The cozy warmth under the covers made it hard for either of them to leave. Neither Zhong Yan nor Anby wanted to get up, especially when lying in each other's arms—it only stirred their desire for another round of "battle."
So, on that restless afternoon, the two engaged in yet another not-so-peaceful skirmish.
By the time Zhong Yan came back to his senses, it was already evening. That's when he realized—it was time to go.
"Anby." Zhong Yan sat up in bed and glanced at Anby, who looked thoroughly exhausted.
Even in her depleted state, Anby still managed to turn her gaze toward him with difficulty upon hearing his voice.
Once their eyes met, Zhong Yan said, "I think I need to head out. Really... thank you for today—in every way. I'm feeling a lot better now, so don't worry about me anymore."
With her silent consent, Zhong Yan stood up and headed out of the room.
As he stepped outside, he stretched lazily, feeling more refreshed than he had in a long time.
Then he looked down at his disheveled clothes and recalled how Anby had picked up Ellen's scent on him earlier. He immediately activated Kamui and returned home to take a cold shower and change into a clean set of clothes.
By the time he finished, night was beginning to fall. With the agreed-upon meeting time drawing near, and with his hair still damp from the blow-dryer, he wasted no time and activated Kamui again, this time heading for Ellen's home.
Meanwhile, inside Ellen's apartment—
After spending quite a while in the kitchen, Ellen finally emerged with several plates of food and carefully placed them on the dining table.
She remembered her agreement with Zhong Yan and had specially prepared dinner for him.
To be honest, Ellen wasn't very skilled at cooking, but as long as she followed the recipe, she could whip up something decent.
At the very least, her cooking was far better than Rina's—the things she made were at least edible.
"So tired..." After all the hustle, Ellen flopped down onto the couch.
As someone who usually preferred to conserve energy, preparing this dinner had drained her of several days' worth of stamina. Honestly, it was even more exhausting than fighting against powerful foes.
Still, for Zhong Yan, it was all worth it.
But... she really was exhausted.
So, as she lay on the couch waiting for Zhong Yan, it wasn't long before she fell fast asleep.
Not long after she drifted off, Zhong Yan arrived at her apartment via Kamui.
The moment he stepped into her home, he froze at the sight before him.
Candlelit dinner... and a sleeping shark girl on the couch—this was clearly all set up for his arrival.
The only problem? He'd already been through two intense "battles" with Anby earlier in the day. Right now, he didn't have the energy to even think about doing anything with Ellen.
But as a combat maid, Ellen's senses were sharp. She had detected Zhong Yan the moment he appeared, yet pretended to be asleep, hoping he'd come over and approach her first.
Her plan worked.
Once Zhong Yan took in the scene, he walked straight toward the couch.
Ellen's heart began to pound. She was already imagining what might happen next.
But instead of lifting her into his arms as she'd envisioned, Zhong Yan simply picked up a nearby blanket and gently covered her with it.
Side note: Ellen's living room had air conditioning. Otherwise, Zhong Yan wouldn't have bothered covering someone with a blanket in the middle of summer.
"What's going on here?" Ellen thought as a metaphorical question mark floated above her head.
By all logic, no guy should be turning down a girl like this. Especially not someone like Zhong Yan, whose thoughts were pretty easy to read.
Something wasn't right—none of this was adding up.
Her mind grew increasingly chaotic as time ticked by.
Eventually, seeing her eyelids twitching uncontrollably, Zhong Yan finally couldn't help but speak up: "Stop pretending. You think that little trick of yours could fool me?"
Hearing this, Ellen realized he'd known all along that she was faking it—he just wanted to tease her a bit.
So, what had she been getting her hopes up for just now?
With a sigh, she slowly opened her eyes and looked at Zhong Yan sitting beside her, a distinct hint of annoyance in her gaze.
"If you knew I wasn't asleep, couldn't you have just called me instead of playing dumb?" Ellen pouted and gently poked his shoulder with the tip of her tail.
Knowing how powerful her shark tail was, Ellen made sure to restrain her strength during contact, not wanting to hurt him.
Though, in reality, Zhong Yan's intangibility power meant there was no need to worry about that in the first place.
"This is clearly your fault. If you weren't pretending to be asleep, I wouldn't have done this," Zhong Yan chuckled and gave her tail a light squeeze.
As the most sensitive part of her body, Ellen normally would've exploded from being touched like that—but unfortunately for her, Zhong Yan had already handled every inch of it countless times.
In fact, his understanding of her tail was probably on par with her own.
"I was actually asleep at first. It's just that your noise woke me up," Ellen said as she pulled her tail away and stood up from the couch. She walked to the dining table and made a welcoming gesture.
"Want to eat? I made dinner just for you." Ellen spoke, trying to suppress the anticipation fluttering in her heart.
She rarely cooked for anyone—this was likely the first time she'd ever prepared such a lavish meal. Naturally, she was dying to know how Zhong Yan would react.
"So, it really was you who made this," Zhong Yan said as he took a seat at the table right away. He hadn't eaten since saying goodbye to Anby, so this was the perfect opportunity to sample Ellen's cooking.
Come to think of it... aside from the kitchen-destroyer Rina, most of the others at Victoria Housekeeping Co. probably had decent culinary skills. Even that exclusive Victoria house-use Bangboo had remarkable cooking talent.
He still didn't know whether that Bangboo's cooking could outshine Pei's.
So far, he hadn't met a single house Bangboo that could surpass Pei in skill.