Listening to the sound of water from the bathroom, Lin Xi sat on the bed, looking a bit dazed. After a few minutes, she got up, put on her clothes, and then started daydreaming.
This time, Xu Fang was taking longer in the bathroom than usual.
Lin Xi felt sticky and uncomfortable all over, her body still radiating heat. She covered her face with her hand and grabbed the remote control for the air conditioner from the bedside table, lowering the temperature.
Then she lay back on the bed and started scrolling through her phone.
However, her mind was not focused on her phone, and her attention kept drifting towards the bathroom.
After waiting for twenty minutes, Lin Xi was getting frustrated. She kicked away the blanket, got up, and went to the bathroom door, tapping it lightly. “Fang, why are you taking such a long shower?”
Perhaps the sound of the running water was too loud, as it drowned out her voice, and Xu Fang didn’t respond.
Lin Xi increased the strength of her taps.
Knock, knock, knock… Knock… Knock… Knock, knock…
In the next moment, Lin Xi faintly heard Xu Fang grunt, followed by the sound of rushing water. The previous sound had seemed like her imagination. Her hand froze on the door, and she bit her lip before returning to the bed.
Lin Xi acted as if nothing had happened, picked up her phone, and maintained a calm expression, but her inner turmoil was greater than at any other time.
She had just discovered that Xu Fang took longer in the bathroom for a reason.
Before, he had denied it.
But this time, she had caught him, and he had mentioned feeling embarrassed.
Why had he suddenly stopped just now? Was it because they didn’t have any condoms?
Thinking about this, Lin Xi sighed. She felt that Xu Fang really didn’t understand anything. She shuffled to the bedside table and carefully opened the drawer.
As expected, Lin Xi found a brand new box of condoms inside.
Just at that moment, Xu Fang opened the bathroom door and stepped out. He had taken another shower, and the scent of minty shower gel was strong, filling the air.
Lin Xi glanced back at him, and their eyes met.
Xu Fang’s eyes were shiny and slightly lowered, and he noticed what she was holding in her hand.
The atmosphere froze for a second.
Xu Fang’s throat moved as he averted his gaze.
Lin Xi inexplicably felt that the object in her hand was a bit hot. She licked her lips and thought of educating him. Her voice stumbled a bit as she began, “Fang, you see, um, hotels usually provide these…”
Xu Fang remained silent.
Lin Xi continued, pointing to the cabinet beside the bed. “They usually keep them in that cabinet…”
“I know, just be quiet,” Xu Fang said in a tone of irritation. He walked over to Lin Xi, snatched the items from her hand, and tossed them back into the cabinet. Then, he stiffly lay down on the other bed and picked up his phone to look at it.
Lin Xi blinked, still not understanding why Xu Fang had stopped earlier.
Feeling sticky and uncomfortable, Lin Xi considered taking another shower. She rummaged through her bag, took out a new set of pajamas, and accidentally pulled out two sanitary napkins.
Seeing this, Lin Xi froze for a moment and immediately looked up to explain to him, “Fang, I’m not on my period; I just have these as backups.”
“…”
Xu Fang looked at her and asked expressionlessly, “What are you trying to say?”
Lin Xi was very serious, “I just wanted to remind you in case you didn’t know.”
“No, I know,” he replied.
Now Lin Xi was truly puzzled, scratching her head. “Oh, so why did you…”
Afraid she might say something again, Xu Fang interrupted her and said bluntly, “I don’t want to do this kind of thing before getting married.”
“…”
Lin Xi’s lips parted as if she hadn’t fully comprehended. Soon, her expression became strange, and she stared at him with a distant look in her eyes. “I never would have thought you were so conservative.”
Casually making up a reason, Xu Fang stuck with it, sounding lazy, “Yeah.”
“…”
Xu Fang’s lips curled up, nonchalantly continuing, “So, don’t always try so hard to get my body. It’s kind of bothering me.”
He deliberately elongated the last word, making it sound particularly provoking.
Lin Xi felt strangely stifled, but when she thought about the probing words she had used earlier, it did seem like she had been trying to climb into his bed somehow.
She withdrew her gaze, ignoring him, and took her clothes into the bathroom.
After hearing the sound of the bathroom door closing, Xu Fang’s eyelids drooped. He recalled Lin Father’s words from earlier, sighed softly, and had a somewhat enigmatic expression on his face.
Over the next few days, both of them were quite casual. They decided where to go or what to do on the spur of the moment. If they had plans in mind, they went out, and if not, they stayed in the hotel for the day.
To Lin Xi’s surprise, her parents hadn’t called her over these few days. She found it strange but was relieved at the same time, enjoying the freedom.
Keeping in mind Xu Fang’s words, Lin Xi deliberately maintained some distance from him. Since they had booked a double room, she had originally planned to sneak into his bed in the middle of the night, but that idea vanished instantly.
Lin Xi’s vacation would end on the 31st, but Xu Fang had to return to school on the night of the 30th.
Xufang wanted to change Lin Xi’s return flight to the 30th, but Lin Xi stopped him. After spending a day together, she finally dropped him off at the school gate. Afterward, she returned to the hotel alone.
Being alone in an unfamiliar city, Xu Fang was particularly concerned about Lin Xi’s safety. During her journey back, he called her continuously.
Once Lin Xi confirmed she had returned to the hotel, they spoke a few more words before ending the call.
Lin Xi looked at her phone and suddenly noticed that there was a missed call from a B city number about ten minutes ago while she was on the phone with Xu Fang.
