"Um...do you have an account on this platform?"
"Uh...hang on, let me change it."
Liu Xin'an had already prepared an account for this platform. After making some simple changes, he handed his phone to Bae Juhyun.
Soon, Bae Juhyun had downloaded the chat software she frequently used for him.
Here, she had added friends she knew from real life, along with seniors and the like.
"Just scan this and you'll be good to go."
Liu Xin'an took the phone and aimed the camera at the QR code on Bae Juhyun's phone, quickly completing the friend request.
Bae Juhyun then sent the name of the bibimbap restaurant they had ordered from to Liu Xin'an.
She also glanced at the time and realized it was almost half past eight, so she hurriedly stood up.
"I should head back for today, thank you for having me."
It was called hospitality, but Liu Xin'an had only given her a bottle of water.
The dinner had been paid for with her own money!
"Oh, are you leaving now?"
"Yes, it's getting late, so I won't impose any longer."
It was nearly time for her daily call with her family. Since the incident, she had to call home every day, or else her family would never agree to let her live alone.
And during the moments she had added Liu Xin'an as a friend, she had noticed that someone from her group was looking for her.
Liu Xin'an walked Bae Juhyun to the door, watching her change back into her shoes before smiling and waving goodbye.
But Bae Juhyun didn't head straight out. Instead, she stood in the entryway, looking up at Liu Xin'an who was nearly two heads taller than her.
Liu Xin'an was really tall, an unpleasant reality for her, who was just over 1.6 meters.
"I forgot to mention something to you."
Bae Juhyun smiled, bringing up the original purpose of her visit again.
She pulled her ID card out of her pocket, her delicate fingers pointing to the section that contained her birthdate.
"I'm two years older than you, so you should call me 'sister'."
"..." Liu Xin'an felt silent, not knowing why, but he just didn't want to call her 'sister'.
Was it because he didn't want to see the triumphant look on her face after he called her "sister"?
He felt sure she would gloat over him.
"I'm a foreigner. In my country, we don't have such a strict concept."
Back home, they didn't have this kind of pathological mindset. One or two years' difference meant people were considered peers; there was no need to insist on hierarchical terms of address.
"But we're not in my homeland right now, and don't you have a saying, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'?"
Bae Juhyun was extremely grateful that she had spent the recent days reading all sorts of things, even picking up idiomatic expressions!
A good retort, leaving Liu Xin'an speechless.
Completely forgetting her shy nature, Bae Juhyun stood with her hands behind her back, smiling as she tilted her head, waiting for Liu Xin'an to utter the word 'sister'.
The silence left Bae Juhyun puzzled, frowning in confusion.
She looked up at Liu Xin'an only to find that the usually handsome boy was pursing his lips, with a blush creeping over his fair face.
Was he...embarrassed?
Realizing this, Bae Juhyun's smile widened, her laughter unhidden, making Liu Xin'an even more humiliated.
He gritted his teeth with irritation, glaring at Bae Juhyun who was laughing so hard that she couldn't even stand straight.
Bae Juhyun felt that the title 'sister' wasn't so important anymore. Seeing Liu Xin'an struggling with embarrassment was far more amusing to her.
So, she wasn't upset by Liu Xin'an's vexed manner of rushing her out.
With a casually flippant "bye-bye", Bae Juhyun left Liu Xin'an's place and walked towards her own home.
After entering the password, opening the door, closing it, and changing her shoes, Bae Juhyun, in high spirits, walked to her familiar bedroom and lay down as usual.
At the same time, the phone in her pocket began to vibrate vigorously.
Bae Juhyun took out the phone and saw that it was a video call from her family. She casually picked up.
"Juhyun, what are you up to...eh?"
The people in the screen started to ask Bae Juhyun what she was doing out of habit, but paused upon seeing her expression.
Ever since the incident, they hadn't seen Bae Juhyun's genuine smile for such a long time.
The forced smiles she usually had were completely different from the joyous smile she was showing now.
The still dazed Bae Juhyun didn't realize the oddness of her expression and in confusion, asked.
"You seem to be in a really good mood today, smiling so happily."
Bae Juhyun was startled. She glanced at the small screen in the top left corner where her face was displayed and jumped at the sight of herself smiling so joyfully.
"Did something nice happen? Share with us?"
The persistent inquiries from her family snapped Bae Juhyun back to reality. She quickly composed herself but shook her head.
"Really? You look so happy, though."
"Ah, there's not much difference from usual!"
Last night, Liu Xin'an didn't continue to go out to the balcony to view the night scenery. The first reason was that he had already seen it and the second was that he wanted to prepare for tomorrow's live broadcast.
