Chapter 173: Dirty, Strange Gwen
With Officer George present.
Xi Nian arrived smoothly at Gwen's apartment complex just in time for the family dinner.
To be precise, Officer George himself had driven him there.
After that little incident earlier, George's opinion of Xi Nian had changed quite a bit.
Originally, George disliked that Xi Nian seemed too soft, the kind of boy who couldn't protect his precious daughter.
But when Xi Nian had taken down three armed robbers all on his own, it had completely overturned George's expectations.
If Xi Nian had known what George was thinking, he would've been speechless. Gwen, who could lift a four-wheel drive with one hand and crush skulls with the other, needed someone else to protect her?
She'd be doing the world a favor just by not bullying others.
As for always running into extraordinary crises—well, that was because Gwen's sense of justice was too strong. She threw herself into every superpowered mess she could find…
They took the elevator up to the tenth floor. George pulled out his key and opened the door.
The living room already had two guests.
One was a beautiful woman in her thirties, gracefully shaking hands with Gwen's mother, Mary Jane.
The other was a scrawny eleven- or twelve-year-old boy, looking malnourished. He was having his head rubbed and lectured by a short-haired girl in a black-and-white long dress.
Xi Nian froze for a moment.
These two… looked a bit familiar.
"Dear, you're back!"
Mary quickly stood when she saw George walk in. Then her eyes landed on Xi Nian, and she lit up even more. "Oh my, little Xi Nian is here too! Come in, come in, dinner is almost ready!"
The short-haired girl also stood, her jewel-bright eyes flashing with puzzlement. "Dad, why did you come in with him…"
When did their relationship get this close? She didn't say it out loud.
The moment Xi Nian and Gwen locked eyes, it was as if the world faded and they could only see each other.
But something about Gwen today felt different.
Her golden short hair tilted to the side, framing a delicate, flawless face. A silver earring dangled gently from her small ear. Her slender neck and graceful collarbones led down to a figure balanced between youth and maturity, wrapped lightly by her long dress.
The top half of the dress was pure white, outlining soft, alluring curves. A slim waist divided it, and the lower half turned black, flaring like petals. Against the dark skirt, her long pale legs shone like polished jade. Her toes peeked out from her slippers, pearly and delicate.
She had shed the last traces of childishness—trading her usual coolness for a charm that was sexy yet still unmistakably girlish.
"Gwen. You're beautiful today, even more than usual."
Xi Nian wanted to say that, but the words stuck in his throat.
He had never once told Gwen she was pretty. After all, who tells their childhood buddy they're beautiful?
"Gwen-sis, that's your boyfriend, right?" the little boy said suddenly.
Gwen snapped out of her daze, the light in her eyes dimming. She turned away from Xi Nian and smacked the boy on the head. "No!"
"Ow!" The boy clutched his head, looking pitiful. Had he said something wrong?
Mary bustled over, pulling Xi Nian inside happily. She glanced at Gwen. "Gwen, aren't you going to greet your good friend? In the past, whenever Xi Nian came over, you were faster than a rabbit."
"Mom, that was when we were kids," Gwen muttered. She lifted her head, her voice cool as she looked at Xi Nian. "You came."
"I came." Xi Nian nodded, pulling out a small gift box from his pocket. "This is for you. Gwen, happy birthday."
Gwen accepted the box, glanced at the wrapping, and said carelessly, "What's this… it's dusty."
"Gwen, that's because—" George started to explain.
"My fault, I didn't notice earlier," Xi Nian cut him off. He took the box back, carefully wiped it clean with the sleeve of his crisp white shirt, then handed it over again spotless.
But now his once-pristine sleeve was smudged with dirt.
Gwen accepted it wordlessly, and the atmosphere turned stiff.
"Gwen," George said with a hint of anger in his tone. In his eyes, his daughter was being impolite.
"Alright, alright! Let me introduce everyone," Mary quickly stepped in. She knew something was off. Gwen, no matter how tsundere, had never acted like this with Xi Nian.
She gestured toward the guests. "This is Xi Nian Prince, he lives nearby. He's known Gwen since childhood, and they've always been the best of friends."
"Right, Gwen?" Mary prompted.
"…Yeah," Gwen answered flatly.
Mary turned to Xi Nian. "This is my younger sister, May Jane. And this boy is the child of another sister of mine who passed away—his name is Peter Parker. He's technically Gwen's cousin."
"Nice to meet you, Aunt May!"
Xi Nian greeted politely, earning a smile from her. Then he asked curiously, "I didn't know Gwen had a cousin."
"That's because they've always lived in Queens, New York. They rarely came to Washington," Mary explained.
"I see…" Xi Nian muttered, eyeing the friendly woman and the mischievous boy pulling a face at him.
This woman and boy—they were the very same "mother and son" he had once run into back in New York, when he'd first fused into his triple form to hunt symbiotes.
And that kid Peter had even been possessed by a symbiote before being saved.
"Come, sit down. Dinner will be ready soon," Mary said warmly.
"Thank you," Xi Nian nodded, but his gaze lingered on Gwen.
Even he could tell something was wrong.
She was angry—really angry, in a way that couldn't be soothed easily.
The problem was, Xi Nian had no idea what he'd done wrong.
"Gwen—"
He was about to ask privately, but Gwen turned and walked straight into her room with the gift in her hands.
…
Inside her room, Gwen shut the door.
Her jewel-bright eyes brimmed with tears as she clenched her teeth. She deliberately tossed the gift box toward the corner of the floor.
But before it could hit the ground—
Thwip! A line of white webbing shot out, catching it mid-air.
Gwen pulled the box back into her arms, hugging it tight, trembling with anger, sadness, and helplessness.
She still couldn't bear to let it get dirty.
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