novelraw Chapter 11 : Companionship on a Rainy Night
Chapter 11 : Companionship on a Rainy Night
Xifeng dared to guarantee she absolutely wasn't pretending.
When that thunder reached her ears, she felt her brain trembling.
A completely uncontrollable fear rapidly sprouted from deep within her heart, instantly occupying her mind and consciousness. Every cell in her body was trembling in terror.
She quickly hugged her head and crouched down, her body involuntarily curling up, shivering like an injured little beast.
It seemed Lillian hadn't forgotten her request to be "afraid of thunder," and was letting her truly experience what being afraid of thunder was like.
"Shit!"
Cursing quietly, Xifeng bit down hard on her cherry lips, trying to use pain to help suppress the fear welling up in her heart, but it was futile. Her body refused to listen to her no matter what, just trembling on its own.
WDNMD Lillian, you're really a mastermind!
Look at this—is this something a human being would do?!
Bei Yaoyue was also startled by Xifeng's sharp scream. After a brief moment of surprise, she walked to Xifeng's side with a puzzled expression, crouched down, and asked: "What's wrong with you?"
"No... nothing." Xifeng struggled to lift her head, her voice trembling as she replied.
Could she tell Bei Yaoyue she was afraid of thunder?
Impossible!
How could a dignified true man like her admit to such a face-losing thing!
"Rumble!"
God apparently didn't intend to let her off easy. Just after she finished being stubborn, a strong flash of light streaked across the sky outside the window, illuminating half the sky, followed by heavy thunder that echoed throughout Crescent City.
"Ah!!!"
After an instinctive scream, Xifeng quickly covered her mouth. No! This absolutely wouldn't do!
Too pathetic! Too useless! Too embarrassing!
Control! Control!
"You're not..." After being stunned for a moment, Bei Yaoyue asked with a strange expression: "afraid of thunder, are you?"
She was just asking casually. Based on her life experience, most people who claimed to be afraid of thunder were just being dramatic. People who truly feared such a perfectly normal natural phenomenon were extremely rare, practically as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
If a vampire who had lived who knows how many years was really afraid of thunder, that would truly be the joke of the century.
"Who... who's afraid of thunder!" Xifeng suddenly looked up, pursing her lips with a stubborn expression as she retorted.
She couldn't admit it, absolutely couldn't admit it!
At the same time, she kept telling herself mentally that there was no need to be afraid, absolutely no need to be afraid. It was just thunder—something she had experienced countless times since childhood...
"Boom!"
"Waaaah!!!!!"
Like a pre-written Python function with "ifcondition == 'thunder':action(scream)," every time thunder sounded outside the window, Xifeng would immediately follow up with a precise scream.
It was a fear carved deep in her soul that her subjective will could not suppress at all.
Two streams of tears silently welled up, breaking free from her eye sockets and spilling onto the ground along her cheeks.
They were not only tears of fear, but also tears of humiliation.
"..."
Bei Yaoyue was momentarily speechless.
No matter how much Xifeng denied it verbally, no matter how much she didn't want to believe it, there was no second possibility other than being afraid of thunder.
Moreover, seeing Xifeng's such intense and genuine reaction, it didn't look at all like she was deliberately pretending to gain sympathy.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm... fine..." Xifeng tried to control her chattering teeth and said tremblingly.
—You don't look fine at all.
Complaining internally, Bei Yaoyue sighed helplessly, then crouched down and extended her slender arms, pulling that petite body violently trembling in fear into her embrace.
Unlike the cold vampire body she had imagined, the delicate form in her arms carried normal body temperature, even somewhat warm. The tender skin was so soft she almost thought she was holding a ball of cotton.
"Don't be afraid, it's just thunder."
Although her tone remained cold, there was a very subtle gentleness mixed within.
After all, seeing Xifeng in her current state, anyone would only have their protective instincts surge—though some people might have their destructive instincts surge instead.
The sudden warm embrace made Xifeng's body stiffen, but she didn't struggle or resist, because a girl's soft embrace was indeed quite comfortable, and she was somewhat addicted to this intoxicating feeling.
"I... I know that too... but..." Xifeng smiled bitterly and didn't continue.
I can't explain this to you, because I'm just a fool who dug a big pit and buried myself in it.jpg
Bei Yaoyue gently patted Xifeng's back and said softly: "Just don't listen to it."
"..." The corner of Xifeng's mouth twitched slightly. If Bei Yaoyue weren't genuinely comforting her right now, she might have jumped up to punch her.
Don't listen!? She'd love not to listen.
But among human senses, hearing was the most precious. A person could choose not to see, not to smell, not to eat, not to touch, but uniquely could not choose not to hear.
So why didn't humans evolve the most basic function of closing off hearing!
Bei Yaoyue wasn't thinking about such strange things right now. She was seriously considering how to coax her little maid to sleep, otherwise she wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully either.
Getting this scared just from hearing thunder—if she could sleep peacefully through such a stormy night, that would really be seeing a ghost.
"I'll sleep with you." After thinking it over, she felt this was the only solution.
