Chapter 30: A Misunderstanding
Ring, ring, ring...
The urgent and familiar alarm sound rang out.
About ten seconds later, the boy lying in bed reluctantly stretched out a hand and turned it off.
Li Nuo sleepily looked out the window, yawned, and then glanced around at the unfamiliar room. For a moment, his mind felt confused.
But he quickly remembered.
Today was his first morning living in An Ran'er's house.
He checked the clock. It was only 6:05 a.m.
Back when he lived in the suburbs, he had to wake up at six every day, eat breakfast at six-thirty, rush to catch the bus, and arrive at school before seven-thirty.
Now that he had moved into the city, the school was only ten minutes away.
There was no need to get up so early anymore.
He originally wanted to go back to sleep, but for some reason he was no longer sleepy.
So he simply got up and did some morning exercises.
After finishing, he opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
He looked toward An Ran'er's room and saw that her door was still closed. It seemed she hadn't gotten up yet.
Without thinking much about it, he went downstairs to wash up.
He had brought his own toothbrush and towel, so there was nothing to worry about.
However, he couldn't help looking twice at An Ran'er's neatly arranged cartoon-themed toothbrush and cup.
He hadn't expected her to like cute things like that. He had always thought she wasn't interested in soft and adorable stuff.
After finishing his morning routine, he suddenly felt the need to use the bathroom.
Walking to the toilet, he naturally took out his little brother and prepared to relieve himself.
However, halfway through, the bathroom door suddenly opened.
An orange-haired girl in cartoon pajamas walked in while rubbing her sleepy eyes.
Startled, Li Nuo turned around to look at her.
The girl also froze and stared at him.
The two of them stood there in shock, looking at each other.
During those few seconds, An Ran'er's eyes unconsciously drifted downward.
Her face instantly turned bright red.
A few moments later, a scream powerful enough to shake the heavens echoed through the apartment.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!"
An Ran'er shut her eyes tightly and shouted,
"You pervert! Scoundrel! Creep!"
Then she turned around and angrily yelled,
"Don't you know you're supposed to lock the door when using the bathroom?!"
At that moment, Li Nuo completely lost the urge to pee.
He quickly put away his little brother, flushed the toilet, and stammered,
"Sorry... I... um... well..."
Because he had always lived alone, he had gotten used to not locking the bathroom door. He used to think locking the door when living alone was unnecessary.
Now he realized how important good habits were. This careless habit had finally come back to bite him.
Wanting to prove he wasn't some kind of pervert, he quickly tried to explain.
"I didn't do it on purpose. It's because—"
"Don't say another word!"
Before he could finish, An Ran'er cut him off.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled out her little notebook again and wrote something down.
"Rule Number Four: Always lock the bathroom door when using it. Also, no casually letting your ‘thing’ wander around."
After that incident in the morning, the two of them didn't exchange a single word the entire trip from the apartment to school.
………………………
Noon, School Cafeteria
Li Nuo ate lunch weakly, looking completely drained.
Sitting beside him, Zhou Qikuan asked with interest,
"What's wrong this time? You look lifeless."
He took a bite of food and continued,
"Tell your brother here. Maybe I can help."
Li Nuo glanced at him and let out a deep sigh.
"There's no point telling you..."
"You haven't even told me yet. How do you know it's useless?"
"It's useless anyway."
There was no way he could tell Zhou Qikuan that the girl he liked had accidentally seen his little brother because he forgot to lock the bathroom door and now thought he was a pervert.
And he definitely didn't want anyone to know he was living with An Ran'er.
Not even his best friend.
Seeing that Li Nuo didn't want to talk about it, Zhou Qikuan stopped asking.
"Fine. If you don't want to say it, forget it."
Then he lowered his voice mysteriously.
"By the way, let me tell you a secret. Don't tell anyone. This is exclusive information."
"What is it?"
Seeing Zhou Qikuan acting so mysterious, Li Nuo became curious.
"You know [The Girls], right? The girl band that your deskmate An Ran'er used to be in."
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Didn't they announce they were disbanding because their lead singer left? According to my reliable source, they're making a comeback in half a month."
"Oh. That's it?"
Li Nuo had thought it was some huge piece of news. He already knew that.
If he told Zhou Qikuan that [The Girls] could make a comeback only because he had joined the band, this guy would probably be shocked out of his mind.
"Heh."
Seeing Li Nuo's calm reaction, Zhou Qikuan looked surprised.
"You don't seem shocked at all."
Then he added,
"Have you ever thought about the fact that if [The Girls] come back, An Ran'er might not continue studying here anymore?"
"If she leaves, she leaves."
After all, they were already living together now. Whether she was at school or not didn't seem that important.
Seeing Li Nuo's indifferent attitude, Zhou Qikuan said in surprise,
"Don't you like her?"
"Wh-Who said I like her? You can't just make things up."
Li Nuo immediately became flustered. He had never told anyone about that.
"Come on."
Zhou Qikuan looked at him with contempt.
"Anyone could tell. The way you acted at the beach and the way you look at her at school, it's obvious."
"...Fine, I like her. So what?"
After hearing that, Li Nuo gave up denying it. Liking An Ran'er wasn't exactly unusual. There were plenty of people at school who liked her.
As he lowered his head to eat, he suddenly remembered something.
Turning toward Zhou Qikuan, he grinned mischievously.
"Forget about me. Do you want to know who Ye Feilu really is?"
"The drummer of [The Girls]. I already knew that."
"W-What? How do you know?"
"She told me herself."
Then he added,
"Not only that, she was also the one who told me about [The Girls] making a comeback."
"Did she tell you anything else? For example... who their new lead singer is?"
Li Nuo's heart immediately started racing.
An Ran'er had already told him that Ye Feilu knew the truth about him joining the band disguised as a girl.
If she had told Zhou Qikuan too, things would be a disaster.
"That part she didn't tell me."
Zhou Qikuan thought for a moment.
"She only said the new lead singer is a very cute girl with an amazing voice."
"Phew... that's good."
Only then did Li Nuo let out a sigh of relief.
"What's with you?"
Seeing how nervous Li Nuo had been, Zhou Qikuan looked confused.
"Nothing. Just eat your lunch before it gets cold."