Several days had passed since the cafeteria gathering.
Today was a rare day off.
The temperature was neither hot nor cold, and the sunlight was very gentle—a perfect day to sleep in.
Ling Ling lay on her side in bed, her white hair spread across the pillow, breathing steady and long.
Rarely, she wasn’t curled up in a ball but instead stretched out in a fairly relaxed posture.
Her usually unreadable crimson eyes were tightly shut now, lacking the “stay away from me” aura she had when awake. At this moment, she looked like an adorable little white cat.
Of course, that was assuming you ignored the slight drool mark on the pillow and the little bit her lips were parted due to deep sleep.
There was a reason she could sleep so soundly.
Let’s rewind to last night.
Ling Ling was curled up at the small coffee table in the living room, using her tablet to browse recent movements of the Countermeasures Section—although she had said she would keep a low profile recently, staying updated on intel was a necessary habit.
Lin Jiu walked out of the kitchen, holding a cup of hot milk, and sat down beside her, very close.
The faint scent of shampoo mixed with a hint of milky sweetness drifted over.
“Big Sister.” Lin Jiu tilted her head, black hair falling to the side. “It’s almost midnight.”
“…Right.”
“Tomorrow is a day off.”
Ling Ling’s fingers kept sliding across the screen. “The Countermeasures Section won’t relax patrols on a day off, but the recent deployment focus is on the Third and Fifth Districts. The Seventh District is relatively—”
Before she could finish, Lin Jiu’s hand reached over from the side.
Two slender fingers gently pinched the top edge of the tablet and pulled it out of Ling Ling’s hands. The movement wasn’t fast, but it was exceptionally firm, leaving no room for Ling Ling to snatch it back.
Ling Ling raised her crimson eyes and stared expressionlessly at her younger sister.
Lin Jiu looked back at her, a familiar smile on her lips, but those sapphire eyes clearly said: Big Sister, time to sleep.
“…Give it back.”
“No.”
“Xiao Jiu.”
“Big Sister has been sleeping almost after midnight for the past few days.” Lin Jiu placed the tablet on the coffee table, braced both hands on it, and leaned forward slightly, trapping Ling Ling in the narrow space between her and the table. “I’ve put up with it for three days, so if Big Sister stays up late again tonight—”
She paused, smile unchanged, but her voice became softer and gentler.
“—then I might have to punish Big Sister.”
Ling Ling was silent for a few seconds, staring at her.
“I don’t remember teaching you to threaten your big sister.”
“This isn’t a threat, Big Sister.”
Lin Jiu blinked.
“…What exactly do you mean by ‘punishment’?”
Lin Jiu didn’t answer.
She simply reached out, gently stroked Ling Ling’s cheek, her fingertips sliding from behind her ear down to her jaw, moving very, very slowly, as if confirming a precious treasure.
Then she leaned forward, pressing her forehead lightly against Ling Ling’s. The distance between them was so close that their eyelashes almost touched.
“For example—” Lin Jiu’s voice was as low as a whisper, her breath lightly brushing Ling Ling’s lips. “Moving Big Sister’s bed into my room.
That way I can watch over Big Sister every night and make sure she’s sleeping properly.”
“…That’s my own bed.”
“Once it’s moved, it’ll be our bed.”
“Big Sister can try to see if you can move it faster than I can dismantle and reassemble it.”
“…That’s a threat.”
“It’s concern.” Lin Jiu corrected, her sapphire eyes inches away, filled with earnest light. “Big Sister has been worrying too much about the Countermeasures Section lately.
Now that we finally have a day off, can’t you just rest properly?”
Ling Ling took a deep breath.
She had lost too many times trying to out-stubborn her younger sister.
Now, even though her mouth was still tough, her body had obediently been pulled up by Lin Jiu and was heading toward the bedroom.
“Tomorrow I’m sleeping until I naturally wake up.”
“Okay, then I’ll come wake Big Sister tomorrow.”
“Naturally waking up means—”
“I know.”
Lin Jiu tilted her head. “I’ll wake Big Sister in a very natural way. Not like last time when I used cold hands on the back of your neck.”
Ling Ling gave her a suspicious look but didn’t press further.
The two walked into the bedroom. Ling Ling turned over and climbed onto her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. Just as she prepared to roll over and face the wall—
The covers were flipped open.
Lin Jiu slipped in.
“What are you doing?”
“Sleeping.” Lin Jiu slid into the bed with an incredibly fluid motion, turned to face her, and extended a hand to lightly grasp the hem of Ling Ling’s pajamas. “Big Sister promised I could sleep together twice a week, and you still owe me one from this week.”
Ling Ling opened her mouth, then closed it.
Then she relented with a stubborn retort.
“…I never said ‘you could.’”
“But Big Sister never said ‘you couldn’t.’”
Lin Jiu buried her face in Ling Ling’s completely flat chest, her voice becoming a bit muffled. “Big Sister smells so good.”
“…We use the same body wash.”
“It’s different. Big Sister’s scent is just different.”
Ling Ling stared at the ceiling, silently weighing her options for a few seconds in her younger sister’s octopus-like embrace. Finally, she sighed and didn’t push her away.
It wasn’t the first time, anyway. Besides, even if she really wanted to push, she couldn’t. And since tomorrow was a day off with no need to get up early, accommodating her little sister was fine.
She closed her eyes.
Lin Jiu nuzzled into the hollow of her neck, adjusted to the most comfortable angle, and her breathing gradually became steady and even.
Her hand still gripped the hem of Ling Ling’s pajamas, as if afraid she might vanish in the middle of the night.
“Good night, Big Sister.”
Ling Ling turned her hand and gently ruffled her hair.
“Yeah. Good night.”
No dreams that night.
Then came this morning, around seven-thirty. The sunlight hadn’t fully entered the bedroom yet.
Barely awake, Ling Ling felt something warm press against her forehead. It was very light, like a feather. She let out a groggy “mm.”
“Big Sister, good morning.” Lin Jiu’s voice came from extremely close.
Ling Ling struggled to open her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Lin Jiu’s face—so close she could almost count her eyelashes.
That touch on her forehead just now probably wasn’t a feather.
“…What were you doing just now?”
“Waking Big Sister up.” Lin Jiu tilted her head, her expression innocent—which Ling Ling severely suspected was an act.
“It was a gentler method than last time.”
“You call that gentle?”
“I didn’t use my hands. I used my lips.” Lin Jiu said the word “lips” lightly, a satisfied blush spreading across her face. “And Big Sister didn’t push me away, which means you tacitly agreed.”
Ling Ling stared at her for three seconds, then expressionlessly reached out and pinched both of Lin Jiu’s cheeks, pulling them outward.
“Mm—Bib Thister (Big Sister)—hudts (hurts)—”
“No pain, no lesson.”
“But Thister (Sister) clearly didn’t refuse—”
“That’s because I wasn’t fully awake.”
Lin Jiu rubbed her reddened cheeks, but her eyes were brimming with unconcealed laughter.
On her lips, she seemed to still feel the lingering warmth of her forehead’s skin.
In the end, though, she kept her promise and let Ling Ling continue sleeping—on the condition that she had to be up before lunch.