Zhou Yan entered his home with Luo Jin trailing behind him.

  Mother Zhou saw that Zhou Yan was back and stood up from the couch. As she walked closer, she saw that there was someone behind Zhou Yan. “Oh my. Who is this, Xiao Yan?”

  Luo Jin came out from behind and spoke with a smile. “Hello, Aunty. I’m Luo Jin.”

  Mother Zhou let out a gasp. “Oh, Xiao Jin! It’s been so long since I’ve st seen you.”

  Zhou Yan saw that Mother Zhou became busy talking with Luo Jin and went upstairs. As he climbed the stairs, he looked up and saw that Zhou An was pacing around the hallway while biting her nails.

  Zhou An saw her brother and said with a hint of worry. “Brother, you’re finally back?”

  Zhou Yan nodded and was about to enter his room but was quickly stopped by Zhou An as she grabbed his arm.

  “Brother, be careful.” She opened her mouth and wanted to say more but only said, “Try not to get sick.”

  With a nod, Zhou Yan went inside his room and closed the door while Zhou An kept standing in the same pce.

  Zhou Yan put away his bag and did a quick rinse in the shower.

  Wearing more casual clothes, he came down the stairs and saw that Luo Jin and Mother Zhou were sitting together and chatting. Laughter was coming from them every so often.

  Although Zhou Yan came down with light steps, the two people below him still heard.

  Mother Zhou and Luo Jin stopped talking and looked at the pale boy wearing a beige sweater and bck pants. Mother Zhou joked as she got up and pulled Zhou Yan to sit next to Luo Jin. “It’s been so long and you don’t even recognize your friend anymore.”

  Zhou Yan sat with Luo Jin and listened as Mother Zhou continued talking about him.

  She talked about his childhood and Luo Jin listened with relish.

  Before she knew it, it was already time for dinner. “Oh, look at the time!” Mother Zhou got up and asked Luo Jin to stay for dinner.

  Luo Jin agreed and ate together with Zhou Yan and Mother Zhou.

  When the cooking aunt pced the st dish on the table, Mother Zhou asked Zhou Yan. “Xiao Yan, did you take your pills today?”

  Zhou Yan paused and replied, “Yes, Mother.”

  Mother Zhou was relieved. “That’s good.” She picked up some stir-fry vegetables with her chopsticks and pced them into Zhou Yan’s bowl. “Eat more, Xiao Yan. It’s not good to eat so little food.”

  “Mother.” Zhou Yan looked at Mother Zhou. “What happened to the bel on my medicine bottle?”

  Mother Zhou froze for a bit but replied with a smile. “Mother repced the bottle.”

  Zhou Yan looked at Mother Zhou’s expression closely, but couldn’t find anything suspicious. He looked away and started eating.

  Luo Jin questioned. “Why does Xiao Yan have to take medicine?”

  Zhou Yan listened as Mother Zhou started talking. She sighed emotionally. “It’s all because of me. I couldn’t provide enough nutrients to Xiao Yan in my belly.” Mother Zhou's eyes turned red. “But it’s okay now, the medicine has been letting Xiao Yan grow up stronger now.”

  The three continued their dinner with Luo Jin comforting Mother Zhou and Zhou Yan silently observing them.

  Once they were done eating Mother Zhou told Luo Jin to stay for the night as it was already te. Luo Jin had repeatedly refused, but with Mother Zhou’s constant pleading, Luo Jin eventually agreed to stay.

  Zhou Yan crossed his arms as he stood and watched with no emotion. Once Mother Zhou left to make the guest room, he heard Luo Jin apologize.

  “Sorry for bothering your family so much.” Luo Jin sheepishly scratched his head.

  Zhou Yan replied, “It doesn’t matter.” He left first, but before he completely entered the second floor, he gnced back and caught a glimpse of Luo Jin’s profile.

  Luo Jin had a crazed look on his face.

  Zhou Yan arrived at his room and went inside. He id in bed with his hands on his abdomen and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

  Waking up, Zhou Yan looked out the window and saw that it was still dark. He got up and checked the time and saw that he only got 3 hours of sleep.

  There was still plenty of time for Zhou Yan to continue sleeping before the school day started, but Zhou Yan felt that his throat was parched.

  Zhou Yan got up and wore his slippers to grab a gss of water. He quietly opened his door and went out in order to not disturb anyone’s rest, but soon, he felt a pair of eyes on him.

  Zhou Yan looked back but couldn’t see anything. The darkness had engulfed the hallways--preventing him from seeing the eyes with slits that were staring at him greedily. He turned back and cautiously continued walking towards the kitchen.

  He felt the eyes on him disappear once he reached the first floor and quietly let out a sigh of relief.

  With the moonlight illuminating the kitchen, Zhou Yan grabbed a cup of water and gulped it down. He wiped away the water that spilled out from the corner of his mouth and put away the cup.

  Zhou Yan turned around and saw Luo Jin across the isnd counter. There was a fsh of vigince in Zhou Yan’s eyes but soon, it returned to normal.

  Ignoring Luo Jin, Zhou Yan walked out of the kitchen.

  “Good night, Xiao Yan.”

  Zhou Yan paused and looked back, but the moonlight had disappeared behind the clouds and Luo Jin’s face was obscured by the darkness. He paid no mind to Luo Jin and continued back to his room. But as he stepped into the second floor, he felt a subtle change in the yout of the hallway.

