The younger sister pretends to be hypnotized, and her older brother gets addicted.

Who is it?

Seeing his friend's strange expression, Huo Shen asked him curiously.

Jiang Yanci's expression was cold and stern. "My sister."

"Xiao Zhuo's girlfriend?" Huo Shen became interested and leaned closer. "Then I'll say hello to my sister."

Jiang Yanci slightly turned his wrist, placing the screen on his knee to avoid Huo Shen's prying eyes.

"Can't I even look?" Huo Sheng muttered. "I don't care. I need to think about what surprise I should give Little Roses for tomorrow morning."

Jiang Yanci was wearing headphones, so Ruan Yang couldn't hear Huo Shen's voice, but she could hear that someone was next to Jiang Yanci.

Her gaze was resentful. "Brother, it's so late, aren't you asleep yet?"

Jiang Yanci said calmly, "I'm going to sleep now. I'll hang up now."

But Ruan Yang stopped him, "No, I want to go with my brother."

Jiang Yanci's brow twitched.

The little girl on the other end of the video turned over and lay face down on the bed, stubbornly saying, "I knew it. If I don't keep an eye on you, you'll definitely stay up all night again. The video can't end. I need to make sure you go to bed early."

Jiang Yanci sighed, "I still need to take a shower."

"I'm not peeking."

"..."

His sister always left him speechless.

If he had actually hung up the phone, the young girl would probably have flown to Suzhou overnight and stood at the door of his hotel room.

"Okay," Jiang Yanci conceded.

The car pulled up at the hotel, and Jiang Yanci said to Ruan Yang, "Brother has arrived."

Ruan Yang nodded, crunching as she ate the potato chips. "Okay."

Jiang Yanci frowned. "Don't eat potato chips tonight."

Ruan Yang: "..."

Previously, Ruan Yang liked to watch horror movies, especially late at night.

But she didn't dare watch it alone.

She asked Jiang Zhuo to be with her, but Jiang Zhuo always lied to her.

The ghost was clearly on the screen, but he said it wasn't there, which resulted in Ruan Yang being greeted with a "face-to-face kill" as soon as she opened her eyes, scaring her so much that she didn't dare to sleep for several nights.

Ruan Yang then approached Jiang Yanci.

In the middle of the night, she held up her tablet and pleaded, "Brother, please watch with me for a while."

No matter how busy Jiang Yanci was, he would never refuse her.

With permission granted, Ruan Yang climbed onto his bed with a smile.

Jiang Yanci stopped her, "Let's go to the media room."

Ruan Yang shook her head, "...The sound effects in the home theater are too good, the screen is too big, it's too scary."

She insisted on watching it on the tablet, saying that the bed gave her a natural sense of security.

Jiang Yanci couldn't persuade her otherwise.

As if she had succeeded, Ruan Yang grabbed her brother's arm and started watching a horror movie.

Whenever she saw something scary, she would huddle behind his shoulder, asking, "...Brother, are the ghosts out?"

"Hmm, I'll tell you when it disappears."

Ruan Yang felt at ease.

Her brother would never lie to her.

But without stimulation, her mouth felt lonely, and Ruan Yang wanted to eat something.

She reached into her pocket for the lollipop, held it up in her hand, and licked it every now and then.

When her brother saw this, he told her not to eat it, covered her eyes, and kicked her out.

Ruan Yang understood.

My brother is a germaphobe and I can't eat in his bed, not even a lollipop.

……

It wasn't just Ruan Yang who thought of it.

Jiang Yanci also remembered.

It was right after the college entrance exams. Ruan Yang had become interested in horror movies, but she was also a coward. One evening, she brought her tablet to his room and asked him to watch them with her.

The little girl's eyes were bright and sparkling, like a puppy's; he couldn't refuse her.

Whenever a scary scene came on in the movie, she would cling tightly to his arm and ask tremblingly, "Brother, have the ghosts come out yet?"

As his arms were conquered by softness, Jiang Yanci's heart began to pound uncontrollably.

He wanted to pull it out.

But the little girl hugged him tighter and tighter.

His gaze remained fixed on the screen, but his vision seemed filled with static and noise.

Until he heard a rustling sound beside him.

He turned his head and saw that Ruan Yang had taken out a lollipop at some point.

She studies dance and is very strict about her weight. Instead of putting the lollipop in her mouth, she placed it near her lips.

Every now and then, it would stick out its scarlet tongue and lick it.

Her pink lips were glistening, and when she saw him looking over, she grinned and said, "I still have some in my pocket, brother, do you want some? They're very sweet."

A picture of naiveté.

But in his eyes, it gave rise to despicable thoughts.

He wanted to hold her chin.

I want to kiss the tip of her tongue that has been licked with sugar.

I want to taste it to see if it's as sweet as she said.

The little girl would panic and cry out.

He would then silence her with a kiss, bite her tongue, and demonstrate to her through his actions how impolite it is to lick a lollipop in a grown man's bed late at night.

That was the first time Jiang Yanci realized it.

His feelings for Ruan Yang had long since changed without him realizing it.

He covered Ruan Yang's eyes, pushed her out of the bedroom, and then went into the bathroom, not coming out for a long time.

His damp bangs dripped water, and his dark eyes were filled with self-loathing.

……

Jiang Yanci emerged from the tide of memories.

He stepped into the hotel lobby and said to Ruan Yang, "Eating snacks too late is bad for your teeth."

Ruan Yang obediently put away the potato chips.

She was completely unguarded around him; the neckline of her cake-like nightgown was open, revealing a glaring glimpse of white.

Jiang Yan looked away and put his phone in his pocket.

Huo Shen teased from the side, "Judging from your tone, I thought you were trying to coax your girlfriend. There's a term for that—right, 'dad-type boyfriend'."

Jiang Yanci looked at him with sharp eyes, "Don't make jokes like that."

Huo Shen shrugged. "Okay, you old fogey—I've reached my floor, gotta go. I need to think about how to woo Little Rose and what to give her to make her happy."

The elevator doors closed, leaving only Jiang Yanci inside.

Ruan Yang's voice came through his headphones.

"Brother, I'm going to take a shower, don't hang up—oh, by the way, can I borrow your bathroom?"

Then, the sound of running water came through the receiver, as if the phone had been carelessly placed upside down on the sink by its owner.

The empty room's lights shone on Jiang Yanci's face and reflected in the brass-colored elevator mirror.

He loosened his tie with his fingers.

I just felt that the nights in Suzhou were unbearably hot.

Jiang Yanci returned to his room. He was always a clean freak and never wore his outer clothes on the bed. He took off his coat and went into the bathroom, while Ruan Yang's voice came through his earphones.

"Brother, where's your shower gel?"

Jiang Yanci paused in his hand as he turned on the showerhead.

The sounds of the water flowing from both sides converged.

This feeling.

It felt like I was with Ruan Yang.

"It's in the niche on the left," he replied, his voice slightly hoarse. "I'll hang up now; I'll call you back in a bit if I get a call."

Before Ruan Yang could say anything, he pressed the button on his headset and ended the call.

What he needs to do next.

She mustn't hear it.

She shouldn't hear it either.

Under the shower, he gripped himself, his expression as indifferent as ever.

Even though the call ended, I could still hear Ruan Yang's voice in my ears.

She was sobbing softly; it felt so real, like a dream.