Chapter 473: Cousin’s Visit
These past few days, Lin Nan had been feeling a little anxious.
For a few days now, she hadn’t seen Li Na or Lilith at school. It was entirely normal, considering they weren’t in the same class and the school was pretty big—bumping into them was not very likely.
But with a guilty conscience, her mind conjured up all sorts of worries.
If she had known, she wouldn’t have given that thing to Li Na! But leaving it at home would mean danger for her.
Li Na shouldn’t be mad, right? If she was, she would have come knocking by now.
And as for Lilith—who knew if she could accept it? They probably had something similar in her other world, right?
On the weekend, Chen Yao had left early to play basketball with Dong An and his buddies, seizing the mild morning sun.
Lin Nan snoozed right until nine o’clock, groggily dragging herself out of bed.
She still had classes in the afternoon.
With a sigh, she lamented that she would rather lounge around in her pajamas in her rental apartment all day than suffer the trials of the outside world.
Even though she had turned off her skin’s sensitivity to the heat, who knew if too much sun would make her complexion darker?
Jumping out of bed, she shuffled into the bathroom, toothbrush in hand, ready to freshen up—when suddenly, a loud knocking echoed from the door.
Startled, she jumped and in a rush scampered to the living room, pondering who on earth would knock on her door this early in the morning.
Could it be Li Na come to settle the score?
Steeling herself, she cracked the door open just a tad, peeking through the gap. Lo and behold, it was her cousin!
“Bro?” Lin Nan exclaimed, surprised as she spotted the laid-back figure outside, quickly stepping aside. “What brings you here?”
Ever since she last met Lin Qi, her “savior,” she had completely forgotten about her cousin.
“I said I’d come by whenever I had free time, didn’t I?” Lin Qi grinned, his typical careless demeanor on full display. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets, bent slightly forward, looking exactly like a street punk.
But that was the Lin Qi she knew best.
Compared to how serious he appeared when she last saw him as a delivery person, Lin Nan felt his casual attitude was way more comfortable.
“Come on in!” She cheerfully led him inside and leaned down to grab a bottle of cola from under the coffee table. “Wanna have some cola?”
But Lin Qi stood frozen at the door, eyes wide as he took in the sight of Lin Nan bending down—the tight-fitting pajama pants accentuated her waist and hips, and her shirt had accidentally stretched, revealing a hint of her back.
Her cousin… did she always look this appealing?
He rubbed his nose, suddenly feeling uneasy about being alone in a room with his cousin.
“Aren’t you gonna drink? You like cola, right?” Lin Nan turned to look at Lin Qi, puzzled as to why he was still standing outside.
She had zero caution around her relatives, especially with Lin Qi, who had been her playmate since childhood.
But when she noticed Lin Qi looking a bit flustered, a strange sense of disappointment washed over her.
Turns out, becoming a girl kinda knocked her relationship with all her friends down a peg.
Her Uncle had grown a bit distant, and now her cousin was acting weird too.
At least Chen Yao hadn’t forgotten their roots—he even planned on marrying her!
That guy must be the real weirdo, huh?
“Yeah, I like cola.”
After a moment of blankness, Lin Qi snapped out of it and stepped inside, closing the door behind him while grinning playfully, “You like cola so much that I brought it for you, and here you are asking me if I want some?”
“Who knows if you’ve started on a health kick?” Lin Nan cracked open her cola and took a few gulps.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Lin Qi asked, grabbing his own bottle and peering into her bedroom. “Still snoozing?”
“He took off to play basketball around eight.”
So, just her and him, huh?
Lin Qi’s heart raced a little. Although he didn’t show it, being alone with Lin Nan, who had grown into quite a lady, put him under a lot of pressure.
Others might just mature or get handsome, but Lin Nan had literally changed her gender!
Lin Qi couldn’t help but sneaky peek at Lin Nan, who was dressed in flimsy pajamas, still looking like she just rolled out of bed. She yawned while rubbing her eyes, her hair tousled with a rogue tuft sticking up, and the loose pajamas hung loosely, revealing a smooth, pale shoulder.
Seriously, could she not just change into something normal for once?
Last time he visited, there were three girls and two guys all cramped in together, and he had been too busy dealing with girl talk to think much about it.
“Bro, how much do you make doing deliveries these days? Is it over ten thousand?” Lin Nan asked, perching on the sofa with her legs crossed, leaning forward curiously.
“More like five or six thousand; not many orders around here,” Lin Qi awkwardly replied from the other end of the tiny sofa.
But honestly, even though they tried to keep their distance, it wasn’t very far at all. He could still faintly catch a whiff of her sweet scent.
It seemed like he smelled it as soon as he stepped in.
“I heard delivery people were raking in over ten thousand a month; you must be slacking!”
“That was back in the day.” Lin Qi took a sip of cola, trying to act cool, then suggested, “Wanna show me around your school? I’ve never seen what a university looks like.”
Lin Nan’s face dropped instantly, clearly reluctant. “I don’t wanna go out…”
“I have to go tutor someone in the city center at noon, so I can barely catch a break on weekends.” Lin Nan lazily yawned, complaining, “The student is such a slacker; thank goodness they’re at least obedient, or I would’ve lost it long ago.”
Lin Qi wasn’t really listening to her complaint; his mind was fixated on escaping the rental apartment for a bit.
“Hey, do you play games?” Lin Nan suddenly remembered the game console at home and jumped up, dashing over to the TV stand to excitedly power it on. “Chen Yao bought tons of party games; they’re hilarious! Do you play Zelda? Chen Yao says it’s great!”
“Not really into games anymore.”
Lin Nan turned back, puzzled. “Weren’t you crazy about games before? You even worked at an internet café just to play!”
“Just got tired of it after a while. I don’t have a computer now; I just read novels in my spare time,” Lin Qi admitted, his smile stiffening.
Being with his familiar yet unfamiliar cousin had him feeling some major psychological pressure.
“Stopped playing games, huh…” Lin Nan sighed softly. “So, what should we do?”
“Wanna stroll around your school?”
It seemed like aside from gaming, there wasn’t much else to do at home, so Lin Nan reluctantly agreed to Lin Qi’s plan.
“Okay, I’ll freshen up and change; just wait a sec!”
And off she dashed into her bedroom.
