48 Chapter 48: Intruder alert 1

The dinner went quietly.

Nobody spoke because Qiao An seemed to be glaring at Shen Jun Shan for a reason only both of them knew.

Amy Shen was quite sure her brother did something unnecessary that made Qiao An angry, but she could not just think of what that might be as she always thought of her brother as a nice guy. She never expected that her brother would be acting like a scoundrel, kissing a girl unexpectedly.

Jin felt even more awkward than he usually did. His plan was seen through by Qiao An; he could not say that he was proud of himself for tagging along to the dinner with Amy Shen.

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A moment earlier.

Qiao An sat across Jin while looking at him with her usual gaze – a gaze that Jin described as the kind of gaze that made her seemed to be able to read people's minds.

"You are not coming here to spy on me, right? I can think of a few reasons why you are here, but let's listen to what you got to say." Qiao An crossed her arm, ready to hear the explanation from Jin.

"Maybe. Or maybe not. I just want to check out how my sister's doing. I warned you about that guy." Jin crossed his arm too.

"I think you should send Snowy and Orange to mom. They can take care of the kittens. You don't have experience in being a parent to a cat." Qiao An spoke in the hushed volume, not wanting Amy Shen to hear.

"No way! They are my babies; I can take care of them. Amy can help me with that. You, young lady, don't go out with a random guy. This Shen Jun Shan guy could not be trusted." Jin also spoke in a low voice.

The way the two siblings talked seemed like they were in a heated conversation. At least that was what it looked like to Shen Jun Shan. If people did not know that Qiao An and Jin are step-siblings, people might think that they have something against each other.

"Okay, done! Let's eat!"

As Amy Shen announced that they could eat, the tension between Jin and Qiao An melted.

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Qiao An helped with the dishes, and after she was done, she excused herself to go back to her home.

Her phone vibrated to indicate a message, and it was from Joel. Joel asked if she wanted to go out for coffee. Seeing that it was almost ten, Qiao An declined.

Qiao An entered her house and stopped beside the shoe rack on the left side of the door.

Something was slightly off.

One of the slippers on the rack was slightly out of position.

Qiao An had the habit of making everything tidy, just like her shoe rack. All the shoes and slippers were lined up straight, but now one of them overlapped with other slippers. As if someone bumped into it and did not bother to set it back to its position.

Is someone in her house?

Qiao An panicked and she walked out hurriedly and went back to the Shen siblings' house. She knocked on the door repeatedly, as if she was afraid that someone would come and get her from upstairs.

Shen Jun Shan heard the rapid knocking and went to open the door only to see a panicked looking Qiao An. "An An? What's wrong?"

"I think there is someone in my house." Qiao An spoke with a hint of panic in her voice.

Shen Jun Shan knew that Qiao An was not overdramatic for no reason. If she said that she thinks someone is in her house, then there was a hundred percent chance that someone is in her home.

Shen Jun Shan closed the door of his house. "Let me go check it out for you."

Both Shen Jun Shan and Qiao An went into Qiao An's house. The entrance was not locked because Qiao An ran away in a panic, she forgot to lock her door.

As Shen Jun Shan was about to enter the house, Qiao An held his wrist. "Take the umbrella from the umbrella box beside the shoe rack as a weapon."

Shen Jun Shan felt like laughing because if it were true that someone broke into Qiao An's house, an umbrella alone would not be enough to defend himself. But since Qiao An looked serious in recommending the umbrella, Shen Jun Shan just nodded.

"Also, be careful." Qiao An still did not let go of Shen Jun Shan's wrist.

Shen Jun Shan nodded and patted Qiao An's head. "Don't worry about me. You just stay here." Shen Jun Shan opened the house, took an umbrella from the umbrella box, and passed it to Qiao An. "You need this more."

Shen Jun Shan walked into Qiao An's house and started to inspect every corner of the house, including the toilet and Qiao An's room, but it was locked. After making sure that nobody was in the house, Shen Jun Shan asked Qiao An to come in to check whether she was missing anything.

The first thing Qiao An checked would be her room. Nothing went missing in her room, so she checked the other places in her house.

"An An, don't worry too much. Maybe it's just your feeling. Maybe you bumped into your shoe rack, and the slipper moved." Shen Jun Shan tried to cheer her up since everything looked normal in the house.

There was not a sign showing that someone broke into the house.

Qiao An wanted to believe Shen Jun Shan, that it was just her feeling. But Qiao An knew herself; she has everything set in their position. The slipper, the mug, the book, and even the way her plates were stacked.

Mug?

Qiao An's eyes darted towards her collection of mugs. Qiao An liked mugs and every time she saw a cute mug, she will buy it and put it in her collections. She likes her collections so much that she put it nicely on her upper cabinet.

Everything has its place and position, like her mug. Qiao An arranged her mugs in a position where all the handles are on the right side to make it easier for Qiao An to grab.

One of the mugs had its handle on the left.

It has been a while since Qiao An drank coffee in her house so she did not disturb her mug collection. But now, one of the mugs changed position. It someone else did not do that, Qiao An doubted that a pixie did it.

"No, someone else was here. I am sure of it." Qiao An pointed towards her mug collections in the upper cabinet. "I know you might think that I am being paranoid but I am really sure someone was inside my house today. Maybe not long ago."

Qiao An pointed towards the cupboard. Shen Jun Shan could see that one of the mug handles was placed in the opposite direction from the rest.

"I'm here with you. Don't be afraid." Shen Jun Shan sat on the sofa. "Do you want to report this to the police station?"

Qiao An contemplated whether she should be doing a police report about this. After all, she did not have solid evidence to show that someone had broken into her house for real. She was only relying on the simple fact that some of her things were not in their usual position.

Anything could cause that. People might not trust her. With that in mind, Qiao An decided just to let it go. Maybe it was just her feeling.

"You are right. Maybe I'm just thinking too much." Qiao An sat the opposite of Shen Jun Shan. "Jun Shan, thank you.'

Shen Jun Shan stood up and walked towards the door. "If anything, just call me. I'll come here as soon as I can. Don't forget to lock everything"

Qiao An nodded.

Shen Jun Shan went out of the house and waited until Qiao An closed the door. After he made sure that the door was locked and secure, Shen Jun Shan went back to his home.