Damn it. That pretty big sister was gone in the blink of an eye.

Ruo Xiaoxi got up off the ground and rubbed her butt. When she looked back at her thighs, she realized her slender, pale legs were covered in hickeys too.

It felt like someone had covered her legs in tally marks. Ruo Xiaoxi was mortified. She hurriedly tugged her skirt down, cheeks burning, but it still couldn’t fully cover her thighs. She broke into a quick jog and hurried home.

“That Sister Xia! I’m definitely keeping my distance from her from now on!” Ruo Xiaoxi mentally added her to the high-risk dating pool.

As she jogged back to her apartment building, she rounded the stairwell corner and nearly ran straight into a girl in a light-green dress. The girl was standing outside Ruo Xiaoxi’s door, looking like she was there for some reason.

“Xiaoke? What are you doing outside my place?”

“Wah! You scared me! What’s going on? Why didn’t Sister Ruo come out from inside? Why were you behind me!?” The girl called Xiaoke jumped in fright, her twin ponytails bobbing like waves.

“Because I wasn’t home last night. I just got back.” Ruo Xiaoxi walked over, took out her key, and opened the door.

Luo Xiaoke—the little girl with that name—was probably thirteen, if Ruo Xiaoxi had guessed right. She’d just started middle school, and she was the daughter of a neighbor who lived upstairs.

She was a pretty cute girl.

“Want to come in?” Ruo Xiaoxi asked from the doorway.

Luo Xiaoke seemed to snap out of it and hurriedly nodded. She kicked off her little shoes on the doormat and slipped into the pair of house slippers Ruo Xiaoxi handed her.

“So Sister Ruo really wasn’t home last night! No wonder you didn’t answer when I knocked for ages this morning. I thought you were asleep.” Luo Xiaoke smiled sweetly, her eyes curving into crescents.

“Did you want to come over and play? I don’t have anything very fun at home.”

“My mom asked me to bring you some jujubes. You said they were really good last time, remember? Mom said it can’t be easy for Sister Ruo to live alone while going to school, so she told me to come over and chat with you more often.”

She was holding a stainless-steel basin filled with jujubes to give Ruo Xiaoxi.

“Ah… thank your mom for me. I feel a little bad—I’ve never gone over to visit her.”

“Don’t worry about it! I can come over to your place. Actually, I used to think the new person who moved in downstairs was a big brother. Then I found out it was Sister Ruo.”

“Ah… well…” Ruo Xiaoxi scratched her cheek.

The little girl had probably caught a glimpse of her sneaking a look from the stairwell while she was moving in. Back then, Ruo Xiaoxi hadn’t yet run into Chris. Come to think of it, she kind of missed how she used to look.

At first, she’d shouted at Chris to change her back. If she took even one bite of Chris’s food and called her “big sister,” she’d jump right out the window!

But then Chris brought over a mirror. Ruo Xiaoxi looked at the breathtakingly beautiful girl in the reflection and suddenly thought she was pretty cute—exactly her type, in fact. After a moment’s thought, she decided being a girl might not be so bad.

Besides, Chris had caught her off guard with that line: “If you don’t have a girlfriend, why not dress up as one yourself?” The more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Once she got home, she changed her tune: she could write yuri with a pen, and be her own girl in front of the mirror.

“Huh? Sister Ruo, why’d you zone out? I wanted to ask—was that handsome big brother who helped you move your stuff your brother? Or… your b-boyfriend!?” Luo Xiaoke asked, her face turning red.

Well, she was still a little kid. Even mentioning a boyfriend was enough to make her blush.

“Ah, I got a little distracted. Sister Ruo won’t be looking for a boyfriend, you know. Boys are all so mean—they’ll give you shots and make it hurt. Big sister’s fingers are much gentler.”

“Huh?” Luo Xiaoke didn’t understand, but she was deeply shocked. Whatever it meant, it sounded incredibly serious.

So boys were all bad? Then that definitely meant he wasn’t Sister Ruo’s boyfriend.

“He’s your brother!” Luo Xiaoke happily announced her answer.

But Ruo Xiaoxi just shook her slender fingers at her and said, “She’s my girlfriend.”

“Huh…” Luo Xiaoke stared at her blankly, completely at a loss. Her little brain couldn’t quite keep up. It had to be because she was only in middle school and didn’t understand what Sister Ruo meant, right!?

It’s okay. Don’t doubt yourself. Even a university professor wouldn’t understand. Ruo Xiaoxi reassured her with a look.

Ruo Xiaoxi loosened her collar and sat down on the couch. Luo Xiaoke obediently scooted over beside her and set the basin of jujubes on the coffee table.

For some reason, the little girl loved sticking close to her. She especially liked hugging Ruo Xiaoxi and acting spoiled.

“Sister Ruo, Sister Ruo, can I sit on your lap?”

“Sure.” Ruo Xiaoxi was especially gentle with kids, and she spoiled them, too.

After all, it was hard to keep a straight face with an innocent little kid. Even if you gave them a look, they’d come over looking hurt and ask why you were mad. How could you possibly get angry at a child like that?

The longer you lived, the more you realized what a precious, pure, and fleeting treasure a child’s innocence was.

Of course, only girls were allowed to sit in Ruo Xiaoxi’s lap.

She’d suggest that boys go find a shady spot to play in the dirt instead.

“Xiaoke, why do you like sticking to me so much?” Ruo Xiaoxi put an arm around the little girl in her lap and turned on the TV for her. Then she gently ran a hand through Xiaoke’s hair.

Ruo Xiaoxi was petite, but she was still a grown girl. Luo Xiaoke hadn’t finished growing yet, and her slender arms were even smaller than Ruo Xiaoxi’s.

Still, with a little closer attention, one could see that Luo Xiaoke, now in middle school, was also beginning to develop. Her chest showed the faintest hint of a lovely curve, and she had started wearing a little camisole. She was in the most innocent stage of girlhood, growing more beautiful by the day.

Even though she was the neighbor’s daughter from upstairs, the two of them looked like a close pair of sisters.

“Hehe, because Sister Ruo is so pretty, and you always smell so nice. I like you so much!”