Xifeng, who was embraced in her arms, seemed much calmer now. If she stayed with her, it might be much better, right?
Thinking of this, Bei Yaoyue began to suspect again whether this little maid was acting from beginning to end, with the purpose of taking advantage of her.
"!?" Xifeng's cheeks suddenly flushed red. "Sleep with me?"
From a male perspective, she naturally misunderstood the meaning.
"I'll sit beside you to keep you company, and leave after you fall asleep."
As if not noticing Xifeng's misunderstanding, Bei Yaoyue said matter-of-factly.
"Oh..."
Realizing she had misunderstood, Xifeng shamefully lowered her head. She really had a dirty mind.
Although she didn't want to admit she was afraid of thunder no matter what, at this point there was no difference between admitting and not admitting.
Bei Yaoyue wasn't stupid, and neither was she. Bei Yaoyue not saying it outright was already giving her face. If she continued to deny it verbally, that would be too tactless.
"Can you stand up?"
"Probably... I think?"
After their conversation, her fear of thunder had diminished considerably. She tried hard to push with her weak legs and shakily stood up.
Seeing Xifeng looking like she might fall at any moment, Bei Yaoyue hesitated for a moment, then reached out to support her.
"Thank you." Xifeng smiled bitterly. Although she felt deeply embarrassed, it was better than falling directly to the ground.
She had completely given up on this body's performance and felt like a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water.
The pit she dug herself—she had to lie in it even while crying.
With Bei Yaoyue's support, Xifeng walked unsteadily back to her room, but seeing the bed that still needed to be made gave her another headache.
"...Let me do it." Bei Yaoyue glanced at the white-haired loli beside her who couldn't even stand steadily and decided to make the bed herself.
"Sorry to trouble you." Xifeng awkwardly scratched her cheek. Although she didn't want to trouble Bei Yaoyue with such small matters, she currently didn't possess normal working ability.
What was the point of keeping such a useless body?
"Rumble!"
Dull thunder sounded, but perhaps because she was gradually adapting to this fear, this time Xifeng only shuddered violently and kept her scream locked in her stomach.
Bei Yaoyue, who was focused on making the bed, didn't notice such small details. After two or three minutes, she finally managed to arrange the bedding into something sleepable. Bei Yaoyue turned to Xifeng, who had her hands placed in front of her chest, and said: "Come over."
Climbing onto the bed, Xifeng suddenly blushed and said somewhat shyly: "I need to take off my clothes. Could you turn around?"
Even she herself was too embarrassed to look directly at her body, let alone let others see it completely. Just thinking about it made her cheeks feel like they were on fire.
Bei Yaoyue curled her lips disdainfully. They were both girls—what was there to be shy about?
She was straight and wouldn't have any strange thoughts about such a little girl who might not even have hair yet.
But to avoid embarrassing Xifeng, Bei Yaoyue tactfully turned around and focused her gaze on the window.
Raindrops that had gathered into drops refracted brilliant, clear light under the night lamp outside the window, sliding down the glass in irregular trajectories and painting a unique canvas on the glass.
So beautiful.
Rainy nights were still so enchanting.
Behind her came a series of rustling sounds that sparked the imagination, followed by an object quickly burrowing under the covers as if it had done something guilty.
"Okay."
Xifeng's gentle voice came, pulling Bei Yaoyue back to reality from her appreciation of the rainy night. She slowly walked to the bedside and sat down sideways on the edge of the bed.
Xifeng on the bed had hidden her entire body under the large bedding, only revealing half her head and eight short, jade-like fingers at the top edge of the blanket. She looked extremely cute.
"Sleep. I'll leave after you fall asleep." Saying this, Bei Yaoyue picked up her phone, planning to find something to do.
Having her sit stupidly in the dark with Xifeng would bore her to death.
Dimming the screen to its darkest setting, Bei Yaoyue shook her phone and asked: "Will this brightness bother you?"
"No." Xifeng gently shook her head.
Being watched while sleeping like a little child—at first she had actually refused, but thinking that alone she might scream like an idiot all night, she chose to honestly accept the embarrassment.
Of two evils, choose the lesser. If she had to be embarrassed either way, she'd rather be embarrassed a little less.
Perhaps heaven was giving her face—after she lay down in bed, the thunder finally gradually calmed down, leaving only the sound of heavy rain pattering outside the window.
Accompanied by the comfortable and peaceful rain sounds and the sense of security brought by the person beside her, she quickly entered dreamland, sleeping faster than any previous time.
Light, cute snoring reached the ears of Bei Yaoyue, who was browsing "Zhihu" out of boredom. After leaning over to confirm Xifeng was indeed asleep, she stretched and got up to walk toward the bathroom she had originally intended to visit.
This whole ordeal had lasted until 3:30 AM.
If it weren't for Xifeng's nonsense, she would have already crawled back into bed and been sleeping beautifully.
Bei Yaoyue let out a long sigh and helplessly knocked her own head.
Had she picked up a little maid, or had she picked up a little ancestor?