First Hospital.
Zhao Lifei stared at the contact on her phone and after a few seconds of debating, pressed the button to make a call. She waited as it rang. After a few seconds, it went to voicemail. She sighed, tried calling again, but to no avail. Her only way out of this hospital isn't picking up the call.
Her shoulders drooped in disappointment. She knew it was practically impossible to leave this hospital. Her grandfather would go berserk if she left in an injured state. She thought about convincing him to let her recuperate somewhere else besides the hospital. She remembered in the past when she got sick, her grandfather would always hire private doctors instead of taking her to the hospital, but those were usually simple colds and not enormous wounds…
She was about to close her list of contacts but paused when her eyes fell on a familiar phone number. Subconsciously, her fingers hovered over the name, her eyes softening. Yang Feng.
Biting her bottom lip, she felt guilt enter her. Playing back their last conversation in her mind, she realized she was slightly in the wrong. She thought her stubbornness was normal. What right did he have to intrude into her life and force her to do something?
The tiny devil on her shoulder whispered to her. 'He's a control freak, don't go back to him.' But the angel told her, 'He did it because he cares for your health and safety.'
Zhao Lifei thought back to his scorned expression. She had crossed a line.
The angel continued to coerce her. 'He wouldn't have stepped in if he didn't care for you. Think about it. Why do you think he was so angry? You've constantly fought against his words and even dared to insult him. But he allowed you to do so and rarely got angry. Why would he become so infuriated out of nowhere? It's obviously because you misunderstood his intentions.'
Even the devil on her shoulder turned against her. 'The stupid angel is right. You really screwed up this time. He's tolerated your bad temper for a while already. Why would he suddenly lash out like that?'
After what felt like a really long time, she grew tired of listening to the debate. She flicked both imaginary characters off her. This conversation was beginning to bother her because deep down, she knew they were right.
He was too controlling of her, but his intentions this time were right. She wanted to have a proper conversation with him to explain the parts she disliked about him, and he could do the same in return. Communication should be key in a relationship.
Her phone dinged and she hastily looked down, thinking it might be a message from Yang Feng, but it was just a random email. Her shoulders unconsciously sagged in disappointment.
Staring at the contact list, her eyes couldn't leave Yang Feng's name. Without even thinking her actions through, she pressed the call button. It rang once and went straight through to voicemail. Stunned at the response, she called again. The same thing happened.
He was ignoring her.
With a frown, she decided to shut off her phone and go to sleep, but that was another mistake. The second she fell asleep, she was plunged into a nightmare. In her dream, she was walking barefooted in an abyss of nothingness.
Every time she took a step forward, it hurt her as if she were walking on thorns, each step bringing a jab of pain. Then suddenly, there was a light at the end of what seemed to be a long tunnel. Wanting a way out of this world of darkness, her slow steps quickly turned into a sprint towards the light. When she got closer, her heart dropped.
In her dream was a man with the same build as Yang Feng, but she couldn't see his face. His back was turned to her, but she could tell by the way the man had one hand inside of his pocket, that it was, of course, Yang Feng.
The man was walking away from her and leaving with him was the light. Unconsciously, she trailed after him, not wanting such a bright light to disappear from her vision. And right when she was close to him, something emerged from the corner of her eyes.
Zhao Lifei turned her head and was taken aback to see the beautiful outline of a woman. Her outfit, the sway of her steps, and the breathtaking face, she felt her lips curl into a scowl. What was that secretary of Yang Feng doing in her dreams?
She tried to grab Yang Feng, but a force held her back. It felt as if something was grabbing her ankle, holding her in place. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Envy burned within her when she saw the man walk to the woman, grab her by the waist and then bury his head into her neck, the same way he always did with her. It felt as if a knife was twisting its way into her heart because, in the next moment, the man lifted his head to gently guide the secretary's chin and tilt her face upwards.
She refused to see it. She refused to see them lock lips together. But, even when she tried to close her eyes, she couldn't do so. A force was holding her head in place, refusing to let her look away.
In the background, there was someone speaking. "...L...i...fe...i!" She stiffened when something touched her, but she didn't know what it was.
