The night passed peacefully. Su Chen slept well, and so did Su Qingwan.
When morning came, Su Qingwan once again climbed out of bed into the sunlight and glanced around her room, confirming Su Chen had not yet returned.
Su Chen had woken up the moment Su Qingwan stirred. Remembering where he was, he immediately pressed himself against the nearby flesh-toned wall to avoid falling out of her ear, securing himself more firmly inside.
He had intended to call out to Su Qingwan right away, but he noticed something strange: the space of Su Qingwan's ear canal seemed to have shrunk. This puzzled him greatly.
He clearly remembered from last night that the ear canal had felt like a vast cavern—easily seven or eight meters high to his current scale. But now, why did it seem so much shallower?
If yesterday Su Qingwan's external ear canal felt seven or eight meters high, now it felt, at most, only three or four meters to him. He himself now stood at nearly half the height of this canal.
Su Chen was naturally full of doubt. Could a person's ear really have such a narrow section?
But looking along the canal's path, it didn't seem to taper significantly. What was going on?
Lost in thought, Su Chen didn't call out immediately but pondered the problem.
Suddenly, his heart leapt as he realized another possibility.
Perhaps it wasn't that Su Qingwan's ear canal had shrunk, but that he himself had grown larger for some unknown reason. Given the current situation, that seemed very likely.
This sudden discovery thrilled Su Chen. Although he had come to terms with his fate, it was only because he saw no way to return to normal. Now, finding he had actually grown larger, he couldn't contain his excitement and blurted out, "Great!"
The moment the exclamation left his lips, Su Chen realized his mistake and regretted it deeply. He was, after all, inside Su Qingwan's ear.
Sure enough, his shout instantly roused Su Qingwan, who had been immersed in the sadness of his disappearance.
She immediately turned her head toward the door, threw off the covers, and leapt out of bed. Not even bothering with slippers, she ran barefoot into the living room, her head swiveling as her gaze swept over everything.
"Idiot? Is that you? Are you back?"
Su Qingwan was both shocked and overjoyed. Three days—Su Chen had been gone for three days. Every moment of those three days, she had worried about him.
Yearning to hear his voice, now Su Chen's familiar tone had sounded by her ear again. How could she not be excited?
At the same time, she felt deeply wronged. This time, Su Chen hadn't even told her where he was going—something that had never happened before. She desperately wanted to find him, throw herself into his arms, give him a few good punches, and then have a proper cry.
Gradually, her movements slowed. She couldn't see Su Chen anywhere in the living room.
Unwilling to give up, she was certain the sound she'd heard wasn't an illusion. She had truly heard Su Chen's voice, though it was too sudden to make out the words.
But that was enough for Su Qingwan to confirm it: Su Chen was home!
It was a perception akin to intuition—a woman's sixth sense. So she didn't doubt for a second whether she'd imagined it; she simply had to find him, no matter what.
Not in the living room. Not in Su Chen's room. The bathroom door was open, revealing it was empty too. So...
Su Qingwan looked toward her own bedroom. It was the only room in the apartment with a closed door. Could it be...?
If Su Chen really was home, under these circumstances, there was only one possibility: he was in her room.
The thought that Su Chen might have spent the night there made Su Qingwan's face flush bright red.
She couldn't even remember when it had started, but she no longer wanted Su Chen to be just her older brother. She wanted him by her side for a lifetime.
She couldn't imagine what it would be like if either of them married someone else.
Though they shared the same surname and Su Chen called her "little sister," they weren't actually siblings. Su Chen had unilaterally placed her in the role of a younger sister, and from that day on, Su Qingwan had stopped calling him "Brother" opting for "Idiot" instead.
Once the thought took root, a mixture of joy and nervousness bloomed in her heart.
Her small hands gripped the hem of her clothes, and for a moment, she didn't dare walk in. Her steps slowed to a crawl as she inched toward her bedroom door. For the first time, the short hallway felt impossibly long.
But even the longest road must eventually end. After standing at her door for what felt like ages, Su Qingwan finally mustered her courage and reached out to knock.
Her face was flushed, her fair neck tinged with pink. She placed a hand over her chest, trying to calm the heart that threatened to leap out.
Her mind was a jumble. She couldn't think of what to say when Su Chen called her in. Should she act playful as usual, or...?
Imagination, however, is a beautiful thing. Su Qingwan waited a long time, but no sound came from inside the room.
Finally, unable to resist her desire to see Su Chen, she carefully turned the doorknob, pulled the door open a crack, and like a thief, quietly peeked her head inside.
But the sight that met her eyes drained the color from her face. The room was empty—no Su Chen in sight. The tidy bed looked exactly as she had left it.
"Was it really just my imagination?"
Unwilling to believe it, Su Qingwan stood at the door, her body slumping weakly against the frame. Life suddenly felt meaningless.
"Qingwan."
Su Qingwan's earlier movements had been too abrupt, leaving Su Chen dizzy from the shaking. Now that she had finally stopped, he could catch his breath. Knowing she had heard him earlier, he directly called her name.
"It's idiot! That's idiot's voice!"
Su Qingwan's eyes lit up. If the first time might have been her imagination, this time she was certain she hadn't misheard. But looking around, Su Chen clearly wasn't in the room.
"Qingwan, don't move!"
Seeing his surroundings begin to shake violently again, Su Chen immediately shouted. Another round of that, and he'd really be sick.
"Okay."
Su Qingwan was very obedient to Su Chen's words. If he said not to move, she wouldn't move.
She stood perfectly still on the spot, as if under a immobilization spell, and asked, "Idiot, where are you? Why can't I see you?"