Bai Ying and Yun Ze had been classmates from elementary school all the way to high school. Finally, in their second year of high school, they were separated into different classes based on their chosen subjects.
The little snake got dizzy at the sight of physics formulas, force analyses, or chemical reactions. He was just a little snake with limited brain capacity—how could he master these complex things humans had devised? He could only tearfully choose the liberal arts track. Diligence and a good memory were Bai Ying’s greatest strengths in studying. Yun Ze had wanted to give up his strong subjects and choose the same track as Bai Ying, but the little snake sternly made him change back.
Seeing Bai Ying on the verge of tears, saying he would never speak to his brother again, Yun Ze immediately couldn’t hold firm. As a result, they ended up in different classes, not even on the same floor. Bai Ying was on the second floor, Yun Ze on the third. Yun Ze didn’t mind the trouble at all and ran up and down during every break, practically becoming an honorary member of Bai Ying’s class.
Later on, as soon as his figure appeared outside the window, someone would pat Bai Ying’s arm and say with a smile, “Your brother is here.”
No matter what Bai Ying was doing at the time, he would immediately turn his gaze to the window. His usual smile was faint, but when he faced Yun Ze, it was sweet enough to melt hearts.
Countless people secretly envied this, but it was a privilege exclusive to Yun Ze.
At first, Yun Ze came very frequently, but soon he became swamped. The time he spent at school decreased because he was spending more time at the company. Just before his seventeenth birthday, Yun Shiyu began taking him to familiarize himself with Yunxin Group affairs. He had to learn business management while balancing his studies—a burden that wasn’t light at all. Even Yun Shiyu sometimes worried he was demanding too much of the child, but Yun Ze never complained.
He was eager to stand on his own and better protect little Ying.
Whenever Bai Ying had time, he would run over to see him, bringing little cakes and biscuits bought from outside, feeding snacks to his brother who was too busy to free up his hands. After delivering this warmth, he didn’t always return to school or go home. Often, he did his homework right at Yun Ze’s desk. Yun Ze could turn his head and see his fair side profile, cheeks dimpled slightly by the pen tip. As long as Bai Ying was by his side, all fatigue and hardship vanished.
Knowing how hard his brother worked, Bai Ying obediently avoided disturbing him and instead became the little padded jacket delivering cakes and coffee. But some things his brother couldn’t help with, so he had to turn to others.
Bai Ying’s grades really weren’t great.
Previously, Yun Ze had tutored him, but now he couldn’t trouble his brother anymore! Bai Ying had wanted to ask Mom to hire a tutor, but before he could say it, his desk mate offered to help.
Bai Ying’s desk mate was the class study committee member and the undisputed top student, always ranking in the top three school-wide. Bai Ying didn’t know why, despite several seat rearrangements, he always ended up next to this top student.
He never suspected it was because the desk mate had requested it.
The desk mate had even logically told the homeroom teacher that it was because Bai Ying was good at English and he wanted to sit nearby to learn. The teacher didn’t doubt it—Bai Ying struggled desperately with other subjects, but his English was near perfect. After all, he had studied abroad before, and with a bit of exam training, it was no issue.
When offering to tutor Bai Ying, the desk mate used the same excuse.
Bai Ying was completely oblivious to the selfish motives around him and even felt embarrassed. “You’re teaching me five subjects, but I only teach you one. That’s not fair to you… Is there anything else I can help you with?”
His eyes were as clear as if washed by water, gazing gently and innocently. The desk mate’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
“I do have one thing I want to ask of you,” the desk mate said. “I’ll tell you after your final grades improve.”
When the final grades for the second semester of high school came out, Bai Ying learned that his usually serious desk mate was actually a hardcore otaku.
“Ahem, it’s like this. There’s a comic con at the Convention Center during summer break that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, but I haven’t found anyone to go with.” The desk mate pushed up his glasses, looking troubled.
“Then I’ll go with you!” Bai Ying blurted out.
So that was the little thing his desk mate had waited until finals to mention. Bai Ying laughed. “Even if you hadn’t tutored me, I could’ve gone with you!”
