Chapter 17: Bringing a Boy Home, She Must Be Crazy!

"What does he mean, 'sign to claim someone'?! It sounds like I'm going to the police station to bail out my husband!" Jiang Xin grumbled inwardly, a blush creeping across her cheeks.

She quickly steadied her breathing, pouted, and walked toward the security booth.

[Sir, he's my classmate, not some bad guy.]

Jiang Xin showed the middle-aged security guard the message she had written right after getting off the elevator. Seeing him nod, she pulled the notepad back.

"It's mainly because some homeowners reported a few incidents recently, so we're doing stricter checks," the guard explained casually. He reached into the booth, pulled out the visitor registration form, and handed it to Jiang Xin. "Just sign here. We'll remember your classmate from now on and let him right through next time."

Jiang Xin took the pen and signed her name in the homeowner column. Afterward, she raised her right hand, extended her thumb, and bent it twice toward the guard. It was the simplest of sign language; even those who didn't know its meaning could easily grasp the sentiment behind it.

[Thank you.]

A bright smile instantly spread across the middle-aged security guard's tanned face. Waving his hand a bit sheepishly, he said, "Go on, take your classmate inside."

Jiang Xin nodded, then turned to glance at Chen Ye, a trace of complex emotion flashing through her eyes. Tilting her head slightly, she extended her right thumb and pinky in a phone-calling gesture and pushed it twice toward her chest.

Chen Ye didn't understand sign language, but he guessed it meant something along the lines of "follow me back." He broke into a grin. "Lead the way."

Hearing his response, Jiang Xin pursed her lips and turned to head toward her home. Her ponytail, tied with a scrunchie featuring two red rabbit ears, swayed gently from side to side.

Seeing this, the middle-aged security guard felt a warm glow wash over him—though whether it was his heart melting or just the sun, he couldn't tell. He couldn't resist patting Chen Ye on the shoulder. "Good luck, young man!" he encouraged.

His voice wasn't loud, but Jiang Xin heard it clear as day even from several meters away. Her face instantly flushed beet red. She didn't stop, instead lowering her head and quickening her pace. However, the hands hidden in front of her clutched her notepad in a death grip, making a faint CRUNCH CRUNCH sound. Her ponytail swished with much wider arcs.

"What is this guard blindly encouraging?!" she thought angrily.

She hadn't wanted Chen Ye to fall any deeper in the first place. If she acted a little colder, a little more politely distant, she could make it explicitly clear that she didn't like him. Given enough time, he would probably give up. But before she could even put her plan into action, someone was already stirring up trouble!

Amidst the inevitable shyness of a young girl, Jiang Xin couldn't help but feel upset. Walking forward with her head down and listening to the approaching footsteps behind her, she forcefully suppressed her emotions so Chen Ye wouldn't notice anything.

She had never liked expressing her feelings. That was exactly why, while others kept dogs, cats, or rabbits, she had chosen to raise a tiny Brazilian turtle. Silent, voiceless, and sensitive—it was no different from her. But there was one key difference. The tiny Brazilian turtle had a hard shell to retreat into, whereas sometimes she had nowhere to hide and was forced to face her pain head-on.

Soon, Jiang Xin entered the elevator lobby and pressed the up button. As the doors slowly opened, she stepped in first, with Chen Ye following closely behind. Before she could even reach out, Chen Ye instinctively pressed the button for the sixth floor.

Jiang Xin's outstretched hand froze in midair.

Seeming to realize something was off, Chen Ye quickly caught on and smoothly explained, "I remember your sister mentioning what floor you live on."

Of course, that had been the Su Siyun from his past life.

The elevator soon arrived at the sixth floor. As Chen Ye stepped out, he suddenly turned back and asked, "Is anyone home?"

At those words, Jiang Xin immediately halted, her eyes flashing with sudden vigilance.

Because she couldn't speak, she was highly sensitive, easily picking up on emotions that others missed. Consequently, she was also prone to low self-esteem. Her insecurity and sensitivity meant she often fantasized more than the average person. What Chen Ye had just said fit perfectly into the cliché, imaginative tropes she had read in books.

