The suffocatingly low pressure in the kitchen seemed to last for an entire century.
Kael felt the shirt on his back was slightly damp with cold sweat.
Sirin's arms, wrapped around his waist, did not loosen; the subtle stinging sensation was like the most precise alarm, reminding him of the current crisis level.
His mind raced, trying to figure out how to resolve this inexplicable "crisis," but he found himself completely unable to understand Sirin's current mental state, let alone find a suitable strategy.
Just as Kael was about to give up thinking and prepare to tough it out and try to break free, Sirin suddenly let go.
The sudden disappearance of the force made Kael even lose his balance slightly, stumbling.
He turned around in surprise and uncertainty, looking at Sirin.
The distorted calm and icy smile on Sirin's face had disappeared, replaced by a complex expression mixed with loss, grievance, yet also a hint of self-conviction.
She lowered her head slightly, her long purple eyelashes casting a small shadow beneath her eyes.
"Brother..."
Her voice became soft again, with a hoarseness from a suppressed sob, "Is it because... she is 'someone who needs protection,' just like me... and that silly Kiana, right?"
She looked up, her golden eyes shimmering with tears, as if the terrifying aura from before was merely Kael's illusion.
She seemed to be looking for a reasonable, self-acceptable reason for Kael's actions.
"You just... can't stand by and watch something happen to someone in front of you, just like when... you saved me from the laboratory, right?"
Kael was taken aback by her sudden change, but seeing the chilling low pressure dissipate, he instinctively nodded along with her words, his tone filled with the affirmation of one who had escaped danger: "Yes! That's it! Sirin, it's good that you understand. I'm just ensuring her safety; there's no other meaning."
He cautiously observed Sirin's expression and added, "You... you will always be my most important sister."
Upon hearing the words "sister," Sirin's eyes imperceptibly dimmed for a moment, but quickly returned to that fragile and dependent look.
She softly hummed in response, walked forward, re-embraced Kael's arm, rested her face against his arm, and whispered, "I'm sorry, Brother... I was... a little strange just now. I was just... too scared."
Scared of what? She didn't specify, but Kael automatically understood it as fear of losing him as her brother.
He let out a sigh of relief, the taut string in his heart finally relaxing, and gently patted her back: "It's okay, it's all over. Go wash your hands quickly; dinner is ready."
"Okay."
Sirin responded obediently, let go, and turned to walk towards the bathroom, her silhouette appearing to have returned to her usual gentle demeanor.
Kael watched her leave, letting out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if he had just crawled out of some dangerous lair.
He raised a hand to wipe away the non-existent cold sweat from his forehead, secretly relieved: I finally managed to muddle through... although the process was a bit thrilling.
He was completely unaware that the "fear" Sirin spoke of might not be the same thing he understood at all... Night fell, and the apartment was silent.
Kael finished some chores, read for a while, felt a bit tired, then turned off the light and went to sleep.
Although a Fusion Warrior's body was robust, mental fatigue still existed.
He didn't know how long he had slept when, in a daze, he felt the bedroom door being pushed open ever so slightly, creating a crack.
A sliver of light from the hallway crept in, illuminating a slender figure.
Kael's alertness immediately sobered him up, but he didn't move right away; he just squinted, looking towards the door in the dim light.
Sirin was standing there.
She seemed to have just showered, wrapped only in a white bath towel, barely covering her vital areas.
Her damp purple hair was splayed over her shoulders, water droplets still dripping from the ends, falling onto her delicate collarbone and smooth shoulders.
The warm steam from the bathroom gave her fair skin a faint pink flush, possessing a breathtaking allure in the dim light.
Barefoot, she crept into the room like a cat, silently, then gently closed the door, cutting off the last sliver of light.
The room immediately plunged into darkness, with only their faint breathing.
Kael: "..."
He felt his temples starting to throb again.
Sirin, in the darkness, precisely found her way to the side of the bed, and then... cautiously lifted a corner of Kael's blanket, attempting to slip in.
Just as her cool, damp body was about to touch Kael, he suddenly sat up, simultaneously flicking on the bedside lamp with a "snap."
The sudden light made Sirin instinctively squint her eyes.
Kael looked at Sirin, who was almost half-naked, wrapped only in a bath towel, and had climbed into his bed; his blood pressure instantly soared.
He grabbed the thin blanket nearby and quickly wrapped Sirin tightly from head to toe, leaving only a small face, filled with bewilderment and grievance, exposed.
"Sirin! What are you doing! Go back to your own room!"
"Brother..."
Sirin, wrapped in the blanket like a silkworm cocoon, looked at him with wet golden eyes, trying to struggle, "I... I'm scared sleeping alone... and it's a bit cold..."
"If you're cold, put on more clothes! Or turn up the air conditioning!"
Kael was unmoved, directly giving her marching orders, "Immediately, go back!"
Kael: She scared me to death!
He stood up, pointing at the door, his face more serious than ever.
He could indulge her dependence, tolerate her little tantrums, but this kind of clearly overstepping behavior was absolutely unacceptable!
Sirin looked at Kael's firm attitude and knew that her plan for the night had completely failed.
She bit her lip, a flash of unwillingness and annoyance crossing her face, but in the end, she slowly, like an abandoned small animal, wrapped in the blanket, walked towards the door, looking back every few steps.
Before opening the door and leaving, she glanced back at Kael and muttered in a low voice, with a hint of gritted teeth, at a volume only they could hear:
"Damn it... it was too sudden, after all..."
Then, she reluctantly left the room, gently closing the door behind her.
Kael watched her disappear, then let out a heavy sigh of relief, collapsing back onto the bed, feeling more exhausted than after a tough battle.
What in the world was this girl thinking?
However, neither Kael nor Sirin noticed that at the other end of the corridor, Kiana's door had also quietly opened a crack at some point.
Kiana had originally gotten thirsty in the middle of the night and wanted to get a glass of water, but she happened to witness the entire process of Sirin, wrapped in a bath towel, sneaking into Kael's room, and then being "chased" out wrapped in a blanket.
She hid behind the door crack, her blue eyes wide, her mouth agape in an 'O' shape, her empty water glass almost falling to the floor.
Seeing Sirin's unwilling expression and her vague complaint, and then recalling the previous incident on the rooftop, along with Kael's simple, almost pale explanation... Kiana felt her brain was a bit overwhelmed.
This... what kind of complicated situation was this?!
She silently closed the door, leaning her back against the door panel, her heart beating a little faster.
And that guy Kael, who seemed to understand everything and yet nothing, seemed a bit dangerous.
She looked down at the empty cup in her hand and suddenly didn't feel so thirsty anymore.
It was better to... drink water tomorrow morning.
Tonight, it was safer for her to just stay in her room.