The desk mate still looked troubled. “Thank you, Bai Ying. But I’ve been waiting for this comic con forever. I was always too busy studying before and missed them. I finally caught one this time, and I don’t know if there’ll be another chance. I just want this experience to be as perfect as possible… I see lots of people at comic cons wearing special outfits. Bai Ying, would you wear one and go with me?”
“What kind of clothes?” Bai Ying’s expression remained innocently puzzled.
The desk mate immediately pulled out his phone and showed him the outfit that had been sitting in his cart for nearly half a year.
It was a black-and-white… maid outfit.
“Bai Ying, would you wear this and go with me?” The desk mate looked at him expectantly.
Bai Ying glanced at his desk mate, then at his report card.
From middling in the class to top ten—the desk mate had truly helped immensely. Though it was a maid outfit, compared to that help, this small request was…
“No problem!” Bai Ying’s eyes were firm, his expression saying leave it all to me. “Send me the link, and I’ll order it right now!”
Of course, Bai Ying didn’t end up buying the clothes.
The desk mate ordered them and had them shipped directly to Bai Ying’s home. Since it was custom-made, he even got Bai Ying’s measurements. Seeing those numbers, the desk mate realized that the slender waist he’d glimpsed under his clothes wasn’t an illusion—Bai Ying’s waist was unbelievably slim.
High schoolers didn’t get full summer breaks. When the desk mate invited him, the comic con was only days away. The rush-order custom maid outfit arrived the afternoon before the event. Bai Ying rushed to pick up the package and dashed upstairs with the box.
After returning to the country, they had moved into a three-story house in the city center. For Yun Family couple, the small house felt safer than their previous large estate. Bai Ying and Yun Ze liked it too—it brought the family closer. Bai Ying and Yun Ze lived in opposite rooms on the second floor.
Back in his room, door shut, Bai Ying sat on the floor and snipped open the packaging with scissors. Accessories clattered out: a lace-and-satin headband, a butterfly bowtie with bells, a frilly apron, over-the-knee white stockings… It was a complete maid outfit, even including black round-toe Mary Janes.
The material was excellent. Having spent nearly a year with Bai Ying, the desk mate knew how sensitive his skin was. It had been delicate since childhood—one pinch and it reddened. Spoiled by the Yun Family all these years, every piece of clothing’s fabric was personally vetted by Xu Yunwei. Even school uniforms had been secretly altered. He couldn’t tolerate rough materials anymore. The silk lining was smooth as water; Bai Ying touched it a few times—no discomfort.
He tried it on in front of the full-length mirror. It had been a long time since he’d worn a skirt, and now it was a maid outfit—Bai Ying’s cheeks flushed. Confirming the fit was good, he packed it back in the box and sneaked it to the laundry room.
Luckily, the maids were off visiting family that day, Xu Yunwei and Yun Shiyu were away on business, and Yun Ze was at the company. Otherwise, if anyone saw the clothes in his arms, Bai Ying wouldn’t know how to explain.
Though Bai Ying felt perfectly innocent—just fulfilling a comic con dream for his desk mate, who had helped him so much with studies—being seen with this maid outfit would make him feel like no amount of explaining could clear his name…
Bai Ying sat by the washing machine with his notes, memorizing while the outfit washed and dried. Then he hurried back with the clean clothes to try them on properly. He’d only held them up before; only wearing them revealed the true feel.
In front of the full-length mirror, he removed his hair tie, lips pursed in embarrassment as he looked at himself. Finals had been so hectic he hadn’t had time for a haircut. Thinking of wearing the maid outfit to the comic con, he’d let it grow a bit longer. Untied, it fell to his collarbones. Ignoring the flat chest in the mirror, his face alone looked somewhat androgynous from certain angles.
Bai Ying put on the skirt first and discovered it had bust pads sewn in. Once on, his chest had a slight curve, like a girl’s budding breasts.
“Why even pad this…” Bai Ying rubbed his cheeks, even more embarrassed.
The clothes fit perfectly. Since he’d tried the skirt, he figured he’d add the accessories for the full effect. He picked up the apron and struggled to tie it behind his back—he wasn’t used to making a bow there and fumbled for ages.
As Bai Ying wrestled with the bow, his phone pinged with a message.
It was the desk mate asking if he’d received the clothes and if they fit.
