DF Chapter 31
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Zhen Yi turned her head, and her heart instantly sank. She couldn’t be more familiar with that figure.
In the dazzling white light of the world, she once again saw Yan Ge—tall, straight-backed, and quietly standing at the counter.
An Yao still carried that elegant aura, sitting on a high stool and picking out accessories, occasionally glancing up to smile faintly at him as she spoke.
He nodded slightly, looking very patient.
Zhen Yi felt a pang of disappointment: after all these years, they were still together. She swallowed a spoonful of cold ice cream, wondering how they interacted now. Did they act the same as she and Yan Ge used to? Was he still as indifferent, forcing the usually aloof An Yao to be as proactive as she had been? Or was it the opposite—was he the one spoiling her now? Zhen Yi bit into the frozen fruit with a loud crunch: if he was that spineless, she’d love nothing more than to beat him up.
She sighed inwardly, knowing full well how petty she was. She maliciously wished he had aged badly, that he wouldn’t stand by someone else with that refined grace and charm. She realised her feelings stemmed from a sense of competition and sighed again in self-disgust. “This ice cream is too cold, I don’t want it anymore.”
As they left with Yang Zi, they wandered aimlessly through the mall for a while before Si Gui called to say she had arrived.
Zhen Yi headed downstairs to meet her and took the escalator. Looking down, she suddenly felt like she was cursed today.
At the bottom of the escalator, An Yao was wearing sunglasses and a light scarf. Though her face was obscured, her elegant presence was unmistakable. And accompanying her on the ascending escalator was Yan Ge.
When Yan Ge spotted Zhen Yi, his gaze was distant, like water flowing past her face without pause, settling elsewhere.
Yang Zi was stunned and leaned closer to Zhen Yi: “Oh my god, am I seeing things? Is An Yao’s boyfriend Yan Ge? That’s Yan Ge, right? Is he some kind of demon? How does he just keep getting better looking?”
Zhen Yi responded flatly: “Why don’t you go ask him?”
Yang Zi immediately regretted her words. Yan Ge was Zhen Yi’s ex-boyfriend, after all.
As the escalators carried them closer and closer, a scream suddenly echoed from behind: “Catch the thief!”
At the top of the escalator, a panicked girl was shouting, while a man dashed downward, sending everyone on the escalator into chaos.
On the descending side, Zhen Yi reacted the fastest, reaching out to grab the thief’s arm. The man forcefully shook her off.
“Stop him!” Zhen Yi shouted, but Yan Ge remained standing in the thief’s path, expressionless, his back facing her.
Zhen Yi rolled her eyes in exasperation. Expecting Yan Ge to catch the thief? She must be out of her mind.
Seeing the thief about to make a clean escape, Zhen Yi suddenly leapt onto the escalator’s handrail, grabbing hold of his sleeve with all her strength.
With one handrail moving up and the other down, the thief struggled to free himself. In the chaos, Zhen Yi lost her balance and fell off the handrail.
Yan Ge turned around at the sound, just in time to see Zhen Yi fall ungracefully at the base of the escalator, rolling down in full view, making quite the scene in front of her first love and her former love rival.
Si Gui, who was waiting at the bottom, ended the spectacle by capturing the thief. Before leaving with him, she called out, “Sorry, Zhen, you better head to the hospital yourself.”
Zhen Yi had twisted her shoulder and winced in pain. Thinking about her heroic leap followed by her humiliating tumble, she felt more embarrassed than proud. In the midst of pain and shame, a pair of pristine white pants appeared in her field of vision. Above her, she heard An Yao’s light voice: “Are you hurt? Should we call an ambulance?”
“My ears hurt.” Zhen Yi snapped, her mood foul. Whoever talked to her now was asking for trouble.
An Yao’s expression didn’t change, standing there beautifully, making no move to help. Yan Ge, on the other hand, quietly looked down at her.
Zhen Yi didn’t care how pathetic she looked right now. Her arm hurt too much, so she decided to sit on the ground for a bit to rest. After a while, just as she was about to get up, Yan Ge crouched down beside her.
She felt his presence getting closer, and when she looked up, their faces were just inches apart, almost colliding. She could see his eyelashes, dark and long, prettier than most girls’.
Startled, Zhen Yi jerked back, only to clumsily fall again, this time landing hard on her backside, with pain shooting up her arm.
She gasped in pain but managed a casual laugh: “Lucky I didn’t hit your lips, or else people would say I was trying to kiss you on purpose.”
Yan Ge ignored her sarcastic tone and said calmly, “Your arm is dislocated. Don’t move.”
“What, just because you say it’s dislocated…” Wait, that didn’t sound right.
“Ah!” Zhen Yi yelped in pain. A second ago, Yan Ge had leaned over and lightly poked her arm with his finger.
Zhen Yi glared at him: “Yan Ge, are you doing this on purpose to torture me?”
“That was nothing. It doesn’t even count as torture.”
Zhen Yi froze for a second, trying to figure out what he meant by that, but before she could, he suddenly moved closer. She flinched back, looking at him warily. What was going on? This wasn’t how things were supposed to play out.
An Yao bent down to remind him: “If it’s dislocated, she should go to the hospital.” She spoke as if she wasn’t a doctor herself.
“No need.” Yan Ge’s gaze stayed on Zhen Yi, and he casually grabbed her arm. His voice was calm but strangely pleasant. “If I had hit your lips just now, that would’ve been on purpose.”
Even during their relationship, when he had been as restrained as possible, he had never said something so bold.
Zhen Yi stared at him, dumbfounded: “Are you… flirting with me?”
“You wish.”
Zhen Yi felt a headache coming on, her voice dropping: “Hey, is it really appropriate to flirt with me in front of your girlfriend?”
Yan Ge paused, his expression a bit odd, a bit confused, as if he didn’t understand her words. But he didn’t explain, and instead, he leaned in closer.
Zhen Yi watched as his handsome face got nearer, her throat suddenly dry. She wasn’t sure if she still had feelings for him, but given how good-looking he was, it wouldn’t hurt to brush lips with him. His fair face moved closer, and she grew increasingly tense. His eyes stayed on her while his hand gripped her shoulder, and in a quick motion, he yanked her arm upward.
With a crack, her bone snapped back into place. Zhen Yi’s scream echoed through the mall: “Ah!”
Passersby all turned to look. Zhen Yi leapt to her feet, trying to maintain her dignity as she gritted her teeth and whispered, “Who said you could just pop my arm back in? If you mess it up, will you take responsibility?”
Yan Ge’s expression was cool: “I’m a doctor.”
“You treat mental illnesses!” Zhen Yi barely held back a shout.
“I just treated you.”
“……”
Zhen Yi was both furious and incredulous. The searing pain in her arm was gone, replaced by a dull ache and the realisation that Yan Ge had changed. Since when did he start using his good looks to mess with her?
