Chapter 97: Sister Su
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Teacher‑Apartment 614
Su Bai Zhu lounged on the sofa, a cute rabbit‑ear cap perched on her head, eyes glued to a drama on the TV. Every time the thunder boomed outside, the little ears twitched.
She’d been fearless as a child—except for thunderstorms. Her uncle, Fan Jian, used the thunder to scare her, claiming the Thunder Lord punished mischievous kids. Whenever she misbehaved, he’d invoke the Thunder Lord. So each c***k of thunder made Su feel like the god was coming for her; she’d freeze, too scared to move.
Even though she now knows it’s all nonsense, that childhood trauma still lingered. She could handle a thunderstorm without panic, but the sound still made her pause reflexively. The rabbit cap helped a bit.
The rain hammered the windows, and the storm outside made the single‑person apartment feel a little unsettling. After finishing the episode, Su rose from the sofa to head to the kitchen for a bite.
A knock at the door startled her. She peered through the peephole and saw Luo Ye, drenched from head to toe, standing there.
She opened the door, scanned him from head to toe, and frowned, “What the—”
“I…” Luo stammered, tongue‑tied.
He was soaked, his umbrella collapsed in the wind, and he looked utterly embarrassed. He lowered his head, whispering, “I’m hungry…” He had skipped lunch and now craved the senior’s cooking.
Su replied calmly, “Come in, shower, change.”
Relieved that the senior wasn’t scared, Luo breathed a little easier. He grabbed a set of clothes from his room and headed for the bathroom.
When he emerged, Su had already prepared a modest lunch: two bowls of plain noodles with two boiled eggs. The rain had kept her from buying groceries, so that was all she had.
Luo sat at the table, eating with gusto. Even a simple bowl of noodles tasted amazing when it was Su’s. She watched him, chin propped on her hand, and asked in a calm voice, “Did you come here just for this bowl of noodles?”
“Oh, no… definitely not.” Luo scratched his head, muttering, “I thought you were scared of thunder.”
Su’s eyebrows rose slightly—she’d never mentioned her fear to Luo, yet he remembered her reaction from their first meeting.
“I’m not scared of thunder,” she said lightly.
Just then a c***k of thunder rolled outside. Instinctively she tugged the caps’ strings, and the ears perked up sharply. The thunder faded, the ears drooped again. Another rumble—ears shot up once more. It seemed the cap had a sound‑activated feature.
“Boom!” Luo could’t resist mimicking the thunder. The ears twitched again.
Su narrowed her eyes at him, a hint of suspicion in her gaze.
Luo shrank his neck a bit, “I couldn’t help it.”
After finishing his meal, Luo washed the bowls as usual, then plopped back onto the sofa. Su stared out the window at the sky—dark clouds, strong wind, booming thunder. The room was dim, the daylight blocked by the storm.
She glanced at Luo, saw him also watching her, then turned back to the view. With a guy like him nearby, there was nothing to fear.
Luo, however, wrestled with another dilemma—he’d called her “senior” for ages; how could he change that to move their relationship forward? He’d heard that changing how you address someone could deepen a bond. He was brainstorming.
“Zhu‑zhu?”—no, that sounded disrespectful.
“Fan‑fan?”—that was how her family called her, not appropriate.
He tried many options, none fitting, and finally asked, “Senior?”
Su turned, eyes bright, not the cold stare from their first meeting—there was a trace of softness now. Luo looked away, embarrassed.
He asked, “How do your other juniors address you?”
“Senior,” she replied.
“Then the closer ones—like Liu Jiang Lai?”
“She calls me Su senior,” Su answered mildly.
Luo fell silent. Apart from “senior,” were there any other nicknames? He racked his brain.
Suddenly Su said, “If the title bothers you, you don’t have to call me senior.”
“What should I call you, then?”
“…Sister.”
Luo blinked, “Huh?”
She smiled, “You can call me sister.”
She wanted to see Luo’s reaction, especially his expression when he called her “sister.”
Luo’s mind raced. This was daring—reversal often makes people act. He felt a rebellious spark. Looking at Su’s flawless face, he summoned courage and blurted out, “Sister Su!”
“Get out.”
“Alright.”
Luo leapt up from the sofa and hurried back to his room. Su rolled her eyes at his hasty retreat, though she’d noticed a new lightness in his smile. She stared at the quiet living room, a soft chuckle escaping her mouth. Since meeting Luo, she’d found herself smiling more often.
In the girls’ dorm
Qin Yu Wen curled up under her blanket, alone, trembling as the thunder rolled outside.
“Does anyone even notice me? I’m scared of thunder.”
The empty dorm echoed only the shivering blanket and the storm’s howl.
- Writer
