The second day in her new dorm passed in a blur of dust, creaking floorboards, and unexplained chills.
Shi Mo spent the morning airing out the room and the afternoon scrubbing the cracked tiles in the tiny attached bathroom. The place hadn't seen maintenance in years, and it smelled like abandonment.
But oddly enough… it felt like hers.
That evening, a knock echoed from the hallway.
She opened the door and found Fu Yunshen, dressed in his usual black hoodie, holding a grocery bag in one hand.
"I brought disinfectant," he said. "You live like a cursed monk."
Shi Mo raised an eyebrow. "Nice to see you too."
He stepped inside, eyeing the room. "You weren't kidding. It's worse than I imagined."
"You should've seen it yesterday. The walls were practically breathing."
He placed the bag on her desk and took out cleaning supplies, a pack of instant noodles, and—oddly—three different types of air freshener.
"Zhou Zhi made me bring those. Said the ghosts deserve a nicer scent."
Shi Mo smirked. "He's weirdly considerate."
Fu Yunshen glanced around again. "You really okay living here?"
"Better than Room 415."
He turned to her, quiet for a beat. "You miss us?"
She looked at him. "Do you?"
He didn't answer.
But he didn't deny it either.
They spent the next hour cleaning together.
She handled the windows; he wiped down the shelves. Occasionally, their hands brushed. Once, they reached for the same rag, and Shi Mo's heart skipped uncomfortably.
It was too quiet.
Too intimate.
So she broke it with sarcasm.
"You sure you don't want to light incense and do a spirit-summoning circle while you're here?"
Fu Yunshen smirked. "Not without snacks."
While scrubbing under the bed, he froze.
"Shi Mo."
"Yeah?"
"What is… this?"
He pulled out a small box wedged between the floorboards.
She frowned. "Wasn't mine."
He opened it slowly.
Inside were two things:
A faded school ID card from twenty years ago.
A pair of women's lace undergarments.
Fu Yunshen blinked.
Shi Mo choked.
"I—what—no—"
"I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking everything!"
Fu Yunshen held up the ID card. "Well, the ghost had taste."
Shi Mo grabbed the box, stuffed it shut, and tossed it onto the desk like it burned her fingers.
"I hate this room."
"You just said it felt like home."
"Haunted home!"
Later, after they'd disinfected every surface, they sat side by side on the squeaky bed, sipping lukewarm tea.
"Why did you really come?" she asked quietly.
Fu Yunshen's gaze lingered on his cup. "You haven't answered my messages in two days."
"I didn't know what to say."
"I thought maybe…" He hesitated. "You were pushing me away."
She looked at him. "Would that stop you?"
He smiled faintly. "No."
The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable.
It was the kind of silence that sat between people who were learning how to speak without speaking.
But beneath it was something else—
Something shifting.
Something dangerous.
Something true.
[System Notification]
Emotional Proximity: Elevated
Brotherhood Value +65 (Shared Domestic Space + Vulnerability Exposure)
Current Total: 1,360 / 1,000,000
As Fu Yunshen stood to leave, he paused at the door.
"You really okay staying here?"
Shi Mo nodded. "I think the ghost and I are forming an understanding."
He smirked. "If it starts braiding your hair, I'm moving in."
She rolled her eyes.
But after he left, she sat on the bed for a long time.
Box still on the desk.
ID still on her mind.
And the memory of his closeness still tingling in her chest.