The humid heat of Jiangcheng in early autumn didn’t care about the calendar—after a heavy afternoon downpour, the air clung to the skin like a damp towel, making every step feel sticky and uncomfortable.

The suitcase wheels clacked against the cobbled pathway of the upscale villa neighborhood, the sound echoing louder than it should in the quiet surroundings.

Ashley Baker stood quietly behind her dad, her round eyes scanning the unfamiliar place with a mix of confusion and unease. From behind the villa’s main gate, a small dark head briefly popped out and glanced at her, big eyes meeting hers for a split second before quickly disappearing again.

Helen Anderson greeted them warmly, walking them through the small garden and into the house. At the entryway, she handed them a pair of slippers.

“Daniel’s out on a business trip, so it’s on me to make sure you two are looked after. Ashley’s room’s all set—right upstairs next to Ethan’s. I’ll show her in a bit. If she doesn’t like it, there are other rooms we can use…”

“Oh, that’s too kind,” Oliver Baker quickly replied with a polite smile.

“Ashley’s only staying for a few days. Once school starts up, she’ll be living on campus.”

Ashley had just started her second year of high school. Her parents split up back when she was in elementary school, and her dad got custody. But with Oliver juggling a full teaching schedule at the university and his work as a field guide in a geological team up northwest, he was barely home—sometimes only making it back in the middle of the night. Raising her hadn’t been easy.

By the time Ashley hit middle school, Oliver’s work only got busier—he’d be gone for a whole week sometimes. She often had to rely on the kindness of neighbors just to get by.

In her final year of middle school, Oliver and Catherine Miller, his ex-wife, agreed Ashley would move in with her mother for a while. Catherine had remarried, and her new husband came with a son a year older than Ashley.

But Ashley didn’t want to stay in that house. No matter how many times they tried, she wouldn’t budge. So eventually, Oliver brought her back. That’s when his old friend Daniel Anderson stepped in, offering to let Ashley stay with his family in Jiangcheng while Helen looked after her.

“Why have her live at school? We’ve got so many extra rooms just gathering dust,” Helen said with a smile, looking warmly at the girl.

“Ashley, your dad and your Uncle Daniel go way back. You can totally make yourself at home here, okay? Anything you need, just tell Aunt Helen.”

Ashley hadn’t wanted to come to Jiangcheng in the first place, and she definitely didn’t want to be any trouble. She opened her mouth to say something, but Helen was already up on her feet, gently taking her hand.

“Come on, let’s go check out your room.”

With that, Ashley had no choice but to follow her upstairs. Oliver came along too.

The room wasn’t big, but it had plenty of light. They’d even switched out the bedding and curtains to pink ones just for her—it looked soft and sweet.

Next door, a door was closed tight. Helen knocked loudly.

“Ethan Anderson! We’ve got guests and you’re not even coming out to say hi?!”

The door opened just a crack, and a boy who looked around ten peeked out, glancing left and right before speaking up shyly.

“Hi, Uncle Oliver. Hi…hi, sis.”

Before anyone could say anything, the door slammed shut again with a thud.

Helen looked ready to scold him, but Oliver just chuckled and waved her off.

“Kids get shy sometimes.”Ashley wasn’t bothered by the brat’s attitude. She casually glanced around the second floor and noticed another room at the end of the hallway—the door was shut tight, painted a dark shade, and had this whole “stay away” vibe.

Seeing where Ashley was looking, Helen explained,

"That’s Lucas’s room. He usually stays elsewhere, doesn’t come back often."

Ashley just nodded, didn’t press any further.

The three of them went downstairs and sat down to chat on the couch, but someone upstairs was clearly in a hurry.

Ethan was hiding by the second-floor railing, spying on Ashley for a bit before darting back into his room to dig out his phone.

Ethan: [Bro! We got a situation at home! Come back ASAP!]

…

Oliver’s work schedule was packed. After dropping Ashley off in Jiangcheng, he took the night flight straight back to the Northwest.

After dinner at the Andersons’, Helen had to head back to the hospital for her shift, leaving Ashley in the care of her ever-so-reliable younger son. Before walking out the door, she gave him a pointed reminder.

“Behave while you’re home with your sister. And your summer homework—have you finished it yet? If there’s anything you don’t get, just ask your sister to help you out a bit. Ashley, this kid’s grades are hopeless. If you’ve got some time, see if you can help tutor him, alright?”

Ashley, sitting on the couch, gave a small “ah” sound, blinking awkwardly.

Not that she didn’t want to help.

The thing was… her grades weren’t exactly something to brag about either.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t study—back in junior high, she started slacking off on purpose, trying to tank her grades so her dad would get worried and take her home.

The plan backfired. Grades are like karma—you mess around with them today, and they’ll come back to haunt you tomorrow. The next thing she knew, she became exactly the kind of bad example the homeroom teacher warned the class about. Oliver was concerned, sure, but in the end, work came first, and he never brought her back.

Helen took her silence as agreement, then turned to Ethan.

“Take good care of your sister. No picking on her, got it?”

