The Woman I Was Flirting With Turned Out To Be A Chaebol Heiress - Chapter 21

Li Nianyi felt like her brain had short circuited.

Did Saionji Dai just call Jiang Ji… sister?

What channel did she just tune into?

She could no longer control the expression on her face or rather, she didn’t even know what kind of expression was appropriate for this moment.

Right now, Jiang Ji looked at her in a panic, as if wanting to explain something, but not a single word came out.

Suddenly, Dai spoke again:

“Sister, whatever happened between you two, you have to face it eventually. Stop running away.”

Dai looked like she was wholeheartedly thinking for Jiang Ji’s sake but the schadenfreude in her eyes was unmistakable.

This chaotic scene seemed to play right into her hands. After tossing out that line, she slipped into her room and slammed the door shut.

“Nian Nian, I…”

Jiang Ji’s voice was hoarse, like she had to force it up from deep within her throat.

“Isn’t your surname Jiang? Why did Dai call you sister?”

Forget the surname even the nationality doesn’t seem right here.

A thousand possible explanations flashed through Li Nianyi’s mind in an instant but none of them really added up.

It was impossible to understand, impossible to reason through. Her brain couldn’t form a rational conclusion, leaving behind a gnawing confusion that wrapped itself around her heart.

She was genuinely, completely lost so all she could do was hope for a straight answer from Jiang Ji, who was at the center of it all.

But in Jiang Ji’s eyes riddled with guilt Li Nianyi’s stunned expression looked like a form of disbelief, born from discovering a lie.

Her throat moved slightly. Then Jiang Ji suddenly grabbed Li Nianyi’s wrist and pulled her, running down the stairs. They stopped at the center of a sprawling bed of pale pink roses.

It was dusk. The setting sun spilled like a river over the ground and over their intertwined hands.

The atmosphere was so delicate it made you instinctively hold your breath.

In a fairy tale scene like this, if it weren’t for Jiang Ji’s twisted expression, Li Nianyi could almost believe she was about to confess her love.

“Nian Nian, I’m sorry. I lied to you.”

Jiang Ji lowered her head, not daring to meet her eyes but her grip on Li Nianyi’s wrist showed no sign of loosening.

Li Nianyi said nothing. She quietly waited for her to continue.

Mostly because… she didn’t know what to say herself.

“I really am Saionji Dai’s sister…”

Li Nianyi’s pupils shook violently.

Jiang Ji quickly rushed to explain:

“But not in the way you’re thinking. Dai and I… we’re both adopted daughters of the Saionji family. We’re not related by blood. To me, my surname is still Jiang.”

Suddenly, Li Nianyi remembered the strange tension she’d felt between them when she ran into Dai at Jiang Ji’s bar that time.

So this was the reason?

Then… was Jiang Ji involved in arranging for her to become the family tutor for the Saionji house?

Complicated emotions roiled inside her. She wasn’t even sure how to process her own feelings anymore.

She thought of how she had once happily introduced the two of them to each other thinking they were strangers. But they were, in truth, family. The sheer embarrassment of it made her feel like she’d been played for a fool.

“Jiang Ji, I… I…”

Li Nianyi forced herself to calm down. Her tone paused, as if carefully choosing her next words.

“I just don’t understand why you needed to hide this from me. Your background, your family… would that really affect our relationship?”

A trace of unresolved anger started to surface in her brow.

“Okay, maybe that’s naive of me. I get that these external things can have an impact. I’m not saying I can’t accept that you kept something from me. But the fact that you and Dai put on a show together in front of me that’s what hurts.”

Li Nianyi wasn’t lying.

She really did like Jiang Ji. She was willing to wait for this emotionally reserved woman to one day open up and share the scars of her past.

But the current situation made her feel a little… foolish.

She thought of her own speculations about their relationship. She thought of Dai’s cryptic smile as she offered to help cover for them. She thought of how confidently she had once told Jiang Ji, “You can open your heart to me.”

Standing here in this lavish estate, Li Nianyi suddenly felt a bit lost. That sting in her heart started to spread outward, slowly overwhelming her.

She wasn’t even sure why she felt this upset. Was it just because Jiang Ji hid her identity? It felt like there was something more.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Ji panicked even more. Her whole body felt like it had been plunged into a frozen lake only ice and suffocation remained.

