[Gege, are you safe?] Cui Xuefeng smiled at his phone. It seems the little creature finally summoned her courage to reach out to him. While following Huang Lei, he pressed the call button.
"Gege, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you. Are you alright? Did you really close a portal? You aren't in any trouble, are you? Did you get hurt? You didn't go into it, right? Do you need me to come to get you? I have some money saved up. Do you need bail?"
"Calm down, Baobao. I'm fine. The report is just taking longer than expected. They didn't believe me because I'm not an adventurer. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up."
"They didn't believe you?" She sounded ready to start a fight.
"Did you rest well?" He asked softly.
She did a 180, "Yes, thank you, Gege." She sounded embarrassed. She changed the topic, "Gege, these books!"
"I bought them for you. Study well. If you need help you can ask me. I already read them." He affirmed her unspoken question.
"Yes! Thank you, Gege! Gege is amazing! He really reads so fast!"
Cui Xuefeng's soft smile still adorned his handsome face. It stunned some of the employees as they walked by.
"You didn't get hurt, right?"
He thought about lying. He could tell her it wasn't a dangerous realm. He decided against it. Not telling her now and her finding out later would make her worry more afterward and deplete the trust between them, "It was a small volcanic realm. The soles of my shoes melted a bit and some of my hair was singed. I have some blisters on my feet. My shirt also melted a bit, but don't worry, I changed out of the matching outfits before I left."
She took a long, heavy breath. "You went inside?" She screamed.
Huang Lei glanced over her shoulder in shock. Cui Xuefeng hadn't seen this side of her yet. He wished he was there in person to see her face.
"Turn on the video. You are so cute when you are mad. I want to see."
There was a pause. He could hear her making weird sounds with her mouth. It sounded like she wanted to accept it but was stopping herself while also trying to figure out how to talk again. His little creature was so interesting. He couldn't help but laugh. The sounds on the other side of the phone stopped to listen to the sound.
"Baobei," He whispered, "turn on the video."
The phone informed him the video was turned on. He pulled the phone away from his ear and shared his video too.
He was right, the little creature was very interesting. She was still in her matching outfit with a robe and slippers on. Her lower lip was red from being chewed on. It was obvious she had been fretting all this time. He saw an untouched dinner on the table behind her, and the three books he'd bought carefully placed at her side. There was a notebook to the side labeled 'Gege's books'. It was obvious she's already made quite a few notes inside.
Before he could say anything she screamed, "Ahh! Gege, your hair!"
He touched the singed tips. "It's alright, it was time for a haircut anyways." he squeezed his fingers, and the singed parts cracked and fell off.
"No! Stop it, don't touch it! Hands off! Ahh!" She pulled at her hair and screamed, but it sounded like she was also crying. "Why are you walking? Why are you walking? Sit down!"
It just happened that they'd reached their destination, so he stopped and leaned against the wall. "Baobei, let's make a deal. You stop torturing your poor lips and go eat. When I get home you can fret over me all you want, okay?"
Her face turned red and she bit her lip again. She quickly stopped. Her eyes pooled with tears.
"I'm sorry for worrying you. I was hoping to be back when you woke up. Will you forgive me?"
At that, her head shot up. "You were going to hide this from me?" She screeched.
"No, of course not. I just didn't want you to worry. When you wake you would see me downstairs with a cup of tea in one hand, phone in the other, and you would know I was fine before you even had time to worry. I just didn't want you to worry. I'm sorry, little one." He smiled sadly at her.
She pouted at him. "You are banned from doing that. You have to tell me! Or else I'll worry more about what you will get up to in the future!"
He thought about it, "You make a good point. Alright, I'll keep you updated with my goals and intentions beforehand in the future. Does that mean you will stop hiding things from me too? You have to tell me if you are scared or worried okay? No more hiding it like today." His smile turned serious.
Cui Baozhai pressed her lips together, but she couldn't hold back her tears. She stared through the salt water filling her eyes and ignored how it streamed down her cheeks as she gave him a hard nod.
His eyes softened again, "Good girl." He began fulfilling his end of the promise right away, "I have a meeting with a big guy now, where I'll tell them the specifics about my awakening. Then I'll drop off the rest of the materials in the special room they set up. Then I'll go home, alright? Now you have to keep your promise. Eat and get some rest. Turn off your alarm. You aren't allowed to go to school, nor are you allowed to wait up for me, you hear?"
She hesitated. After remembering the promise she had just made she took a shaky breath and wiped her tears. She closed her eyes as she whispered, "Then-then can you wake me when you get home?"
"Since you probably won't be able to sleep unless I agree, I will, but you have to go back to sleep after I greet you. Can you go back to sleep after?"
She thought seriously about it. "I don't know."
Cui Xuefeng laughed. "Good girl." He didn't push it, "I'll see you when I get home. I may be a few hours still, so don't wait for me."
She wiped her face and nodded sadly.
"Good girl, goodnight."
"Goodnight, Gege." She smiled.
He watched her for a few more seconds before he hung up.