"....Li..fei!" A voice called out.
Yang Ruqin scowled in annoyance when she saw her Feifei was still deep in dreamland. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty! Wake up!" She screamed, continuing to shake her stubborn friend awake. Calling her name was of no use, so she had to resort to harsher means of waking her up.
"Stop sleeping already. It's already two in the afternoon!" Yang Ruqin whined, continuing to shake her awake with so much force, the Birkin shoulder bag was beginning to slip off of her. Growing irritated at Lifei's lack of response, she pressed her lips together, threw off her shoulder bag, and then using all of her strength, tugged the blanket off of Zhao Lifei.
Zhao Lifei groaned, her eyes slowly peeling open. She squinted, her vision blurry with exhaustion. Tiredly, she rubbed her eyes. "Qinqin…?" She mumbled in confusion.
"Ugh, finally!" Yang Ruqin let out a heavy sigh, placing the blanket back onto the poor woman's shivering body. She felt guilty for pulling the blanket off of a sick person, especially one that was prone to easily getting cold.
"Qinqin, what are you doing here?" Zhao Lifei sat up in her bed with the help of her dear Ruqin.
"To talk some sense into you." Yang Ruqin pressed her lips together as she placed the pillow behind Lifei.
Originally, she was planning to rest after the exhausting photo shoot that ran from late in the afternoon of yesterday until noon today. Her infuriating manager had worked her to the ground! But her desire to sleep in the rest of the day was put to a screeching halt after she heard about the dispute between the budding couple whose relationship was too unstable to have a fight. If it wasn't for her good friend, who was one of the men guarding outside the hospital room, she wouldn't have known an argument occurred.
Yang Ruqin was always one to side with her Feifei and vice versa. But this time, she couldn't take her side — especially after she heard the crazy woman was bold enough to escape the room, and place her health on the line.
Yang Ruqin pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down, crossing her arms like a disappointed mother. Her lips tugged down in a disapproving frown as she gave Zhao Lifei the stink eye.
Zhao Lifei took in the appearance of her best friend and sighed. "Did Yang Feng send you?"
Yang Ruqin was slightly shocked the hear the bitterness in Zhao Lifei's voice. Was the fight really that bad…? Her bodyguard friend said Feng-ge left in a fit of rage, slamming the door so loudly, it could be heard down the hallway. "No, he didn't. I came here myself after secretly hearing what happened yesterday night."
Zhao Lifei analyzed Yang Ruqin's posture. Her lips didn't twitch and neither was she nervously playing with her clothes. She wasn't lying. Yang Feng really didn't send her.
"Before I judge the story, I want to hear your perspective first." Yang Ruqin didn't want to rashly make a conclusion and place the blame on anyone first. She trusted her Feifei would tell the truth, even if it was hard to speak it.
Zhao Lifei hung her head and nervously played with her fingers. She didn't want to tell Ruqin anything. It was hard to do so because a big part of her knew she was definitely in the wrong. The nightmare she had earlier served as a warning to her that Yang Feng could only deal with her conflicting ways for so long. One day he might really leave her if he gets pushed into a corner.
Yang Ruqin felt her eyes become gentle upon seeing the state of her friend. "I can wait. You don't have to speak up now." Her voice was faint and calm, her initial annoyance dispersed.
After a few seconds of comfortable silence, Zhao Lifei slowly nodded her head. The movement was so tiny, Yang Ruqin barely caught it. "Did you apologize to my brother yet?" She checked the time and saw it was now three in the afternoon. She figured it was a dumb question, seeing as Zhao Lifei had just woken up.
"No…"
"I texted Chen Gaonan before I got here. Yang Feng doesn't have a meeting until four o'clock. He's most likely in his office doing some paperwork. I'm sure if you call him now, he will have time to speak to you." Yang Ruqin wanted them to fix this issue as soon as possible. Their relationship had barely started, yet there was already a rift between them.
"I tried to call him earlier."
Yang Ruqin was surprised to hear this. If she called him earlier, why didn't Yang Feng visit the hospital room? Her bodyguard friend didn't mention anything about seeing Yang Feng.