Chapter 6: Hypnotic Lap Pillow and Exclusive Mark

Consciousness returned.

The muddle in her head slowly cleared, and her senses reconnected with her body.

Lu Yiyi’s eyelashes fluttered, but she didn’t open her eyes right away.

A faint cool fragrance entered her nose, mixed with a sweet cream scent.

It was pleasant.

What she was lying on was soft, and a refreshing coolness wrapped around her, making her reluctant to move.

She seemed to have fallen asleep.

And was lying down.

‘So comfortable.’

She couldn’t help rubbing her cheek against the softness.

Until a very soft laugh came from above her head.

Lu Yiyi slowly opened her eyes, her vision going from blurry to clear.

Right above her was a face so beautiful it left her speechless.

Snow-white hair cascaded down, the tips brushing her nose, tickling.

Those black-and-color interwoven eyes were quietly watching her, with a softness that couldn’t be dissolved in them.

“Awake?”

A voice as clear as a song sounded above her, the ending slightly rising, with a hint of teasing a little pet.

Lu Yiyi’s mind went blank for two seconds.

She slowly moved her eyes, her gaze lowering.

She was lying down, with her head resting steadily on Xia Qimeng’s thigh.

The legendary lap pillow!

Lu Yiyi scrambled to sit up, moving so clumsily that she tripped over her own feet and almost fell off the chair.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

She stood up, pressed her palms together, and kept bowing in apology.

Her face flushed crimson, even the tips of her ears colored with the hues of sunset.

‘So embarrassing.’

She was supposed to be providing psychological counseling, but she fell asleep before the session was over.

She’d fallen asleep, and on the other person’s lap at that.

Lu Yiyi wanted to cry but had no tears.

Being a corporate s*ave was really exhausting.

Every day the logistics department folks spun her around like a top, and she’d been going nonstop for five days, severely sleep-deprived.

This was just great, she’d taken a nap in the maximum-security containment room.

This weekend, even if the sky fell, she was going to sleep until dark.

“Why are you apologizing again?”

Xia Qimeng propped her chin on one hand and shifted her sitting position, white hair slipping over her shoulder.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She smiled indulgently and tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear.

“But I…”

Lu Yiyi straightened up, her voice growing smaller.

“I fell asleep during work hours.”

“That’s because you needed rest.”

Xia Qimeng pushed the empty plate aside, revealing the delicate cake on the left that had only been touched by a small bite.

“The strawberry cake you made is delicious.”

She looked into Lu Yiyi’s eyes, her tone sincere.

“I really like it.”

Lu Yiyi was stunned.

Her big watery eyes blinked twice.

She’d been working at the Paranormal Bureau for five days, ordered around or scolded every day.

Doing well was taken for granted, doing poorly got you yelled at.

This was the first time someone had gently praised her.

Here on the sunless seventeenth underground floor, in this cage built of pure gold, she received the first affirmation of her career.

Not from a lofty superior, nor from those elite colleagues.

But from a “crazy woman” everyone was afraid to even mention.

Lu Yiyi bit her lower lip, and her eyes suddenly stung.

All her grievances were easily shattered by these words, turning into a warmth she couldn’t describe.

She secretly studied Xia Qimeng before her.

Quiet, beautiful, soft-spoken.

How was she scary?

Those people didn’t understand her at all.

They only knew to lock her deep underground, treating her like a bomb that could go off at any moment.

Lu Yiyi lowered her head, the blush still on her face, but a sense of shame rose in her heart.

Before entering, she’d believed the rumors and imagined Xia Qimeng as terrifying, as a man-eating monster.

But she forgot that, aside from those scary titles, Xia Qimeng was just a girl her age.

If you were locked alone in this empty room without anyone to talk to, anyone’s temper would turn strange.

But she hadn’t harmed her, and had even forgiven her negligence.

Tomorrow, the day after, the day after that.

For every counseling session from now on, she had to do better.

She must not fall asleep again.

She should keep Miss Xia company and help ease her worries.

“Thank you for the compliment, Miss Xia. I’ll work even harder.”

Lu Yiyi shouldered her canvas bag, smoothed her slightly wrinkled skirt, and looked up with a smile that curved her eyes.

That sweet smile made Xia Qimeng momentarily lose herself.

She quietly watched that overly sweet smile, her heart skipping a beat.

‘What a healing expression.’

‘She really wanted to claim that smile entirely for herself, hide it away, and let no one else see it.’

‘She had to make her her own.’

The darkness in her heart grew wildly like weeds, but Xia Qimeng’s face remained calm.

She stood up, her long legs carrying her to Lu Yiyi in two steps.

“Why are you suddenly so far from me?”

She leaned down slightly, her red lips almost touching that flushed ear.

Warm breath slipped into her ear, and the clear voice carried a hint of grievance, as if accusing a faithless lover.

That rich floral fragrance swept over her again, stronger and more aggressive than before.

Lu Yiyi’s mind, which had just cleared, started to float again.

Her feet on the carpet felt soft and weak.

“I, I…”

She stammered, wringing her hands in front of her, drawing circles on the carpet with her toes, not daring to meet Xia Qimeng’s eyes.

‘She’d moved so far away because what she did earlier was too rude!’

‘She was a junior operator here to provide counseling, yet she’d slept on the job and even used a calamity-level spirit tamer’s thigh as a pillow.’

‘If this got back to Sister Zhang in logistics, she’d be in for a serious scolding.’

The more Lu Yiyi thought, the more guilty she felt.

Her gaze wandered and finally settled on the blinking digital clock on the desk.

‘She needed to get out of here fast.’

‘If she stayed any longer, she was afraid she’d fall asleep again.’

“Miss, Miss Xia… How about we end today’s counseling session here?”

Lu Yiyi fought back her drowsiness and timidly took half a step back.

“I… I’ll come earlier tomorrow. Let’s see each other tomorrow, okay…”

Her soft babyish voice sounded like sleep-talking, without any confidence, like she was pleading and wheedling.

Xia Qimeng didn’t back away.

Instead, she reached out and pulled her into her arms.

‘Heh, so cute.’

‘You came here “willingly” after all.’

Lu Yiyi bumped into a soft embrace, her nose filled with that pleasant fragrance.

Before she could struggle, a cool hand landed on the back of her head.

Xia Qimeng’s slender fingers slipped through one of her twin tails, sliding down the smooth strands, and finally rested on the strawberry hair tie.

“Okay.”

She curved her eyes, her smile bright enough to dispel all the gloom of the seventeenth underground floor.

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

Lu Yiyi was bewitched by the smile, completely failing to notice that when Xia Qimeng’s fingertips brushed over the hair tie, a snow-white strand of hair had silently wound around the strawberry charm.

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