By all accounts, Room 415 had become unnervingly domestic.
Too domestic.
Fu Yunshen had returned. Zhou Zhi was alive and thriving (despite his lingering fear of public transportation), and Shi Mo—despite her internal chaos—was beginning to feel… comfortable.
Which was precisely the problem.
Comfort bred care.
And care meant risk.
"Can you not leave your hair in the sink?" Shi Mo said flatly, arms crossed, eyeing the black strands that were definitely not hers.
Fu Yunshen, brushing his teeth, didn't even flinch. "It's not mine."
Zhou Zhi gasped from his bed. "Plot twist—it's the ghost's!"
Shi Mo grabbed a tissue and wiped the sink. "This isn't a haunted mansion. Pick up after yourselves."
"You've been extra tense lately," Fu Yunshen noted. "Is this a post-bus trauma thing or a 'you care too much' thing?"
Shi Mo paused. "Excuse me?"
"You're sounding like my mother."
Zhou Zhi perked up. "That makes me the wild older brother with gambling issues!"
"No," Fu Yunshen and Shi Mo said in unison.
Zhou Zhi pouted. "You two are syncing again. That's creepy."
That evening, the atmosphere shifted again.
They were supposed to order takeout, but Shi Mo beat them to it—handmade noodles, soup stock simmering since afternoon.
Zhou Zhi's eyes sparkled. "Are you proposing?"
Shi Mo dropped a spoon into his bowl. "Eat and shut up."
Fu Yunshen raised an eyebrow. "You cooked."
"You all have stomachs. I have hands."
"Those hands are suspiciously talented."
Zhou Zhi leaned in. "What else can you do with them?"
Shi Mo raised the ladle.
Zhou Zhi retreated.
After dinner, they sat around the table, bowls stacked, tea cooling in mugs. Zhou Zhi sprawled across his chair, humming off-key. Fu Yunshen worked on a school report. Shi Mo cleaned up, quietly observing the symmetry they had accidentally fallen into.
This was dangerous.
This was peace.
And peace always came before disaster.
"You're quiet," Fu Yunshen said later, brushing crumbs off his notebook.
Shi Mo dried the last bowl. "Just thinking."
"About?"
"Boundaries."
He looked up, eyes serious now. "Between who?"
"Between… people who live together. And people who start expecting too much."
He paused.
"You think I'm expecting too much?"
"I think I'm expecting too much."
Zhou Zhi, now fully horizontal on the couch, added, "I expect nothing and still get disappointed. It's my brand."
Shi Mo sighed. "You're not helping."
"I wasn't trying to."
Fu Yunshen stood and stepped closer.
"Then tell me," he said, voice low. "What's the boundary?"
She met his eyes. "The moment I stop pretending."
He nodded slowly. "And what happens then?"
"I either lose everything… or gain too much."
[System Notification]
Brotherhood Value +90 (Domestic Tension + Emotional Clarity Achieved)
Current Total: 1,250 / 1,000,000
The rest of the evening passed in companionable silence.
No ghost attacks.
No near-death curses.
Just dishes.
Homework.
And the soft weight of feelings too big for the room they shared.