night. It wasn’t so strong but enough to keep him tossing and turning all night.
It was already noon, and he was still curled up in his blanket, occasionally shivering from the pain and pressing his hands against his stomach, hoping that would help ease it a bit.
Chen Yao was already awake, and when he noticed the bed shaking a few times, he looked at Lin Nan with a dusty morning voice and asked, “Not feeling well?”
“Stomach hurts…”
“Then go to the bathroom.” Chen Yao yawned, leaned against the wall, and started playing on his phone. “You didn’t spend the whole night in pain, did you? I could tell you weren’t feeling great last night.”
“It’s not that kind of pain…”
Lin Nan’s tone oozed weakness and despair from a sleepless night.
“Is it a stomachache?”
“Not that either.”
“Want to see a doctor?”
“Shouldn’t need to?” Lin Nan hated visiting the doctor; just the smell of antiseptic in hospitals made him nauseous. Apart from the last time he fainted, he had never gone to the hospital for anything as trivial as being sick.
Chen Yao knew Lin Nan’s habits and didn’t push it. Instead, he asked, “Should I go get you some medicine for your stomach ache?”
“That could work, I guess.”
“That’s not very helpful! How the heck am I supposed to know what to buy if you don’t tell me where it hurts?” Chen Yao grumbled, “If you’re sick, just go see a doctor! What’s with the stoicism?”
After a moment of silence from Lin Nan, Chen Yao rolled out of bed and muttered, “Fine, let me know when you explode.”
“Mm.”
In the dorm, Chen Yao was the only one awake. After washing up, he dove into gaming but couldn’t help casting worried glances at the upper bunk. Lin Nan had buried himself under a pile of blankets, and all Chen Yao could hear was the creaking of the bedframe.
He thought back to the past few years; the only time it got serious was when Lin Nan had a fever and fainted in the rain. Most ailments just required a day of suffering followed by a good nap, so despite Lin Nan trembling occasionally, it didn’t seem like a big deal.
If it really was a problem, he’d be begging to go to the hospital, right?
Before long, Xiong Da woke up too.
On weekends, they took their sweet time getting ready, ordering takeout in bed, playing on their phones, and only planned to get up when the food arrived.
“Is Lin Nan still sleeping?” Xiong Da was surprised to see Lin Nan all bundled up in his blanket.
Lin Nan was usually the first to sleep and the first to wake up in the dorm because he didn’t have a computer to k*ll time on. He often lay in bed watching videos until he dozed off.
“Seems like he’s been clutching his stomach all night.”
“Shouldn’t he check the infirmary?” Xiong Da rose from his bed, sounding concerned but still keeping that familiar indifference in his tone, “Do I have medicine in my drawer? Is it a stomachache or a gut ache?”
“Not sure.” Chen Yao got up to rummage through the drawer, finding some medicinal herbs and herbal concoctions, but stared at them cluelessly. He had no clue what Lin Nan actually needed.
After all, he didn’t even know where Lin Nan was hurting!
“Lin Nan, where exactly does it hurt?”
“I don’t know!”
“Could it be Aunt Flo visiting?” Tu Junhui chimed in lazily, mixing in his teasing from wherever he lay.
Lin Nan, snuggled deep in the blankets, was taken aback and quickly shot back, “No way!”
Aunt Flo?
Sure, he was getting more feminine, but his little buddy was still intact, right? With all that was going on, how could he possibly be dealing with Aunt Flo… The more he thought, the guiltier he felt.
Most of his past pains stemmed from bad food or missing breakfast, occasionally a little panic from running too fast. But in nearly twenty years, this was the first time experiencing something like this.
He recalled developing br*asts and hips, and his increasingly fair skin…
No way, it couldn’t really be Aunt Flo, could it?
“How about a warm water?” Lin Nan squeaked out from under his blanket, “And maybe some brown sugar?”
“Are you seriously thinking it’s Aunt Flo?” Chen Yao laughed helplessly, “If you think brown sugar water will help, I’ll go get you some.”
Noticing Lin Nan’s sweaty forehead, he tossed Lin Nan his towel, “Wipe off the sweat. How much pain are you in? Your hair is soaked!”
“It’s just an occasional thing; mostly, I’m sweating from clutching my stomach.” Lin Nan weakly took the towel, wiped a bit, then hung it on the bed railing before diving back under the covers.
Now, even a little blast of AC made the pain in his abdomen flare up.
Was there even any magic to cure ailments?
Searching through Lilith’s memories, Lin Nan found nothing related to healing magic; after all, being a witch didn’t include doctor duties!
He did stumble upon a couple of spells for temporary pain relief, but the requirements for casting were ridiculous. Lin Nan, sprawled on his bed, was in no shape to perform any magic.
Tu Junhui also rolled out of bed, basking in his nudity as he filled a kettle for boiling water. As he walked to the balcony, he continued teasing Lin Nan, “C’mon, don’t you want Chen Yao to pick up some pads while he’s at it?”
“Not happening.” Lin Nan mumbled under the blankets, rejecting the very idea.
Even if it truly was Aunt Flo, that was an internal issue, and at least he still had his little buddy down there, so no Aunt Flo bl**d would be gushing out.
But if that hypothesis was true, then that was pretty terrifying.
Did that mean he had become some kind of intergender mutant? Was it because of the magic that made his chest develop while also growing a female reproductive system inside?
Lin Nan hurriedly decided he needed to schedule a full-body checkup to ease his mind; at this point, he couldn’t afford to be picky about hospital smells anymore.
But was it just Lilith’s influence? Or perhaps it was because of the otherworldly visitors? Meaning it could also be tied to some magical shenanigans, which could never be diagnosed in a regular checkup.
As he spiraled into more anxiety, he let Tu Junhui’s relentless teasing fade into the background.
Soon, Chen Yao returned with the brown sugar, and the first time he attempted to make it, he had no idea what he was doing, so he just dumped the hue of sugar into boiling water and placed the cup on Lin Nan’s bedside.
“Be careful, don’t knock it over.” He cautioned, worry tinting his voice, “If it gets too bad, we’ll go to the hospital—besides, it’ll be me running around, so don’t think of it as a hassle.”
“Got it.” Lin Nan cracked the blanket a bit to reveal his face and quipped, “You’re worse than my dad!”
Chen Yao chuckled, “I’m just trying to make sure you don’t d*e here and ruin our dorm’s feng shui!”
“Pfft!”