Vacation is vacation, work is work.
Since he had decided to stay here for the long term, he certainly couldn't neglect his work.
Moreover, he had signed a contract with the website, and he had to fulfill a certain number of streaming hours each month.
This month, having already skipped three days due to traveling abroad, he absolutely had to do a live broadcast tomorrow no matter what.
Because he was very passionate about his job, Liu Xin'an never live-streamed half-heartedly or just played games. He generally prepared the content he was going to broadcast before he started, and did not waste a single minute of each live broadcast.
He felt that to do otherwise was disrespectful to the audience and irresponsible to his own work.
He had many games at hand he could stream, but not many of them actually had an impact.
If it was a farming game, simply farming was definitely not going to cut it, so Liu Xin'an pondered and ultimately decided to find a simulation management type game.
It offered freedom, and he could create the story on the fly, making it a good choice of material.
After he had decided on the general direction, Liu Xin'an began browsing the Steam store.
As a gaming vlogger, he definitely couldn't play pirated games.
While he was scrolling with his mouse, his phone that was charging by the desk suddenly "dou~" made a sound.
Liu Xin'an picked up his phone in bewilderment, only to discover that the chat software Bae Juhyun had downloaded for him not long ago had suddenly popped up with a notification.
And that "dou~" sound from a moment ago was probably that chat software's... notification sound?
It's kind of strange.
He had only just registered for the chat app, and he only had one friend.
So it was self-evident who had sent this message.
As expected, the one who messaged him was none other than Bae Juhyun, whom he had just parted with not long ago.
As for the content...
"How come you didn't come out to the balcony?"
Liu Xin'an was taken aback, then stood up and walked straight to the bedroom, opened the balcony door, and came to the side of the wall that separated his home from the other's.
There came the girl's reply from the other side of the wall, her voice suppressing a laugh.
"...What do you want!"
Liu Xin'an was naturally opposed to being called "sister," and his tone was not too good.
The tone of his voice that slightly displayed his mood also caused Bae Juhyun on the other side of the wall to freeze.
The smile on her face gradually faded, and the mood to tease the other party also disappeared for the most part.
In its place was a sense of panic.
Did she go too far with her joke, considering the other person was a foreigner...
Perhaps... was she being a little too arrogant?
"Sorry... I'm sorry..."
She apologized cautiously.
And her panicky voice made Liu Xin'an quickly realize that his tone had indeed been a bit harsh just now.
"Ah, I'm not angry at you, you don't have to apologize," he said.
"I was just trying to make a joke... please don't be angry... I meant no harm," he continued.
Despite her panicked tone, Liu Xin'an felt annoyed with himself.
He wasn't the type to be small-minded.
But now wasn't the time to reflect on himself, what was important was to calm down Bae Juhyun, who was obviously a little scared by his reaction.
Fortunately, once he calmed down, he became that high EQ person he usually was again.
He didn't specifically change his tone; it still showed dissatisfaction, but the words he spoke had nothing to do with "being angry."
"Calling a girl who clearly looks younger and is so pretty 'sister' can be a real blow to a man's confidence, you know!"
The other side didn't respond, and Liu Xin'an, unable to see Bae Juhyun's expression through the wall, didn't stop his teasing: "But if you really want me to call you 'sister,' I can only call you 'little sister'!"
This time he finally got a response.
Bae Juhyun on the other side didn't sound so panicked anymore but instead repeated Liu Xin'an's words in a strange tone.
"Yeah, you don't even seem to reach one meter sixty, right?"
The simplest way to make someone lose their sense of fear is to anger them.
Praise them first, then provoke them. This way, one can smoothly make the other party forget the initial panic and turn it into anger towards him.
The clever Liu Xin'an instantly found an angle to provoke the other party.
As everyone knows, almost everyone is more or less dissatisfied with their body shape.
Those who are tall always feel they are too tall and wish to be shorter.
And for the shorter ones, let's not even mention it. Regardless of gender, the topic of height is a sore spot for anyone who is short.
Bae Juhyun was no exception. Find the newest release on noveⅼfire.net
Her face, which had been tense with nervousness, instantly flushed with angry red.
Just as Liu Xin'an had guessed, height was indeed Bae Juhyun's biggest vulnerability.
She didn't care much about all the compliments she received about her looks from the outside world.
But as soon as someone called her short, said her figure was average, she would definitely carve that person's ID into her memory!
Bae Juhyun was triggered, and a series of thuds from kicking the wall echoed, successfully making Liu Xin'an on the other side of the wall breathe a sigh of relief.
For the time being, she was not only his neighbor but also the only friend he had here.
If possible, he didn't want to ruin their relationship.