The Woman I Was Flirting With Turned Out To Be A Chaebol Heiress - Chapter 24

“Would a friend take care of me like you do? Would a friend drop everything and come to my house the moment they hear I’m feeling down?”

Li Nianyi threw off the covers and got out of bed. She slowly leaned closer to Jiang Ji’s helpless face.

“Would a friend hold your hand and go on dates with you?”

Li Nianyi tightly grasped Jiang Ji’s wrist. The pale skin showed prominent veins, and her heart felt like it was on fire, burning with panic.

Jiang Ji sensed Li Nianyi’s unusual emotions.

She was angry.

Jiang Ji had never seen Li Nianyi so angry so aggressive that she couldn’t utter a single word.

She didn’t dare respond.

“Would a friend kiss you?”

At this moment, Li Nianyi’s face was magnified right before Jiang Ji’s eyes. Her cold, emotionless fingers lightly lifted Jiang Ji’s chin.

Instinctively, Jiang Ji closed her eyes, expecting a kiss but the imagined kiss didn’t come immediately.

“Jiang Ji, open your eyes and look at me.”

Li Nianyi’s command seemed to have some magical power that forced Jiang Ji to open her eyelids.

Just as she opened her eyes, Li Nianyi pressed her lips against hers.

Cold, soft, and even a little light, like a feather gently falling.

At that moment, Jiang Ji even forgot to breathe, but her heart thrashed wildly like a tsunami, drowning her in madness.

Although Li Nianyi initiated the kiss, Jiang Ji felt that the other’s breath began to invade her body, every inhale and exhale filled with the sweet scent that belonged only to Jiang Ji herself.

She felt like she was in a daze, yet savoring this unexpectedly delightful taste.

She sensed Jiang Ji’s eyelashes brushing her skin, sending shivers through her entire being and soul.

Jiang Ji, looking so pitifully submissive, somehow made Li Nianyi seem like the bad one.

Suddenly, Li Nianyi felt bored.

Friends are just friends. Fine, she’d pack up and throw away all those illicit thoughts in her head.

Feelings? Love? Let them all be buried with today, then rot.

She wasn’t someone who couldn’t play along.

Thinking this way, Li Nianyi tried to get up, but Jiang Ji didn’t want to let go.

She turned Li Nianyi’s hand over, strongly intertwined her fingers with hers, and with the other arm, wrapped around Li Nianyi’s waist, stopping her from leaving.

Jiang Ji tried to deepen the innocent, shallow kiss, but it was clear she lacked experience just clumsily kissing Li Nianyi in return.

In the end, it was only lip to lip contact.

Jiang Ji was pushed away.

“Is this how you make friends with others too?”

After a few light breaths, Li Nianyi spoke calmly. Her beautiful eyes looked deeply into the other’s, as if she had a lot to say but only this slightly teasing taunt came out.

“No…”

Jiang Ji shook her head. She wanted to explain, but besides “friend,” what other excuse did she have to stay by Li Nianyi’s side?

A couple?

She didn’t dare think that far.

It was too presumptuous, and too dangerous.

“But Jiang Ji, I’m not lacking friends, and I don’t want to be friends with you. Do you understand what I mean?”

Li Nianyi felt that this sentence was almost like a confession. But she didn’t expect Jiang Ji, who never said “friend” beside her bed, to understand the meaning behind her words.

As expected, Jiang Ji stiffened and didn’t move, only staring blankly at Li Nianyi.

She felt something slipping away from her body. She desperately tried to hold on but couldn’t even move her limbs.

Not wanting to be friends with her…?

How was she supposed to understand this?

Could it mean what she hoped for?

But even if so, Jiang Ji couldn’t recklessly indulge her feelings. She couldn’t even guarantee her own future, let alone drag Li Nianyi into the dangers around them.

“Nian Nian, isn’t it fine for us to be like this?”

She seemed to be begging, a little humble, yet carrying a naive arrogance.

A sigh spread through the air.

“Go away, Jiang Ji. Thank you for taking care of me today. If there’s a chance, I’ll repay you.”

Li Nianyi turned her back, unwilling to look at her.

After a long time, Jiang Ji finally stood up, quietly put the chair back in place, and said to her back,

“I’d rather not have you repay me.”

Li Nianyi didn’t move. Jiang Ji opened her mouth again and left,

“If you have time, come see Pudding and Huahua.”

Then she fled as if escaping, leaving only the soft “click” of the door lock behind.

Light, like that kiss just now no traces, only broken loneliness scattered on the floor.

Li Nianyi suddenly felt deflated and sank onto the bed.

