Hu Angli's POV
Once they're team had arrived back at the team house, he followed a few others to assist with setting the table and getting it ready for a hearty breakfast.
When finished, he dusted his hands off and went to look for his little queen. Even though she had always complained about her height, he found it cute how she never grew. She complained about not having grown an inch over the past year while he had grown another three, he was nearly six-feet tall at the age of 15. His only words of comfort to her was that he was one year older, it was only right that he was taller.
He found her outside wandering around the garden with a lost look on her face. Her petite body looked smaller next to the towering trees.
"Xiao Rui!" Her head turned, and a smile spread on her face, she waved at him and called out to him.
"LiLi!" He froze.
The last time he had heard her utter that nickname was the day her psychiatrist hypnotized her. He remembered overhearing the doctor's conversation with her parents.
*Flashback*
"Doctor, how is our doctor?" Li Fu Ning's arm wrapped protectively around his wife as she questioned the professional sitting across from them.
It had been one week since Xiao Rui was admitted into the psych ward at the best hospital in the country.
"I have good news and bad news,"
Li Fu Ning looked at his wife then back at the doctor, "We'll listen to the good news first,"
The doctor nodded and spoke, "Your daughter's condition was improved since receiving treatment, we have managed to find, hopefully the majority of her triggers that are all in this file,"
She slid a yellow file across the desk towards them.
"Before you ask, we have already set precautions against them and are doing our best to ensure that another episode doesn't occur,"
"And the b-bad news?" Mrs. Li stuttered.
"She may never recover from her trauma, we have semi-permanent ways of helping her, but ultimately, the results will depend entirely on your daughter,"
"What is this semi-permanent solution?"
"Hypnosis, this will temporarily seal off the memories she has regarding her trauma and significantly help her on her path to recovery. We will give her new memories to make sure that she doesn't get suspicious,"
"Are there any side effects?"
"Although it may seal off her memories, it won't seal off the severe triggers and fears. In the file, I have highlighted a few of them that may set off another episode,"
The couple opened the file and looked at the long list of triggers. Out of all of them, only four were highlighted.
From where he was standing, he couldn't get a clear view, but one of them must be the name 'Samuel,' and another 'LiLi,'
"We'll do it,"
"Very well, please sign here and here, make sure to read over the document carefully to ensure that nothing is of worry to you,"
"Thank you, Doctor,"
*Flashback ends*
____________________
Hu Angli's POV
"What did you just call me?"
He had assumed that his childhood nickname was one of her trigger words, how come she wasn't having an episode? Did he...did he assume wrongly? Then what was the last trigger? He had been so sure that his nickname was a trigger.
"LiLi? What? You gave me a nickname, now I'm giving you one, LiLi~~~,"
"Your head doesn't hurt?"
"No, why would it?"
"No reason,"
_____________________
Yaorui's POV
When the time came, they set off for school with their bags and books. The incident with Lan Yue's article was forgotten, and everyone was busy revising for the first day of exams.
Today marks the first exam date in the academics building, some students studying the sciences in the medical building were also required to attend a few of them.
Sun Long and Lan Yue were lagging behind, discussing something both silly and serious, at the same time.
If she was correct, they were discussing what she wanted Sun Long to tell Lan Yue in quiet whispers.
Upon arriving on campus, the school was buzzing with gossip and pages flipping. Students walked here and there in every direction, speaking in quiet voices or cramming last minute for the exams.
Their team went their separate ways when they reached the first intersection, splitting into small groups.
Along the way to call, fingers were pointed at them, and whispers erupted. "Something is wrong," Gebao frowned next to her. She had a test in anatomy and was headed to the academics building with her, Precious, and Lan Yue.
Wenshi had a verbal test coming up while Anshi and Sheng Rong were heading over to the technology building. Angli had a fitness test, and she was unsure of the rest.
"Lan Yue, what time did you post your article?" Precious asked.
"W-what? Oh, at 8:00am,"
"Was it detailed?"
"Maybe...?"
"Then we have our answer, the students are suspecting us of the hanging because you posted both too early and too well-done," Yaorui spoke for Precious.
"B-but,"
"We also weren't at the dining hall ever today, which means we, much less you, couldn't have known,"
"I'm sorry, I'll make sure to think thoroughly of consequences before posting anything,"
"How did you know?" Gebao asked.
"...I had a dream! A dream...from last night?" Lan Yue was a terrible liar, and she knew that she sounded like she was trying to convince herself rather than others. She sent a pleading glance to Yaorui.
"Let's figure out how to deal with the rumours first, and inform the group too,"
"If we want to dispel the rumours, we need to find the murderer, but we can't do that since both us and Japan depend on them,'
"Exactly, so we need someone to frame,"
"But who?"
"How about that shitty professor no one likes?" Lan Yue suggested excitedly.
"No, he favours the white people and is all bark no bite, he also doesn't have the physical fitness to overpower seven men,"
"A teacher from the arenas?"
"Maybe, or a carpenter, a construction professor, another student, someone in the stronger fields, engineering might also do,"
"Alright, we've narrowed it down, but let's save this for later, too many eyes and ears,"
They all agreed and went their separate ways.
"International studies this way, please!"
"Science and medical students this way, please!"
"Social students down hallway eleven!"
Yaorui made her to the international studies hall and went to the second floor for her language exams.
Fluently, she knew about 21 languages, four more than when she arrived. She was in the process of learning two more, Swahili and Turkish.
As she entered her assigned exam hall, eyes and ears turned towards her. Eyes and ears that she very happily met with a cold stoned faced look, portraying no emotion and no sign of guilt. Whispers of her being cold-hearted spread, and she was the new villain on campus.
Just as her day couldn't get any worse, Professor Chad Smith saunters into the room with a cocky smile and a proud strut. He slammed his briefcase onto the desk and smiled wider.
"Hello, students, I will be your supervisor. There will be no cheating, talking, whispering, or misbehaviour in my class. You there!" He pointed to two kids seated in the front row with her. "And you," He stuck out a fat finger in her direction, "Come hand out the tests, as soon as the first test is placed on a desk, I expect absolute silence,"
Yaorui inwardly rolled her eyes. It was the professor's scheme to take the top students and make them hand out tests to minimize their time to do the exam. It was child's play in her dictionary.
She took the tests from his hands happily, setting him off. As she walked around, handing out tests legs and feet stuck out to trip her and the other two students.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she witnessed one of them stumble. Chad Smith slammed the desk and told the student to finish then come upfront to wall squat for thirty minutes, a third of their test time.
Yaorui scolded the professor in her mind, imagining thousands of ways he could die a justifiable death.
It was clear to see that he was trying to make the student fail by limiting his test time. What a childish and petty man.
Since her back was turned to the oversized man, Yaorui wasn't too concerned about controlling her emotions. Placing down the last test, she repressed her feelings and returned to her usual cold expression. Professor Chad Smith's eyes burned a hole through her as she made her way down the ramp steadily, careful not to do anything that would give him a reason to punish her.
The look of disappointment when she sat down in her chair without a sound satisfied her to no end. Her necklace buzzed in agreement.
Question after question, she answered all of them quickly and doubtlessly. Her fingers whizzed against the screen as she copied down her answers from the test papers to the tablet embedded into the desk.
Her fingers adjusted her glasses several times while she was bent over her desk, and with one last tap of a button, Yaorui was done. She stood up quietly, taking the paper test with her and her bags. At the front of the room, she placed the test in the empty basket while the professor snored off.
Now that she thought of it, professor Chad Smith would make dandy criminal, after all, always expect the unexpected.