  The young man pced his hand along the walls as he walked down the hallway towards his room, but no matter how long he walked, there wasn’t any door.

  The faint footsteps behind Zhou Yan became clearer and caused him to become alert. A pale and slender hand shot out and immediately covered his eyes.

  Zhou Yan wanted to throw their hand away, but failed as he felt his consciousness quickly slip away from him.

  When Zhou Yan woke up, he found himself back in his room and on his bed. It was already morning. With a groggy head, he got up and quickly got ready for school. When he came out, he noticed that Zhou An’s door was closed.

  He walked towards Zhou An’s room and cracked open the door to see if she was still sleeping, but he saw nothing. Though the curtains were drawn, he didn’t see anybody in the room.

  Zhou Yan closed the door and went downstairs.

  As he entered the dining room, Mother Zhou saw Zhou Yan and pulled him to the dinner table as the cooking aunt pced a pte of steam buns down. He saw that Father Zhou was reading a newspaper.

  Zhou Yan decided to test Mother Zhou. “Did Zhou An already leave?”

  Mother Zhou paused but replied, “Of course not. Why do you ask, Xiao Yan?”

  Zhou Yan narrowed his eyes. He shook his head and said nothing.

  Mother Zhou continued speaking as if she didn’t care about his answer. “Xiao Jin left early in the morning. He said that even though he’s independent now, he shouldn’t impose on us for too long.”

  Zhou Yan didn’t respond. Breakfast continued in silence.

  Father Zhou spoke after Zhou Yan took the st bite of his steam bun. “Get in the car, I’ll take you to school.” He stood up and left before Zhou Yan could answer.

  Soon, Zhou An came down the stairs in a hurry and quickly said good morning to Mother Zhou before leaving through the door.

  With just the two of them left, Mother Zhou handed Zhou Yan a pair of umbrels. Before Zhou Yan also left, she said, “Take care of Xiao Jin and don’t forget to take your pills, Xiao Yan.”

  Zhou Yan looked at the clear sky and simply nodded. He entered the car and Father Zhou soon came out.

  The drive to school was the same as it was yesterday--Mother Zhou waving at the front of the house, people walking their pets, and the ck of pedestrians on the way to school.

  Once they had arrived at school, Zhou Yan saw that there wasn’t anyone walking in through the gate again. He said his goodbye to Father Zhou and went to his cssroom with Zhou An.

  He thought that perhaps they were too early, but he saw that they were exactly 5 minutes before school started.

  Zhou Yan gnced through the windows as he walked through the hallways and found that many of the cssrooms already had students sitting in their seats. The cssrooms were eerily quiet. He walked together with Zhou An and soon reached their cssroom.

  Opening the door, Zhou Yan saw that Luo Jin was already seated in his seat and waving to him. He paid no mind to Luo Jin and sat down.

  The system that usually didn’t speak spoke up in a hurried manner. [Oh! Oh! It’s the male lead, Host!]

  Zhou Yan ignored the system and looked out the window.

  [Host, how can you not greet the male lead!? You need to get more affection points from the male lead to get your memories back!]

  Zhou Yan’s finger twitched.

  The system felt Zhou Yan waver and pushed further. [Host, don’t you want to get your memories back? The male lead’s favorability is already at 60%, so Host doesn’t need to do much!]

  Thinking for a bit, Zhou Yan finally relented. He turned towards Luo Jin and greeted him. He asked, “Did you sleep well st night?”

  Luo Jin’s face brightened. “Yeah!”

  [Wow, the male lead’s favorability went up by 2 points, Host!]

  Luo Jin wanted to chat more but the teacher came in and started css--interrupting the two.

  For the whole entire css period, Luo Jin’s face was gloomy.

  Zhou Yan, seeing that css started, turned to look out the window and saw that as css went on, it started getting darker as storm clouds started gathering. It was odd, considering that it usually wouldn’t rain around this time of year.

  The school bell chimed and it was time for lunch. But everyone still remained seated.

  Just as Zhou Yan was about to get up and leave, Luo Jin grabbed his shoulder and held him down. Luo Jin moved closer and whispered in his ears. “Just hold on for a bit, Xiao Yan.”

  Before long, a student from a neighboring css showed up at the front of the css’s door. The young man’s face looked intimidating but immediately blushed as he spotted Zhou An in the cssroom.

  The cssmates knew that the young man was about to confess to the school flower by the look on his face and should’ve surrounded Zhou An to prevent the young man from confessing, but they had all silently made way for the boy.

  The boy made his way through the cssroom and stood in front of Zhou An. He bowed and shouted at the top of his lungs, “I’ve liked you for a long time, Zhou An! Will you go out with me?”

  It shouldn’t be anything new to the students as Zhou An was the school flower and had received many confessions before, but for some reason the entire css had erupted.

  Zhou Yan stood up and wanted to save Zhou An as he saw that her face was wrong, but Luo Jin grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

  Zhou An saw from the corner of her eyes that Luo Jin and her brother were leaving through the back door and wanted to catch up to them, but as soon as she stood up, the boy had grabbed her hand.

  “Why haven’t you answered yet?”

  She swatted her hand away. “Get away!” Zhou An hurriedly ran out the door, but unfortunately, she was too te as Zhou Yan and Luo Jin had already disappeared.

  Zhou An gritted her teeth.