Chapter 30: I’m His Girlfriend
Chu Jingyi pouted at her phone, cheeks puffed out like an angry pufferfish. Her eyes darted back and forth as she tried to figure out what kind of game Lu Li was playing at. After a moment’s thought, she typed out a message.
[Silly Goose: I’m your older sister!]
Silence. Lu Li seemed stunned by her message, and for a while, there was no reply. Chu Jingyi couldn’t help but feel a surge of smug satisfaction. Hmph, trying to play dumb with her? Well, she was too clever for that! But as the seconds ticked by with no response, she started to feel unsure again. Maybe she should play along with Lu Li’s act, pretend to be angry, and indulge his mischievous side? That way, he might actually reply…
Chu Jingyi pondered for a moment, wanting to ask if he was still there. But then she thought about how she always ended up pleading with him, which was so embarrassing. So, she sent a bomb emoji instead, a not-so-subtle hint for him to reply.
[Lu Li: Lu Li is already asleep. Who is this?]
[Silly Goose: Liar. If you’re asleep, then who’s texting me?]
[Lu Li: I’m his girlfriend.]
Chu Jingyi’s smile froze. She stared at the message, a strange feeling twisting in her gut. Lu Li’s prank had worked; she was genuinely upset. The word “girlfriend” in particular left a bitter taste in her mouth. An Baili had also claimed to be Lu Li’s girlfriend, but it hadn’t bothered her then. Maybe even her slow brain knew that An Baili and Lu Li weren’t really close?
[Silly Goose: Stop lying to me! I’m angry!]
Chu Jingyi pouted, trying to rationalize her feelings. Lu Li didn’t have a girlfriend. If he did, he would have told her. This lie was so easy to see through.
A moment later, she received a picture. In the photo, Lu Li was sleeping with his eyes closed. The dim light illuminated a woman’s arm draped around his neck, revealing half of her jawline and her soft lips. Even though her face wasn’t visible, it was easy to imagine that she was beautiful.
Chu Jingyi stared at the picture, searching for any signs of it being photoshopped. She didn’t understand why she was so reluctant to believe that Lu Li had a girlfriend she had never even heard of. A bitter feeling welled up inside her, and she typed out a sullen reply:
[Silly Goose: If you’re lying, I’ll never talk to you again!]
She hoped Lu Li would immediately respond with a “Haha, almost got you!” or a “I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again.” But there was no reply. She could only stare at the picture, her mind racing. Lu Li looked so peaceful, his head resting on the woman’s arm. But he was only a sophomore in high school. How could he… how could he be sleeping next to a girl?
Suddenly, she realized: Lu Li was her good friend. Why was she angry that he had a girlfriend? She should be happy for him! Wait, no, she should be stopping him from dating at such a young age! She was his class monitor, his friend; it was her responsibility to guide him!
Her thoughts were a jumbled mess, like little people arguing inside her head. She felt like she had lost something important. She remembered bumping into Lu Li at the bookstore before school started. She had been so happy to see him because she hadn’t had the chance to properly apologize for what happened last year. She had asked Lu Li’s parents to come to school, causing him a lot of trouble, and she had felt guilty ever since.
That was why she had recognized him instantly at the bookstore. But why had he called her “class monitor”? Chu Jingyi couldn’t stop overthinking. Could it be… that in Lu Li’s eyes, she was just a stranger? The more she thought about it, the more suffocated she felt. She considered him a good friend, but did he feel the same way about her? Come to think of it, Lu Li had always been a loner in class, never particularly close to anyone. Had she been fooling herself into thinking they were closer than they actually were?
The anxieties of a young girl in love were endless, her mind filled with far-fetched speculations. What if? Why? The uncertainty was agonizing.
Just when her eyes were welling up with tears, she received a message from “Lu Li.”
[Lu Li: I’m not lying. Who are you to him?]
What kind of tone was that…? Chu Jingyi’s pout deepened. She wanted to declare, “I’m his best friend!” But after typing out the first few words, she stopped. What if Lu Li didn’t see her that way? It would be humiliating to have her feelings dismissed so casually. She might not have much pride, but she wasn’t going to let herself be treated like a doormat. She deleted the message and stared at her phone, refusing to reply. She remembered how long it had taken him to respond earlier, so she would do the same. Always replying instantly made her feel inferior.
But after a few minutes, tears welled up in her eyes.
[Silly Goose: Let Lu Li talk to me]
She had forgotten the punctuation, a rare occurrence for the usually meticulous Chu Jingyi. She didn’t want to talk to the woman on the other end of the phone. She wanted to talk to Lu Li.
She felt like a deflated ball, tossed around and stepped on. It was an awful feeling. She had never experienced anything like it before, this strange sensation of having her emotions dictated by someone else’s actions.
A voice message arrived. It was a woman’s voice, pleasant and gentle. “Lu Li is asleep. You can tell me what you want to say, and I’ll let him know tomorrow.”
Well, that confirmed it. It wasn’t Lu Li. Chu Jingyi replayed the message over and over again, picturing a beautiful, mature woman holding the phone, imagining Lu Li lying beside her. A wave of sourness washed over her, like she had just bitten into an unripe apple.
She suddenly lost all desire to continue the conversation. Even if Lu Li answered the phone, she didn’t want to say a word. She curled up in bed, her good mood from earlier completely shattered, like a child coming home with a perfect test score, only to be told by her father that he was too busy to celebrate and maybe next time.
She remembered the time she had lost her favorite toy as a child. She had cried so hard, thinking she would never see her Buzz Lightyear again. It felt like he had vanished from her world forever. That was the first time Chu Jingyi had experienced the pain of loss. Today was the second.
But in her innocence, she couldn’t understand why she felt so sad. It wasn’t a heart-wrenching sadness, but a quiet, persistent ache, like a river flowing beneath a thick sheet of ice. Was it because her good friend had lied to her? She wondered.
That night, Chu Jingyi didn’t sleep a wink.
*
When Lu Li woke up from his drunken stupor, the sun was already high in the sky. He could still taste the remnants of alcohol in his mouth.
His lips felt a bit swollen. Was it from drinking too much?
He touched his mouth, thinking he looked like he had sausage lips. He decided to drink less today. His clothes were gone, probably washed and hung out to dry by his sister. He was only in his boxers. He felt a slight stickiness on his inner thighs and figured he must have spilled something on himself last night.
As he got up to get dressed, he saw the bathroom door open. Sister Yameng walked out, brushing her teeth.
“Sister Yameng?! What are you doing in my room?” He had his own room. Shouldn’t she be sharing with Zhou Wen?
Zou Yameng averted her eyes, avoiding his gaze. She mumbled something he couldn’t quite catch before rushing back into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
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