Sensing her wariness, Chen Ye spread his hands helplessly and chuckled. "I'm just asking. If someone's home, I need to figure out how to greet them in advance. We've been classmates for three years, and we were even desk-mates for a whole semester. Do you really not trust me at all?"

Jiang Xin stared at him for two seconds before lifting her foot to step out. However, the elevator had just passed its waiting time, and the doors began to close. With quick reflexes, Chen Ye stuck his foot out to wedge them open. The doors lightly clamped onto the sides of his foot before sliding back open, just as Jiang Xin coincidentally stepped right onto his shoe.

Stunned for a second, Jiang Xin hurriedly pulled her foot back, shooting him an apologetic look.

"Hurry up and come out," Chen Ye urged nonchalantly, pressing his hand against one side of the elevator door to hold it open.

Jiang Xin quickly ducked under his raised arm. As she walked, she fished out her keys and twisted them in the lock with a CLICK CLACK. Stepping inside, she turned around, resting one hand against the door as she waited for Chen Ye in the entryway. Once he approached, she slipped into her own slippers and then turned to dig through the shoe cabinet for a spare pair.

While she was changing her shoes, Chen Ye cast a sweeping glance at her feet. Wrapped in white cotton socks, her small feet looked delicate enough to fit perfectly in the palm of a hand. The pure white material clung snugly to her skin, flawlessly tracing the arch of her soles and the adorable, rounded contours of her toes. They looked incredibly soft and pristine.

"I wonder what they feel like to touch?" Chen Ye mused inwardly.

A second later, however, he instantly withdrew his gaze. Pulling a couple of disposable shoe covers from his pocket, he slipped them on while saying, "I'll just wear these. No need to bother looking for slippers."

Seeing that Chen Ye had brought his own covers, Jiang Xin put down the spare slippers. She stood up and took a step back, giving him plenty of room. Then came a soft THUD as the door closed.

"How... how did I actually bring Chen Ye home?!" Jiang Xin questioned herself in sheer disbelief.

Her thoughts had been a chaotic mess ever since last night. Chen Ye hadn't given her any breathing room, and it wasn't until this very moment that she realized she had obediently and effortlessly led him right into her house.

But since things had already come to this, she couldn't exactly kick him out. She would just treat it as mutual help between classmates. Still, she absolutely had to try and harden her heart to learn how to reject people. And that lesson would start right here, right now! It was the perfect opportunity to practice saying no, while simultaneously forcing Chen Ye to drop any inappropriate ideas he might have.

Jiang Xin flipped her notepad to a fresh page. After a moment of hesitation, she furiously scribbled down a line with a SCRATCH SCRATCH and immediately held it up in front of Chen Ye.

[My mom gets off work at 5:30. She probably won't like it if I bring a boy home.]

But barely two seconds after holding it up, she caught sight of the bizarre expression on Chen Ye's face. Suddenly realizing how that sounded, she hurriedly yanked the notepad back, crossed out the line with a furious SCRATCH SCRATCH, and wrote a new sentence underneath.

[I have to go out after 5:00, so you can only use the computer until then.]

"Alright. I'll probably just borrow it for two or three hours," Chen Ye replied with a smile. Although the girl in front of him looked composed, he could feel her inner turmoil from the gradually quickening pace of her breathing.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xin wished she could turn back time by one minute to completely erase what she had written. Saying her mom wouldn't like it basically implied that she herself was fine with it, didn't it? Worse still, by setting a specific time limit, she made it sound like they were deliberately picking a window when no one was home to have a secret rendezvous!

Head bowed, the girl jotted down a few more words.

[Follow me.]

After letting Chen Ye read it, she turned and walked toward her own bedroom.

Yet, as she stood before her door, Jiang Xin actually debated whether she should just lead him to Su Siyun's room instead—or perhaps give him some money and tell him to go to an internet cafe. Letting a boy into her bedroom was an incredibly bold, unconventional move to begin with.

Even someone like Su Siyun, who received a love confession every single month, had never brought a boy back. So how on earth had she—someone who had never spoken to a boy and barely even knew any—ended up inexplicably bringing one home?

She was definitely losing her mind!