The Woman I Was Flirting With Turned Out To Be A Chaebol Heiress - Chapter 18

No class.

In the big, empty lecture hall, the doors and windows were shut tight. The air conditioning was blasting, but it still couldn’t drown out the constant chirping of cicadas outside. Her fingers flew over the keyboard with sharp, rhythmic clacks, as if waging war against the noisy world beyond the glass.

Thank goodness she was alone in this room.

Annoying!

So annoying!

Since submitting her first draft, she had revised it four times already. The entire paper had been overhauled and rewritten from start to finish. At this moment, Li Nianyi was practically seething with frustration.

Every day was a battle dense academic literature, endless data, several gigabytes of video material, and hundreds upon hundreds of interview transcripts. That she hadn’t gone completely insane yet felt like nothing short of a miracle.

The holiday was drawing near, and with the deadline looming, how could she not be anxious?

She skipped lunch to save time and managed to submit the completed document by 1 PM, dragging the final version into her chat with her advisor.

Click.
Send.

Fifth version. Off it went.

During the agonizing hour that followed, she tried to distract herself, but the movie playing on her computer became nothing more than background noise to the theater playing out inside her head.

Finally.

The notification sound hit like a thunderclap. A small popup appeared at the top of her screen.

“It’s good now.”

Seeing this message, Li Nianyi felt her soul ascend to new heights. She was nearly moved to tears.

If she’d been at home instead of in a classroom, she might’ve gone full monkey mode running all over the house and rolling on the bed in ten dizzying circles.

Sure, there was still the publishing process to deal with not exactly smooth sailing but at least the most soul-sucking phase was over.

She snapped her laptop shut and pulled out her phone. First, she messaged her groupmates with the good news. They agreed to pick a date for a celebration once the paper was published. After a few polite exchanges, her fingers instinctively switched to her chat with Jiang Ji.

The latest message was from last night a simple “Good night” she’d sent.

“!!!”
“Jiang-jiejie, my paper passed review!!”

Instant reply.

“Amazing!”
“Nian Nian, congrats! I knew you’d nail it!”

Followed by a barrage of adorable congratulatory stickers.

Li Nianyi didn’t even know where she found those.

Staring at her phone, a smile slowly crept across her face. Her fingers danced across the screen again.

“After all, this is the result of so many sleepless nights.”

Jiang Ji replied:

“Can you take a call right now?”

Li Nianyi quickly packed up, slung her bag over her shoulder, and headed out.

On the brick path in the middle of a landscaped area, she was the only one there. She dialed Jiang Ji’s number.

The call connected. She could faintly hear people shouting on the other end, but then came the distinct sound of a door closing, and all the noise vanished.

“There was some arguing going on here. I’ve moved to a quieter spot now.”

Jiang Ji’s voice came through the speaker proper, almost overly formal.

Li Nianyi could hear the slight nervousness behind her tone and teased:

“That didn’t sound like an argument. More like a full-on brawl.”

“It was pretty intense… but that’s not important.
Nian Nian, why don’t you come to my place tonight? Let me celebrate with you a little.”

Even guiltier now.

Li Nianyi smirked, going along with it:

“So, do you kinda want me to come, or do you really, really want me to come?”

Her voice was soft, lingering dangerously alluring.

Jiang Ji couldn’t resist the bait, happily drowning in Li Nianyi’s words.

“Really, really want to. Nian Nian, it’s been almost a month since we last met.”

“Miss me that much, huh…”

The playful lilt in her voice plucked at Jiang Ji’s heartstrings.

“Then I guess I’ll say yes.”

The call ended. But Jiang Ji sat there with the phone still pressed to her ear, the disconnected tone echoing in her ears, blurring out the thumping in her chest.

Until a knock sounded at the door.

She jolted back to reality and set the phone down.

“Come in.”

A respectful woman entered.

“Miss Jiang, the ones causing trouble at the venue have been dealt with”

She suddenly noticed the softness in Jiang Ji’s expression and froze for a moment, her face visibly cracking.

But in the next instant, Jiang Ji returned to her usual composed self so quickly the woman wondered if she’d imagined it.

“What are you spacing out for?”

“N-nothing… Just, the remnants of the Kurosaki-kai have been stirring lately. Seems like they’re planning a comeback… The police are watching closely. Should we”

The woman snapped back into form.

“Ignore them. Just keep our turf in order. If they bring trouble here, we’ll handle it however we need to. Anything else is irrelevant.”

