In the spacious room, the pretty “girl” was busy writing and drawing, while the “boy” with lively, spirited eyes was gazing at the photo album on his small phone.
“Xia Xi, when did you take this photo?”
Suddenly, Luo Xinyu moved her phone in front of Xia Xi, blocking his gaze from the drawing paper.
The photo on the phone screen had the horror-themed amusement park they’d visited with the others as its backdrop.
The specific scene was at the park’s food street.
At that time, she had been enjoying some rare one-on-one time with Xia Xi.
In the photo—
Luo Xinyu was sticking out her pink little tongue against a scoop of soft, creamy-white ice cream.
Her eyes were slightly squinted, and her cheeks were tinged with a faint blush, making her look utterly delighted.
Now, you have to understand—Luo Xinyu’s usual persona is incredibly gentle and considerate, and the expressions she shows day to day are always refined and well-mannered. She rarely reveals this kind of girlish side. Of course, maybe thanks to Xia Yue’s influence, our young lady does sometimes lean toward a more mischievous, fun-loving personality.
As luck would have it, that moment when she was acting all girly just had to be secretly snapped by Xia Xi!
“Oh, I had pulled out my phone to check if any of the nearby snack stalls had coupons—you know, trying to save a bit of money. As for taking your photo? That was just coincidence! I thought you looked really cute at that moment, so I took it.”
Xia Xi didn’t stammer or hesitate. Given their relationship, it was just a photo—no big deal.
Let alone these sweet, heartwarming everyday shots—if Xia Xi wanted to take something a bit more private, Luo Xinyu probably wouldn’t say no either.
“Really cute…? But don’t you think I seemed a little different from the person you first met back then?”
People change over time. The Luo Xinyu who stayed shut in her room, unable to walk, lonely and isolated, and the Luo Xinyu of today—who now has many close girlfriends, whose legs have healed, and who can walk freely—naturally wouldn’t have the exact same personality.
Though at her core she’s still that gentle soul, compared to the quiet, reserved girl she used to be, she’s clearly become more lively.
And that’s actually a good thing. When someone’s personality becomes more cheerful, it means they’ve been happy lately—at least, not weighed down by too many troubles.
Take office workers nowadays, for example—crushed all day by mortgage payments, car loans, and work-related stress—there’s no way they can afford to be lively.
“Not at all.”
As if sensing a hint of unease in Luo Xinyu’s heart, Xia Xi set down his paintbrush, turned slightly, and met her eyes.
“Xinyu is Xinyu. There’s no such thing as ‘changing.'”
For someone who’s usually a bit dense when it comes to matters of the heart, this time he seemed to have had a breakthrough. He reached out both hands—hands that technically belonged to Luo Xinyu—and gently cupped her face.
Then, their smooth, full foreheads touched together.
Luo Xinyu could even catch the familiar light fragrance from Xia Xi—one she knew all too well.
Their breaths softly brushed against each other’s faces, and even those cool little hands couldn’t keep Luo Xinyu’s cheeks from growing warmer and warmer.
“Xinyu, in front of me, you don’t have to act like a well-bred, gentle young lady all the time. You can be just like that girl Xia Yue—more unrestrained, more carefree.”
They pulled their foreheads apart, but their faces stayed close, still gazing at each other from a rather intimate distance.
“And don’t worry that I might think you’ve changed, or that I might start feeling disgusted or put off by you, because…”
Lowering his hands from her face, Xia Xi raised his right hand again.
“Xinyu is Xinyu. You’re the first, and you’re the most important person in my heart.”
His right hand landed on the bridge of her nose. Smiling, he gently traced downward along its curve.
Honestly, he’d never imagined that in this lifetime, he’d meet such a wealthy, powerful, yet incredibly gentle young lady.
If it weren’t for the system, he’d probably still be that poor college student playing Golden Spatula in class, facing the grim prospect of graduation and unemployment.
Of course, maybe Class Monitor Lin would still be keeping up that playful “frenemy” dynamic with him—bickering and needling each other.
At first, Xia Xi had indeed been after the skills he could squeeze out of Luo Xinyu. But as time passed, who could possibly resist a young heiress who held nothing back, devoted herself entirely to you, and never once put up walls?
Xia Xi had a little sister, a maid-café owner willing to look after him, and a tsundere class monitor secretly crushing on him.
And Luo Xinyu?
Back then, aside from a father and younger brother who were hardly ever home, all she had was Xia Xi.
It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to socialize online—but even if she did, she would never step out of that villa that felt like a cage trapping a little bird. Not just because she couldn’t walk, but because of that sickening feeling of being stared at with pitying, curious eyes.
When Xia Xi first took control of her body, his first reaction was that she was beautiful. Then, after realizing she couldn’t walk, he didn’t show even a hint of disdain. Instead, he eagerly asked her to teach him how to draw.
That was the kind of interaction normal friends should have—not the kind where people saw her only as a young heiress, treated her with polite friendliness, yet looked at her with those strange eyes.
Luo Xinyu wasn’t ignorant of the differences between men and women back then. She just couldn’t imagine what worth her broken body could possibly have to keep this mysterious “wizard” by her side.
In the end, she could only resort to offering him the task of helping her bathe—just to satisfy her own selfish desires.
Fortunately, Xia Xi was a decent guy. He didn’t covet her beauty and turned down her invitation to bathe her with firm righteousness.
For this young lady who had bared her heart and soul to him from the very start, Xia Xi didn’t quite know what to say.
Just like the affection meter in the system that kept climbing higher on her side, his own affection for her was probably creeping upward too. Even after other exchange partners came along, whenever he had the chance, Xia Xi would always go to Luo Xinyu’s side to keep that lonely girl company.
“I’m the most important, huh…”
Looking into his sincere eyes, Luo Xinyu suddenly let out a soft laugh.
“Alright, alright, you sure know how to talk. With all those ‘little sisters’ you have, who knows if you’re saying the same thing to others?”
“No way!”
Xia Xi’s eyes widened slightly.
“What about Little Xue, then? You don’t have any feelings for her at all? And Liu Jiaying—even I envy Jiaying-jie’s figure, you know.”
At the mention of these girls who shared such close ties with him, Xia Xi could only cough awkwardly, trying to bluff his way out of it.
