Chen An booked two rooms.

While showering, Cheng Lele once again recalled the embrace downstairs at the cinema.

Although she and Chen An had been practically attached since birth, aside from situations where she sat on the back seat grabbing his waist to avoid falling off, the actual number of times they had embraced face-to-face was extremely limited.

Once when her father died, once when she was scared to death in the haunted house, and the embrace just now was the third time.

Though not exactly familiar, it wasn’t so unfamiliar as to stir a faint sense of strangeness in her heart during the embrace. She remembered very clearly that when patting her dear older brother’s back, she felt an intense emotion of being needed, and then she raised her hand and touched the back of his head.

She had never touched that place before. First, Chen An was already taller than her, and second, she had been taught as a child that one couldn’t casually touch the back of someone’s head, so in her consciousness, touching the back of someone’s head was a very intimate act.

But she seemed to have done this quite naturally. If there hadn’t been employees present, perhaps she would have also comforted him with a kiss, telling him I’m still here, I haven’t left.

Cheng Lele felt that human emotions were truly mysterious. Yesterday she had been tossing and turning over her inability to kiss, and today she seemed to have easily crossed that barrier.

Since that was the case, she could tell her dear older brother about her plan.

Cheng Lele picked up a hand towel folded into a neat square in the hotel, turned it over in her hands, then walked out of her room to knock on the next door.

As she knocked, a hotel attendant happened to pass by and showed a very subtle expression.

Cheng Lele looked down at herself—bathrobe, wet hair—it was indeed a compromising situation that was hard to explain clearly.

Then she suddenly realized that choosing this time and place to announce such results to her dear older brother—wouldn’t it give him some kind of bad hint?

Although she had just crossed a small barrier, her progress was nowhere near that far yet. If her dear older brother tried this or that with her, she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t kick him flying, then physiologically recoil and reset her progress to zero.

She decided to temporarily cancel the sharing plan and change it to some auspicious date, such as the upcoming Singles’ Day on November 11th, which was quite a nice choice.

She was just about to turn around when the door opened. Chen An’s tall figure appeared, asking: “What’s wrong?”

Cheng Lele was stunned for a moment and said: “Asking if you want ginger tea.”

Chen An said: “I already asked housekeeping to send some up. It’ll be here in a moment.”

Cheng Lele nodded: “That’s good then.”

Chen An saw she was holding something in her hand and pointed: “What’s that?”

Cheng Lele opened her hand, revealing a small swan made from a hand towel. Generally, high-end hotels would have such handicraft decorations, but Shenya was just an ordinary economy hotel and didn’t provide this.

Cheng Lele glanced at the attendant who drifted past not far away and said: “Let’s go inside to talk.”

Chen An hesitated for a few seconds, stepped aside, and invited her in.

The rooms at Shenya Hotel were very cramped. There was only one built-in wardrobe in the room, and apart from a desk and chair set at the foot of the bed, there was nothing else.

Cheng Lele sat in the chair. Chen An didn’t sit at the foot of the bed but stood far away at the right-angle corner where the narrow entryway connected to the room. The hotel’s wallpaper was off-white, and because of dampness, there were black moldy spots in the corners. Chen An wasn’t a germaphobe, but he still found it dirty. Nevertheless, he leaned against the wallpaper, as if making himself a bit dirtier would make him too embarrassed to get close to her.

They had just embraced so tightly moments ago, but Chen An had lost his courage in a whole day of anxious waiting. He didn’t dare get too close to her, afraid she would run away because of the genuine feelings he exposed at every moment.

After Cheng Lele sat down, she didn’t immediately present the little swan. She first spoke an apology: “I’m sorry, dear older brother. I was thinking that one screen costs hundreds of thousands. If it got ruined by the rain and had to be custom-made again, with drilling and installation, it would take a month of back-and-forth before we could show movies again. The loss would be too great, so I just went up to the roof without thinking much.”

Chen An said very calmly: “The money for the screen is a small matter. All the employees climbed up—if there were an accident, or if someone got pneumonia, that loss would be greater.”

“Yes, I didn’t consider things thoroughly enough. I won’t be so impulsive next time.” As she spoke, Cheng Lele stood up and walked two steps, presenting the little swan before Chen An: “An apology gift.”

Chen An looked up, his eyelashes moving slowly, and took it: “You folded it yourself?”

“Yes.”

Chen An seemed to greatly appreciate this handicraft, staring at it intently, and praised: “It’s folded very well.”

Following an ugly pomegranate, he had received a swan that he often saw in the hotels where he stayed.

Cheng Lele said happily and proudly: “Of course. It has special meaning.”

Chen An recalled the pomegranate’s “one of a kind” meaning and guessed that Cheng Lele might make up more beautiful words to have him treasure these things.

Cheng Lele thought for a moment and said: “I won’t tell you now. I’ll tell you in a few days.”

Perhaps she couldn’t make something up on the spot.

Cheng Lele felt that Chen An seemed a bit unhappy and asked: “Are you still angry with me?”

Chen An shook his head: “No.” After two seconds of silence, he raised the little swan: “I’m not angry anymore after receiving a gift.”

Cheng Lele laughed and said: “Then rest early. Good night, dear older brother.”

Chen An said: “Good night.”