No one knew how much time had passed. Belle slowly opened her eyes, the dazzling white light from the chandelier making it hard to adjust at first.
*Did I faint again?*
Belle raised her arm and laid it across her forehead to block out some of the light, squinting as she gathered her thoughts.
Before she fainted... she had bravely given her first kiss. The stunned expression on Ye Qingfeng's face in that moment was something she might never forget.
But if anyone asked her what she thought of that kiss, she could only say she honestly didn't know.
She had only lightly pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. Her mind had gone completely blank in that instant.
She thought back to those romance films — the female lead's lips pressed firmly against the male lead's, their breath mingling... that sort of thing was still far too much for her.
She simply couldn't do it.
Belle's nose twitched. The aromas drifting through the air reached her, and her empty stomach, unable to hold out against such temptation, let out a plaintive gurgle.
*Forget everything else — eating came first.*
Belle sat up abruptly, her attention snapping to the several dishes on the coffee table. Before Wise could react, she grabbed the empty bowl in front of her, seized a pair of chopsticks, and rapidly piled it high.
"Mm! So fragrant!"
Belle lifted the bowl and began eating with great enthusiasm.
Wise was about to say something, but watching her devour the food like she hadn't eaten in days, he did the math. He and his sister had only eaten breakfast. Then the incident at noon had happened, followed immediately by Nicole's commission with no break in between.
He was famished himself — let alone Belle. She was still growing. She needed to eat.
Wise quietly closed his mouth.
"Qingfeng, come eat now."
Seeing Belle awake, Nicole set down her chopsticks and waved toward Ye Qingfeng, who was still standing in the corner.
Ye Qingfeng genuinely wanted to stay put out of principle, but he had spent a long time cooking that meal, and he wasn't about to not eat any of it. More to the point — you could endure many hardships in life, but an empty stomach wasn't one of them.
He abandoned the corner without a second thought and sat down beside Nicole. Taking in the dishes on the coffee table — nearly all of them picked clean — he grabbed his chopsticks and got to work.
When he'd bought the ingredients, he had accounted for four people. Then Nekomata had slipped away without a word, bringing it down to three. He'd thought inviting Wise and Belle would be a nice way to build goodwill, but now there was barely enough to go around.
One by one, those who had eaten first set down their chopsticks and waited quietly for Ye Qingfeng and Belle to finish.
With the pace those two were eating, the plates were empty before long.
"Still feels like something's missing..."
Ye Qingfeng leaned back with a sigh and would have happily collapsed onto the sofa — but the seating situation made that complicated.
Nicole had never bothered acquiring a proper dining table. Before Ye Qingfeng arrived, no one cooked, so the coffee table had simply become the default gathering point for meals, with the sofas standing in as chairs.
Wise had claimed the single-seat sofa. Belle, having fainted, had an entire sofa to herself. That left Nicole, Anby, and Billy sharing the last one — which was fine for the three of them, but the moment Ye Qingfeng tried to join, it became immediately, uncomfortably cramped.
"Too crowded!"
Nicole pressed a hand flat against Ye Qingfeng's face and pushed him away without ceremony.
"Agreed." Anby nodded slightly, then tilted her head and said in her usual flat tone, "So where's the baby, Qingfeng?"
Belle's cheeks flooded with color. She lowered her head, both hands clutching the hem of her skirt.
*She had almost managed to stop thinking about it, and Anby had to bring it up again.*
What had been such a precious memory for her was now something she wished the earth would swallow her whole over.
If Anby hadn't said anything, the evening might have moved on peacefully. But the moment she opened her mouth, she reminded the entire room that nothing had actually been explained yet.
As one, every pair of eyes in the room turned to Ye Qingfeng. No one looked at Belle — she was a girl, and the kindness of sparing her feelings was the least they could offer.
*Ye Qingfeng stared at the ceiling.*
*Earlier he had thought Anby was cute and airheaded — and it turned out she was genuinely, literally without a filter. No self-awareness whatsoever.*
He let out a long breath and recounted the entire sequence of events from beginning to end.
"So what you're saying is..." Nicole looked at Belle with a complicated expression. "You just wanted to point out the oil stain at the corner of her mouth, but through a chain of misunderstandings, Belle ended up kissing you."
"Exactly."
Ye Qingfeng nodded firmly, exhaling in relief. Finally. All explained.
"Sis... you... I..." Wise wore the same expression as Nicole, opening and closing his mouth several times without finishing a single sentence.
Belle lifted her flushed face, covering her cheeks with both hands. "Ugh... can we please stop talking about it?"
Billy had been silent throughout, sitting quietly in his spot — but judging by his half-lidded, contented eyes, his mood was quite pleasant.
With the misunderstanding resolved, Belle immediately seized Wise by the arm and steered him toward the door. As he was being towed away, Wise turned back and caught Nicole's eye with a pointed look.
*Wise: Remember — send Qingfeng over.*
Nicole responded with a barely perceptible pout and a slight nod.
She felt a little sorry for Qingfeng, if she was being honest.
From the moment she'd found him in that alley, he'd joined the Cunning Hares that same night — and it had been nearly a month since then. Not only had she taken three hundred thousand Dennies from him, but she hadn't paid him a single wage in all that time.
And ever since he'd arrived, he had quietly absorbed all the housework, and with his cooking, taken over most of the meals as well. Nicole had grown comfortably lazy during this period — her contributions amounted to washing the occasional dish and taking out the trash.
When she thought about it honestly, she wasn't sure how she would manage without him.
But she had made a deal with Wise and Belle, and a deal was a deal.
Besides, she had it worked out. For Hollow commissions, herself, Anby, and Billy were more than sufficient. On ordinary days, she could have Qingfeng handle the housework, cook in the morning before heading to the video store, then come back in the evening for dinner.
Perfect.
While Nicole lounged on the sofa, lost in her calculations, Ye Qingfeng had already shepherded a drifting Anby into the kitchen to wash dishes and tidy up. He couldn't exactly ask Billy — who hadn't eaten anything — to pitch in.
After clearing the coffee table, Ye Qingfeng rubbed his stomach. He was still a little hungry.
Nicole, Anby, and Wise had gotten to the dishes first. Belle, who had woken up before him, hadn't exactly held back either. By the time it was his turn, there hadn't been much left.
He decided to finish cooking the one dish he hadn't gotten to earlier and eat it quietly by himself — a small reward after a very long day.
Walking back into the kitchen, he found Anby already standing at the sink, washing dishes in silence.
The two of them settled into the kitchen together without a word, each absorbed in their own task.
For a moment, the room was quietly, unexpectedly warm.
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