Lin Yuan froze for a second, then nodded. He took off his gloves, hung his apron on the door, and walked over to Exusiai.
"Huh? You don't need to watch the food? I was totally prepared for you to say you were busy and we'd talk after dinner."
"It's fine," Lin Yuan said. "The soup's still simmering. It'll be another half hour at least."
Then he added firmly:
"Tonight it's tremella soup—with some winter melon too."
"That sounds like a really weird combo. Is there some special meaning?"
"Clears the mind. Calms the spirit."
His answer was short and to the point.
Exusiai fell silent for a beat, feeling like something about that was… odd.
Clears the mind, calms the spirit—why would we be drinking that right now?
But she didn't dig into it. She lifted her head, about to speak—when Lin Yuan beat her to it.
"Oh—also, Exu. This morning when I got up, I took a look… the apple pie you left in the oven got burnt."
"Huh? W-what?!"
Exusiai blanked out for a second, then let out a shriek.
She'd been heavy-hearted and absent-minded that morning—and somehow she'd even managed to burn the apple pie.
"My apple pie!"
Seeing her like that, Lin Yuan couldn't help laughing.
It's been a long time since we joked around like this…
But after that brief moment of lightness, the conversation stalled again—and the atmosphere slowly turned heavy.
They both fell silent, like they were each struggling with how to begin.
There weren't any more casual topics left to spend.
Exusiai had to think: what exactly should she say now?
Which sentence should serve as the opening for this talk?
If she wanted to come clean, she first had to figure out what Lin Yuan was even suspicious about. But blurting out, "Are you suspecting me?" would be too blunt, too stiff.
Finally, Exusiai sighed, deciding to force herself to start—
But the instant she opened her mouth, Lin Yuan spoke first:
"Exu. I have something to say too."
Exusiai blinked, then glanced at his face—serious, earnest, not a hint of acting—before nodding.
"Then you go first."
Good. Gives me a little more time to figure out how to say mine.
Lin Yuan let out a slow breath, as if he'd made up his mind.
"Exu… have you been… kind of repressed lately?"
Exusiai swallowed hard and forcibly shoved the words she'd been about to say back down her throat.
A wave of absurdity washed over her.
Repressed? Who—me?!
She stared at him, eyes wide, while Lin Yuan—looking genuinely worried—kept going:
"And Exu… is your sexual orientation maybe… not quite the same as most people's?"
W-what the hell?!
"Wait—hold on! Stop—stop a second!"
Exusiai could feel the whole situation sliding out of control, but Lin Yuan still didn't stop.
"It's okay. I get it. Everyone has their own little quirks."
"Just like I have gynophobia—these things are normal."
He spoke with a completely straight face.
"Being repressed is normal. Two guys crammed into a rental apartment—there's barely any private space. I understand."
"And being gay is understandable too. The group is smaller, sure, but people are different. It's not something shameful."
"If you really are… I can understand. I'm not gay, but I don't mind living with someone who is."
"If you need it, I can help you look around for someone nearby. Lungmen's huge—you can definitely find someone who suits you."
Watching Lin Yuan's expression—an earnest, "Hang in there, don't give up hope" kind of encouragement—Exusiai felt her brain buzzing.
Lin Yuan exhaled again, his expression growing even more resolute.
After wrestling with this decision for a long time, he'd finally chosen these words—determined to lay it all out.
So at last, he said:
"Anyway, Exu—if you really have been repressed lately… at least don't come after me."
"If you've got problems, say it. If there's anything I can help with, I will."
"I'm not! I don't! Don't talk nonsense! I said wait—hold on!"
At that moment, Exusiai realized the misunderstanding between them was even bigger than she'd imagined.
"I'm not gay!"
Lin Yuan froze, his look turning a little strange.
After a long stretch of silence, Exusiai spoke softly:
"This is what I wanted to say. I feel like there've been misunderstandings between us lately, so I wanted to clear things up—talk it out properly."
"Now it seems… we don't really need to."
Her tone was helpless—and amused—yet she couldn't help sighing inside.
Texas had been right.
Without ironclad proof, Lin Yuan would never recognize her as a woman. His instincts simply refused to go there.
But the cost was that as soon as he noticed any "evidence," he'd veer straight into bizarre conclusions instead.
Thinking about it made Exusiai's teeth ache.
Why?!
How did you even connect the dots like that?!
She'd expected misunderstandings—just not this kind of misunderstanding!
"…So it's really not true?" Lin Yuan asked suspiciously after another long silence.
"Really not." Exusiai spoke with conviction. "I swear to the heavens—I'm absolutely not gay, and I don't have any 'repressed' problem either!"
Her feelings for Lin Yuan were real, sure—but everything Lin Yuan was accusing her of? Absolutely not.
"…Really?"
"Truer than pearls."
Lin Yuan went quiet for a while, and in the end, gave up on asking about the stick from the bathroom last night.
If Exusiai was insisting like this, then maybe it had been something else. Fine—he'd believe her for now.
But there was one thing he just couldn't figure out any other way.
"Then how do you explain the cross-dressing?"
Lin Yuan looked at her and asked the question bluntly.
Exusiai blinked, hesitating.
"Cross-dressing…?"
"Yeah," Lin Yuan said without hesitation. "Yesterday—when you went to shower. I even asked you about it then. You forgot?"
He started counting it off on his fingers.
"I asked why you had curves. Thinking back now—has to be cross-dressing, right? Fake silicone or something."
"Because there's no way it could be real. If it's not fake silicone, what else could it be?"
"And your clothes. Every time I try to dust and clean out your wardrobe, you stop me. Now it all makes sense…"
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
He waved a hand in front of Exusiai's face.
Exusiai fought the urge to burst into tears on the spot.
Because she'd realized something:
This accusation was… honestly hard to deny.
If she denied it, how the hell was she supposed to explain what he'd seen that night?
There was no second option!
"Exu. I'll ask you one more time—don't worry. I'm not going to look down on you for it."
As Exusiai silently wiped at the corners of her eyes, she heard his question clearly:
"Do you… have a cross-dressing hobby?"
Faced with this century-level problem, Exusiai lifted her face.
And in the end, she gave a dry, despairing answer:
"…Ah. Yeah. I do."
"You guessed right."
"I really do have that hobby."
-------
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