After cautiously coming to work in distress for a while, Pei Ge learned that Ji Ziming did not come to the company for these past few days.
At this, Pei Ge became surer that she had been overthinking things.
I'm so smart; how could Ji Ziming, that annoying fellow, know that I'm right under his very nose?!
"Hm, hm, hm!" Pei Ge skipped into the office in a cheerful mood as she hummed a tune under her breath. With a big smile on her face, she sat in front of the computer on her desk and started working.
"Pei Ge, what made you so happy today?" a colleague sitting nearby bantered upon seeing her cheerful mood.
"Nothing! I'm just feeling good today!" Pei Ge grinningly replied.
"Is that so? And to think you were so skittish and downcast these past few days." The female colleague continued to tease her.
Pei Ge blinked her eyes and said, "You must be seeing things!"
Pei Ge passed the morning in an upbeat mood.
At lunchtime, in lieu of hiding in the office to eat her lunch, Pei Ge accepted her colleagues' invitation to eat at the canteen for the first time in the past few days.
She joined the crowd and followed the colleagues that she was closer with to the canteen.
"Wow! The sweet and sour fish today looks good!"
The few of them collected their lunch amid jokes and laugher, and then they quickly found a long, empty table to occupy.
"Pei Ge, do you want to try my sweet and sour fish?" the female colleague, who had ordered the dish, asked Pei Ge this with a smile.
Eyeing the delectable-looking sweet and sour fish, Pei Ge nodded her head and stretched her chopsticks over to pick up a slice.
However, just as she had raised the fish to her mouth and was about to eat it…
Puke! For some reason, Pei Ge felt nauseous.
"Pei Ge, are you alright?!"
The few female colleagues seated around Pei Ge looked at her worriedly.
Pei Ge put down her chopsticks and shook her head after drinking a few mouthfuls of water.
"I'm fine."
"How can you be fine? You definitely don't look fine to us at all."
"Yes, yes! You almost scared us to death!"
"I'm really fine," Pei Ge assured her colleagues with a smile when she saw the worry written on their faces.
"Then, why were you like that just now?" The rest of the colleagues looked on disbelievingly.
Pei Ge really felt helpless now. She herself did not know why she had suddenly felt nauseous when she was not in discomfort anywhere.
"Ah!" One female colleague covered her mouth with a palm and looked at Pei Ge in shock.
"What are you screaming about?"
"What's wrong?"
Everyone, including the befuddled Pei Ge, focused their attention on the female colleague who had just screamed.
"Pei Ge, could it be that you're pregnant?!"
The moment that these words were spoken, the table went silent as everyone regarded Pei Ge with newfound intensity.
"… Preg – Pregnant?!" Pei Ge tugged at her lips in desperation at these words.
She was pregnant? How could she be pregnant?! She did not even have a boyfriend, so how was it possible for her to be pregnant?!
Er… Wait a moment!
Pei Ge's face instantly turned sour.
She – She indeed did not have a boyfriend, but… she had slept with a male host before!
Seeing Pei Ge's conflicted expression, the few female colleagues felt more certain that she was pregnant.
However, since they had mistakenly assumed that Pei Ge had a boyfriend, they did not take it to heart and started teasing her about it, instead.
"Based on how you were acting these past few days, did you quarrel with your boyfriend?"
"Ha ha… It must be."
Pei Ge really had no tears to cry at her colleagues' banter.
Since when did I have a boyfriend?! I already said that it is my female best friend!
"I am not pregnant… " I think. Pei Ge weakly denied.
No one believed a word she had said, though, and they merely continued happily teasing her. They even asked her of when her wedding day would be held.
Her upbeat mood was immediately destroyed by this short interlude.
In the afternoon, because of this incident, the now absent-minded Pei Ge made many mistakes for even the simplest tasks.
"Pei Ge, what exactly is wrong with you today? How can you make these elementary mistakes?" Yang Aoyun glared at the absent-minded Pei Ge with her brows furrowed.
"S – Sorry, Director," Pei Ge pursed her lips and apologized softly.
"Forget it. Pay more attention next time." Yang Aoyun grudgingly signaled Pei Ge to leave with a wave of her hand.
Having left the director's office, Pei Ge poured another big glass of water for herself and downed it in one go.
Bi Zheng, who was sitting beside Pei Ge, lightly glanced at her when he saw Pei Ge gulp down loads of water.
"Drinking too much water is bad for your body."
"Ah, it – it's fine. I was just feeling too thirsty." Pei Ge gripped the cup in her hand and drank another gulp of water.
Spending the whole afternoon in a muddle-headed state, Pei Ge rushed out of the office the moment it was time to get off work. She then hurriedly flagged down a taxi as she wanted to quickly arrive at her home.
However, halfway through her journey, Pei Ge remembered that she needed to buy a pregnancy test kit.
"Mister, if you see a convenience store later, please stop the car for a bit. I'll go buy something," Pei Ge politely requested to the taxi driver.
The driver glanced at Pei Ge before replying in a laid-back manner, "You will be charged extra for that."
"Alright!" the usually thrifty Pei Ge unhesitatingly agreed this time.
The taxi drove on for a while longer before stopping beside a convenience store.
Pei Ge got off the cab and rushed inside. However, after walking around, she was still unable to find a pregnancy test kit.
Hence, she could only abashedly ask the cashier for it.
"Pregnancy test kit?" The cashier glanced at Pei Ge with a sullen face and then said, "Wait here a moment; I'll get you one."
"Alright! Thank you so much!" Pei Ge gratefully exclaimed.
The cashier went to a remote corner of the store and searched painstakingly for a while before finally retrieving a small, rectangular box.
"Here is the pregnancy test kit. That's 5 yuan," the cashier said curtly.
Without paying much heed to the dust covering the box, Pei Ge quickly paid for it and once more got inside the taxi bound for her house.
"Ge Ge, why are you home so early today?" Zhang Manhua smiled when she saw her daughter arrive.
Pei Ge did not reply to her mother. Instead, she rushed into the washroom.
Pak! The sound of slamming door made Zhang Manhua feel that something was amiss.
After a long while, Pei Ge finally came out from the washroom.
"Ge Ge, what's wrong?" Zhang Manhua seriously regarded Pei Ge as she sensed that her daughter was not in a good mood.
Pei Ge tugged at her lips and smilingly replied, "It's nothing. I was just in a hurry to use the toilet."
"Oh, I see." Zhang Manhua looked amusedly at Pei Ge, clearly convinced by her words.
"What do you feel like eating tonight?" Zhang Manhua asked with a smile.
"Mom, I'm going on a diet today, so I'm not having dinner." Pei Ge smiled at Zhang Manhua.
"You child, why are you going on a diet all of a sudden…" Zhang Manhua nagged.
Under Zhang Manhua's incessant nagging, Pei Ge returned to her bedroom.
The moment the door was closed, the smile on Pei Ge's face vanished as she powerlessly leaned against it.
There was one dark line and one light red line on the pregnancy test kit. Was she really pregnant?