Shen Ruoshuang and Bai Ran sensed Xu Yinian’s approach at the same moment. The atmosphere, which had been so taut with aggression that the air seemed to have curdled, vanished instantly.
The two women held their breath in perfect, simultaneous rhythm.
Separated by only a door’s width, neither dared to make another move. Their hands, locked in a brutal struggle, remained frozen in mid-air. Even the hazy, chaotic darkness in Bai Ran’s eyes receded, replaced by a sharp, calculating clarity as her reason returned.
Xu Yinian was her bottom line, but more than that, she was her cure. No matter how much sinister, morbid obsession Bai Ran harbored, she would carefully hide it away the moment Xu Yinian drew near.
Shen Ruoshuang desperately wanted Xu Yinian to know exactly what kind of “madwoman” her precious Sister Ran really was. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to stop herself from retaliating. She was currently holding Bai Ran’s hand at a terrifying angle, making it difficult to claim total innocence.
Bai Ran, for her part, already looked like a pitiful, fragile victim. There wasn’t a trace of the chilling, derisive “yandere” who had been sneering only seconds ago.
Having witnessed Bai Ran’s ruthless, self-serving tactics more than once, Shen Ruoshuang gave her no opening to speak first. “It’s nothing. I already picked it up.”
Knowing that Shen Ruoshuang and Bai Ran didn’t get along, the fact that Shen Ruoshuang corroborated the story finally quelled Xu Yinian’s suspicions. After all, that noise had sounded far too much like someone being slammed against a wall.
For a moment, Xu Yinian had been gripped by panic, fearing that the two of them had come to blows the second she stepped away.
But she was far too slow to realize that she was the very eye of the storm raging between her three roommates. This conflict had begun entirely because of her.
Before she could even breathe a sigh of relief, a sudden thought occurred to her, and her cheeks flushed hot. How long had it been? Why were they… why were they still waiting right outside the bathroom door?
“…Then, it’s fine. Are you two… not going into the main room yet?”
At the thought that they could hear every sound she made from just outside, her embarrassment intensified. Finally, she couldn’t help but speak up. Her voice sounded softened by the damp steam of the bathroom, carrying a faint, tearful tremor born of sheer bashfulness. It sounded as if she might actually burst into tears if they didn’t leave right that second.
That moist, tearful quality in her voice extinguished the last sparks of mutual hatred between Shen Ruoshuang and Bai Ran. Because of Xu Yinian’s small request, neither of them had the heart to continue their petty revenge.
Besides, they had essentially fought to a draw—an eye for an eye. There would be plenty of time to pay each other back in the future.
It was unclear who let go first, but both retracted their hands with visible disgust. With a silent, mutual understanding, neither checked their own injuries. It was as if looking at their wounds would be a concession of defeat.
The hidden contest was always ongoing.
Oblivious to the surging undercurrents, Xu Yinian finally relaxed as she heard two sets of footsteps moving toward the interior of the suite.
…
The hotel bathrobes were one-size-fits-all. When Xu Yinian finished her shower and changed, she realized there was a world of difference between how she and Bai Ran looked in the same garment. Out of a mix of modesty and shyness, Xu Yinian wrapped the oversized robe tightly around her body.
This only made her look more huddled and endearingly pitiful.
Once she was fully dressed, Xu Yinian finally turned on the bathroom light. Looking into the mirror, she reached out to wipe away the condensation, only to realize there was already a clear streak where someone else had wiped it.
It was Bai Ran.
Xu Yinian could almost imagine Sister Ran unhurriedly wiping away the mist, watching the beauty in the mirror transition from a blur to a clear image. A faint smile touched the corners of Yinian’s mouth at the thought of such a lovely scene, and she carefully wiped the glass along the same path.
Clearly, she had no idea that before Bai Ran had wiped that mirror, her long, slender fingers had been soaked in water until they were pale and wrinkled from the cold fury of the fight.
Even though she had prepared herself, the burning gazes the two women cast her way the moment she stepped out made Xu Yinian avert her eyes uncomfortably. Her hands, which were nervously clutching her lapels, instinctively pulled the robe even tighter.
It’s just a normal bathrobe… why are they both looking at me like that?
Xu Yinian’s mind was a mess of frantic thoughts. She didn’t realize that to the others, she—who was usually so conservative she’d hide every inch of skin below her neck—looked more “exposed” than she ever had before.
No matter how tight she pulled the robe, it couldn’t fully hide the creamy, lustrous skin beneath the overlapping collar. Her skin was still flushed a suggestive pink from the hot water. The tightly tied belt accentuated her slender waist, ending in a quiet butterfly knot.
All it would take was a gentle tug on one end of that ribbon for the entire robe to fall away.
It was the only knot Xu Yinian knew how to tie. Yet, in this moment, it added a sense of forbidden temptation—the unwitting allure of someone who didn’t know the world.
Fortunately, the hem was long enough to reach her knees, just barely covering the unique pinkish-white of her joints. It allowed Xu Yinian to stubbornly guard the gorgeous secret that everyone in the room already knew.
Shen Ruoshuang and Bai Ran sat on separate sofas, staying as far apart as possible in their mutual loathing. It was hard to say how long they had been waiting for this breathtaking moment. If gazes alone could possess a person, their twin dark stares would have already claimed Xu Yinian entirely.
However, the fact that Xu Yinian and Bai Ran were wearing matching robes gave them the appearance of a couple, which made Shen Ruoshuang feel inexplicably irritated.
Xu Yinian bit her lip, standing there stiffly. Just then, the doorbell rang abruptly.
The person outside was well-trained. After three crisp rings, they waited in silence, making one wonder if the sound had been an illusion.
Bai Ran, however, wasn’t surprised. With the air of a victor, she stood up and walked to Xu Yinian’s side, acting as reliable and thoughtful as ever. “Niannian, I contacted the front desk to pick up your wet clothes for laundering. They’ll have them back before we leave tomorrow morning.”
“Sister Ran, you knew my clothes fell in the water?”
