After leaving Peiying High School, Evan Lin went straight back to his apartment.
He entered the elevator, pressed the button, got out at his floor, and unlocked the door with his key.
Inside, it was quiet—looked like Stella Huang hadn’t come back yet.
“Might as well take a shower first.”
Evan grabbed a change of clothes from his room, headed for the bathroom, and turned on the shower.
The three-bedroom apartment was spotless, thanks to Stella’s cleaning. Evan had agreed to live here just to avoid trouble—so long as he wasn’t stuck at the Chen family’s place, he didn’t really care what he did.
Evan hadn’t been in the bathroom long when the front door opened from outside. Dragging a pink suitcase, a woman in a black office outfit pushed her way in, humming a song.
As soon as she entered, the woman kicked off her high heels—worn all day—and tossed her suitcase aside. She unbuttoned her office jacket, shrugged it off, and was left wearing only a pale gray bra underneath.
She had a great figure, curves on full display, her skin so fair it looked like you could squeeze water out of it.
She rolled her long neck, walked over to the fridge, opened the freezer, and took out a popsicle. After biting into it, she finally noticed the sound of the shower coming from the bathroom.
“Stella baby, your big sis is finally back! You have no idea who I ran into on this flight—seriously, I hit the jackpot! And I brought you a YSL lipstick and that face massager you’ve been dying for! No need to thank me!”
The woman flopped onto the sofa and shouted toward the bathroom.
But after she finished, there was no reply from Stella in the bathroom. Irene’s brows shot up—usually, Stella would at least grunt when showering, but today she didn’t respond at all.
Irene’s eyes lit up and she grinned mischievously, as if she’d thought of something. She set down her popsicle, quickly stripped off the rest of her clothes, and tiptoed barefoot toward the bathroom.
“Little Stella, haven’t seen you in a few days—let big sis check if you’ve gotten any bigger. I’ll help you shape up!”
She wore a wicked smile, rubbing her hands together.
Usually, it was just her and Stella living in this apartment. With the summer heat, they often ran around half-naked.
She crept up to the bathroom, grabbed the door handle, ready to launch a surprise attack and scare Stella.
She twisted the handle and yelled, “Let’s see how big sis deals with you, you little—”
The door swung open. Irene’s eyes went wide, and she didn’t get to finish her sentence.
In her eyes, the boy standing in the bathroom had just turned off the shower and slipped into a bathrobe. His muscles were well-defined and glistened faintly—if this were any other time or place, she’d definitely be teasing this pretty boy.
But right now, she was nearly naked herself, having just stripped down to prank Stella!
"Aah!"
The moment she saw Evan, she shrieked, dashed into the living room, and hurriedly threw her clothes back on.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
The woman glared at Evan. Evan finished getting dressed, came out, glanced at her, and shook his head slightly. "I live here."
"Bullshit! You must’ve snuck in!" she snapped, her face flushed as she remembered what just happened.
At that moment, the door opened and Stella Huang came home, having just finished a news piece.
She was still feeling complicated. Originally, she was supposed to write a feature about the National Team Reserves and Capitalview First High’s soccer match, but the game had taken an unexpected turn.
Evan had single-handedly beaten Ethan Yi and the others. If Stella published that story, it’d be huge news, but she worried it would bring Evan negative attention—so she had to quickly switch topics and write something else.
She’d been busy all the way until now, finally finishing her article. As soon as work was over, she rushed home—there were plenty of things she wanted to ask Evan.
"Irene, when did you get back?"
As soon as the door opened, Stella saw Irene looking all wary on the sofa, and Evan standing there—she paused, surprised.
"Stella, who is this guy? Why’s he in our place?"
Seeing Stella come home, Irene hurriedly asked.
"He’s the new roommate I told you about—Evan Lin. He goes to Capitalview First High. I wanted to introduce you two, but you’ve been flying all over lately, and I couldn’t reach you by phone, so I figured I’d wait till you came back."
Stella explained, then saw Irene curled up angrily on the sofa, clutching a blanket, looking lost. "Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened!" Irene shrieked, but after hearing Stella’s explanation, she calmed down a bit, regaining her composure. Still, thinking about what just happened made her heart race.
"I’m heading back to my room. Call me if you need anything." Evan didn’t even glance at Irene, just nodded at Stella and went straight to his room.
When Irene came home, Evan had already heard her arrive. He’d guessed she was the roommate he’d never met, but he hadn’t expected her to barge right into the bathroom.
Once Evan was back in his room, Irene finally managed to calm down.
"Are you sure nothing happened?" Stella put down her bag and looked at Irene with concern.
Irene was a flight attendant and a longtime friend of Stella’s, only coming home every so often.
"Nothing, I’m fine!" Irene shook her head, then immediately dragged Stella over to the sofa, staring at her seriously. "Wait a sec—didn’t you say you’d never rent with a guy? Last time you said you found a roommate, I thought you meant another girl!"
"Stella, don’t tell me you’re... planning to rob the cradle!"
Irene put on a shocked face, eyes wide, feigning amazement. "Unbelievable! I always figured you’d wait for your family to set you up on a blind date!"
"Who’s robbing the cradle! Irene Xu, can’t you say anything nice?" Stella shot her a glare, then started explaining how she met Evan.
When Stella mentioned going undercover for a news story, Irene smacked her on the head. But hearing that Evan had saved her and paid three months’ rent up front, Irene glanced at his closed door and muttered, "So this kid’s actually a brave, upstanding ‘five-good youth’?"