She didn’t think much of it and assumed it was a spam call. So, she put her phone down and went to take a shower.
After Lin Xi came out of the bathroom, she sat on the bed and saw her phone nearby. She remembered the call from earlier and felt an inexplicable urge to call back.
The room was quiet, and the bright light was a bit dazzling. Lin Xi lay on the bed, staring at the beam of light, her expression somewhat blank. Lost in thought, she started to feel drowsy. She got up and turned off the room’s lights.
Just as she was about to go to sleep, her phone rang again.
Lin Xi answered it without checking the caller ID, assuming it was Xu Fang. She lazily asked, “Did you finish checking in?”
The other end remained silent, not responding to her.
Lin Xi waited for a moment and wondered, “Why aren’t you saying anything? Is the signal bad?”
Thinking it was Xu Fang, she had put the phone away from her ear and glanced at it. It was then that she realized the call wasn’t from Xu Fang but the same unknown B city number as before.
Perplexed, Lin Xi hesitated and placed the phone back to her ear. She asked softly, “Hello, who is this?”
There was a pause, and finally, the voice on the other end spoke, low and hoarse, revealing a name that took Lin Xi by surprise.
“I’m Lin Deng.”
“…”
Lin Xi had never expected Lin Deng to call her of his own accord.
Her breathing faltered, and she looked somewhat dazed. Her lips moved as if trying to say something, but she didn’t know what to say.
The phone call remained silent for a long time, with Lin Deng not speaking.
Lin Xi’s eyelashes trembled as if she couldn’t bear the quiet atmosphere. After a long while, she asked, “Is there something you want?”
Lin Deng’s voice was tinged with a slight hoarseness, and he spoke neutrally, “I heard your conversation with Mom and Dad through the speakerphone earlier.”
“…”
Her voice quivered, and she spoke slowly, “I’m sorry.”
This was an unexpected phone call, and it was followed by an equally unexpected apology. Lin Xi gripped her phone tightly, her throat tightening, and her nose inexplicably tingling.
In 2007, through a DNA database, the police had informed Lin Father and Lin Mother that they had found the whereabouts of their missing child. They had brought Lin Deng back home on the same day.
Lin Xi could still remember the first time she saw Lin Deng and his appearance at that time.
Due to severe malnutrition, her complexion was yellowish, her hair resembled dry straw, and her protruding bones revealed her significant emaciation. Her hesitant and fearful expression made her appear like an outsider, and she herself felt completely out of place.
Although Lin Xi Chi’s parents had never told her about Lin Deng’s past experiences, she had gleaned some information through conversations with relatives.
Lin Deng was kidnapped at the tender age of seven months, leaving her with no memories and an undeveloped mind. She was sold to a remote village by human traffickers, where she was given to a childless couple.
Before that, Lin Deng’s life hadn’t been too miserable. While the family she was with wasn’t particularly kind to her, they did send her to the village’s elementary school.
However, when Lin Deng was twelve years old, the woman of the family she was living with unexpectedly became pregnant.
And it was a boy.
Being a late addition to the family, they wanted to give the new baby boy the best of everything, even though they lacked the means and resources. So, they turned their attention to Lin Deng.
A second sale.
They handed Lin Deng back to the human traffickers in exchange for a sum of money. The traffickers then sold her to another family, where she was intended to become the wife of their mentally challenged son.
Lin Deng tried to escape once, only to have her leg broken in the process.
…
…
Those events were horrifying in many ways.
While Lin Xi Chi hadn’t experienced those horrors herself, just the thought of them sent shivers down her spine.
But Lin Deng was the one who had truly endured it all.
In her memories, roughly eighty percent of the time was filled with darkness and despair.
After Lin Deng was brought back, Lin Xi Chi’s mother sought medical help to rehabilitate her physical health.
After some time had passed, Lin Xi Chi’s parents didn’t want Lin Deng to be alone at home all day, so they asked for her opinion and arranged for her to enroll in junior high school.
However, Lin Deng hadn’t even finished elementary school, and she struggled to catch up with everything.
At that time, Lin Xi Chi was in her third year of junior high, preparing for the high school entrance exams. After finishing her schoolwork each day, she would return home and teach Lin Deng, helping her regain the knowledge she had missed out on.
The two of them had shared an exceptionally close bond for two years.
But as time went on, Lin Deng’s emotional outbursts, her venomous glares that seemed tainted with poison, and the force she used to throw things at Lin Xi Chi and pull her hair…
Could you really blame her?
Of course not.
In this whole ordeal, Lin Deng was the one who had suffered the most.
Her entire life had been marred by a single moment of carelessness from Lin Xi Chi’s mother. No amount of love, possessions, or emotional venting could ever compensate for that.
Lin Xi Chi lowered her gaze, unsure of how to respond.
But Lin Deng didn’t seem to require a response. Soon, she said, her voice trembling with tears:
“Later, Dad made a phone call to Xu Fang, and I felt like he said some really harsh things—I don’t know if you know or not, but I just wanted to tell you…”
Her tone held a hint of timidity.
“Okay, I’ll hang up now.”
Suddenly, Lin Xi Chi called out to her, “Lin Deng.”
Lin Deng paused.
“Are you doing okay?”
“…I’m doing alright.”
“That’s good.”
“… “
“I’m doing alright too.”
Silence fell between them.
After a while, Lin Deng spoke again, her voice carrying a hint of sorrow:
“…That’s good.”
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