Shi Mo didn't remember falling asleep.
One moment she had been sipping hot tea with Zhou Zhi after barely surviving the haunted bus ride.
The next, she woke up on her bed, blanket pulled over her, room dim and quiet except for the faint tick of the wall clock.
The dorm door creaked softly.
She blinked.
Fu Yunshen stood there, soaked from rain, jacket clinging to his broad frame.
He looked exhausted.
But his eyes immediately locked on hers.
"You're awake."
She sat up slowly. "You're back."
A beat passed between them—thick, unsaid, raw.
"You weren't here," she murmured, the words slipping out before she could stop them.
"I know."
"Something happened."
"I know."
She hesitated. "Why didn't you come with us?"
Fu Yunshen dropped his backpack onto his desk. "Because I needed space."
That stung.
But she didn't let it show.
"You missed a ghost bus," she said lightly. "Almost died. Got cursed. Standard Tuesday."
His eyes softened. "You okay?"
"We escaped. Barely."
"I heard."
"You heard?"
"I asked around."
"…You were watching?"
He didn't answer that.
Zhou Zhi stirred on his bed, half-asleep. "Yunshen? You came back?"
"Sleep," Fu Yunshen replied.
Zhou Zhi flopped over. "You missed a lot. Shi Mo peed on a ghost."
"It was medicinal," Shi Mo hissed, flushing.
Fu Yunshen finally cracked a faint smile. "That's one way to ward off evil."
After the room fell silent again, Fu Yunshen brought her a fresh cup of tea.
She took it without speaking.
Then—quietly—he said, "I wasn't avoiding you."
Her fingers paused around the rim of the cup.
"I was afraid," he continued. "That I'd say too much. Or feel too much."
She looked at him.
For once, he didn't look away.
"You're dangerous," he said softly. "You make me think about things I've spent years trying not to."
Her breath caught.
"And yet," he added, "when I heard what happened… I ran."
Shi Mo set the tea down.
"You came back."
"Yes."
"That's enough," she whispered.
And somehow, it was.
[System Notification]
Brotherhood Value +95 (Emotional Vulnerability Acknowledged)
Current Total: 1,160 / 1,000,000
Fu Yunshen sat at his desk, leaning back, staring at the ceiling.
Shi Mo, curled in bed with the warm tea in hand, finally exhaled the tension she'd been holding for days.
They didn't need to say everything tonight.
Some truths could wait.
But he came back.
And that was something she could believe in.