“Bro? You okay?”
Xiao Qianxue jumps from Bloo’s car and sprints home, faster than the lazy elevator, like a gust racing a drifting cloud.
“Xue’er? Back already?” Luke lies on the couch like a beached raft; beside him, Gu Wen bandages with swallows-fast hands, her wifey aura in full bloom.
“Sister Gu Wen, is big bro alright?” She kicks off shoes, drops her hood, golden hair spilling like honeyed silk, and glides to the couch.
“He’s stabilized; we’ll move him to ICU for observation,” Gu Wen says, wiping sweat like dew off her brow, face calm as a still lake.
“Hey, don’t jinx me,” Luke says with a crooked laugh, then sits up with her help, like a tree bracing in wind. “At this rate, I’m good by morning.”
“Used another miracle elixir?” Xiaoxue leans over the table, tinkering with bottles and jars like curious sparrows pecking glass.
“Had to.” “Not as fierce as what I gave you, but more than enough,” Luke grins. A memory surfaces like a tide: months ago she lay here, a blood-red doll.
He studies her now like a treasure under lamplight, relief spreading like warm tea.
“Hey! You pervy big bro, what are you thinking...” Her doll-white cheeks bloom a peachy blush, color rising like dawn over snow.
“Here, have some tea.” Gu Wen brings three cups, steam curling like mist over a spring pond, and sets them on the low table.
“Xue’er,” Luke takes a sip, ripple-soft, “anything you wanna tell us?” His voice lands like a feather on still water.
“Mm...” She goes quiet, silence pooling like shade. “I’ll change first.” She darts to her room like a cat slipping through curtains.
“Tell what?” Gu Wen blinks at Luke, puzzlement drifting like a stray cloud.
“Depends if she’ll open her heart,” Luke says, gaze resting on her door like a lantern watching night.
In her room, the golden-haired girl rolls on the bed with a giant teddy, tumbling like waves around a lone boat. “What’s his stance on espers? He won’t lock me up and study me, right?” The thought chills like rain, then clears. “No, that’s not him.”
She stands and faces the vanity, clips on butterfly barrettes like twin wings, smooths her pink nightdress like a petal after rain. “Still this cute and tempting~” She strikes angles at the mirror, vanity blooming like a shy camellia.
“Pretty sure I can’t make school tomorrow, so— Gu Wen, help me—” Luke starts, his words drifting like smoke. Xiaoxue appears at his side like a blink of lightning.
“Whoa! Xiaoxue, you trying to kill me with a jump scare?” Gu Wen yelps, heart thudding like a startled drum.
“Xue’er, did you just teleport?” Luke stares; two heartbeats ago he watched the door, and now she’s here like a shadow crossing a wall.
“Big bro, that’s what you wanted to know.” The golden girl smiles, mystery glinting like a crescent moon. “I’m an esper.”
“Huh?!” They cry out, voices colliding like clattering cymbals. Luke recovers in a blink, excitement sparking like flint. “What kind of power?”
“Dodging bullets, never missing... I can’t say more.” She pinches her hem, nerves fluttering like moth wings; her long legs under pink silk gleam like pale bamboo.
“My little sister’s this awesome?” Luke aches to scoop her up, urge rising like a spring tide, but his body balks. Gu Wen moves first, quick as a cat.
“Ya!” Xiaoxue gets caught in a full-on cuddle, the classic sister-scoop, and Gu Wen tests with playful care like a jeweler weighing jade. “Still doll-soft, smells heavenly, otherwise normal... In short, cute and lethal.” Her verdict drops like a playful gavel.
“I just... felt time was running out, so I said it.” She slips free, breath quick like a bird at the eaves.
“You mean you’re leaving?” A shadow crosses Luke’s chest like a cloud over sun. She’d hinted before, and he remembers the day he found her like a storm-wrecked pearl.
“Mm.” Xiaoxue nods, a reed bending to wind. “I can’t name the day, but it’s soon.” She twirls a gold strand, heavy news wrapped in a sugar-soft tone like medicine in honey.
“Alright then. When you go, your brother’s got a big surprise.” Luke draws a big circle in the air like a harvest moon. “But first, dinner. I’m off cooking and dishes tonight.” He stretches back, hugging a pillow like a lazy cat, eyes on his two girls.
“It’s not like you cook much anyway.” She pouts, then yields like a petal to breeze. “Special day, special rules. Sister Gu Wen, let’s prep.”
“Okay!” Gu Wen flashes Luke a smile like sunlight on tea, then follows her into the kitchen like a warm breeze.
Later at the table, dishes line up like a little festival, and Luke and Gu Wen tell Xiaoxue what followed the amusement park chaos.
“They say the ice-cream boss praised his three staff to the skies,” Luke says, voice strolling like a storyteller’s flute. “He covered their medical bills and gave fat bonuses. As for the troublemakers...” He lets it hang like bait on a line. “Word is Gu Wen’s family knows the justice system. They got hit with disturbing public order, assault, vandalism, obstructing enforcement...” The charges pile like stones by a cold river. Xiaoxue’s pity flickers like a candle, then steadies; better a cell than some bizarre death, and they’ll be in the hospital for a long season.
