Chapter 8: Suspicion
An Han leaned closer, trying to peek at Long Xing’s phone. His face was stiff, and the word nervous might as well have been written on his forehead.
If Long Xing really took a photo of him in women’s clothes, then being exposed was only a matter of time.
After all, there wasn’t a single girl at school who looked like him.
If there were no photos to compare with, maybe after some time, Long Xing would forget what he looked like dressed as a girl. But if there was a photo... that would be a completely different story.
Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Long Xing looked down at An Han and said, “The more I look at it, the more I feel you two must be related, and probably very closely. Could she be your little sister?”
Yesterday, Long Xing had only thought the girl looked similar to An Han. But today, seeing An Han again, he suddenly felt that An Han had the same kind of aura and charm as that girl.
“Really?”
“Then why are you so nervous?” Long Xing said, a bit annoyed. “We’ve been friends for years, don’t you trust my character?”
An Han forced a smile and tried hard to hide his nervousness.
“Right, brother-in-law?” Long Xing teased.
“Don’t joke around. Show me the picture,” An Han said, standing on his toes to get a better look, acting like a gossiping friend.
Long Xing swiped his finger across the screen, and another photo of the girl appeared in front of An Han.
An Han stared straight at it.
In the photo, the girl stood under a streetlight. Her shadow stretched long and dark behind her. She had her hands behind her back, head slightly lowered, her blushing face half-hidden in the shadow.
He had to admit, the girl’s pose looked quite cute.
But that was him...
Back then, his face had turned red only because he was tired from running and nervous. But in the photo, he looked like a shy, gentle girl instead.
“Pretty, right?”
“Half a face only?”
“Couldn’t help it,” Long Xing said regretfully. “If I took the photo openly, I would’ve scared her away.”
“Sneaking photos like that is kinda creepy...”
“Can something you love really be called creepy?”
An Han secretly sighed in relief.
Thankfully, it was taken at night, with the streetlight casting shadows. The shadows and his long hair softened his features, making him look more delicate than usual. Since only half his face showed, as long as no one knew he had dressed as a girl, no one should connect it to him.
“I don’t know her. She’s definitely not my relative,” he said firmly.
Just then, a sound came from the balcony.
Long Xing immediately waved to Chen Junjie, who had just walked in. “Hey, come here a sec. You know a lot of people, see if you recognize this girl.”
Chen Junjie came over, took one glance at the photo, and said, “Isn’t that An Han?”
Then he added quickly, “Just a guess, though, I could be wrong.”
An Han jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, shouting, “How could that be me?!”
He had just thought no one would make the connection and then someone did.
“Yeah, she just looks like An Han,” Long Xing quickly said, trying to help.
Chen Junjie raised an eyebrow, surprised by how nervous An Han was. He gave him a curious look, then teased Long Xing, “So... you like girls that look like An Han, huh?”
You, Chen Junjie! Can’t you talk nicely for once?!
Both An Han and Long Xing glared at him. Chen Junjie just smirked, not taking it seriously, and went back to sit on his lower bunk.
After the short argument, An Han also sat back down in front of his computer.
He suddenly realized that ever since he got the system, he’d run into a lot of trouble, but not much good luck.
The favorability trait hadn’t shown any real effect so far, and that charm point seemed totally useless.
“I feel like I got scammed by the system,” he muttered.
Just then, Wu Dongming poked his head through the door and shouted, “An Han! Log in, let’s duo queue!”
“Don’t you have your own dorm? Why are you always running over here?” An Han turned and snapped back.
“It’s the weekend, and my dorm’s boring. Everyone’s either playing King of Glory or PUBG. Su Peng sucks too much to play with.”
Seeing Wu Dongming again suddenly gave An Han an idea.
Maybe he could secretly hide the women’s clothes in Wu Dongming’s locker?
Or cause some chaos when Wu Dongming’s parents came to visit next week?
He couldn’t just forget what happened yesterday. He’d been forced to cross-dress to get back into the dorm, and Long Xing had caught him red-handed!
He started plotting revenge with a dark little grin. Meanwhile, Long Xing got off his bed and headed toward the balcony to wash up, but Chen Junjie stopped him.
“Hey, Brother Long.”
“What’s up?”
Chen Junjie pulled Long Xing down to sit beside him on the lower bunk and leaned closer, lowering his voice. “That photo you took... you sure that girl isn’t actually An Han in women’s clothes?”
“No way, come on.”
“Don’t you think his reaction just now was super weird?” Chen Junjie analyzed calmly. “If that girl really had nothing to do with him, why did he freak out so much?”
“Maybe she’s his sister?” Long Xing guessed.
Wu Dongming walked over and added, “I know him pretty well, never heard about him having a sister.”
Both of them looked up at him.
“What photo? Let me see?” Wu Dongming said as he sat down casually beside them. He acted familiar, even though he normally didn’t hang out with these two much.
An Han’s eyelid twitched. The dorm wasn’t big, so he could clearly hear their entire secret conversation.
He pretended to scroll through videos on his computer, trying to look calm, but his attention was completely focused on the three of them. He strained his ears, terrified he might miss any detail.
Long Xing started describing last night’s “meeting” with the mysterious girl. From An Han’s point of view, he’d been scared and on edge the whole time, afraid of being found out. But from Long Xing’s version, the “girl” had been shy, sweet, and cute, like a gentle little lady.
After looking at the photo and hearing the story, Wu Dongming said firmly, “It’s definitely An Han in women’s clothes!”
“No way, no way,” Long Xing still refused to believe it. “She was definitely a girl! I’m not an idiot, I can tell the difference!”
“But she didn’t say a single word to you, right? What, was she mute?” Chen Junjie interrupted. “And An Han came back really late last night too.”
An Han suddenly felt a chill down his spine, like a cold breeze had passed behind him. His eyelids wouldn’t stop twitching.
It’s over!
“Dongming! Didn’t you say we were playing games?” he shouted, trying to interrupt the conversation. “Hurry up, I’m already online!”
Wu Dongming had been about to mention what happened last night at the hotel, but when he saw An Han glaring at him with those dark, threatening eyes, he quickly gave up on the idea.
“You’ll help me with next week’s thing, right?”
“No problem!” An Han agreed instantly.
“Alright, then I’m heading back to my dorm.”
“Hey, don’t go yet!” Long Xing tried to stop him. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Nothing, I was just teasing An Han,” Wu Dongming said quickly and hurried off.
Long Xing was still staring at An Han suspiciously.
“It really isn’t me! Why would I dress like a girl?” An Han’s heart was pounding, but he forced himself to sound confident. “Besides, what reason would I even have to do that?!”
“Well... yeah, that’s true,” Long Xing nodded slowly.