Chapter 8: The same person?
‘Someone’s back?’
While her parents were talking, she quietly turned her gaze.
About a few seconds later, a figure in student uniform gradually entered her view.
‘Why is he still wearing… the school uniform…’
Her eyes widened in shock until the other turned to look at her, and he seemed to show a similar expression.
“You’re back.”
“Mm, Dad, Mom, who’s this…”
“Xiao Jiu, what’s wrong, you don’t even recognize your own sister?”
“Xiao Jiu?”
The boy’s eyes held disbelief, repeatedly looking at her a few more times.
“…”
Unlike the persona she usually maintained, this time Xu Jiu didn’t greet him actively.
Instead, she stared at the boy in front of her with an unprecedented strange look.
“Why didn’t you tell me she was coming back…”
“Didn’t I tell you? Why don’t you check your phone again.”
The boy froze, then awkwardly put down his bag, the whole process like he had pins on his back.
“If I hadn’t made your dad step in, were you planning to keep messing around outside tonight? Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been up to these years just because I was abroad.”
In front of family, her mother showed unprecedented dominance, something Xu Jiu rarely saw.
The last time was when she scolded servants who hadn’t done their job properly in front of her, this time it was because of her… brother.
“Mom, can we not talk about this at home? I’ll explain properly in private later, please!”
The woman snorted coldly, glanced at her silent daughter, thought quickly, then unexpectedly compromised.
“We’ll see how I deal with you later. Your dad has no time for this stinking brat, doesn’t mean I don’t.”
“Go wash your hands and come eat, don’t make us wait.”
“…Got it.”
He left reluctantly, while Xu Jiu stared at his back, eyes full of suspicion.
The same at the dinner table afterward.
Compared to occasionally speaking up earlier, she became unusually silent, not saying a word on her own, even perfunctorily humming to her parents’ occasional questions, like she had suddenly become depressed.
“Baby… are you in a bad mood?”
“You’ve had this expression ever since your brother came back, not talking to family, even ignoring Mom…”
“…”
Watching her suddenly aloof daughter, Xu’s mother sighed helplessly and was puzzled.
“Or is it because you haven’t seen family in so long, you don’t know how to interact with them…?”
She pressed.
But Xu Jiu remained very silent, in Xu’s mother’s eyes only coldly lifting her gaze.
“How did she become like this… I thought my daughter finally became more cheerful, but now she’s back to how she was… sigh.”
“No choice, let her adapt first and slowly guide her.”
“Don’t worry too much, no matter what Xiao Jiu is a big girl now, some things she has to digest on her own.”
“Sigh…”
In the living room, Xu Jiu silently eavesdropped on their conversation, sitting on the sofa like a statue watching TV.
“Just not talking can cause them this much worry?”
She stole a glance, of course she wasn’t doing it on purpose, simply because she had something she must figure out now.
Her so-called brother looked very much like someone she used to know.
A guy she still hated with jealousy, the one who twisted his bright future.
Her hatred for that person couldn’t be resolved in several lifetimes, otherwise she wouldn’t still be thinking about it after rebirth.
“Huu…”
Her heart beat a bit fast, because if this was true, didn’t that mean she and her enemy were under the same roof? She couldn’t accept that, especially now when she was powerless to respond.
“Better confirm if he’s that person first, what if it’s just a coincidence…”
She took a deep breath, just then someone came out of their room passing the living room.
“Uh…”
The moment their eyes collided, the boy felt a chill envelop him, making him shiver involuntarily.
Of course, he didn’t suspect her, just scratched his head blankly.
“The AC isn’t even on?”
Xu Jiu on the sofa watched him walk to the kitchen, brows furrowed the whole time.
Soon, the boy came back with several bottles of drinks, she thought he’d ignore her again, but unexpectedly he walked toward her.
“Uh… here, want one?”
Xu Jiu froze, then saw the milk offered to her.
This was for her?
She looked up puzzled, but the moment her gaze met his, he shyly turned away.
Like panic mixed with embarrassment.
Thanks to this, she could observe his face up close, youthful with a bit of handsomeness, the aloof type, paired with height inherited from their father, not rare in school but at least school heartthrob material, but his personality ruined this rare temperament, leaving him awkwardly in the middle.
Of course, this gave others a sense of approachability, but these were just her objective analyses of his merits, for this guy she still extremely disliked.
She didn’t accept his kindness, just quietly watched him, as for how she appeared in his eyes she didn’t know, only saw after no reaction from her, he seemed embarrassed and wanted to escape.
“I’ll leave it here, if you don’t want it Mom can freeze it, I have stuff to do back in my room.”
With that, he fled like a defeated soldier.
Xu Jiu’s frown didn’t ease, looking strangely at the milk on the table, surprisingly room temperature in her hand.
She didn’t understand his intention, just wanting to show goodwill?
If so, why run away guiltily like a thief.
She couldn’t comprehend, because the enemy in her memory wasn’t like this, this person looked almost identical but was he really the same?
She still couldn’t forget that bastard Xu You, the humiliation and mockery when he stole her childhood sweetheart, after that her life became muddled and mad, heading straight to rock bottom.