“I’m sorry, Nian Nian… I shouldn’t have lied. I just… didn’t know how to say it… I’m so sorry…”

Her voice trembled. The fear swelling inside her brain felt like a storm.

“Jiang Ji, I’m not trying to blame you. I just…”

Li Nianyi bit her lip.

Just what?

Li Nianyi, do you really not blame her?

She asked herself this in silence.

“Nian Nian… do you… do you already hate me?”

Jiang Ji’s eyes were already turning red, as if she might cry the moment Li Nianyi said yes.

A quiet sigh filled the space between them.

“I don’t hate you, Jiang Ji…”

But as she said that, Li Nianyi gently pried open the fingers wrapped around her wrist.

“We’re both not thinking clearly right now. Maybe we should separate for a while… take some time to cool down.”

“No…”

Jiang Ji couldn’t bring herself to let go.

“Nian Nian, if you leave like this… I… I don’t know how I’ll calm down…”

“But I need to calm down. I need to think carefully about what our relationship really means. And so do you.”

When she said that, her tone picked up urgency. She yanked her hand free, leaving Jiang Ji standing there, stunned.

Jiang Ji felt her body go numb. Her joints felt like they were filled with lead completely immobile. She could only watch that figure walk away without looking back.

This life of hers once bleak and hollow had only just started to feel alive because of this person.

And now, it seemed like everything had returned to silence.

The sun had completely set. All around her was still and soundless, not even a whisper of wind. She felt something underneath her calm exterior start to stir and change.

The fortress she had so carefully built high, dark, and loathsome had been cracked open by Li Nianyi before she even had a chance to willingly let her in.

Even now, after that first layer had been peeled away, Jiang Ji still couldn’t bring herself to show her true self.

Somewhere behind her, Dai appeared.

Li Nianyi no longer remembered how she made it back home.

Her mind was a mess. Her heart thumped erratically in her chest. She felt like she was being boiled alive, the temperature rising with every helpless thought.

She rushed home as fast as she could. She needed a safe space just to contain the storm raging inside her.

Bang

The door slammed shut. She collapsed against it, sliding down to the floor.

Jiang Ji is the adopted daughter of the Saionji Group.

Jiang Ji and Dai lied to her.

Jiang Ji seems to have a strained relationship with that “family.”

She tried to piece everything she’d just learned from the chaos back there. Her brain finally began to function again.

She clutched her chest, trying to ease the stabbing pain but it was no use.

Images flashed in her mind: Jiang Ji’s wounded, tear-filled eyes from earlier; the time she leaned silently on her shoulder in the shopping mall, silently crying.

Compared to being lied to what hurt more was this:

She was disappointed in herself.

Jiang Ji lied. She felt hurt. But hadn’t she once said she would wait for Jiang Ji to open up?

Now, because she discovered the lie, the fact that she was still angry made her even more upset.

She should’ve known reopening old wounds is never easy. Even with someone you trust, someone close, retelling painful stories is a kind of emotional bloodletting.

Had her so called invitation for Jiang Ji to “open up” really just been a form of kind coercion?

But at the same time, she really did feel betrayed.

And so, the thoughts circled back on themselves, again and again.

Her mind was a tangled mess of spiraling emotion.

By now, night had fully fallen. The room was completely dark, blending into the night beyond the windows.

“Sister, things don’t seem to be looking too good right now.”

Dai sounded almost gleeful but the surprise on her face when she saw the emptiness in Jiang Ji’s eyes was genuine. For the first time, she realized this woman actually cared about Li Nianyi.

Jiang Ji had no interest in dealing with her. She turned and walked away.

“Sister, you can’t afford to be this indecisive. Either cut ties cleanly after all, it’s not like you two have any ‘official’ relationship or face your feelings head on. You can’t have it both ways…”

Jiang Ji’s steps faltered for a moment, but then she kept walking.

Dai didn’t mind being ignored. She smiled sincerely.

She used to think this sister of hers had no weaknesses.

Turns out, when it mattered most, Jiang Ji handed her the biggest gift of all.

“If she’s too busy falling in love to protect her territory… well, that’s completely understandable, isn’t it?”