She truly couldn’t understand.

What did “like this” mean?

Could Jiang Ji really just want to keep things as they were?

Why should Jiang Ji get her way?

Li Nianyi thought, she would never let things go as Jiang Ji wished.

Those eyes looking at her were not without emotion; clearly, they liked her, yet Jiang Ji kept calling her “friend.” Was she really clueless or just pretending?

Li Nianyi didn’t know. She only felt her mood grow more and more restless.

The only good thing was that she found a copywriting job online flexible hours and decent pay, enough to let her escape for a while and force herself not to think about that woman who always unconsciously occupied her mind.

But things went against her wishes, because every time she taught Dai, she couldn’t help but look for that person’s figure.

They had only met here once.

“Teacher, I want to take the HSK test. Please adjust the lessons to exam prep mode,” Dai suddenly said near the end of class.

Li Nianyi was not surprised. From Dai’s study enthusiasm, it was clear it wasn’t a whim.

“Actually, you can find a professional tutor for exam prep. Although I’m Chinese, I don’t have much experience with Chinese proficiency tests.”

Dai shook her head.

“I believe in you.”

Alright, since she wanted to help Dai prepare, she would have to spend more time on it and have less time to think about that woman.

But fate was contrary: Dai happened to mention her in front of Li Nianyi.

“Teacher, did you quarrel with Sister?”

Li Nianyi was stunned and then tentatively asked,

“Why do you say that? Did she tell you something?”

“No, but I can sense it.”

Dai shook her head again.

“Teacher, whether you believe it or not, I’m really not lying.”

“Hm?”

“I’m not very close to Sister.”

Li Nianyi could roughly guess this. The day she caught Jiang Ji’s secret, they were already arguing. “Not very close” was an understatement.

Still, she patiently kept a listening posture.

Partly because she treated customers like gods, partly because she was genuinely curious about everything related to Jiang Ji.

“When I came here, Sister had already been in this family for many years. Her status is something I can never shake. Mother relies on her, and many family businesses are managed by Sister.”

Talking about this, Dai’s eyes shone with a bit of envy.

“Sister is a cold person, not close to anyone. When I first came, I tried very hard to win her favor but gained nothing, so I gave up.”

Hearing this, Li Nianyi felt something odd but couldn’t quite place it before Dai continued.

“But I can tell she’s very different with you. Sister probably really likes you.”

Li Nianyi didn’t feel happy at this.

“If she really liked me, why would she need someone else to express that feeling for her?”

Dai caught the unspoken words behind Li Nianyi’s question and smiled knowingly.

“Teacher, do you want to see Sister’s old room?”

They stared at each other for two seconds, then Li Nianyi gave in.

Fine, she couldn’t refuse.

Jiang Ji’s room wasn’t far from Dai’s; they were on the same floor.

“Two years ago, Sister moved out and seldom comes home… but Xiao Zeyi still makes sure it’s cleaned, kept just as it was when she left.”

The room was much as Li Nianyi imagined similar to Jiang Ji’s apartment style in Gangcheng: a cold, minimalistic look like the wealthy characters’ homes in Japanese dramas luxurious, but a bit dull.

Li Nian regretted agreeing so easily.

“Teacher, look at that.”

Dai pointed to a photo frame on the desk, face down.

“That’s one of the few photos we have together.”

“Can I see?”

Dai gestured for her to take it.

It was a group photo of three people, seemingly formal. Jiang Ji wore formal clothes, expressionless, standing on the right.

Dai smiled warmly as usual.

The taller woman in the middle was probably their adoptive mother, Wuzi. Every wrinkle on her face held the charm of an elder, and her smile carried authority.

Only Jiang Ji looked stern, with slightly furrowed brows.

“Sister doesn’t like taking photos, so there are very few pictures of her, let alone group photos.”

Li Nianyi was stunned, recalling the Polaroid photo Jiang Ji insisted on taking.

“So she’s actually… someone who doesn’t like photos?”

No wonder she looked so restrained in front of the camera.

“Yes. That photo was only because of a new store opening, and she finally gave in to Mother’s insistence. In this world, probably only Mother’s words matter to her…”

Dai’s gaze flickered toward Li Nianyi’s face.

“But now you probably have to be added to that list.”

Caught off guard by the implicit “special” meaning, Li Nianyi’s fingers tightly gripped her clothes.

Me…?

She looked at the indifferent and somewhat cold face in the photo.

Li Nianyi felt she had never truly seen this side of Jiang Ji before.

Jiang Ji, please don’t let me keep learning about you only from others, okay?

She said silently in her heart.