◎ Love makes people lose their minds. ◎

The phone fell into a long silence, so quiet I could only hear the sound of our breathing.

Even now, X was trying to give me a way out. “Are you joking, or do you really mean it?”

I felt like I was splitting in two—half of me was resolute, the other half was heartbroken.

“I mean it.”

I said.

X: “……”

He was silent for a long time before finally speaking.

“Can I at least know why?”

I could clearly sense his mood dropping. A surge of heat rushed through me, my nose stinging with emotion. I could no longer keep up a casual tone while talking to him. Gritting my teeth, I spat out a sharp “scumbag” and hung up the phone.

What was the big deal anyway? I quickly wiped away my tears with the back of my hand. There were plenty of handsome guys showing off their physiques on Xiaofanshu. If one didn’t work out, I could just find another.

I started typing keywords like “#muscularmen” and “#abs” into the search bar. The screen was filled with countless options—so many, in fact, that I felt a little overwhelmed. They all looked great, very appealing. But had I already been biased? Compared to many other guys flaunting their muscles, X felt different. Most of them exuded a confidence so strong it practically spilled out of the screen—an almost excessive self-assurance, as if silently proclaiming: “I’m hot, extremely hot, every woman in a ten-mile radius will fall head over heels for me.”

X, on the other hand, seemed to simply be recording his progress, not showing off like a peacock. That difference softened the slightly greasy vibe of overconfidence.

But I didn’t get the sense of satisfaction I had imagined. I wasn’t in the mood to appreciate beauty either, so I exited the search, feeling defeated. My eyes glazed over, and my heart ached as the cursed algorithm pushed a post from the gorgeous scholar right to the top of my feed. How was I supposed to resist?

My fingers moved on their own, clicking into the post. I reread the comments between X and her, lingering on a particular one left by “Winter Hamster.” My fingertip hovered over it, mindlessly scrolling up and down—until I accidentally liked it.

My eyes widened in horror, bigger than light bulbs. I panicked and retracted the like immediately, but damn it—while the like could be undone, the system notification could not!

A private message from X popped up at the top of my screen:
“I see.”

I furiously swiped the message away with my thumb, annoyed.

See my ass, you damn scumbag.

A sense of justice swelled inside me. I had to warn the beautiful scholar not to be fooled by a jerk like him.

How should I start? My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I hesitated, carefully composing my message:

“Hi, are you X’s girlfriend?”

Typing that one sentence was a struggle because X kept sending me voice call invitations, interrupting the process.

After rejecting four consecutive calls, I received three rapid-fire messages from him through Xiaofanshu’s private chat:

X: “Xu Tianyu is my sister!”
X: “Yeah, Y, she’s my biological sister!”
X: “Same father, same mother.”

My anger vanished, and my sadness momentarily paused. A giant question mark popped up in my mind.

Uh… huh?

Something sharp and rigid inside me crumbled. I wanted to dig a hole and disappear. So after all that drama, it was just a huge misunderstanding.

My brain debated whether I should just play dead from now on, but my fingers betrayed me by replying to X anyway:

“…Uh, oh.”

X: “Let me interview you, Teacher Seagull. In the ten minutes you disappeared, what were you thinking about?”

What was I thinking? I was busy constructing a grand drama in my head—a tragic tale of a naive girl teaming up with a beauty to take down a heartless player.

Me: “Uh… well, listen, let me explain myself first.”

X: “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

Me: “I’m still making it up, give me a sec.”

X: “I’m single.”

Sweat formed on my forehead as I desperately tried to save face: “Don’t bother me, I’m busy hopping around other muscle guys’ pages.”

X: “?”
X: “???”
X: “Did I read that right? Say it again?”

I dodged the question: “I always knew you slipped through the cracks of compulsory education.”

X called again. This time, I had no excuse to decline. To prevent him from launching a moral critique, I picked up and immediately blurted out at lightning speed:

“Sorry, I misunderstood! I’m such a shallow person who judges others by their looks!”

X was momentarily stunned. “…You’ve already said everything. What else can I say?”

“Hehe.” I let out an awkward, dry laugh, hoping to brush things off.

Then he suddenly asked, “Wait, what do you mean by judging by looks?” His voice turned stern. “Do I look unreliable?”

