An Enemy

It wasn't long before Cree was looking at an empty bed. She had left the first thing in the morning, and the solitude of the room plagued him like a virus.

He recalled the conversation he had with his Xiaoruo before she had departed, six a.m. when the alarm had gone off. The sun hadn't risen yet, and Qiao Ruo, being the sleepyhead she was, was still half-awake.

Cree had to say his part before she rushed off. She had taken the risk to sneak out of the house when Xinyuan was asleep, and thus she needed to reach home before Xinyuan discovered she was missing. As she had been before, Qiao Ruo was a terrible liar, and she could not hide anything from her brother's observant nature.

"I hope you can consider if being an actress is what you want to do in the long term. As the saying goes, 'health is gold', and you don't want to suffer badly when you get older if you don't take care of yourself now."