The sudden surge of heat hit like a wave.
It was the dead of winter, yet the entire café felt as though it had been dragged into the height of summer, every breath scorching.
"What's going on? Why did it get so hot all of a sudden?"
"Hey—waiter! Is your heating free or something?!"
"Huh? We didn't even turn it on. The cooling system's already started blowing cold air—so why is it still this hot?!"
I'm sorry, innocent strangers. This is my fault. I dragged you into this.
Exusiai tugged at her collar, nerves stretched tight, sweat running down her cheeks. She forced a smile.
"Um… Sister Talulah—"
"Call me Talulah."
It was a flat, even reply—nothing more. Yet Exusiai shuddered like she'd been struck.
That presence… it was overwhelming, like standing before a head of state. Chen Mo's family really was more outrageous one after another.
And… the woman who looked so much like him clearly didn't like Exusiai very much.
Is she like Officer Ch'en too…?
Alright—then I should avoid talking about Chen Mo for now.
Exusiai laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of her head, working hard to look harmless and ingratiating.
"So, uh… Talulah, did you only recently arrive in Lungmen? I mean, I've never seen you before."
"Mm." Talulah's gaze didn't waver. "Thanks to my brother, I get to enjoy a brief period of peace inside Lungmen."
Exusiai's polite smile froze. Her brain stalled for a beat.
Why does she keep circling back to Chen Mo?
Who even is this—some kind of possessive, brother-obsessed sister?
Even as something inside her threatened to snap, Exusiai still forced her expression to hold.
"I-I see… haha… then maybe I could show you arou—"
"How far have you progressed with my brother?"
"…Huh?"
Exusiai blinked, caught off guard—but before she could recover, Talulah's voice cut in, cold and level.
"Hugging. Kissing. Or have you already finished mating."
Exusiai's eyes went wide.
Talulah continued without a flicker of embarrassment—almost clinically, as though reciting a report.
"Have you witnessed my brother's allure in bed. Listened to those weak, tender gasps at your ear. Touched his soft, delicate skin. Kneaded that large, smooth, scaled tail."
"You—have you reached that point?"
A burst of flame flared around Talulah with a violent whoosh—then vanished just as quickly.
It was obvious she was suppressing herself.
Exusiai snapped back to reality, waving both hands so hard her halo practically trembled.
"No—no—no! What are you even thinking?! Hand-holding! I've only held Chen Mo's hand a few times!"
Talulah's words were so outrageous Exusiai nearly short-circuited. She hurried on, desperate to explain herself.
"And if Chen Mo doesn't want it, even if I tried to force him, I couldn't beat him! You're his sister—don't tell me you don't know how strong he is!"
What kind of person immediately imagines her own brother being pinned down by some woman?
What kind of "meeting the family" interrogation starts like this?!
Usually you ask whether someone has a home, a stable job, how much savings they have—something normal.
How are you this uniquely terrifying?!
Exusiai shifted restlessly in her seat. She distinctly remembered she had texted Chen Mo—so why hadn't he shown up?
Don't tell me Chen Mo sent his sister to "test" me…
Bang.
As if she had read Exusiai's thoughts, Talulah pulled a phone from her pocket and tossed it onto the table with a dull thud.
The black case—with a little tail emblem—was painfully familiar.
Exusiai's eyelid twitched.
This woman is absolutely a pathological brother-obsessed freak.
Officer Ch'en, at worst, just hated Exusiai's guts and would warn her a few times.
But Talulah?
This was someone who could vividly imagine her brother getting pushed down by another woman—and who would steal his phone and rummage through his messages.
Exusiai couldn't handle this.
Talulah, after dropping a string of scandalous lines, still looked perfectly composed. She studied Exusiai—who was now visibly squirming—like she was evaluating a suspicious object.
"Please don't misunderstand," Talulah said calmly. "I'm not a strange person. I'm simply an older sister who wants to protect her brother—from women who covet his body."
Her eyes sharpened.
"For example—women like you."
Talulah picked up Chen Mo's phone and, right in front of Exusiai, tapped Exusiai's profile.
"This… this is…"
On the screen—were Exusiai's "little essays."
Exusiai knew Chen Mo rarely read her messages carefully. So between proper greetings and casual chat, she'd mixed in… lines that were frankly indecent.
Especially when Chen Mo replied with something like "Mm" or "Okay," Exusiai would feel a secret, honey-sweet thrill—
And later, alone in the dark and quiet night, she'd take that thrill and… deal with it.
But now—those private little sins had been discovered by Chen Mo's family, and she was being publicly executed for them.
So humiliating.
She wanted to run—right now.
Yet as a woman, she couldn't bring herself to act so spineless in front of Chen Mo's sister.
Talulah put the phone away and continued, utterly unhurried.
"It's normal for a young, energetic woman to have needs. I may be angry, but I can understand that."
"R-Really?! Then—"
"But."
Talulah cut her off—cleanly, mercilessly. Her face remained placid as her tone cooled further.
"I can accept that you have strong desire for a man's body. What I cannot trust is your feelings for my brother, Exusiai."
"How can I know you aren't simply after Chen Mo's body?"
"What if you grow bored of him and discard him? What if, after you get what you want, you start neglecting him?"
The silver-haired Draco spoke more and more evenly—as though each sentence was being pressed flatter by force—yet the heat behind her gaze felt like open flame, making Exusiai's skin crawl.
"Even if I don't know you well, and even if I'm not as concerned as Hui-chieh about your dangerous line of work or your flamboyant personality… judging from the volume of shameless things you've sent Chen Mo, my suspicion is not without basis."
"Chen Mo may not care. But I cannot pretend I haven't seen it."
Talulah stood abruptly.
In the café—already mostly emptied by the earlier heat—her presence was suffocating.
She looked down at Exusiai, who could barely bring herself to meet her eyes, and spoke softly.
"I cannot remain in Lungmen for long. I also cannot spend extensive time observing you to decide whether you're truly someone I can entrust Chen Mo to."
"So I will use my own method—one that suits me—to determine whether your feelings for my brother are nothing but low, physical lust."
Her voice did not rise. Yet it left no room to breathe.
"That's all, Exusiai. Same time, same place."
"We'll meet again tomorrow."
With that, Talulah turned and left—crisp, decisive—leaving Exusiai drenched in sweat, sitting rigidly in her chair, breathing like she'd survived an execution.
"Hah… hah… she's finally gone…"
Buzz—buzz.
Hands still trembling, Exusiai grabbed her phone. On the screen, Sora's profile picture flashed—Sora and the Penguin Logistics crew in a group photo.
Exusiai answered, voice shaking.
"Sora… I'm sorry. Can you come pick me up?"
"No—no, I'm fine. It's just… my legs are kind of numb."
Her eyes flicked to the coffee in front of Talulah's seat—boiling so hard it bubbled.
For the first time in her life, Exusiai suddenly missed Officer Ch'en's face—specifically the look of pure, exhausted disgust Ch'en always wore whenever she saw Exusiai.
....
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