Chapter 35
Before bed, under Lu Yin’s watchful eye, Lin Qianqian took her temperature again. It had risen back to 38 degrees Celsius.
She had lied and snuck out of the house, escaping punishment only through sheer luck. She wouldn’t push it.
Lu Yin had completely revamped her diet, eliminating anything oily or spicy. Her meals were now bland and tasteless.
For someone who enjoyed flavorful food, it was torture.
But her fever was persistent, subsiding during the day, only to return at night.
She had been off work for several days, at Lu Yin’s insistence. Even with a full teaching schedule, Lu Yin would come home at lunchtime to check on her, issuing warnings and reprimands, afraid she would sneak out again.
Lin Qianqian felt like a caged bird, though she wouldn’t have minded being caged by Lu Yin, locked away forever.
The only reason she wanted to recover was so she could properly celebrate her birthday!
But she wasn’t idle. Since Lu Yin wasn’t giving her what she wanted, she wouldn’t be a well-behaved patient.
She searched every drawer, every corner of the apartment, but couldn’t find the key to the loft cabinet. She had been everywhere except Lu Yin’s room.
She was tempted to pick the lock with a toothpick, but she was afraid it would break off inside, revealing her snooping.
As she paced back and forth outside Lu Yin’s room, her curiosity battling her conscience, she heard the sound of the door opening.
She rushed back to the sofa, picked up her cold water, and took a large sip, pretending to be engrossed in her drink.
Lu Yin picked up the medicine from the coffee table. “You haven’t taken this yet?”
“It’s almost gone. My fever’s down, and it hasn’t come back,” Lin Qianqian blinked innocently. “Sister?”
Lu Yin looked at her, then picked up the empty water pitcher, glancing at Lin Qianqian’s glass.
“Can I borrow some pajamas from your room tomorrow?” Lin Qianqian asked tentatively. “I want to take a shower when I’m better, but all my pajamas are damp from the rain.”
“Sure,” Lu Yin said, pouring her a glass of warm water. “Drink this.”
After making sure Lin Qianqian took her medicine, Lu Yin went to her room.
She looked at the key to the loft cabinet, the only one, removed it from her key ring, and placed it on the table beside her bed, hidden inside a book.
It was too obvious, so she added a few more books on top.
If Lin Qianqian wanted to snoop, she might as well make it easy for her. Her curiosity wouldn’t be satisfied otherwise.
But Lu Yin still felt a headache coming on, knowing Lin Qianqian would ransack her room tomorrow, carefully restoring everything to its original position afterwards.
She looked at the unopened medication Zhong Shiwu had prescribed, wondering if she should lock it away in the living room drawer.
Lin Qianqian was strangely selective in her snooping, ignoring the obvious hiding places, preferring to invade Lu Yin’s personal space.
And Lu Yin had to play along, protecting Lin Qianqian’s pride, her carefully constructed facade of innocence.
Lin Qianqian woke up early the next morning, eager to see Lu Yin off to work, handing her her bag with a cheerful smile.
Lu Yin’s expression was a mixture of amusement and exasperation, seeing through Lin Qianqian’s charade but finding her antics endearing.
Once Lu Yin left, Lin Qianqian rushed to her room. It looked different from her brief visit before, but she hadn’t really paid attention then.
She examined the desk, the neatly stacked drawing paper, the black pen holder.
The drawers contained various art supplies, nothing else of interest.
She wasn’t sure if this was a second studio or a second bedroom, its purpose, like the loft, a combination of work and rest.
She retrieved a set of pajamas and took them to her room, afraid she would forget later.
Looking at the pillow on the bed, she hesitated, then swapped it with the one from her own room. She could sleep with the scent of Lu Yin again.
After a thorough search, she finally found the key to the loft cabinet, hidden inside a book on the table beside the bed.
It had been right there all along, while she had been searching everywhere else.
Just a single key, tucked inside an ordinary-looking book.
The cabinet must contain something important, something secret.
Lin Qianqian rushed to the loft, the key easily unlocking the cabinet. She paused, glancing behind her.
No one. But she felt a shiver run down her spine.
She took a picture of the cabinet’s contents, just in case.
It was exactly as Lu Yin had described, a stack of neatly arranged boxes, from large to small, except for a plain, empty picture frame on top.
Lin Qianqian picked it up, glanced at it, and set it aside.
The boxes contained trophies and certificates, all clean and dust-free.
Nothing interesting.
Undeterred, she opened each box, finally finding something in a long, narrow box that she recognized, something even more familiar than Lu Yin’s achievements.
A wolf hair brush.
It was the birthday gift she had given Lu Yin for her eighteenth birthday.
