Borrowing Dresses

Senior Sister Xiao Ru was simultaneously changing clothes and shoes while texting the president of the Five Absolutes Academy student union, who was ordering her around. As for my words, she seemed to have only skimmed them.

“What is it? Just tell me!” she answered casually.

I smiled slightly, but then I heard another girl in the dorm who had also woken up and was now watching videos on her laptop in her spot, let out a soft snort.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, I dared not speak so openly anymore. I walked over and whispered to Senior Sister Xiao Ru, “Sister Xiao Ru, you know I didn’t bring many clothes to the dorm. Um, today I wanted to borrow one or two long dresses from you. Do you have any? Would you be willing to lend them to me?”

This was indeed true. Considering the amount of clothes I had in the girls’ dorm wardrobe, it probably wasn’t even a fraction of what the other three, including Senior Sister Xiao Ru, owned. Even that was thanks to Principal Dugu’s personal secretary, Sister Feng Tian’er, who had foresight and dragged me shopping on my first weekend back at Tianwu University as a girl… It was said to be a special allocation from Principal Dugu. I figured it was all money squeezed from the students anyway, so I might as well enjoy it and truly experienced what it felt like to be a girl.

Senior Sister Xiao Ru finally put down her phone with some surprise and looked at me curiously. “I do have some, but be honest with me, Dongfang. Why do you suddenly want to borrow them? Don’t tell me you’re going on a date with one of those three goofballs?”

Her teasing made me blush involuntarily. I hesitated for a while before murmuring softly, “No, it’s not that… It’s… they said they wanted to take advantage of the weekend to… hmm… go to his place to see how he’s doing… I want to go too… But since it’s his home, I want to dress more formally… Um… Sister Xiao Ru, will you help me?”

I need to clarify that although I didn’t explicitly say who “he” was, in our daily conversations, Sister Xiao Ru and I both tacitly understood who each other’s “he” referred to.

But compared to Senior Sister Xiao Ru, my “he” was actually myself before I turned into a girl—Liu Fang, who now, as my boyfriend, was ill and recuperating at home…

Senior Sister Xiao Ru smiled knowingly upon hearing this. She took my hand and said, “Since it’s such an important matter as visiting his family, of course I’ll help you! But Dongfang, remember to be reserved. Don’t act the way you do when you’re hanging out with those three slobs… Don’t let his family look down on you.”

She chattered on while smiling, and I could only nod with a red face.

However, before she could say much more, the phone she had left on the table suddenly rang loudly, indicating another text message.

Sister Xiao Ru was in the middle of speaking enthusiastically but was interrupted. She glanced at the sender’s name on the screen and immediately looked displeased.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming! Nag, nag, nag—always rushing me like it’s a matter of life and death. It’s just some formal filler event, and they take it so seriously!” She complained as if talking to the person on the other end, then quickly tidied her clothes and prepared to leave.

Seeing her about to go, even though I knew it might be inappropriate, I couldn’t help reminding her softly, “Sister Xiao Ru, the clothes…”

“Of course there are clothes. They’re in my wardrobe. You know I don’t like this kind of fussy stuff, but my parents insisted that a girl must have a few pieces like this for formal occasions. They bought me a lot. It’s perfect that you can take some off my hands, save me the trouble of looking at them… Pick whatever you like, don’t be polite… Oh, just one thing: after you pick, remember to lock my wardrobe!” She said this quickly while looking at her phone. I nodded dumbly in response, and she clicked her shoes together. “Good, you understand. I’m off now. Say hello to that junior brother I’ve never met!”

With those final hurried words, she rushed out the door.

“Mm, Sister Xiao Ru, take care…” I barely said before I heard the sound of her footsteps descending the stairs. She was already out of sight. From the looks of it, she wouldn’t be back until lights out today.

In a way, at least today she wouldn’t discover Xiao Qi’s matter…

Making such day-by-day plans, I carefully rummaged through her wardrobe, trying not to mess things up. But just then, as if by telepathy, I felt a gloomy stare boring into my back. My heart skipped a beat. Turning around, I saw the roommate who had snorted earlier curiously peeking into Senior Sister Xiao Ru’s wardrobe. Her eyes were full of pettiness and stinginess. When she saw me looking back, she reluctantly withdrew her gaze, shooting me a resentful glance before turning away.

That look made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. I quickly picked two long enough dresses from Senior Sister Xiao Ru’s wardrobe, folded them gently on her desk, wrapped them in a bundle, and finally carefully locked the wardrobe.

At the click of the lock, I thought I heard the girl make a dissatisfied and regretful tsk. But since I had lost all my internal energy, my hearing was not as sharp as before, so I couldn’t be sure. Yet the feeling of unease grew stronger…

Having gathered the things I needed, I hurried out of the room as if fleeing from my own dormitory.

****

Only after I left the girls’ dormitory building did the greasy, unpleasant feeling ease a bit. As I stepped out, I saw Linghu Ruoxu lurking behind a distant sycamore tree, peeking around. When he saw me, he quickly waved me over.

I thought to myself, with his sneaky demeanor, if Dorm Supervisor Kang Qiao caught him, she’d definitely chase him across the campus like a pervert…

“Old Fourth, you’re finally out! I just saw Senior Sister Xiao Ru leaving too. I felt it was bad if she saw me, so I hid. How did it go? Did you get the clothes?” he asked in a low voice as I approached.

Hearing Senior Sister Xiao Ru’s name reminded me of that gaze in the dorm room. Suddenly, I felt an inexplicable discomfort and didn’t want to talk. I just shook the bundle in my hand at him.