Chapter 22: A Rude Awakening

I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment, but my hazy, semi-conscious state seemed to be shifting, gradually giving way to the profound embrace of sleep. Yet, even as that twilight realm between waking and slumber still clung to me, a faint sensation registered: I was being held.

Dismissing it as a mere figment of a dream, I paid it no mind.

Before I could fully succumb to sleep, an unceremonious blare of an alarm abruptly shattered the quiet.

My eyes snapped open, revealing a disheveled mop of hair and pronounced dark circles beneath them.

“It’s so loud.”

As I prepared to reach out and silence the grating alarm, I realized my arm had brushed against something soft. My entire body felt constrained, trapped in an embrace that prevented me from freeing a hand to quell the incessant ringing.

“What in the world is happening?”

Turning my head slightly towards the source of that soft touch, it dawned on me that I hadn’t been sleeping alone.

And there, right beside my own, was Huang Beifeng’s face, almost touching mine!

Huang Beifeng lay sprawled across the bed in a decidedly unladylike posture. One long leg pinned me down firmly, while her arms were wrapped tightly around my body, as if I were her personal body pillow.

The alarm had been blaring for ages, and, utterly restrained, I could only lie there, helplessly listening to its incessant clamor. Yet, Huang Beifeng, oblivious to the racket, remained profoundly lost in slumber, completely untouched by the piercing noise.

While Huang Beifeng’s sleeping face was undeniably lovely, I hardly had the presence of mind to appreciate it! Pinioned so tightly in her grasp, I was utterly miserable.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of glaring, she slowly fluttered open her eyes, revealing those striking orange irises.

“Mmm, morning.”

‘Morning, my foot! The alarm has been screaming for nearly ten minutes, and you’re only just stirring!’

“Mu Rong Luo Ye, you—why are you in my bed?! You pervert!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Huang Beifeng abruptly released me, then lifted a leg and delivered a merciless kick, sending me tumbling directly off the bed. She didn’t even forget to snatch the quilt, pulling it tight around herself.

“Mu Rong Luo Ye, you—you pervert! How could you possibly be in my bed?!”

‘Ha?! Just listen to her! Is that any way to talk?’

Having barely slept last night, my body already felt somewhat frail. Now, to be brutally kicked off the bed by Huang Beifeng—it truly stung like hell.

I shot her a reproachful glance. “That hurt! Didn’t *you* want me to sleep here last night?”

It was then that Huang Beifeng suddenly recalled their conversation from the previous evening. “Ah, hehe, um, my apologies. Are you alright?”

“What do you think?” I retorted, still glaring. Yet, I couldn’t truly fault her. Anyone waking to find a boy sleeping beside them would instinctively kick him off the bed, wouldn’t they?

‘I suspect my own reaction would be much the same if I were in her shoes.’

While that may be true, the pain was undeniably real! Tears pricked at my eyes.

Gazing at the tear-rimmed eyes of the silver-haired loli kneeling on the floor, Huang Beifeng helplessly slapped her forehead. “How could I have forgotten that detail? This is bad. What if I can’t appease him now?”

‘If I were privy to her thoughts at that moment, I honestly wouldn’t know how to react.’

‘Subconsciously, she still registered me as a boy, yet she consistently regarded me with the gaze one would reserve for a girl. Ah, I couldn’t tell if that was a blessing or a curse.’

Rubbing my backside, which ached from the fall, I leveraged the bed frame to pull myself upright. I cast another exasperated glance her way. “Alright, Huang Beifeng, could you step out for a moment? I need to change. You can come back in once I’m done.”

“Change clothes? Why do I need to leave for you to change? Can’t we just… change together?”

Before the last word had even left her lips, Huang Beifeng clapped a hand firmly over her mouth.

In her haste, she had momentarily forgotten the undeniable truth: while the person before her might possess the delicate appearance of a silver-haired loli, he was, in fact, a bona fide boy.

“I’ll go change in the bathroom.”

Patting her faintly flushed cheeks, she grabbed the clothes she’d left by her pillow the night before and darted out, not once looking back. She left me standing there, utterly bewildered.

Having just uttered such a thing, she clearly needed to compose herself, and the bathroom was, of course, the most suitable place.

I let out a relieved breath. For a moment, I’d actually believed Huang Beifeng intended to change clothes with me. She truly was a bit dense, especially right after waking up—remarkably so.

Reflecting on it, this wasn’t the first time she’d kicked me off the bed. It had happened countless times when we were children; I ought to be accustomed to it by now.

I stretched languidly, then drew back the closed curtains, allowing the warm sunlight to stream into the room through the window.

A new day had begun.

And yet, I was so incredibly sleepy! I had a strange premonition that something might happen today.