Princess Syndrome - Chapter 47
Chapter 47: Sleeping
Ji Zhiyi turned her head to look at Su Lingyue. In the darkness, there was only the light from the TV screen, it was dark, so she could only see Su Lingyue’s outline and her eyes. She could still hear Su Lingyue’s voice in her ear: "Come over a bit."
This made her expression falter for a few seconds.
Back in high school, there was a competition once. It was at the same time as the movie showing at Second High. She had just finished the exam and saw many of her classmates carrying stools and running to the assembly hall. Not far away, a teacher was maintaining order. When the teacher saw her, she said, "That student, don't wander around outside. Where's your stool?"
She wanted to explain, but she also wanted to see Su Lingyue, so she said, "It's inside."
The teacher didn't mind: "Hurry and go in, the movie's about to start."
She went inside, it was full of people, and she couldn't tell which class was which. Everyone was carrying stools and sitting under the screen. She followed the order, and finally saw the classmates from Su Lingyue's class.
Su Lingyue was sitting by the window, with one hand on the edge, letting the wind blow her hair, looking very bored.
The teacher said: "Close the window and draw the curtains!"
Su Lingyue blew on her bangs, and mumbled as she closed the window. The inside immediately became dark.
The teacher shouted: "The students in the back, sit down."
She didn't have a stool, and when she saw Su Lingyue, she wanted to turn around and leave, but there was a class coming in behind her, blocking her path. She could only move backward.
Afraid that the other students would recognize that she wasn't from their school, she put on a mask, and brushed her bangs to cover her eyebrows and eyes.
It was dark inside, and she was bent over, so no one noticed her.
She just kept moving backwards. Finally, she had moved to the side. There were a lot of empty stools on the side. They were all students who had brought stools in to complete their task and then went out to play. She was a very obvious target standing up. So, she simply sat down.
The movie started. The inside was quiet for a few seconds, then the classmates started discussing what they were going to do on the weekend, the new shows they were watching, and which artist was good looking. They discussed everything in detail.
They were the only ones who were not watching the movie.
She kept looking in Su Lingyue's direction. Fifteen minutes after the movie had started, four or five girls beside her got up, and discussed going out to take photos. They asked Su Lingyue, but Su Lingyue shook her head.
She was leaning on the window, looking like she was about to fall asleep.
At that time, she didn't know what she was thinking, and she didn't know how she got the courage to go sit next to her.
She was being very sneaky.
She was sitting down, her heart was pounding with guilt.
But no one had noticed that she wasn't from their school, or from their class. Even Su Lingyue had just glanced at her, and said, "Is your vision bad over there?"
She thought that she was a classmate who was simply watching the movie.
She didn’t say anything. Her heart was pounding very hard. She was sitting next to Su Lingyue, and the noise of the surroundings and the screen couldn't cover up the sound of her heartbeat. She nodded.
Su Lingyue said: "Then come over a bit."
She very generously made space, moving closer to the window. She moved the chair, and sat next to her, not leaning on her, but her heart was so soft that it was about to overflow. Even when she glanced at Su Lingyue next to her, she felt that she was very gentle.
Just like now.
That kind of feeling of being covered in softness was coming over her. Ji Zhiyi was just sitting there, not moving. When Su Lingyue saw this, she moved closer to her.
Xiao Mafan stood up, stretched its paws out in front of the screen, and strutted around for a few steps. Lastly, it jumped from the coffee table onto the sofa. Su Lingyue was startled and moved even closer to Ji Zhiyi.
Ji Zhiyi grabbed the long blanket from the side and covered it over herself and Su Lingyue.
She wanted to cover up those thoughts and palpitations.
But she couldn't cover up her numb fingertips.
Su Lingyue was very quiet, silently watching the screen. Every time a scene came out, her expression would change slightly, frowning, afraid to look, but wanting to, squinting, or being curious.
Ji Zhiyi didn't even know what the plot was, or what the movie was about. She was only paying attention to Su Lingyue.
Su Lingyue said, "Is that still a human?"
Hearing her complain, Ji Zhiyi looked at the screen: "Why?"
