Sugar-Sweet - Chapter 2

The next morning, I woke to the smell of food.

I followed it into the kitchen, where Wen Yu was cooking in an apron.

Before I could make a sound, he sensed me and turned with a smile.

“You’re awake, baby. Eating takeout every day isn’t healthy, so I got up early, bought groceries, and made you breakfast.”

He proudly presented three dishes and a soup, then looked at me expectantly.

Stars filled my eyes. “It smells amazing. You’re incredible!”

Unlike other capybaras, I had a powerful appetite.

Delighted by the praise, Wen Yu reached out and pinched my cheek. “Go wash your hands. It’s time to eat.”

I obediently went to the bathroom to freshen up and discovered that all my dirty clothes had been washed.

Including the underwear I had taken off last night.

Wen Yu was so considerate.

Too bad he was a creep.

A creep who could cook.

I ate that breakfast to my heart’s content.

As soon as I finished, I wanted to lie down. Wen Yu refused to let me. He insisted on dragging me outside for a walk so I could digest.

He took me to a shopping mall and pressed a bank card into my hand.

“This is where my salary gets deposited. All my savings are in there.

“Buy whatever you like, baby.”

He sounded utterly sincere.

“Really?”

Wen Yu nodded tenderly.

So I pulled him into a cab and took him to a real estate showroom.

“I want this one!”

I had been dreaming about that two-hundred-square-meter apartment with a private outdoor pool forever.

Just imagining myself soaking in it made me happy.

My brother refused to buy it for me.

I looked at Wen Yu with pleading eyes.

He appeared troubled. “Baby, I don’t have enough money for this place yet. Am I useless?”

Huh?

I nodded. “A little.”

His face fell.

I quickly added, “But that’s okay. Work hard, and we can buy it later.”

His eyes lit up again. “Okay!”

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind me.

“Xu Koukou?”

I turned. My brother stood at the showroom entrance, looking unusually polished.

He saw Wen Yu, then saw our clasped hands. His normally placid expression cracked.

“Who is he?

“Do you even know who he is?”

I blinked. “Who?”

My brother hurried over, dragged me aside, and glared at me in exasperation.

“You don’t know who he is, and you’re already holding his hand?

“Did taking human form dissolve your brain?

“Before you transformed, all you did was chew grass and soak in water. Now that you’re human, you should stay home and gnaw on your takeout. Why are you out here holding hands with random men? Who told you to start dating?”

My brother was usually calm and took three beats to get a sentence out. The torrent of words proved just how furious he was.

I slowly tried to soothe him. “Oh.”

“…”

Then he flicked me hard on the forehead.

“We’re going home!”

He dragged me away in a rage without looking back.

I turned to look at Wen Yu. He stood helplessly where we had left him, wanting to call out but not daring to. He looked pitiful.

My brother yanked me again. “Stop looking!”

He stuffed me into his car. From the stream of cursing that followed, I extracted Wen Yu’s identity.

He was mentally ill.

He had once been my brother’s patient.

My brother was a capybara who had become a doctor.

Amazing!

Unlike me…

I still had not dared take human form because of a little psychological trauma.

When my brother realized I was not listening, he looked ready to grab my ears and shout into them.

“Did you hear a word I said? Did you?”

This time I reacted super fast, nodding repeatedly. “I heard you. I heard you.”

He glared at me, then changed tack.

“Wen Yu is pitiful too, actually.

“He had a girlfriend for five years, from high school through college. Later, because of trouble in her family, she became depressed and killed herself.

“Wen Yu developed delusional disorder afterward. He often believes his girlfriend is still alive. He calls every woman he sees ‘baby’ and treats them as though they were her. He’s been arrested after complaints several times.

“Fortunately, medication stabilized him considerably.”

“But”—my brother glared at me again—“you are not to have any contact with him!”

“But…” I pulled the card from my pocket. “He gave me money to spend.”

I looked at my brother with pleading eyes.

His face turned completely black.

“…”

“Xu Koukou, do not make me beat you to death while I’m at my angriest.”

I silently put the card away and lowered my head, playing dead.

Afraid I would keep being stupid, my brother took me straight to his apartment and ordered me not to leave for the next few days.

I saw the huge bathtub in his bathroom, and my eyes shone. “Then let me use your tub.”

He looked thoroughly disgusted by my lack of worldly experience and waved a hand. “Fine, fine. It’s yours.”

That night, I soaked blissfully in the tub while chewing candy.

My phone buzzed over and over.

[Baby, aren’t you coming home tonight?]

[I miss you so much.]

The attached photo showed Wen Yu lying in my bed and sniffing my clothes. The frame just happened to reveal his slim, defined abs.

I dried my fingers and tapped out a reply.

[My brother says you’re mentally ill and won’t let me play with you.]

He responded at once.

[I’m not, baby.]

Desperate to prove himself, he called.

I did not answer.

I switched off my phone and went back to soaking.

Ah. If only I could soak in that enormous apartment with the pool. That would be perfect.