Back then, as a middle school student, she had only known Lu Yin was an art student, her knowledge of art limited.
She had spent all her savings on the most expensive brush she could find, assuming price equated quality.
Lu Yin had said she loved the gift, but Lin Qianqian had never seen her use it, later learning it was meant for calligraphy, not painting.
Unwilling to accept her gift being ignored, she had unwrapped the brush and made Lu Yin set up a new easel, determined to prove she could paint with it too.
The result had been disastrous. She had ended up with a face full of paint, begging Lu Yin to clean it off.
Lu Yin had been gentle, but Lin Qianqian had cried anyway, the expensive brush unused, its purpose misunderstood.
She had forgotten about the brush, its fate unknown, never mentioned again.
Now, seeing it again, the memories resurfaced. She touched the brush tip, remembering the feel of it against her skin.
So, Lu Yin had kept it, treasured it, placing it alongside her awards and achievements.
Lin Qianqian carefully placed everything back in the cabinet, thinking about Lu Yin’s reaction last night.
Had Lu Yin been afraid of her seeing the brush?
But it was just a birthday gift, nothing special.
She checked the photo, making sure everything was in its original place, then went downstairs.
She put the key back in the book, but something still felt wrong.
She and Lu Yin had known each other for years, their connection deeper than most siblings. There had to be another secret.
But she had searched everywhere. There were no more hidden corners in this apartment.
The feeling was unsettling.
By the time Lu Yin came home, Lin Qianqian still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.
She watched Lu Yin go to the loft, then nervously followed her.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Yin asked, retrieving a few boxes of paint and then coming back downstairs.
“Nothing,” Lin Qianqian said quickly, changing the subject. “I took my last dose of medicine today, and my temperature is normal.”
Lu Yin nodded.
“Are you working late tonight?” Lin Qianqian followed her into her bedroom, glancing at the books on the table. “I borrowed some pajamas from your closet.”
She looked down at her own clothes.
Oops.
She had forgotten to change.
“I was going to shower after my nap,” she said, offering a weak excuse.
“No overtime. I have an early class tomorrow. I’m going to bed early,” Lu Yin said, picking up the books, her gaze meeting Lin Qianqian’s.
She looked at Lin Qianqian, who was grinning at her.
“I’ll leave you to it then,” Lin Qianqian said, retreating to the living room, replaying her earlier behavior in her mind.
It had been too obvious, too clumsy.
She groaned, frustrated with herself.
She watched Lu Yin go back and forth to the bathroom, her guilt intensifying with every shared glance.
She slipped back into her room and stayed there, silent.
Lu Yin examined the books on her table, noticing the subtle signs that they had been moved.
She opened her laptop and watched the security camera footage.
Lin Qianqian’s movements were clearly visible, from her search of the bedroom to her cautious ascent to the loft.
She had snooped around the apartment like a thief.
Seeing the wolf hair brush, Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t looked at it in years.
She had wanted to discard everything that reminded her of Lin Qianqian, but she couldn’t bring herself to throw away the brush.
While packing her belongings, she had realized there wasn’t much to discard. Lin Qianqian had given her so few gifts.
But back then, her emotions had been too raw, too painful, and she had locked the brush away, deep inside the cabinet, avoiding it, letting it gather dust in a dark corner.
On the screen, Lin Qianqian knelt before the cabinet, the brush against her cheek.
And the secret Lu Yin had been so desperate to hide was right there, on the table, the face in the painting staring back at her, a face so different from Lin Qianqian’s, yet so similar.
Both faces, with a single glance, could drive her mad.
The room was dark, the light from the laptop screen illuminating the painting, casting long, distorted shadows.
Lu Yin’s gaze returned to the painting.
When would she reveal her true self?
She didn’t know the right time, afraid of scaring Lin Qianqian away.
She didn’t want to live with secrets, with masks, but she wasn’t ready to expose her vulnerabilities.
She wasn’t that brave.
The girl in the painting smiled, and Lu Yin frowned, closing her eyes, but the image lingered, a haunting presence in the darkness.
She replayed the footage, watching Lin Qianqian swap the pillows.
She remembered the sound she had heard at the door that night, Lin Qianqian’s soft whimpers.
It was infuriating.
Watching the footage in the dark, the painting a constant reminder of her desires, her past, she felt a surge of frustration, a desperate need to replace the mocking figure in her dreams with the real Lin Qianqian.
If Lin Qianqian knocked on her door now, she would let her in.
A few seconds later, she heard a knock, followed by a soft “Sister.” She froze, thinking she had imagined it.
Then another knock. She stood up, tossing the painting into her closet, and opened the door.
She pulled Lin Qianqian inside, closed the door, and kissed her.
If she wanted her, she would take her.
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