It had been two hours, thirty-seven minutes, and fifty-two seconds since her brother left home.
Seele thought blankly, looking at the time displayed on her phone.
Outside, it was getting quieter and quieter. The one or two pedestrians who had been moving about were now all gone. Outside the window, stars twinkled, and the bright moon cast a cold light.
Sitting alone on the sofa, even though it was already summer, Seele still huddled herself up.
The chat messages on her phone were still from two hours ago. She opened her brother's chat box, typed a few sentences, then deleted them. After repeating this several times, Seele sighed and threw her phone onto the sofa.
On the living room TV, dedicated comedians were still trying their best to make the audience laugh heartily. The pranks that usually made Seele chuckle now held no interest for her to even glance at. The noisy clamor from the speakers made her already restless heart even harder to calm.
"You idiot shouldn't have let him go!"
In her mind, her other self had said this for the thirteenth time since her brother left. At first, Seele would explain a few things, but after that, she didn't want to say anything more.
Biting her lip, Seele slowly mumbled, "Brother will come back."
"You idiot, I told you… Wait, idiot Seele, what are you thinking?!"
"Brother will come back…"
As if she hadn't heard her other self's voice, Seele, with somewhat vacant eyes, murmured again.
"…"
Black Xier suddenly felt that Seele might be a bit too extreme.
Meanwhile, on the second floor.
Sitting at her workstation, Bronya couldn't bring herself to work.
The code that she had originally sorted out was now a tangled mess in her mind.
Without that familiar figure beside her, even the ticking of the clock on the wall annoyed her.
How did she get by when she was alone before?
Bronya didn't want to know; she only knew that Nangong Yu's absence made it impossible for her to calm down.
Her mouth said she didn't care, but when it came down to it, she cared immensely.
The code on the screen was written and deleted, and by the end, there were even two fewer lines than at the beginning, which made Bronya even more irritable.
She simply closed the program and opened her favorite game.
However, Homu's Adventure, which usually captivated her, now failed to pique her interest much; her mechanical operations couldn't even defeat a common elite monster.
Looking at the darkened screen, Bronya lowered her eyes and put down the controller.
Was it because the other controller wasn't being used? Or was it...?
Never mind, Seele is probably alone downstairs; I'll call her up to play together.
Just then, a distinct sound of a door opening came from the open studio door.
Bronya instantly stood up with a whoosh, forgetting to even put on her slippers as she ran all the way to the stairwell and poked her head down.
"Brother, welcome home~"
The moment she heard the lock turn, Seele's previously downcast expression instantly brightened.
Ignoring the ongoing conversation with her other self, she pattered in her little slippers and appeared punctually at the entrance as Nangong Yu opened the door.
"Mm, I'm home~"
Seele's sweet smile dispelled all the Random Thoughts in Nangong Yu's mind, and then, with Seele's proactive help, he took off his coat and changed his shoes.
However, as he got closer to Nangong Yu, the scent on him, which didn't belong to any fragrance in the house, made Seele frown slightly, and her two small hands immediately started pulling at his close-fitting shirt.
"Brother, your clothes are dirty; Seele will help you wash them."
"No way, I just changed them this afternoon."
"Seele will help you wash them!"
Her serious little expression made Nangong Yu swallow his refusal.
He resignedly relaxed his body, letting Seele peel off his clothes.
"Pants too?"
"Mm, it's best to wash them all together!"
"Wait, wait, we're still in the living room, don't pull off my underwear!!!"
Finally, under Nangong Yu's firm resistance, he managed to preserve his last line of defense.
Seele, with a hint of regret, carried the clothes and pattered to the washing machine.
She threw all of her brother's clothes into it without a second thought, not caring if machine washing would damage them, then picked up the laundry detergent and poured about half a bottle into the dispenser.
Seeing the gradually rising foam that covered the clothes, Seele finally nodded in satisfaction.
In the living room, after being stripped, Nangong Yu hurriedly went upstairs to change, but at the stairwell, he was blocked by Bronya, who was staring at him intently.
"Bronya?"
Confused by her daze, Nangong Yu patted her shoulder and called out in question.
"Ah?"
Her gaze, which had been wandering over Nangong Yu's body, was pulled back.
Bronya awkwardly coughed twice, then casually asked, "Why are you back so late?"
"There was a small accident; the girl opposite got her hand scalded by hot water, so I just gave her some simple treatment.
But you..."
Nangong Yu lowered his head, and following the smooth half of her calf, he could see her fair, jade-like feet on the wooden floor.
Faint blue veins were visible on the translucent instep, the lines were elegant, the ankle was slender and delicate, and her dainty toes were painted with light blue nail polish, which, by the color, seemed to be the same as Seele's.
How can food be placed on the ground, Nangong Yu sighed inwardly.
"Why aren't you wearing shoes?"
"Shoes? Oh, it's too hot."
Only after Nangong Yu's reminder did Bronya realize she had forgotten to wear shoes, and without much thought, she casually made up an excuse.
"Alright, then let me go get some clothes and take a shower first."
After Bronya moved aside, Nangong Yu quickly retrieved his loungewear from the room and then swiftly ran into the bathroom.
During this time, Bronya's gaze had basically remained fixed on Nangong Yu.
She hadn't expected him to look so good when stripped, even though it wasn't very noticeable when he was dressed.
His figure, his muscles, made Bronya secretly click her tongue.
Suddenly, she seemed to envy Seele a little.
And that night, Seele became even clingier.