Chapter 40: The Delicate Thoughts of a Secret Crush

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Delicate Thoughts of a Secret Crush

He walked to the top of the stairs and watched her bouncing down. He couldn’t help but worry. "Do you want me to carry you?"

The girl froze, then frantically shook her head.

"No, no, I can manage on my own."

With that, she quickened her pace down the stairs, as if afraid he’d think she wasn’t capable and come back up to carry her.

The bewildered girl didn’t know what to do. All she could do was subconsciously keep her distance from him.

Seeing how insistent she was, Xiao Ran decided to drop it.

He raised an eyebrow. "Your package arrived."

Yan Xici reached the last step, looked at him with a straight face, and explained, "No, it’s your..."

She had just come down the stairs, so she was a little out of breath. It was hard to tell if it was from the exertion or a guilty conscience, but a faint blush, like a light touch of rouge, spread across her small face. It was incredibly pretty.

Hearing it was his, Xiao Ran was stunned and subconsciously asked, "Mine?"

’But it clearly had her name written on it.’

’Did she buy something for me?’

The girl, her conscience pricking her, kept her head down and hurried over to the white dining table. She was like a thief caught in the act, not daring to look up at him. Even her gaze was evasive and unnatural.

Her slender, pale hands found the yellow tape on the box, and with a sharp tug, she easily ripped the package open.

Girls are born experts when it comes to opening packages. Using scissors would be an insult to the delivery.

She pulled out the contents, tore off the plastic wrap, and revealed a blue, polygonal gel cushion.

The girl squeezed it with her small hand. It had a thick layer of gel inside. It felt soft and substantial, and cool to the touch—not icy cold, but a comfortable kind of cool. She flipped it over and inspected it carefully.

The quality seemed fine; there was nothing wrong with it.

Once she confirmed there were no issues, she handed the seat cushion to Xiao Ran.

Slightly embarrassed, she said, "Um... this is for you."

Xiao Ran stared at the strange, polygonal object, completely baffled. "What is this?"

"This is..."

She trailed off, licking her lips as her face grew even redder. Her slender, pale hands twisted together, and she looked visibly flustered.

Humans really are strange creatures.

The girl who’d asked to be carried and petted just yesterday was now so nervous after realizing her feelings for Xiao Ran that she couldn’t even bring herself to say the word "butt."

After all, it was a sensitive body part.

Combined with her own tender feelings, the word became even more fraught.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran was taken aback and instinctively asked, "Are you okay?"

The girl tried to quell her racing heart and act as if nothing was wrong, but a hint of sheepishness still colored her voice.

"It’s... it’s a cooling cushion for an electric scooter. If you use this in the summer, you won’t burn your butt..."

’If I’d known it would be this embarrassing to give it to him, I should’ve just written his name on the package in the first place! Then I could’ve just pretended I knew nothing about it. I wouldn’t be stuck here now, having to explain myself!’

Xiao Ran stared blankly for a moment, then looked at the girl’s mortified expression and nearly burst out laughing. ’So she’s the one who burned her butt?’

He stifled a laugh. "Oh, so that’s what this is."

To be honest, he had no idea such a thing even existed; he’d certainly never looked for one.

After all, he always parked his scooter in shady spots, so he’d never really gotten his butt burned.

But despite that, Xiao Ran was still very grateful to her.

It was undeniable that she cared about him a great deal.

She even thought of ways to make him more comfortable in trivial little matters that he himself had never even noticed.

"Thanks," Xiao Ran said, shaking the cushion in his hand. "A special gift."

’This gift really is special. Special enough that I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.’

’A butt cushion. Heh.’

Anyway, he had nothing else to do right now, so he decided to go put it on his scooter immediately.

"I’ll go try it on my scooter right now."

With that, he turned, opened the door, and walked out.

The girl blinked, her gaze fixed on the spot where he had disappeared. The expression on her fair, pretty face was a little complicated.

Given such a positive reaction, she would normally have been incredibly smug, practically over the moon with delight.

But today, instead of excitement, all she felt was a lingering, small sense of embarrassment.

As the saying goes, a guilty conscience needs no accuser.

And she was the one with something to hide.

...

Xiao Ran hurried downstairs and fitted the cushion onto his electric scooter. It actually looked pretty good.

’Have to give Yan Xici credit,’ he thought. ’She’s got good taste.’

He looked at it with satisfaction, then returned upstairs.

The sound of footsteps brought the girl back to her senses. She spun around, intending to hurry back to the sanctuary of her own room. But before she’d taken two steps, she heard Xiao Ran’s voice behind her.

"Oh, right, Xici, are you hungry? Want to get something to eat?"

Xiao Ran asked as he walked toward the dining table.

In truth, he wasn’t hungry at all.

But he figured she’d only had breakfast and hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Worried she might be hungry, he decided to ask.

Hearing this, the girl shook her head. She was in no mood to eat right now.

’All these tangled thoughts are more than enough to fill me up.’

She just wanted to go upstairs, be alone in her own little world, and think things over.