Transmigrated as the CEO's Top-Tier Stand-in - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Once certain thoughts are conceived, they cling like maggots to bone, following like a shadow, difficult to banish from the mind.

Even though the infusion room was brightly lit at night, it still possessed an unspeakable stillness. Ji Yu casually pulled out her phone, intending to search the internet for how others typically break up. However, after typing just a few characters, she suddenly felt a dizzying sensation of the world spinning.

She instinctively tightened her grip on the phone with her right hand and pressed her left hand against her temple. Then, she planned to get up and check the IV drip.

Meng Rendong noticed her movement. “What’s wrong?”

Ji Yu exhaled slightly, squinting her eyes. This motion gave her gaze a shimmering quality, which was even more noticeable on her pale face. Then, she whispered, “A little dizzy.”

Meng Rendong immediately panicked. She stared at Ji Yu for a few seconds, saw her looking up at the IV bag again, and instantly stood up to call the nurse. Her expression was so serious and her speech so fast that the nurse rushed over, thinking something terrible had happened, only to find that the side effects of the medication were too strong. The nurse then slowed the drip rate and told Ji Yu to lie down and stop moving unnecessarily.

Seeing the nurse leave and Ji Yu’s complexion improve, Meng Rendong finally let out a long breath. Seeing her reach for her phone again, she snatched it away: “The nurse told you to rest well. Be obedient.”

Ji Yu hadn’t seen the answers she had just searched for. She instinctively followed Meng Rendong’s movement, looking at her face, still seeming somewhat unresponsive.

Meng Rendong looked at her dazed expression and somehow felt an urge to kiss her. After a moment, she raised her hand and stroked Ji Yu’s head, saying with a sigh:

“You really know how to put people through it…”

It was noon the next day when the two returned to Ji Yu’s apartment.

Meng Rendong hadn’t slept much all night. After sending a message to Xue Lian to postpone important matters until the afternoon, she carried Ji Yu to the bedroom to catch up on sleep.

She quickly fell asleep, but Ji Yu’s stomach was empty and rumbling, feeling as though the stomach lining was being burned by stomach acid. Even though she had experienced it countless times, she still struggled to get used to it. So, after Meng Rendong’s breathing stabilized, she quietly got up to make herself some porridge in the kitchen.

The Corgi had worried about her all night and had been looking expectantly at the door since they returned. Seeing Ji Yu come out, it trotted after her, whining softly.

Halfway there, Ji Yu squatted down, stroked its head, and whispered, “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

The Corgi materialized a card on its head, nudged her hand with its head, and smiled at her with its tongue out.

Ji Yu picked it up and opened it, finding four large characters written on it: “Physical Ease x1, duration 15 minutes.”

Ji Yu smiled for two seconds. The Corgi looked back at the bedroom where Meng Rendong was, and secretly told Ji Yu: “We have dozens more! Use them whenever you like, and you won’t feel uncomfortable!”

Its tone was quite boastful of its wealth.

Ji Yu pinched its fluffy ear and kissed it again.

Meng Rendong was awakened by a phone call.

After answering, her eyes still weren’t open. In the midst of her confusion, she first caught a smell—very fresh and fragrant—which made her subconsciously get out of bed with the phone and walk out.

“Hello?”

It was Yan Xi calling: “Nanxing and I were drinking outside just now. She’s drunk and forgot your apartment code. Why don’t you come back for a bit?”

Meng Rendong casually told Yan Xi the six-digit code to her door. At the same time, she walked to the kitchen and saw Ji Yu serving a second bowl of porridge. Hearing her voice, Ji Yu looked at her in surprise:

“You’re awake?”

“What would you like to eat? I’ll make it for you now.”

Meng Rendong walked over, rubbed her nose against Ji Yu’s neck, catching the faint, almost dissipated scent of shower gel on her. She glanced at the porridge in the pot, where every grain of rice was soft and perfectly cooked, and asked in a low voice, “Did you not sleep?”

Ji Yu only smiled. Meng Rendong gave a soft hum: “Don’t bother. I’ll just have a bowl of this too.”

Meanwhile, Yan Xi on the other end heard Meng Rendong’s undisguised intimate conversation with Ji Yu. She looked at the disappointed Chu Nanxing sitting across from her, gritted her teeth, and continued: “Rendong—”

“My dad suddenly called me home. Nanxing is alone at your place. If anything happens, I’m holding you responsible.”

Meng Rendong frowned upon hearing this.

At such an intimate distance, even with her phone’s excellent reception, Ji Yu could hear the content. But Ji Yu didn’t even blink, only lowering her head to scoop porridge for her. Just as she put a spoonful into the white porcelain bowl, Meng Rendong grabbed her wrist.

Meng Rendong hung up the phone and said in a resigned tone: “Forget it, I won’t have it yet. Be good at home. I have to go out.”

Ji Yu held the half-bowl of porridge, her eyes curved in a smile as she asked her, “Are you coming back tonight?”

Meng Rendong nodded casually: “Mhm.”

