บท 23: Her Work（2）
Linden pursed his lips and nodded slightly, his ears drooping a bit as he asked, "What do you want to do when you have a day off?"
He used to take Luna to the lycanthrope amusement park on the surface living area, which had kiddie rides, sandboxes, water floats, merry-go-rounds, and roller coasters—Luna liked it a lot, always excited, though the environment wasn't great. Kids in and out of human form would run around, chasing each other, every kind of lycanthrope present, parents arguing and pushing if their kids bumped into each other, trash everywhere. But Luna usually had fun because not many would dare provoke someone from the wolf tribe. Linden, with his imposing build, simply standing there, even in silence, usually made other lycanthropes steer clear of him and Luna.
"Play?" Seraphina echoed, "What would we play?"
"Amusement parks... like that."
"What's that?"
"There are toys."
Linden's voice grew softer, and Seraphina rubbed her eyes, telling him, "I'm an adult. I don't play with toys."
What's so fun about toys? Her childhood toys were all about assembling numbers and such, more about training memory and calculation skills than fun, always leaving her brain tired.
She didn't see how toys could be fun—are they supposed to be enjoyable?
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"So what do you want to do on your day off? What do you want to eat?"
Linden realized Seraphina was different from Luna; she didn't like toys or going out, perhaps because there wasn't much to do outside her clean, spacious home with various entertainment options. He had even seen a mahjong machine in one of Seraphina's rooms, though it appeared she never used it. Linden couldn't imagine her sitting around playing mahjong or cards; her demeanor was always so reserved, except in bed.
But there are still things to do in the surface living area. Before Luna went to a boarding school, she had one day off every week, and Linden would pick her up from school, carry her backpack, and take her to food festivals and fairs. They mostly just looked around, watched the free lycanthrope performances—fire breathing, acrobatics, shadow plays, which he heard were invented by the Chinese. Luna was fascinated by watching shadow plays like Nezha Conquers the Sea and Havoc in Heaven, stories full of rebellion and fighting spirit from Chinese mythology. But shadow plays were expensive, and Luna, being considerate, never asked her brother to buy her a shadow figure, just some candies, which she would display on a shelf at home and eat sparingly, one piece a day.
Those days, just wandering and browsing, would pass quickly, though they bought little. Luna usually enjoyed her day out, loving to play, laugh, and run around. Perhaps it was because their shack was too small with little room to move around, and at the lycanthrope school, she had to share a room with others, each person only having a bed, very cramped.
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"I usually play online games on my days off, or we could make love all day, but I've been too tired lately, and my stomach hurts a bit," Seraphina answered.
Linden noticed this was the second time she mentioned her stomach hurting, his concern evident as he asked, "Are you sick? Have you seen a doctor?"
Had he been too rough with her?
"It's nothing, my health band monitored my heart rate and said it was due to excessive physical activity, it prescribed some pain relief medication."
"Oh…" Linden's ears drooped, and he blushed, looking down, "Did you take the medicine?"
"That medicine isn't taken orally, it's to be...inserted," Seraphina explained, "I found it a bit of a hassle, so I didn't use it. I'll think about it before going to bed. Oh, and I bought you some estrus suppressants, they'll be delivered by 2 pm today, make sure to store them in the fridge once they arrive."
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Linden nodded, suddenly hearing a monotonous ring from her side, like the school bell he had heard in movies about human middle school, which made Seraphina pout in displeasure, "Break time's over, I have to go back to work. See you tonight."
"Okay, see you tonight." Linden still stared straight at the screen after finishing speaking, and Seraphina added, "Aren't you going to hang up? You just need to press and hold the screen then slide it to the right…"
"I know how," Linden rubbed his ears and then his nose, his eyes darting away briefly before looking back at her and saying, "I just want to look at you a bit longer."
As they talked, Seraphina had curled up in the corner, hugging her knees, resting her cheek on her arm. At his words, she tilted her head, her eyes softening as she gazed back at him through the screen for a moment before speaking, "We'll see each other after I get off work tonight, I'd like to have beef stew with potatoes and sautéed pea tips for dinner, steamed rice with corn and yams, and for dessert, sweet rice wine balls with osmanthus."
Linden nodded to indicate he understood, and Seraphina nodded back then abruptly hung up the phone. She stood up, stretched her somewhat numb legs, leaned on the wall as she slowly walked back to her workstation, and unexpectedly, she caught herself smiling.
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