Lei Nuwa and Zhou Lan had been talking a bit throughout the trip, but towards the end, Zhou Lan had fallen asleep leaning on Lei Nuwa's shoulder.
In Lei Nuwa's third life, she had gotten pregnant from a random man. She did not remember who he was, but she knew that she had felt a protectiveness and warmth for the baby growing in her stomach. This was a similar feeling she felt as she watched Zhou Lan breathing calmly next to her. Her third life, although spent away from Liu Yichen and Shi Qian, caused her the most pain upon remembering it. She had lost everything in all of her lives, but the loss of her child seemed like the one she could never move on from.
Lei Nuwa unwittingly brought a hand up to her stomach and swallowed hard.
'This is a new life, Lei Nuwa. Your child is not harmed— your child doesn't exist.'
Lei Nuwa was not sure which one hurt more. She closed her eyes and took a breath. Zhou Lan, upon waking up, looked out the window to see the school coming into view.
"Lei Nuwa! We're here! It's so big and fancy…I bet you aren't surprised though, isn't this your normal." She laughed again. "Just kidding! God, it's like a fairytale castle." Lei Nuwa was not surprised, but not for the reason Zhou Lan thought. The first time she had seen the school she had reacted the same way– earning her ridicule from Shi Qian and Yang Sui. Now, the place represented nothing but pain and suffering. She felt her heart darken, but you could not see it on her face.
"It really is beautiful." She said curtly, gathering her bags in order to get off quickly. Everytime she ran into Liu Yichen or Shi Qian in school resulted in something violent or humiliating. She wanted to run as fast as she could towards her room in order to avoid them.
"You don't talk much, Lei Nuwa. But that's okay! I talk a lot so it evens out, right?" Lei Nuwa again could not control her body as she ruffled Zhou Lan's hair.
"Ai Nuwa, watch it! I worked hard styling this, I'm not a dog!"
Nuwa laughed and fixed Zhou Lan's hair.
"Why are you so matronly? You are young, it seems you will grow wrinkles any minute." Lei Nuwa hesitantly brought her hands up to her face, checking for lines or wrinkles. Upon confirming her skin was still youthful, she pinched Zhou Lan's cheeks.
"Maybe I should create wrinkles on your face, Zhou Lan!" Zhou Lan squealed and begged for mercy, laughing until she clutched her stomach. Even Nuwa felt a little giddy, caught up in Zhou Lan's contagious excitement.
***
The bus crawled to a stop a little away from the school's gates. As students piled out, sweaty and exhausted, a small girl found a crack in the school's exterior wall. As she squeezed through, she knew who she was going to run into, and braced herself.
Like her last lives, she came across a young man having sex with another student– a loud student. She tried to sneak past, hoping that this life would continue to be different in her favor. Unfortunately, the heavens ignored her in this case.
The loud student screamed upon seeing Lei Nuwa, covering herself with the man on top of her. Upon hearing the scream, Lei Nuwa rolled her eyes and kept walking. If this life were to act out like her previous ones, the boy would follow her.
"Hey!" She wanted to cough up blood. She reluctantly turned around and faced the young man, crossing her arms.
"Sorry for disturbing you. I won't tell anyone, so I'll be going now." The boy ran in front of her to block her path. Lei Nuwa wanted to punch and kick at him while screaming, but instead tried to push him out of her way. He was much bigger than her, much taller, so it looked like a mouse trying to push a cat out of the way. Behind her, Lei Nuwa could hear the girl student yelling.
"Lin Cheng! How could you leave me like that?" She ran up to him, ignoring Lei Nuwa's presence.
"Uh, I'm sorry. It was fun, we should stay in touch, er…" He tried his best to remember her name, even placing his fingers on his temples and closing his eyes. Lei Nuwa wondered if she kneed him down there, if he would still be able to have children. The girl beside her was thinking something similar, but attacked Lin Cheng. He easily blocked her petty scratches, and slightly pushed her away from him, causing her to stumble and fall.
"You bastard! I hate you, Lin Cheng!" She got up and gathered her clothes, then ran away crying. Nuwa pitied her, but was glad for the scene because it allowed her to sneak past Lin Cheng.
"Hey, if you keep running, I will think you were here for perverted reasons." Lei Nuwa stomped her foot and turned around. She stared at the man in front of her– the one who had created so much chaos in her previous lives. She wanted to run, but she knew there was no place far enough in this school to escape the devious boy.
"I have somewhere to be– go comfort that poor girl and let me be, okay?"
"Poor girl? She trapped me into pleasing her. I'm the victim here."
Lei Nuwa knew that there was nothing she could say or do that would dissuade Lin Cheng from following her, so she just continued to walk, knowing he would follow.
"Miss, it's not nice to ignore someone. Are you wearing contacts? Why do you look so unkempt? Did you wander here from the asylum, perhaps?" He continued bothering her, until she arrived at her dorm building.
She turned and gave him a wry smile.