An Ling was woken by the light in her bedroom.
She hadn’t turned off the lights last night.
After washing up, she had lain in bed spacing out before dozing off in a daze.
After sleeping through the night, her waist felt sore. It seemed she hadn’t slept very peacefully.
Yesterday’s state had been too strange.
Even now, thinking back on it made An Ling feel a lingering fear.
If she had been in that state and Li Yang had asked something sensitive, or if she had accidentally let something slip while out of it, her secret would have been exposed.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
An Ling went over yesterday’s memories and confirmed she hadn’t forgotten anything or said anything wrong.
The weather was getting hotter.
Even though An Ling had only covered her lower abdomen with the blanket, that area felt burning hot.
What was going on? An Ling had a bad premonition.
There was a faint, warm current flowing downward from inside her body.
An Ling sat up in bed.
This was too strange.
Her lower abdomen was still hot, and her face felt feverish too.
The warm flow continued all the way down.
An Ling stared blankly at her pajama pants.
Between her legs, there seemed to be a faint red stain on the fabric.
“No way…”
An Ling froze.
She stared at that light red mark on her pajama pants, her mind going completely blank.
This couldn’t be happening, right?
She instinctively reached down and touched her lower abdomen.
There was an inexplicable burning heat, and her waist felt sore.
She had thought it was from her sleeping position earlier, but now…
It probably wasn’t… She had heard it was supposed to hurt, right?
But she didn’t feel any pain, just this strange hot and restless sensation.
“It probably isn’t…”
An Ling jumped off the bed and ran barefoot into the bathroom.
She pulled down her pajama pants.
There was some on her underwear too, and the color was darker than on the pants.
An Ling’s face instantly flushed all the way to her ears.
Her ears drooped back uncontrollably, and her tail went stiff.
She quickly grabbed some toilet paper from the rack, wiped herself in a panic, then rushed back to her room.
She pulled out her phone with trembling fingers and dialed the “Mom” contact.
“Mom, Mom, Mom!!!”
The call was picked up almost instantly.
“What’s wrong, baby? Are you feeling unwell?”
“I… I-I… that…”
“Oh, that.”
An Ling’s mother had already known this would happen today.
Even though An Ling couldn’t form a complete sentence right now, she immediately understood what was going on.
“Don’t panic, don’t panic. Didn’t I have Li Yang tell you yesterday? There’s a small bag in your suitcase that Mommy prepared for you. It has everything you need.”
An Ling thought back. Li Yang had mentioned it, but she had been too anxious earlier to remember.
She ran over to the suitcase, unzipped it, and rummaged around for a bit.
Sure enough, she found an opaque little bag in one of the compartments.
She opened it and saw several neatly packed sanitary pads inside.
An Ling’s eyes instantly turned red. Mom really had been thinking about her the whole time.
She hugged the small bag, squatting beside the suitcase, her nose stinging with emotion.
“Did you find it?”
“I found it.” An Ling sniffled. “Mom, when did you prepare this?”
“The night you left. Mommy put it in there because I knew you’d need it eventually.”
“Do you know how to use them? Do you want Mommy to teach you?”
“I think I can figure it out,” An Ling said. “There’s instructions on the package.”
“That’s good. Let me tell you, for our wolf beastkin race, it’s much better than it is for humans. Other than some mood changes and a bit of soreness, it usually doesn’t hurt much. The flow isn’t heavy either, but it does make you feel quite hot and restless.”
Hehe, my daughter. You’ll end up calling him over yourself eventually.
“Remember to take good care of yourself. Hygiene is very important.”
“Mm, I’ll be careful, Mom.”
“Is Li Yang there with you?”
“No, he’s at his own house.”
“If you’re feeling uncomfortable or bored, you can call him over to keep you company.”
“Is that okay, Mom? He’ll find out.”
“It’s fine. You’ll get really bored being alone during this time. Having someone come over to keep you company is good, and he won’t find out.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Alright then, that’s it. Bye-bye, Mommy’s baby.”
“Bye-bye, Mom.”
An Ling put down her phone, took the small bag, and went back to the bathroom.
Following the instructions, she awkwardly changed everything, then put on clean underwear and pajama pants.
Her face was so red it felt like it could bleed. Her ears stayed pressed flat the entire time, and her tail was curled up into a tight ball.
Once everything was taken care of, she stood in front of the sink and looked at herself in the mirror.
The girl in the mirror had flushed cheeks, watery eyes, messy gray hair sticking up, and drooping ears on top of her head. She looked pitiful.
“An Ling…” she muttered to her reflection. “Why are you so unlucky?”
An Ling sighed, splashed her face with cold water to cool down, then walked out of the bathroom and climbed back into bed.
Her lower abdomen still felt faintly hot and restless, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as she had imagined.
She just felt lazy and drained, as if all her energy had been sucked away.
“So annoying,” she grumbled softly.
Through a small gap in the curtains, An Ling looked outside.
There was no bright sunlight today.
It looked like it was going to be an overcast day. Hopefully it wouldn’t rain.
An Ling picked up her phone and checked the time. It was almost nine o’clock.
She opened her chat window with Li Yang. It was so boring… Should she call him over?
An Ling hesitated for a moment, then put her phone down again.
“No, no. It’s too easy to get discovered today.”
But being alone was so boring…
An Ling rolled around on the bed several times, her tail swinging along with her.
Finally, she sat up and hugged her pillow, sulking.
Just as she was struggling with indecision, a familiar sound came from the window.
Thump… thump… thump…
An Ling’s ears perked up instantly.
She looked toward the window.
She had planned to wait a bit like usual, but her body moved on its own, rushing over before her brain could stop it.
She pulled open the curtains. Li Yang was waiting on the other side.
This special way of communicating had saved them quite a bit on phone bills.
It was Li Yang. An Ling looked at the familiar person across from her.
So happy!
No! An Ling shook her head.
Why did her mood improve the moment she saw Li Yang?
It must be because she had been too bored alone just now. That had to be it!
After giving herself an excuse, An Ling looked at Li Yang again.
“Good morning!”
Li Yang said with a big grin.
“Are you awake? How’s your body? Still feeling dazed?”
Li Yang noticed that An Ling seemed very happy today.
From the moment she opened the window, her big fluffy tail across the way had been wagging like a windmill.