Even though I was only facing my phone, I instinctively ran my fingers through my hair, scratched my forehead, and rubbed my temples. “Uh… to be honest, yeah, you do kinda look like a scumbag.”

X immediately cut me off: “If you call me a scumbag one more time, I’ll be traumatized.”

Hearing the hint of hurt in his tone, I deflated.

Fine, I was too impulsive. Taking a deep breath, I sincerely apologized, “I should’ve asked first instead of jumping to conclusions and questioning your character.”

Sincerity was the ultimate trump card, so I laid everything bare. “To be honest, I didn’t even know what I was doing. I panicked. I got blinded by jealousy, you know? Ugh, she’s just so pretty…”

Just thinking about it made my throat tighten. I choked up a little, frustratedly running my fingers through my hair. See? This is why I avoid love—love makes people lose their minds.

X suddenly broke the silence. “She’s been following you for a while.”

“Huh?”

I was genuinely shocked. I never bothered counting my followers, so I quickly checked. Sure enough, Y was right there in my follower list.

Still reeling from the emotional rollercoaster, I stammered, “H-how did you introduce me to your sister?”

X: “That’s a secret for now.”

Wow, now he wanted to act all mysterious.

“Huh?” I huffed. “Why does that need to be kept a secret?”

X played the victim: “I was just afraid that if I told you, you’d shrink back into your shell again.”

I didn’t even bother pretending not to understand anymore. Snorting, I said, “Are you calling me a turtle?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” he drawled, dragging out his words. “How could I? When a certain someone is always threatening to cut ties with me.”

I couldn’t even be mad at his sarcasm. Feeling a little embarrassed, I rubbed my nose and suddenly blurted out, “Hey, I think your parking meter is about to expire.”

He was so angry that he laughed. “You know that, yet you’re still not coming down!”

Before I could respond, he immediately followed up, “Which room are you in? I’ll come find you.”

I still didn’t get a chance to speak before he continued talking to himself, “Oh, right, I don’t have a room card. I can’t take the elevator up.”

“I’m so mad I could faint.”

“You, oh you.”

I stopped acting coy and hurriedly packed my luggage at lightning speed. Then, I rushed downstairs to check out. As soon as the elevator doors opened, I saw X standing right in the middle of the path leading from the elevator to the lobby, arms crossed, waiting for me.

His broad shoulders blocked the way, creating an imposing sight from a distance. I had nowhere to hide and could only drag my feet over while muttering under my breath, “You even came to ambush me. What happened to the basic trust between people?”

X shot me a cold glance without saying a word, his expression still looking rather angry.

If he hadn’t reached out and taken my luggage, I might have actually believed it.

Even though he didn’t seem angry anymore, my face still felt stiff with awkwardness. The entire check-out process was wrapped in a thick layer of discomfort.

I climbed into the passenger seat first, while X placed my luggage in the trunk. As he got into the driver’s seat, he was busy fiddling with his phone.

The moment the car door closed, he said, “Wait a second,” then suddenly pulled me into the camera frame.

I stared at him in shock, but he completely ignored my frantic head-shaking, holding me in place so I couldn’t move.

Soon, the face of a studious beauty appeared in the shaky video. She sounded slightly exasperated. “Xu Tiancheng! It’s almost midnight over here. You better have a good reason for calling!”

Wearing black-rimmed glasses, the scholar beauty sat cross-legged in the corner of a sofa, her attention fully focused on the laptop on her lap. Without even glancing at the screen, she continued typing away at high speed while muttering to herself, “Now that I think about it, this is actually my first time video calling you in this lifetime. Tsk, feels a bit weird.”

While X was busy handling the video call, I saw my chance and tried to slip away. Unfortunately, I had barely moved ten centimeters before he caught me again.

He shot me a warning look with a smirk, then casually asked into the video, “Where are Mom and Dad?”

The scholar beauty still didn’t lift her head. “Dad is watching TV. Mom made some new friends at the community center as soon as she arrived. They all went to a bar together.”

X chuckled. “She only knows a few words of English, yet she managed to make friends.”

He silently mouthed the words “come over” to me in warning.

I ignored him completely and continued dodging him inside the car.