Su Lingyue said, "After killing and dismembering his wife, because he was afraid that her soul would come back for revenge, he actually hired someone to suppress it."
Then, she added: "But, there are a lot of garbage people in this world."
Ji Zhiyi heard her and her tone of voice had become cold.
She turned her head.
Su Lingyue didn't know what she was thinking about, her eyes were filled with sadness.
Ji Zhiyi asked: "Do you hate your father very much?"
When she suddenly heard this title.
Su Lingyue turned her head and met Ji Zhiyi's clear gaze.
She felt like this title at this moment made her feel even colder than the horror movie.
When she was little, she didn't hate him at all. She would look forward to her father coming home with her mother, she looked forward to her family going on trips together, and she looked forward to her father picking her up and playing with her happily.
But later, he stopped coming home. It didn't matter, she still had her mother.
But her mother started to become sad.
Taking medicine.
Being hospitalized.
Trying to harm herself, trying to get that man to come back to her senses.
She was too young at that time, she didn’t understand why her mother was doing that. Later when she understood, besides anger, she also felt cold. She said, "I hate him."
She said to Ji Zhiyi: "I hate him very much."
After she said that, she looked at Ji Zhiyi: "What about you, are your parents doing well?"
What did well mean?
Was their health good, or were they good to her?
Ji Zhiyi couldn't tell, but she nodded: "They’re doing well."
At least, they had given her a life where she didn’t have to worry about food or clothes. As for her choice back in her sophomore year, a large part of it was because of her own choice.
Su Lingyue said: "You're very lucky."
When Ji Zhiyi heard her say this, she felt inexplicably sad. She lifted the blanket and went to the wine cabinet to get two bottles of red wine. She brought two glasses back to the sofa, poured one for Su Lingyue, and handed it to her.
Su Lingyue didn't hesitate to take it. Xiao Mafan jumped next to them, got closer to smell the red wine, and even wanted to stick its head in the glass. Su Lingyue lightly patted its head. It shrunk back and miaowed, looking a little upset.
Su Lingyue poked its head: "You can't drink it, what are you meowing for?"
Xiao Mafan whined at her.
Su Lingyue took a sip in front of it, raised the corners of her lips, and smiled.
It was as if she was showing off that she could drink alcohol.
How childish.
Ji Zhiyi laughed.
She also poured herself a glass, and slowly drank it.
The movie was still playing, but the atmosphere wasn't so tense anymore. With the red wine, they were chatting more, and were occasionally talking about the past.
Su Lingyue asked, curiously: "Were you from First High in high school?"
Ji Zhiyi clenched her glass, and with much difficulty, swallowed a mouthful of red wine. It felt like a blade was scraping her throat, it was painful and tight. She paused for a moment: "How did you know?"
"I remembered it." Su Lingyue lied. She hadn't paid attention to this name at all back in high school. It was after they had met again, that she had a dream about Ji Zhiyi, and wanted to find Ji Zhiyi's information.
She saw that it said that she had gone to First High.
Later, she remembered that she also had a classmate group chat.
Her classmates had pulled her into it after high school graduation, but she had never said anything. The group messages were always muted, so she had thought for a long time before remembering the existence of this group. She had never spoken in it for many years, so she was embarrassed to ask. She could only search through the chat history.
She had actually found information about Ji Zhiyi.
[Do you guys know who the boss of Yilin is? It's Ji Zhiyi!]
[She’s from First High, right? She often came to our school to participate in competitions.]
[Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen her before. I have a deep impression of her.]
[Was she very good looking?]
[She was stunning! Didn't our class rep write her a love letter before?]
Class rep?
Who was that?
Su Lingyue couldn't even remember who that person was.
After that, there was a lot of casual chatter. She found it uninteresting, so she just kept the information that Ji Zhiyi was from First High in mind.
And that she had also come to their school to participate in competitions?
Su Lingyue asked her: "Is it true?"
Ji Zhiyi nodded.
Su Lingyue then said: "Then I must have seen you before."
Ji Zhiyi’s blood was boiling. The alcohol suddenly rushed over with that momentum. Her heart was beating faster. She asked: "Did you also just remember it?"