Still holding the apron ties with one hand, Bai Ying couldn’t type easily, so he sent a voice message: “Got it, fits pretty well. Trying it on now.”
A new message popped up immediately, also voice: “Can I see?”
Oblivious to the desk mate’s heavier-than-usual breathing, Bai Ying adjusted in front of the mirror to take a selfie. The shutter sound coincided with the door opening from outside. His hand shook, ruining the photo.
He stared blankly at the person entering. “Brother?”
Yun Ze hadn’t expected this after a grueling workday and an hour in line to buy his little brother’s coveted viral cake: his brother in a maid outfit bought by another man, bells and stockings scattered on the floor, barefoot in front of the mirror, about to snap a photo of himself like this to send to someone else.
In that instant, blood rushed to his brain. Rage nearly burned away his reason, as if his one-of-a-kind treasure, meant only for him, was being coveted by an outsider.
“…He helped me a lot, so I’m just going with him for a bit. It’s nothing,” Bai Ying said, shaking his hand. “Brother, brother, don’t be mad.”
How could he not be mad?
Bai Ying was going to wear this out on a date with someone?
“You’re not going,” Yun Ze heard his own cold voice say. He’d never spoken to Bai Ying so sternly.
“Why not? I already promised!” Bai Ying argued obliviously. “He helped me so much, and he bought the clothes…”
After raising his brother so carefully for years, some random guy thought a set of clothes could steal him away?
“Bai Ying, you’re not going.” Yun Ze repeated, uncharacteristically using his full name.
Bai Ying trembled slightly. They’d depended on each other for eleven years, from age six to seventeen—they knew each other inside out. How could he not hear the surging fury beneath Yun Ze’s calm tone? But the promise-keeping little snake mustered his courage. “Why not? It’s my freedom! You’re just my brother—you can’t interfere!”
“…Just your brother?” Yun Ze murmured.
A sudden fear surged in Bai Ying’s heart. Animal instinct made him step back, but the next second, Yun Ze pinned him against the full-length mirror.
The mirror was icy behind him, the man’s scorching breath and lips in front.
Compared to his still-youthful face, transitioning from boy to young man, Yun Ze was fully a man.
His tall frame completely enveloped Bai Ying. The desire in his heart had grown into a towering tree.
“What if… I’m not just your brother?” Yun Ze said, then lowered his head to kiss the soft lips of the youth in his arms.
He was becoming stranger and stranger.
Yun Ze had thought this more than once.
His feelings for Bai Ying had gone astray.
He had realized it early on.
Those love letters secretly passed to Bai Ying—he’d found them all, tore the affectionate words to shreds, and tossed them in the trash.
Those smiling faces trying to woo Bai Ying—he repelled them with cold indifference, expressionlessly pulling the youth away in the opposite direction, ignoring the faces that annoyed him.
A brother shouldn’t have such intense possessiveness toward his brother.
Yun Ze knew that full well.
Those chaotic dreams in the dead of night, with the youth sobbing beneath him, had told him as much long ago.
He had long stopped seeing Bai Ying merely as a little sister.
Yun Ze had never expected to hide this forever. Bai Ying was his—this flower he had cherished for eleven years could only belong to him. He had simply pitied the fact that the flower had not yet fully bloomed, so he suppressed all the affection and desire in his heart, planning to wait another year. But the shameless flower thief and the innocent, oblivious flower had finally made it impossible for him to keep hiding.
The desires he had suppressed for so long erupted in that moment.
He plundered the air from Bai Ying’s mouth without restraint, kissing him until Bai Ying went weak from lack of oxygen and softly slid down the mirror. Yun Ze supported his thighs, letting those two long, flexible legs—pliant yet with just the right amount of soft flesh—wrap around his waist.
Only when Bai Ying was truly on the verge of passing out from suffocation did Yun Ze mercifully release him.
His pale red lips had swollen into a deep, ravaged crimson, glistening with moisture from the abuse. Tears welled in Bai Ying’s eyes as he helplessly called out, “Brother…”
“Don’t go, little sister.” Yun Ze’s voice was gentle, but the hand slipping under the skirt’s hem kneaded with considerable force. “Brother won’t let anyone see you like this.”