Xu Tianyu said, “Right? I was surprised too. Her little friend group has people who speak English, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, yet somehow, they can chat for an entire afternoon despite the language barrier…”

Maybe the constant rustling noises on our end finally caught her attention because the scholar beauty finally turned to look at the screen. Her gaze suddenly froze. “Huh? Who’s that next to you?”

X firmly pressed my head against his shoulder. “Come say hi. This is my sister, Xu Tianyu.”

I glared at him furiously for ambushing me like this, my eyes practically shooting sparks. But since I was already in the spotlight, I didn’t want to leave a bad impression on the studious beauty. Forcing a professional smile, I waved. “Hello, Sister Tianyu.”

Xu Tianyu’s expression was caught between confusion and curiosity. She glanced at me, then at X, then back at me again. “You… hello…”

X turned to look at me, his smile full of mischief, as if he was about to drop a bombshell. He said, “Let me officially introduce—”

“Oh! I know who you are!” Xu Tianyu suddenly exclaimed in excitement. “You’re the famous Seagull at a dock, aren’t you?”

Not only was X’s sister surprised, but even their father immediately jumped up from the couch and ran over to get a closer look.

His father and sister took turns complimenting me—his dad said I was pretty, his sister said I had great skin, his dad praised my bright eyes, and his sister admired my shiny hair.

I was completely overwhelmed by the barrage of praise from the Xu family. Dazed and confused, I turned to X in disbelief. Had he really told not just his sister but even his parents about me?

As the conversation went on, Xu’s father suddenly became so excited that he said he was going to the bar to fetch their mother.

Still forcing a smile, I leaned toward X and whispered with minimal lip movement, “This is getting out of hand. Hurry up and stop him!”

X turned to me, smiled, and shook his head.

I elbowed him in the ribs in protest. “Hurry up!”

He let out a short laugh, clearly amused by my nervousness. Then, he finally called his father back just as he was putting on his coat. “Let’s just say hi for now. Don’t scare her.”

“Next time? We’ll see.”

“Yeah, she’s going back tomorrow.”

“Yes, I plan to drive her. It’ll be faster that way.”

“Alright, that’s it. Hanging up now.”

The moment I heard the call end, I pounced on him and started playfully punching him. “Why did you ambush me like that? I wasn’t mentally prepared at all!”

He didn’t dodge or block, looking completely justified. “Otherwise, how could I prove that Y is really my sister? She got her citizenship ages ago. She’s not even on my household registration anymore.”

Curious, I asked, “Do your parents and sister live abroad permanently?”

X shook his head. “No, my sister just got pregnant. My parents were worried she wouldn’t take care of herself properly, so they rushed over to be with her.”

I kept asking, “Is your brother-in-law a foreigner?”

X answered without hesitation, “No human meets her standards. Her lifelong dream is to marry AI. She picked the father of her child from a sperm bank, choosing only the highest-intelligence genes.”

“Oh,” I said. “Then she—”

X finally lost his patience and interrupted me with a sharp look. “Can you at least ask about me first?”

I immediately shut up. After a long pause, I quietly defended myself, “I was just trying to avoid bringing up something that might upset you.”

X leaned back against his seat, exhaling deeply. “Just now, you almost scared me to death.”

Feeling a little guilty, I leaned over to examine him. Although I did feel bad for him, I still refused to back down completely. “Well, you’re still breathing, aren’t you?”

X shot me a sideways glance. “Just barely.”

A close-up gaze like this naturally turned into a deep stare. Now that I had calmed down, I realized I hadn’t properly taken a good look at him before. If I examined carefully, X and the studious beauty did look quite alike, especially the upper half of their faces—the same deep-set, piercing eyes.

I leaned against his shoulder and, feeling utterly embarrassed, admitted, “What’s death compared to this? I even cried just now.”

The moment I recalled it, even for just a second, my nose began to sting uncontrollably. My emotions were so overwhelming that I scared even myself.

His eyes instantly lit up with a bright gleam as he stared into mine and asked, “Really?”

I immediately straightened my expression. “Nope, just kidding!”

“This is all your fault.”

I was just being unreasonable. So what?

He looked at me for a long time before finally sighing as if resigning himself to fate. Wrapping his arms around me, he spoke in a tone of acceptance, “Sorry. I guess I was a bit late in comforting you, but I really am sorry.”