11:30 PM.

The strong wind slapped against the windows, making the frames rattle slightly. Ji Yu hadn’t heard the noise in the dance studio until the Corgi nudged open her half-closed door with its head and told her: “Yuyu! It’s going to rain! Hurry and bring in the clothes and close the windows!”

Ji Yu’s forehead was covered in sweat. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the soundproof sponge wall to rest. Hearing the Corgi’s voice, she got up and went out to check the windows and doors. Just as she collected the low-hanging socks, the rain began to lash down.

She stood on the balcony, feeling the humidity as the strong wind sprayed rain mist onto her face.

In another residential area in the same city, on the twentieth floor.

Watching the lightning and thunder outside, Chu Nanxing patted her chest with lingering fear. She looked at Meng Rendong sitting in the living room with a somewhat cautious and fawning expression, a clear smile on her face:

“Rendong, it’s raining so heavily outside. I’ll go check if the window in your room is closed.”

Meng Rendong was dealing with leftover matters from the afternoon. She glanced up at her: “Didn’t you say you were too weak from a stomach ache just now? Can you walk now?”

Chu Nanxing blinked innocently, seemingly not understanding her implication, acting as if she wasn’t the one who had pretended to have headaches and foot pain all afternoon to keep Meng Rendong around.

Meng Rendong said nothing more, looking back at the computer in front of her. After a while, she looked up again at the outdoors, thinking about her promise to Ji Yu that she would return.

But in this weather…

If I don’t go, Ji Yu will probably understand, right?

3:40 AM.

Ji Yu abruptly opened her eyes. A layer of cold sweat covered her forehead. Her ragged breathing startled the Corgi sleeping by her bed. “Woof?”

Realizing no one else was present, it smoothly switched to human speech: “Yuyu, did you have a nightmare?”

Ji Yu gave a soft “Mhm,” got up, and headed to the living room, intending to pour herself a cup of hot water and reheat the porridge from the afternoon to settle her stomach before going to dance.

The Corgi followed behind her, asking complainingly, “Didn’t that person surnamed Meng say she would come back tonight?”

Ji Yu held the glass cup, tilted her head to listen to the dark outside, and realized the entire city had unconsciously cleared of clouds and rain. It was quiet, seemingly tired out by the previous intense commotion, and had also fallen asleep. Only the rainwater on the trees rustled as the wind passed by, causing another small shower to fall.

She chuckled lightly and said, “She won’t be coming.”

The Corgi’s nose wrinkled, and it sneezed. It spoke with what sounded like a mix of disdain and reluctance: “But you always have nightmares when she doesn’t come.”

Ji Yu brought the glass cup to her lips. After a sip of hot water warmly settled in her stomach, she closed her eyes. After a long time, she replied: “My nightmares have nothing to do with her.”

Corgi: “Huh?”

Ji Yu looked at the cup in front of her, using the faint light from the electrical appliance in the corner of the room. As if talking to herself, she said, “Whether she comes or not, I will still have this dream. As soon as I close my eyes…”

As soon as I close my eyes, I see that person.

I see her smiling at me, pulling me to dance—Tango, Cha-Cha, Ballroom. She would deliberately dance the male lead’s steps, teasing me that we should sign up for a competition next time, just the two of us, and let the judges see a two-woman standard ballroom routine.

Ji Yu always smiled and said okay, as if she truly didn’t know how ridiculous that would be. Then, after the dance was over, the person would let go of her, running into the distance and saying:

“Ji Yu, I want to debut! I want to be a star! Do you want to join me?”

“Okay.”

“Ji Yu, I succeeded! I got in! I’m going to be the champion of the finals! I want to be the center of the girl group! Will you come to the finals?”

“Mhm.”

“Ji Yu, our company has scheduled so many activities for me and signed so many endorsements. I might not be able to contact you for a while. Don’t worry!”

“Okay, I’ll support you. I’ll work hard too.”

“Ji Yu… Ji Yu…”

The Corgi listened halfway and then there was no more. Finding Ji Yu staring blankly at the water cup with no intention of speaking, it had to redirect its attention, chasing its own raised tail and spinning in circles.

After a while, it stopped, bored. Seeing Ji Yu still lost in thought, it spoke up again: “Yuyu, and after you close your eyes?”

Ji Yu came back to reality, looking at the small brown dog at her feet. Not yet fully recovered from the vivid dream, she answered instinctively: “…After that, I hear her say—”

“She says, Ji Yu, save me.”

Warm liquid dripped from her chin. Ji Yu was completely unaware, even wearing a smile, but her expression was uglier than ever. She repeated:

“Save me…”

The glass cup in her hand fell to the floor and shattered. In the Corgi’s stunned expression, Ji Yu clutched her head and crouched down, tears streaming down her face. Her sobs held a despair the Corgi had never witnessed.

As if an inaudible voice was questioning her:

Why didn’t you notice, Ji Yu?

Why, when she was in so much pain and needed you so badly, did you notice nothing?

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