Maybe she didn't say it in these words, but as he got his parcel, she did not deny him being her brother, and on the phone just now, she said it herself. He was a bit embarrassed by his last sentence and shouted exasperatedly,
"And get rid of that mustache too!"
Lance walked angrily in his own room and showered himself too. It hurt like hell on his wounds, but he wanted to go forward with a good example of body hygiene. And looking like this, he didn't want to meet Paige's people.
By the way, he had never asked her about her parents; they should be flipping the table that she lived together with a boy her age. But he never saw them, and Paige didn't mention them. On the other hand, they weren't her 'real' parents, as in, this wasn't her body to begin with.
The said person was soaking in warm water, blindly taking the razor and shaving the little lady's beard (not mustache!), as she was told. She also shaved her legs and armpits and felt much better.
It wasn't that she didn't want to care for herself at times like this; she just shoved it to her future self, procrastinating it further and further. If she finally made it, naturally she felt much better and admonished herself for not doing it sooner.
Now being clean and squeaky again, she felt like a new person, looking at everything a bit more positively.
"System? You're really away?" She asked while drying her hair with a towel.
[No. I am right here.]
Paige sighed in disappointment and whined,
"Why?"
[Even if the host was abandoned, the system unbinding can only happen after Paige Smith's death and the destruction of Paige Blunt's soul.]
"Okay...." She peeked out of the bathroom, and not seeing Lance anywhere she got herself clothed, in a black t-shirt reading the slogan 'Today, I showered!'.
She had ordered t-shirts for every situation in life, and this time, she was the one with the fitting shirt. She grinned.
After leaving her room, she heard the shower running in Lance's room. She slid down the wall in the corridor, sitting on the floor and waiting until he was finished.
"He shouldn't shower while being wounded." She commented.
[The system approves of body hygiene in every condition.]
"Yes, just do that then. Hey, why are you parasitizing Lance now after being stubborn about me not telling him anything?"
[The system is not a parasite. Because after describing the cause of action to the creator, he decided to let Lance Walker be integrated.]
'Again with the creator.'
"Then why didn't you answer when I poked you?"
[Because the host was abandoned.]
"So, no missions anyway?"
[The male lead will have to go through his scenes. If he accepts you not working together with him, that,- we will have to see.]
Paige shuddered while remembering the original's ending. Meeting Lance as a sixteen-year-old had quickly taken away her fear of the bloodthirsty male lead.
But in the dark, sadistic novel, he was the number one yandere.
That tells you he has this craziness inside him.
'He was not the first person in the world who experienced traumatic events. Some break because of them, some learn to cope with them, and for some, it serves as a catalyst for letting free their inner demons.'
Paige finally remembered one of her missions, not letting the male lead blacken.
[What is Lance's blackening value at the moment?] she asked in her mind.
[The system does not have this function. And even if it had, the host was abandoned and is not qualified to access this information.] Somehow, the system got cheekier as time passed by.
"Yes, yes. You abandoned me; I got it." Paige casually answered.
The sound of showering had decreased for a while now, and Lance came clothed out of his room, his hair half dry. He flinched when he saw her sitting there on the floor before his room, waiting obediently for him; he felt satisfied. She looked really small crouching on the floor. Finally showered, Paige had much more attraction about herself.
Seeing her standing up and proudly pointing at her chest, he had to chuckle at the slogan on her shirt.
He felt relieved to finally be home again.
They walked downstairs and got to their respective seats on the couch.
"So we can communicate openly about the plot now?" He asked the system. Lance was pressing a hankie on the wound on his forehead.
[Yes.]
"Can you communicate with both of us at the same time?" Paige asked.
[Yes.]
"Well, both of these findings will make acting a lot easier." She stated. Lance snorted, not believing in the least that she could manage even one scene convincingly.
The lock on the door opened, and a tall, bulky, bald man walked in; behind him was a lanky, middle-aged man with glasses and a bag, sporting Asian features.
Mr. Donovan bowed lightly,
"Miss, I brought the doctor; it took more time than anticipated." He was the epitome of what one would imagine a bodyguard to be, with his big statue.
"My name is Lin; it has already been some time since I saw the young miss." The lanky man had been her doctor since she was young, but Original-Paige was seldom sick, so they did not see each other often, and it had already been many years.
"Thank you for coming this late; please look after my brother, Lance, here." She pointed at Lance.
Mr. Lin and Mr. Donavan both did not offer any opinion on there being an injured adolescent in their Miss' home, in the early morning hours.
Mr. Lin glanced at Lance's head injury, and seeing the way he sat, there should be more injuries on his body.
"Is there a room we could use?" He asked.
"Yes." Lance stood up, and after greeting the two new guests, he took the doctor to his room.
Paige sat in the living room with the stoic Mr. Donovan and waited.
Both were frosty individuals, so they were silent and not looking at each other in perfect harmony.