Ethan pulled off a pretty convincing act, nodding like a model student.

But the second Helen stepped out, he bolted up the stairs like his butt was on fire, leaving Ashley sitting on the couch watching the blur that was his back with a dark look.

Was she really that scary? Why’d he run like she was the boogeyman?

Left alone, Ashley didn’t feel like just sitting around—might as well go upstairs and take a shower.

Back in his room, Ethan pulled his phone out from under his pillow and realized that Lucas hadn’t replied to his earlier message. He quickly fired off another one.

Ethan: [Lucas! We got an intruder! Get home like NOW!]

He’d barely hit send when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Panicked, he shoved his phone back under the pillow, dashed to the door, and shouted,

“I don’t need you to tutor me!”

Ashley: “…”

Did I ever say I was going to?

She shrugged, looking resigned.

“Do I look like a volunteer teacher or something?”

Ethan: “Didn’t you tell my mom you’d tutor me?”

Ashley raised an eyebrow, the very picture of streetwise sarcasm.

“Kid, ever heard of being polite?”

Ethan: “Uh…”

Before he could come up with a comeback, Ashley had already stepped into the neighboring room and shut the door with a loud thud.

Outside, Ethan’s face lit up with a flash of excitement.

Holy crap. This sister’s got style.

Totally hooked.

He grabbed his phone again and messaged Lucas,

Ethan: [Bro, false alarm! I got this!]

…

After the shower, Ashley came out with soaking wet hair, glanced around the room, and realized—no hair dryer.

She wasn’t big on bothering other people. But a brat like Ethan? He didn’t really count as “other people.” So she opened the door, walked out, and knocked on the door next to hers.Ethan Anderson opened the door in no time, peeking his head out warily.

"What do you want?"

"Do you have a hairdryer?"

"Nope! But my brother does. Come on, I’ll take you."

"Okay."

That edgy attitude from earlier was gone — Ethan now seemed pretty eager to help. He led her straight to the room at the end of the hall and pushed the door open without hesitation.

Ashley Baker followed him in and noticed right away that this room was bigger than both hers and Ethan's. The vibe was cooler too — a whole lot of black, white, and gray. Definitely looked like it belonged to someone not super easy to deal with. She hesitated and called out to Ethan.

"Your brother’s not home. Isn’t it kinda wrong for us to just walk in like this?"

"It’s fine! My brother totally doesn’t mind girls in his room."

Ashley: Uh…okay.

What was up with these Anderson boys? They were both... something else.

She didn’t overthink it though — grabbed the hairdryer, stepped into the bathroom, dried her hair, did a quick tidy-up of the counter, and went back to her own room.

...

Past midnight, the empty villa echoed with the sound of a door unlocking downstairs.

Lucas Anderson stumbled in, slightly tipsy. He’d had a few too many at a birthday party, and now his stomach was churning like crazy.

He headed upstairs right away, leaned over the sink, turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water on his face until his brain cleared a little. Then he went to grab some pajamas from the wardrobe, getting ready for a shower.

Knowing that Helen was on a night shift and that Ethan slept like a rock, he didn’t bother holding back any noise. The wardrobe door banged a couple of times, followed by the sliding door of the bathroom shutting tight. Next door, Ashley frowned in bed, rolled over, and tugged the blanket over her head, clearly getting annoyed.

Lucas finished his shower pretty quickly. With a towel slung lazily around his waist, he rubbed the water off his skin. As his eyes dropped, something on the counter caught his attention.

On the pale marble surface — a long, thin strand of hair.

...

Ashley woke up early. First time sleeping in someone else’s house, she just couldn’t fully relax. Not that she was picky about where she slept — she just missed home.

Sure, the Andersons’ villa was fancy and Helen was super nice, but this wasn’t her place. She’d much rather be out in the dusty Northwest with Oliver Baker, even if everything there was rougher.

But Oliver had his hands full these past couple of years. Sending her to the Andersons was his only choice. When they talked last night, he was full of guilt and frustration. Ashley had faked being totally fine just to keep him from worrying.

After getting washed up, she headed downstairs and happened to catch Helen stepping in with a massive bag of breakfast.

"Morning, Aunt Helen!"

She greeted warmly and followed her into the kitchen to help out.

Helen turned and immediately shooed her away.

"No no, you go get Ethan up — breakfast’s almost ready."

Ashley was already kind of starving, so she nodded and headed upstairs. She knocked on Ethan’s door.

“Ethan Anderson!”

Nothing. She knocked harder.

“Ethan! Ethan! Wake up!”

Still no answer — just dead silence.

Just as she was about to knock again, she suddenly heard a door open at the end of the hallway and instinctively turned her head.

It looked like a scene straight out of a drama.

The dark door swung open halfway. There stood a guy, leaning casually against the doorframe, arms crossed. He was tall, shirtless, only wearing black shorts. The morning light caught on his figure — broad shoulders, narrow waist, the definition in his chest fading into deep lines that disappeared into his waistband. A slow, lazy confidence radiated off him, like he didn’t even notice he’d just walked into someone else’s story.