The Rising Temperature between Me and My “Step-brother” のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

Early morning.Asher jogged home to find Wendy eating breakfast in the kitchen, chatting with Simone."Simone, do we have another rice cooker? I just tried to make rice, but this one seems broken.""Broken? It hasn’t been used in ages. You know only your dad eats rice regularly, and he’s hardly ever home."Simone plugged in the rice cooker, but the indicator light stayed dark. "What a pain. But I think there’s a black one somewhere. Text your dad—he’ll know where it is."Noticing Asher, Simone waved with a smile. "Perfect timing. Wendy needs you."The girl who’d been leaning against the island counter whirled around, meeting a pair of curious blue eyes.Fresh from his workout, his forehead glistened with sweat, his shirt clinging transparently to his toned chest.Wendy’s eyes darted around before she forced herself to meet his gaze, masking her fluster."Morning."Asher cros

Hayden led Wendy directly to the largest lounge. Upon entering, Wendy was momentarily dazzled by the gleaming wall of golden trophies.Hayden: "There are several lounges here, but Asher likely meant this one—it's the closest to the players' locker room. You can message him to confirm."Wendy nodded. "Okay, thank you, Hayden."She sent the message but received no reply. Wendy recalled Sam Wu mentioning Asher wouldn’t check his phone during training. Now that he was back in the locker room, perhaps he hadn’t had time yet—Goodness, just how furious had he been to seize Neil’s phone and call Hayden to track her down?Wendy practiced smiling for two minutes in the trophy wall’s reflection, ready to greet Asher with a bright grin when he arrived.Ten minutes later, the lounge door swung open. Wendy, who had been idly sitting on the couch, sprang to her feet."Hi—" Wendy froze.The man who entered had changed out of his uniform, now clad in a snug black tank top and jeans. His shoulders wer

"Neil, what's up?"The restless electronic music and laughter from Neil's end contrasted sharply with the desolate loneliness around him."Hey, where are you? It's insanely lively here—Keith's pool is huge... Hey, watch it! I'm on the phone!"After a burst of static assaulted his eardrums, Neil's voice continued, "Dustin just got pushed into the pool, and he tried to drag me in too. But no way, I'm way too quick for that!"Asher: "I'm at the training base.""No way, are you at the gym again?"At this hour, most of the players were at the party. The rest were either on dates or off doing their own thing—hardly anyone was left at the facility."Come on! You're the quarterback. Your brilliant brain already makes the guys jealous. Now you're trying to steal the linemen's thunder too? You can't ace everything. They work hard to protect you, you know."As he spoke, Neil flashed a smile at Willow beside him. "Come have a drink with us. Keith hired a professional DJ—someone who claims to have

"Beka, let me be honest, I'm not really his girlfriend. I'm just his friend, the most ordinary kind. Actually, it's you—when he heard you were at the party, he nearly lost his mind with nerves."Wendy glanced at David Yang. "This guy is crazy about football and Asher, but the moment Asher arrived, all his attention was on you. He—mmph—"David Yang's face flushed red as he tried to cover Wendy's mouth, desperate to stop her from airing his secrets. "Wendy Wu, why are you airing my dirty laundry like this?!"Wendy pushed him away again, panting as she switched to Chinese. "Because I can see she still likes you, still cares about you—and you feel the same way!"Caught up in the moment, Wendy seamlessly switched back to English. "Beka, I don’t want to get between you two or waste your time. He and I really are just friends. He asked me to pretend to just be his girlfriend—I don’t know if it was to make you jealous or just to save face."She pointed a thumb at David Yang beside her. "Serio

After seeing Asher go to pick up Wendy, David stopped paying attention to the commotion downstairs. He was in a hurry to get back to Beka for some intimacy.But soon a new problem arose—he couldn’t remember which room was his.Keith’s mansion was too vast, with too many identical doors. He’d rushed out earlier, telling Beka to wait ten minutes, only to spend eight of those minutes wandering lost.When Keith finally texted Beka’s new number, David leaned against the hallway wall to call her—until two girls nearby screamed. He looked up to see Asher carrying a woman upstairs.As a fan, David was used to seeing Asher in football gear, dominating the field. He hadn’t noticed earlier that Asher was wearing a dress shirt—crisp white fabric stretched across broad shoulders, sleeves rolled to reveal forearms corded with muscle. With glasses and slightly less intensity, he’d be the very image of a aristocratic heir. Except...Since when did proper heirs cradle a girl’s bare legs over one arm?