“Understood.”

Jiang Ji waved her off, signaling her to leave.

With a soft click, the office returned to silence. Jiang Ji glanced at the message Li Nianyi had sent their meeting was set for 9 PM. Still a while to go.

She began thinking about what to wear.

Scrolling through her saved outfits, nothing seemed to feel right on her. Eventually, she gave up and messaged the source directly.

“Nian Nian, what kind of style would you like to see me in?”

Li Nianyi had just gotten home when the message came in. Thinking of Jiang Ji’s go to look tank tops, shirts, and jeans and her own itching desire to style someone, she changed the plan entirely.

“Let’s hold off on the drinks. Jiang-jiejie, let’s go shopping together.”

“Didn’t you just ask what I liked? Let me style you myself.”

So the meeting spot changed from a bar to LakeTown Koshigaya, and the time was moved up to the afternoon.

Thankfully, Jiang Ji, though inexperienced in shopping trips, had saved tons of shopping guides including one for LakeTown.

“The transport from your area to Saitama is probably inconvenient. I’ll come pick you up.”

“Mm, I’ll wait for you.”

In the meantime, Li Nianyi decided to curl her hair a rare impulse. After a month buried in research, she hadn’t felt even remotely put-together.

She picked out a gray faux-layered polo shirt from her closet. The sporty look, paired with her soft waves and a black functional crossbody bag, gave her a breezy, youthful summer vibe.

Right on time, the door knocked.

She opened it a crack, just enough to show her face.

“So punctual.”

“Of course. Got to keep my word.”

Not too early it might stress her out. Not too late she’d seem unreliable. Just right.

“Give me one minute.”

Li Nianyi disappeared in a blur. When she returned, she was holding two bottles of blue Ramune soda. Just taken from the fridge, condensation clung to the glass.

Much like the girl herself cool, refreshing, and a little sweet.

“Brought you something good.”

She shook the bottle playfully in front of Jiang Ji’s face but to her, it was all a blur.

“You’re driving, right? I’ll hold onto it for now.”

She stowed the bottle in her crossbody bag, then tugged lightly on Jiang Ji’s shirt hem.

“Let’s go!”

The motorbike revved to life, engine growling. In a flash, they arrived at the mall what was normally a 40 minute ride cut nearly in half.

Technically, it was already late to start shopping, but impromptu plans had their own charm. Especially with Li Nianyi in such high spirits.

Walking into the mall, each girl held a Ramune bottle. Pushing the marble down with a satisfying pop, the little glass bead fell into the neck of the bottle a unique sound of summer. It caught their eyes, just as it always did, triggering that age-old urge to get the marble out.

“Are you hungry? Want to grab a bite first?”

Li Nianyi finally remembered she hadn’t eaten lunch. Her hunger quickly caught up with her.

“Hmm… yeah, I guess I kinda am.”

“In that case, there’s a super fun café I know here. They’ve got drinks, desserts, and light meals. We can snack now and save a real dinner for later.”

“I’ll follow your lead.”

Jiang Ji silently thanked her past self for reading that guide.

True to her word, Li Nianyi let Jiang Ji take the lead, treating her like a walking GPS.

“Oh! It’s this one!”

Standing in front of Café BARBAPAPA, Li Nianyi suddenly recalled seeing it in recommendations. A cute, fairytale-themed spot.

They picked a quiet table in the back.

The food wasn’t anything special, but it photographed well.

Li Nianyi didn’t expect Jiang Ji to be so good at taking photos especially considering her very “technologically challenged” auntie-core appearance.

Her excuse?

“Your face doesn’t need any fancy photography tricks, Nian Nian.”

Well then. This woman really knows how to deliver a direct compliment.

Of course, afternoon tea wasn’t the main event.

After eating, Li Nianyi dragged Jiang Ji to the outlet section.

“S.. suits?!”

Li Nianyi looked at her with sparkling eyes and nodded, pushing her into a suit store.

Jiang Ji was completely thrown this was the style Li Nianyi liked?

Good grief, wasn’t this just her standard work attire? She’d just taken off a suit before heading out today.

The store clerk came over enthusiastically, but Li Nianyi waved her off. She had her own vision in mind.

Like a loyal puppy, Jiang Ji followed her around as she picked out clothes and handed them over in a bundle.

“Trust my taste. Your face is made for a suit.”