Su Lingyue said: "No."
That one sentence was like a bucket of cold water to Ji Zhiyi.
She said: "I guessed it."
Ji Zhiyi: ...
She was really good at guessing.
She pursed her lips and placed her glass on the coffee table. Su Lingyue poured herself a glass, and asked Ji Zhiyi: "Do you want more?"
Ji Zhiyi said: "I can."
Su Lingyue poured two glasses, took a sip, and said: "Have you seen me before?"
Ji Zhiyi turned her head to look at her.
The movie on the screen was playing a scene in the daytime. The lights were very bright, and they were shining on Su Lingyue's face, making her features clear and exquisite. Her eyes were sparkling, and it seemed like she was looking at her like she was a lover. She was holding her glass and looking at her casually.
It was like she didn’t really care about the answer.
Ji Zhiyi pursed her lips.
She also took her glass and said: "Maybe."
What was maybe?
If it was someone else, they would still be bothered by this answer, but not Su Lingyue.
She gave an "oh", finished her glass of red wine, and turned her gaze back to the movie.
Ji Zhiyi’s fingers holding the glass tightened. The tips of her fingers were aching. Listening to the short reply next to her, her indifferent attitude, her heart was in turmoil and was full of repressed feelings. The emotions hit her too quickly, like a tsunami, it came rushing over, and submerged her.
Her hand holding the glass trembled slightly, and she placed it on the coffee table.
Her whole body slumped into the sofa.
The past was flashing in front of her eyes like a slideshow. The first time she saw Su Lingyue under the tree, the sunlight, the wind, that silhouette, she hadn't dared to go up and greet her.
She turned her head, Su Lingyue was still standing there.
She wanted to walk over, she wanted to greet her, she wanted to say hi, my name is Ji Zhiyi.
She wanted to say a lot of things.
She thought of the countless times she had bumped into her after that. She rode her bike past the entrance of Second High, waiting for Su Lingyue to leave school, waiting for her to get into the car, she thought of that rain, she thought of that confession that never happened.
She thought of that love letter.
When she went back, she tossed and turned, wondering if Su Lingyue would read it, would she contact her? She thought so much about it that she couldn't sleep, and she forgot to take care of herself and she had gotten a bad cold.
But, until she had recovered from her cold.
There was no response from Su Lingyue at all.
She was like a background in a movie, in an inconspicuous corner, acting out a scene that only she herself was watching.
She desperately wanted this scene to one day be seen by Su Lingyue.
Su Lingyue didn't notice. She was staring at the movie, the movie was reaching its climax. Her eyes were glued to the screen, and because of the gory scenes, she kept moving closer to Ji Zhiyi.
Until their arms were touching.
Ji Zhiyi turned her head to look at her. Her memories flashed before her eyes. Those scenes were washed away, and only the person in front of her was becoming clearer. After a few seconds, she reached out her hand and pressed the control button on the side of the sofa. The sofa immediately stretched forward. Su Lingyue was surprised. She turned her head to look at her, and before she could ask, the sofa had already flattened, becoming like the bed that they had slept on that night.
She saw that Ji Zhiyi had not said a word and had laid down. She couldn’t help but ask: "What are you doing?"
Ji Zhiyi said: "Sleeping."
Su Lingyue said: "You're not going back to your room to sleep?"
Ji Zhiyi said: "I’m not."
Su Lingyue asked, confused: "Why?"
Ji Zhiyi said: "I'm scared."
Su Lingyue: ...
Wasn't she very brave, and not afraid?
She was still going to say that she didn’t dare to sleep alone at night.
But, when she thought of Ji Zhiyi sleeping in the living room, she felt inexplicably safe. She didn't even feel that scared when she looked at the final gory scene of the horror movie. She just wanted to lower the volume. She was about to get up, but Ji Zhiyi grabbed her wrist.
She lowered her head, and her eyes met with Ji Zhiyi’s. Then, she looked at her hand that was holding her wrist. It was slender and strong, with distinct joints. Su Lingyue was silent for a few seconds and asked: "Do you want me to sleep with you?"
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