Roller Coaster Syndrome

The next day was Ye Shuang’s day off. After Yu You, Keke, and Yezi had all gone to school, only Ye Shuang and Alice remained at home.

Alice was terrible at taking care of herself. She couldn’t even manage to tie her own hair into a simple, pretty ponytail. After a few attempts, all she had were strands sticking out in every direction—after all, she had never needed to do these things herself before. Bobo had always taken care of them for her.

That was why Alice had recently stopped wearing her usual twin ponytails at home and instead let her long hair hang loose. For some reason, it made her look a little more obedient.

“Do you need me to help?” Ye Shuang asked when he saw the disastrous state of Alice’s twin ponytails.

“I can do it myself.” Alice seemed determined to prove that she could take good care of herself even without Bobo around. Her ability to look after herself had improved tremendously during this time, but even so, she still couldn’t keep her stray hairs from sticking up everywhere.

Unwilling to admit defeat, Alice continued trying to fix her hair, only to make it worse and worse. In the end, she gave up on wearing twin ponytails.

“Let me do it.”

“……”

In the end, Alice obediently sat down and let Ye Shuang arrange her hair. Ye Shuang was clearly quite skilled at this sort of thing. After all, Bai Yuyou’s hair was much longer than Alice’s. Though he didn’t usually style it, he had still accumulated plenty of experience.

“Sometimes, relying on someone else isn’t a bad thing,” Ye Shuang said when he noticed Alice lowering her eyes unhappily.

“……” Alice muttered, “Liar. You’ll leave me too once you get tired of me.”

Ye Shuang froze for a moment. He had no idea why Alice had suddenly said that, but he understood a second later.

So that was how she saw it…

“I don’t think Bobo left because she was tired of you. And I’m not tired of you either.” Ye Shuang smiled. Perhaps it was because he responded so calmly that Alice’s mood improved a little. She even sat obediently while Ye Shuang continued fixing her hair.

“Ye Shuang.”

“Hmm?”

“Never mind.”

“……”

By then, Ye Shuang had finished giving Alice a beautiful pair of twin ponytails. The style really did suit her better. Satisfied, Ye Shuang nodded, made a few preparations, and then left with Alice.

……

The arrival of autumn had yet to take away the last trace of summer’s heat. Even at noon, Haizhu City was still somewhat sweltering. After all, it was a city whose temperatures only dropped when cold air moved south, so both Alice and Ye Shuang were dressed relatively lightly.

Ye Shuang had also switched cars. His previous Maybach had sprung a leak during the rain and been sent in for repairs, so the company had replaced it with an Audi RS Q8. As far as Ye Shuang was concerned, getting to drive a company car for free was already a good deal.

At least he didn’t have to worry about maintenance.

Once Alice had taken the passenger seat, Ye Shuang started the car. Since the weather was fairly nice, he lowered the windows to let in some fresh air.

“Hm-hm-hm~” Alice seemed to be in an especially good mood. She hadn’t been out to have fun in a long time, and now she hummed happily from the passenger seat.

Seeing how delighted she was, Ye Shuang smiled but didn’t say anything. He simply drove toward the amusement park.

Before long, they arrived at the parking lot. As usual, parking near the amusement park was ridiculously expensive, but Ye Shuang was used to it. Even if he cursed about it once or twice, it wouldn’t change anything. After all, the amusement park probably made a considerable amount of money from parking fees alone.

After buying their tickets and entering the park, Ye Shuang clearly noticed Alice’s steps becoming much lighter. She expertly picked up one of the free maps nearby and then reached out to take Ye Shuang’s hand.

“Come on, let’s go!”

“Hmm? Sure.” Ye Shuang hadn’t expected Alice to be the one leading him around, but he simply let her pull him along.

Soon, however, Alice realized what she was doing and deliberately offered an explanation. “None of my fans have ever held my hand before, you know. You’d better remember this day.”

“Sure~” Ye Shuang replied with a smile.

He found Alice’s old-fashioned tsundere attitude rather rare these days, and there was an indescribable charm to it. After all, back in his era, this had been one of the most popular types of girl.

What Ye Shuang hadn’t expected was for Alice to lead him all the way to a particular attraction and stop in front of it.

“……”

Looking at the roller coaster roaring past them, Ye Shuang’s face went deathly pale.

He was probably already half dead.

“This is the first thing you want to ride?” Ye Shuang asked uncertainly.

“What’s wrong?” Alice asked in return. She really liked roller coasters, and wasn’t riding one a mandatory part of visiting an amusement park?

“Your hairstyle will get messed up. Why don’t we go on something gentler?” Ye Shuang said with a smile. “Look, that carousel over there is fun too, isn’t it?”

Alice: “……”

“Are you treating me like a child?” Alice asked.

“Not exactly…” But after seeing the roller coaster in the distance and hearing the screams of its passengers, Ye Shuang began to regret coming to the amusement park and facing his lifelong nemesis.

He had to ride one whenever he came with anyone. What would happen when he had to accompany his children in the future?

“Alice!” Ye Shuang suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders. Alice’s face flushed, and she froze for a moment before stammering, “W-what are you doing? Why did you suddenly get so worked up?”

“Actually, I have a medical condition,” Ye Shuang said seriously.

“A medical condition? Is it serious?” Alice immediately grew worried. Why was he telling her this now?

Could it be…

Was he going to die?

Was he asking her to do something for him before he died?

But she wasn’t ready yet…

While Alice’s imagination ran wild, Ye Shuang continued, “I have roller-coaster syndrome. Basically, I can’t ride roller coasters.”

Alice didn’t know much about medicine, but she did know that Ye Shuang was a school doctor. After hearing about this so-called roller-coaster syndrome, she asked curiously, “Is it a difficult illness to treat?”

Ye Shuang nodded.

“So that means you can’t ride roller coasters?”

Ye Shuang nodded again.

“I see. Is this your secret?” Alice asked.

“Yes.”

“Got it. I’ll keep it safe for you. Since that’s the case, we won’t ride the roller coaster.” Alice clenched her little fists, looking as though she completely understood. “I absolutely, positively won’t tell anyone!”

Perhaps because this was a secret shared only between the two of them, Alice’s mood improved even further.

Looking into Alice’s sparkling eyes, Ye Shuang suddenly felt a pang of guilt.