Damned Mosquito

Su Wen habitually spaced out for a while after waking up. She rested her chin on one hand and brushed her fingers across her lips. Why did her lips feel hot and swollen?

Was it a mosquito bite?

Su Wen reached for her mirror on the side table beside her bed and looked at her reflection. Her lips really were red and swollen! Somehow, it made her lips look plumper. It could have been worse, she supposed. Now, it looked like she had been kissed.

"Damned mosquito." How dare it profane her lips with its bite? Su Wen told herself she would kill all the mosquitos in the house before bed later that day.

She checked her neck next. No bites there.

Su Wen did not know where she would put her face if she had had to walk around with what looked like a hickey on her neck. It reminded her of a joke made by a certain channel about a streamer being strangled, leaving what looked like red spots around her neck, resembling a trail of hickeys.