A Few Days Later~
In her twenty years of life, Yiren never remembered herself being so light. It was like she was floating, but everything felt so different. It was like she was in another body.
Sure, it had to be another dream. She attempted to open her eyes to wake herself, but that moment never came. She surveyed the surroundings. None of them seemed like any place she had seen in the city.
She was in a forest filled with a myriad of trees and shrubs, all of unique and unusual blends of colours. The surrounding ambience made her feel at ease. She had never felt like this before. It definitely had to be a dreamscape, she said to herself silently.
Then, that voice that was oddly familiar came. Just that she couldn't recognise the owner of the voice. It was a female voice, but not from this world, she thought again.
"Jue'er… Jue'er…"
Who was Jue'er, and why was that person calling for her?
"Jue'er, you can't hide from the truth."
What truth was the voice referring to?
"You need to wake up, Jue'er."
Yiren jolted up in a shock. A glance at the wall clock looming above her head told her she was already late for her first lecture. She wouldn't make it for the first half of the session and would be in deep soup if she didn't submit her report this morning. Scratching the side of her head, she stared blankly towards the ceiling of her room.
There was one way she could probably make it for the second half of the session, if she will take the risk.
.....................
Aquinas University
Yiren scanned the halls for any signs of any classmates that would recognise her. Relieved to find none, she eased her way past the growing crowd to Lecture Room A-15. Without her cell phone for her to check on the time and her smart watch, which she had lost its charging cable in the commotion before the events leading to her spending the night with Dong Xu, she was blind to what was the time right now.
Fortunately, there was a digital clock embedded in the elevator's system, which she took to the fifteenth floor. She briefly recalled seeing the time as 9:45 a.m. about ten minutes ago. Professor Chang often granted a fifteen minute break between sessions, which meant she had to get into the room before ten a.m. if she wanted her attendance to count. Chances were that he wouldn't notice she was absent.
She slid into the lecture theatre, breathing rapidly as she counted her blessings. The room was oddly quiet. Ignoring the others, she found a vacant seat and fell into it.
Her fingers trembled slightly at the coldness of the room. Chang Mingde was cruel by turning on the air-conditioners in the room at full blast. One of Yiren's weakest points was how vulnerable she was to the cold. She hated cold rooms and winters most of all.
"Maybe Miss Feng will have some good news to share," a booming voice rasped her ears. She looked up abruptly to meet the vexation of none other than Chang Mingde himself. With dark eyes warning her of his next move and his intimidating body language, he was as fearsome as a vampire in Yiren's eyes.
"Professor Chang, I…"
She racked her brains for the best excuse. With Chang's strict mentality, there was no way he would accept her broken cell phone not waking her up as an excuse. Closing her eyes as she would normally do when she was nervous, Yiren took a deep breath.
What could she even say?
"Professor Chang, I can explain."
Lan Ning's voice sounded confident. She cracked open an eye to peek at the duo who were now exchanging looks.
"Sir, last night I asked for Miss Feng's help with my assignment." Before Chang could enquire further, Lan Ning added, "This has nothing to do with grades. I would like to know what another student, regardless of ability, thinks about my chosen models and the data I've collected so far. Basically, whether my research makes sense to someone who is not familiar with my assignment topic on retail marketing."
Chang had assigned each student a different topic to write on. While Lan Ning's allegation sounded genuine enough for Chang to take his words as the truth, she was unaware why Lan Ning would help her. The two of them had never shared a conversation in the past few months that it placed them in the same group for lectures and discussions. It was odd why he helped her for no reason.
"What do you think, Miss Feng?"
She took a few deep breaths and attempted to stay calm. "Professor Chang, Peer Zhang's work is exceptionally good and matches with what you have taught us during your lecture two weeks ago on how locations affect retail marketing, but there is one thing I found hard to understand about his work. He tends to use bigger words that a marketing student might not get."
As neither Chang nor Yiren had seen Lan Ning's work, the answer she had made up seemed believable so far. Professor Chang retreated with a meagre smile.
"I'll let you off this time, but I hope that this is the last time you aren't early for my lectures. Remember, it's for your own good."
She flashed a thankful smile at Lan Ning, who smiled back as well. The rest of the lecture went by without her realising. At the end, she placed her printed assignment on the bench where the professor would go through them later.
"Let me walk you to your car," Lan Ning called after her as she exited the room. She didn't have another session to attend until three in the afternoon and that was an elective course, which wasn't compulsory to attend in person. Coursework accounted for most of that module, so she skipped attendance and head to Dong Xu's office instead, which was three hours away, anyway.
She felt embarrassed for Lan Ning to see her 'car', as she had ridden on her motorcycle to reach the university in time this morning. Twisting one of her strands of her ink-jet hair, she mused if she should allow him to know.
"What's wrong?"
"I came out in such a hurry this morning that I hailed a cab."
"Then would you mind if I gave you a ride home?"
"Home? Uh, I have some things to do later."
Lan Ning smiled. Yiren knew little about the man himself, other than that he never needed to work a day of his life, being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was much wealthier than Cheng Xiaoyu considering his net worth on the internet.
"You owe me a meal, Feng Yiren," he moved his lips near her ear and whispered. She shuddered, faking a smile. He moved closer, pushing her against a locker outside. His eyes were dark and charming, but his stare reminded her of the dangerous warning in Professor Chang's eyes earlier. She didn't feel secure and quickly heaved him aside.
This was unlike how she felt with Dong Xu. With Dong Xu, she was eager to hand herself over to him. She quickly admonished herself for her humiliating thoughts. One should have dignity.
But the kiss…
Thinking of Dong Xu made her blush. Lan Ning however, took it as she was acting coquettishly with him and beamed.
"I'm taking it as you have agreed. Silence is consent."
She snapped out of her trance. If she went on further, this would lead to a weightier misunderstanding.
"Then let's go for lunch now. I don't like to owe anyone any favours."
Lan Ning looked speechless as he opened the door of a nearby vehicle and pressed his finger on the ignition.
"I'll be glad to."
It was now his turn to be nervous at her sudden openness, after how uncomfortable she was earlier.