Back at the villa, the four people in the living room were in the thick of an intense card battle.
Kiana and Sirin faces were already covered in strips of paper, Mei next, and Seele the least, with only two strips hanging down her cheeks.
Noticing their return, Seele immediately put down her hand of cards and scurried over in her slippers.
Seeing this, Kiana quickly tossed her hand of cards into the deck and said happily, "I'm not playing anymore, it's boring."
"Tsk." Sirin clicked her tongue and also threw out her hand of cards.
This round should have been Kiana's loss.
Seeing both of them act this way, Mei could only smile helplessly and then threw in her own excellent hand of cards.
"Brother, Sister Bronya, where did you two go just now? Seele looked for a long time but couldn't find you."
Seeing the two standing extremely close, Seele's cute eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Nothing, we had nothing to do just now, so I took Bronya for a walk by the sea."
Hearing this, Bronya glanced at Nangong Yu, paused, and said nothing.
"A walk by the sea? That sounds nice."
A hint of longing appeared in Seele's eyes, but unfortunately, it was too late now, not suitable for going out again.
It was already a bit cold at night. Nangong Yu and Bronya quickly put on their prepared jackets after returning to the villa.
They didn't chat for too long; it was soon time to rest.
Nangong Yu returned to his room after a hot shower and comfortably lay down on the soft, large bed.
The only minor regret was that Seele hadn't come over; perhaps with Mei and Kiana there, Seele, being a bit shy, felt embarrassed.
Without his pillow, it felt a bit empty, but Nangong Yu wasn't in such a rush.
He turned over and took out his phone, which he hadn't touched all day, planning to check messages before bed.
As the saying goes, you don't know until you look, and when you look, you get a shock.
The moment he lit up his phone, the message notifications on the screen instantly made his heart stop.
Not only were there 99+ message notifications, but there were also more than a dozen missed calls.
With a slightly nervous finger, he swiped open the screen of his social app, and when he saw that all the notifications were from a certain Miss Fairy, Nangong Yu's vision instantly went black.
Oh no, big trouble was brewing.
At this moment, he also remembered something he had forgotten in the morning.
Before getting on the plane, he had actually thought about sending his location to Elysia after landing, planning to give her a surprise.
However, after getting over his motion sickness and then sleeping, he completely forgot about it.
Flipping through his chat history with Elysia, just by looking at the lines of text, Nangong Yu could almost see her expressions.
From the happy anticipation of chatting, to the confusion when Nangong Yu didn't reply, and then to the strong resentment in the later messages, especially when he noticed that all dozen-plus missed calls were from Elysia, Nangong Yu was drenched in sweat.
The messages stopped in the morning, and Elysia had been completely silent for the rest of the day.
If it were just that, Nangong Yu might not have been so flustered, but when he saw the message Cocolia sent him below, saying she had already told Elysia his location, his heart skipped a beat.
Nangong Yu quickly replied with a message, explaining his situation.
Now that he was in the same city as Elysia, he was truly afraid that Elysia might, in a fit of anger, come over to gank him and cause a huge scene.
Physically, there might not be much impact, but socially, it might make him want to immediately find a hole and bury himself in it.
Even today, he still couldn't guess what Elysia's eccentric little mind was thinking.
Unfortunately, the message was like a stone sinking into the sea; he waited for a long time but received no response from the other side.
Nangong Yu comforted himself by saying it was so late, Elysia might already be asleep, and then, in a state of apprehension, he slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, he opened his eyes early.
He picked up his phone and glanced at the chat box, which was still silent, then Nangong Yu sighed and quietly got dressed and out of bed.
She probably hasn't woken up yet, he again reassured himself.
Downstairs, Seele and Mei, who had woken up earlier, had already started preparing breakfast for everyone.
After breakfast, Seele, looking a bit worried, leaned over and gently touched Nangong Yu's forehead with her small hand.
"Is something wrong?" Nangong Yu asked.
"Brother isn't running a fever," Seele mumbled softly, then looked at her brother and said with some concern, "It's just that Brother seems to be in low spirits; did you not sleep well last night?"
Nangong Yu was momentarily stunned, not expecting Seele to be so observant, but he quickly responded with a smile, "Indeed, I didn't sleep well, after all, without a soft pillow, I just couldn't fall asleep."
"Eh?"
Meeting his teasing gaze, Seele immediately huffed and slapped him.
"Brother, don't joke around!"
"Not at all, I'm telling the truth."
With Seele, his sleep quality could indeed improve significantly; feeling Seele's gentle embrace at night, Nangong Yu even felt like transforming into Shaya.
"Really, really?"
Seele was somewhat moved; she hesitantly glanced at her somewhat expectant brother, and just as she was about to nod, she heard Kiana's voice from behind her and quickly shook her head.
"Brother, you'll just have to hold on for a few more days."
With that, Seele turned and ran off to find Sister Bronya, not knowing if it was because she was shy.
Nangong Yu also let out a sigh of relief, took a few steps back to an empty spot, and silently dialed Elysia's number.
The pleasant ringtone had just rung for two seconds when, with a snap, the call was hung up from the other end.
'Sorry, the user you dialed is busy, please try again later...'
Alright, confirmed, Elysia was definitely going to cause a big scene for him.
Understanding this, Nangong Yu suddenly felt less anxious; known difficulties were far less terrifying than unknown ones.
Although he didn't know what Elysia would do, he would meet force with force, and water with earth, as they say~
Just then, Kiana's shouts caught his attention.
In the living room, Kiana was sprawled on the sofa, letting Sirin help her apply sunscreen to her back.
Thinking of them as sisters, Sirin warmed the lotion in her hands before patting it onto Kiana's back and gently spreading it.
She expected to receive thanks from her sister, but suddenly saw Kiana turn her head, frown, and say, "Why so little strength, Sirin, don't you dare be perfunctory."
Sirin: "?"
"You want me to use more strength?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"The more, the better!"
"!!!"
Alright, alright, you said it.
Sirin's face broke into a pleasant smile; she looked at Kiana's back, her eyes becoming mischievous.
Soon, Kiana's screams once again echoed throughout the house.
Nangong Yu silently walked over to Bronya, patted her shoulder, and said, "See? This is your doing."
"..."
Bronya was also a bit stunned as she watched; she hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "It seems I still underestimated Kiana."