Chapter 13: So-called Friends.

After leaving the hospital, the two of them walked in silence.

They’d been scolded by the doctor.

Told not to waste medical resources when nothing was wrong.

When they’d arrived, Lu Hang had rushed in carrying Bai Huang, shouting that someone was dying.
The doctors and nurses treated it like an emergency, wheeling out a stretcher and rushing her to the ER.
Only for the checkup to reveal… nothing serious.
Just chronic sleep deprivation and irregular eating causing an unusually heavy period.
Plus her naturally weak constitution made the flow heavier than average.

As they left, the bald old doctor had sighed heavily and muttered that public health education still had a long way to go.

No prescription. Nothing.

Outside the hospital entrance, dusk had fallen. A cold wind blew past, leaving both of them feeling a bit helpless.

“What now?”
Bai Huang hugged her arms against the chill, voice awkward.

“What else can we do?”
Lu Hang pulled out his cigarette pack with a helpless sigh:
“I told you it was your period. You didn’t believe me.”

She snapped back anxiously:
“Who bleeds that much on their period?”

“Then what do you want? You bled that much—what can we do?
Who told you to stay up all night gaming?
Now look—our toilet looked like a Berserker popped his second ultimate.”

“There wasn’t that much!”

“There was that much.”

Bai Huang had been ready to argue back.

But when she lifted her head and met Lu Hang’s eyes,
she suddenly averted her gaze, turning her face aside:
“Forget it. Too lazy to argue with you.”

That small, girlish gesture made Lu Hang’s heart skip slightly.
He couldn’t help teasing:
“How come you’re getting so girly now?”

She didn’t reply.

Lu Hang sighed, plopped down on the steps, and watched the stream of people coming and going from the hospital.
At least it wasn’t terminal.
He said helplessly:
“Count your blessings. Better to get yelled at than actually hospitalized.
Just be happy it’s nothing serious.”

Bai Huang sat down beside him, hugging her own legs.
The evening wind picked up, blowing stray strands of hair across her face.
She looked a little downcast.
Suddenly she reached over and waved away the smoke drifting from Lu Hang’s cigarette.
Normally she didn’t mind him smoking.

“What’s wrong? Feeling down?”
Lu Hang noticed her mood and felt puzzled:
“Isn’t it good news that you’re not sick?”

She raised an eyebrow, looking irritated, lips pursed in a classic pout—clearly sulking.

What did he do wrong this time?

Lu Hang was completely lost.

Bai Huang had always been a bit moody like this—sensitive inside despite the outward arrogance.
Back then he’d just thought she was quirky when she sulked alone.
But now… seeing her like this felt completely different.

Another change since becoming a girl:
when she sulked, it felt like there was suddenly an unspoken obligation to coax her.

But Lu Hang had zero idea how to coax anyone.

Watching her sit beside him in his oversized T-shirt, hugging her legs in the cold wind like a little girlfriend refusing to speak,
Lu Hang’s heart unexpectedly skipped a beat.

My brother is turning into…
something way too cute.

Is this really my brother?

She felt more and more unfamiliar, walking down some strange new path.

“You angry?”
Lu Hang asked.

“…”
She stayed silent, just pursing her lips tighter.

Yep, angry.

Too easy to read.

“What exactly are you mad about?”
Lu Hang sighed, softening his tone:
“You suddenly screamed like you were dying.
I carried you all the way here in a panic.
You can’t seriously be mad at the doctor for saying it’s not terminal, right?
Or do you actually want a terminal illness just to feel something?”

“…It’s not that.”

She muttered, turning her face away.
Her ears were faintly red.
She hugged her legs and rocked slightly, as if weighing her words.

“Then what is it?”

After thinking for a long time, she finally puffed out her cheeks and said:

“Forget it.”

Holy shit, she was acting exactly like a girl now.

Lu Hang was stunned.

That classic “I’m upset but I won’t tell you why” attitude was already giving him PTSD.

No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t figure out what he’d done wrong.
Feeling frustrated, he decided not to dwell on it.

Better to fall back on the old brother dynamic—things were simpler then.
If she didn’t say it outright, it basically meant nothing was wrong.
Since he didn’t know how to coax anyway, Lu Hang patted his butt and stood up:
“Fine then. Let’s head home.”

She opened her mouth, then suddenly grabbed his sleeve.

Lu Hang paused and looked down—
only to see her face flushed with embarrassment and anger.
Meeting his eyes seemed to fluster her even more.

“What exactly is it, bro?”
Lu Hang gave a helpless smile.

She huffed indignantly:
“You… in the taxi earlier…”

“What about the taxi? Did I leave something behind?”
Lu Hang was confused.

“…You called me your wife.”

Seeing her face red from embarrassment and anger,
Lu Hang’s first reaction was his heart rate spiking.
He froze in place.

“What’s wrong with calling you wife?”
Lu Hang asked.

“Bro, you can’t just call me your wife!”
She panicked.

Lu Hang suddenly felt a little annoyed.

It’s not like he actually meant it—
why was she acting like he was beneath her just for pretending in an emergency?
“What, you look down on me now?”

“It’s not about looking down on you!
Who calls someone their wife right off the bat?”
She mumbled.

“You think I wanted to?
Calling you wife made it sound urgent, didn’t it?
Plus I thought you were dying of cancer—
if I didn’t say it like that, how would the driver have sped up?”

“…”
Her face turned apple-red.
She clutched his sleeve tightly, speechless.

“Besides, it was an emergency.
Back when we were bros we took turns being dad and son—
what’s wrong with switching titles for a second?
It was just to get to the hospital faster.”

Bai Huang took a deep breath:

“Then can’t you put yourself in my shoes?
Think about how the person being called ‘wife’ feels?”

Lu Hang grew impatient:
“How do you feel?”

“If you call me wife… what am I supposed to call you?”
She asked:
“Husband?”

…

Silence.

Maybe humans really do need to consider each other’s perspectives.

Lu Hang never expected that one furious “husband” from her would hit so hard.
His heart pounded wildly.
He stared in shock.

Bai Huang stayed frozen in the same position—still holding his sleeve—
head lowered, biting her lip in embarrassment and anger.
They used to call each other dad or bro casually.
At first Lu Hang hadn’t thought much of it—just a title change in the heat of the moment.
But her shy, furious “husband” had suddenly made all his blood boil.

Lu Hang was dumbfounded.

The brotherly atmosphere he’d desperately maintained all week suddenly felt fragile.
The mental wall he’d built to keep seeing her as a guy
nearly collapsed with that one word.
Before, watching her sit on the floor gripping her ankle with long hair flowing,
he’d only thought her hair must be annoying to manage.
Now, suddenly, her wind-reddened earlobes looked cute.
Her fair neck looked cute.

But this kind of “cute” wasn’t allowed.

“My bad, bro.”
Lu Hang stayed quiet for a moment, then apologized immediately.

“Now you get it, right?
Don’t just blurt out stuff like that on impulse…”
Bai Huang’s face was still red.
She let out a breath, unconsciously tightening her grip on her pant leg:
“I still… want to be friends with you.”