Chapter 19: Please Don’t Reject Me

‘Li Xingya is really pretty.’

‘The way she smiles is adorable.’

‘I really don’t understand how anyone could want to bully her.’

Inside the cafeteria, sitting next to Li Xingya, these were the truest thoughts in Meng Yiqiao’s heart.

At this moment, Li Xingya’s forehead was wrapped in gauze.

After the school nurse examined her, the injury wasn’t serious and wouldn’t leave a scar in the future.

Li Xingya took a bite of her lunch, then looked up at Meng Yiqiao who was staring at her.

“Sister, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Meng Yiqiao shook her head, then asked casually, “Does your forehead still hurt?”

Hearing Meng Yiqiao’s concern, Li Xingya smiled.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore. It wasn’t that bad a wound anyway, so you don’t need to worry, Sister.”

‘Just like this.’

‘Keep caring about me like this.’

‘For the next three long years, keep doing it, okay.’

Li Xingya bit her chopsticks and rested her chin on one hand.

“Speaking of which, Sister… that girl Xia Qi, what’s the dean going to do to her?”

“Probably suspend her for a month,” Meng Yiqiao guessed.

“Starseeing Academy has always forbidden physical fights between students, and Xia Qi caused your forehead to get hurt. That’s absolutely unforgivable at this school.”

“I see.”

Li Xingya thought for a moment, then pulled out her phone and opened StarJoy to look up the Starlight Ranking.

From rank 1352 all the way to first place, she scanned every single one. She didn’t find Xia Qi’s name.

‘If she’s suspended, does she not even appear on the ranking?’

‘Serves her right.’

Li Xingya’s lips curled up slightly.

‘Who told her to call me a bitch?’

‘But… I never thought I’d do something like that.’

Recalling everything that happened in the classroom, Li Xingya couldn’t help but find it strange.

‘Too smooth.’

Whether it was subconsciously observing the camera angles,

Provoking the other party’s emotions,

Seizing the moment Meng Yiqiao entered to strike,

Or even afterward, playing the victim to extricate herself cleanly from the bullying incident.

‘Everything was too smooth.’

In Li Xingya’s previous life, she had always played the role of an invisible person at school.

The good students didn’t remember her, the bad students couldn’t recall her. Even after struggling through the workplace for a while, she shouldn’t have been able to act so… proficient in her first counterattack.

‘Is it a problem with this body?’

Li Xingya frowned.

She remembered being surrounded by those five people while everyone else did nothing—even looked away.

‘That’s so infuriating.’

“Li Xingya?”

“Huh?”

“What are you thinking about?”

Meng Yiqiao looked at the gauze on Li Xingya’s forehead.

In the very center, a faint trace of crimson was visible.

Meng Yiqiao reached out and gently stroked Li Xingya’s brow.

“Don’t frown so much. It’ll make the wound open up again.”

Li Xingya subconsciously replied, “Sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Umm.”

Li Xingya paused, then simply shook her head.

“No… it’s nothing.”

‘Yeah, why?’

‘Probably because I caused Meng Yiqiao trouble.’

‘I was planning to make good use of her for three years, after all.’

‘But… that workplace habit I’ve carried over—trying to handle my own work independently as much as possible.’

‘I still feel embarrassed in front of Meng Yiqiao without thinking.’

‘…I kinda want to die.’

The corner of Li Xingya’s mouth twitched.

“Ah, Sister, there’s something on your chin.”

Li Xingya pulled a tissue from the table and, without waiting for Meng Yiqiao’s permission, wiped it off for her.

When her fingers accidentally brushed against the faint, tiny black mole at the corner of Meng Yiqiao’s mouth, Li Xingya’s heart inexplicably trembled.

‘What is this feeling?’

‘It’s a bit like those sleepless nights before paying off my debts in my last life, that inexplicable anxiety in the dead of night.’

‘But—it’s not that unpleasant.’

Li Xingya couldn’t understand this feeling.

It was like not being able to tell whether the gaze on her back during class was curiosity or jealousy.

‘Forget it.’

‘Let’s not think about these things.’

If I can’t figure something out, just forget it. Don’t keep the anxiety—only then can I work well.

Li Xingya pulled her hand back.

She saw that Meng Yiqiao’s face had flushed slightly.

“…Li Xingya,” Meng Yiqiao said quietly.

Li Xingya tilted her head.

“Yes?”

She clearly didn’t understand why Meng Yiqiao was blushing.

But Meng Yiqiao seemed to have made some kind of decision.

“Can I call you Xiaoya from now on?”

“Sure, you can, but… why the sudden urge to call me that?”

“Because—”

‘Because every time I say your name, your reaction is so interesting.’

‘That dazed look, like you’re waiting for someone to give you orders.’

‘It’s even more captivating than your smile.’

“Xiaoya.”

This time, Li Xingya didn’t have that reaction.

Meng Yiqiao let out a long sigh of relief.

‘Mm, that’s much better.’

“Xiaoya, I can clean something off my own chin, you know.”

Even as she said this, Meng Yiqiao’s face was still a little red.

Li Xingya’s eyes drooped slightly.

“Sister… do you dislike me? You don’t like me touching you?”

‘Just kidding.’

‘I know you actually like me quite a bit.’

Meng Yiqiao looked a bit flustered.

“No, I—I didn’t mean that.”

“If you didn’t, then don’t refuse me.”

Li Xingya took Meng Yiqiao’s hand.

“Let me help you out sometimes, Sister.”

‘Don’t refuse me.’

‘No matter what the request, please don’t refuse me.’

‘Think of it as my way of repaying you, okay?’

Adult friendships are about reciprocity.

Li Xingya always subconsciously thought about whether she could do something for Meng Yiqiao in return.

But what could she do?

Li Xingya had no money, and she wasn’t willing to actually spend money on Meng Yiqiao.

As for academic matters, Meng Yiqiao—already a top student—didn’t need Li Xingya’s help at all.

That wouldn’t do. Even if Li Xingya was slow to pick up on others’ feelings, she always understood one principle: taking without giving will soon make the other party tired of you.

‘So, let me help Sister with these little trivial things.’

‘Once Sister gets used to having me around, she’ll unconsciously rely on me, right?’

Li Xingya thought as she tightened her grip on Meng Yiqiao’s hand. Her eyes quickly moistened, as if tears were about to well up.

“Sister… do you hate me?”

“Please don’t hate me, okay.”

If Li Xingya’s smile was the most beautiful thing in the world,

Then her tears were definitely the most lethal weapon.

Meng Yiqiao’s gaze became wavering.

“How could I hate you?”

“Really, you don’t hate me?”

“Mm. Being with you naturally makes me feel better.”

“Then, Sister, smile for me,” Li Xingya suddenly said.

“You say your mood gets better, but I rarely see you smile.”

Asking an iceberg beauty to smile was a pretty daring request, wasn’t it?

Since middle school, no one had ever dared say something like that to Meng Yiqiao.

“Hey, why do you always wear that stern face? Come on, give me a smile”—words like that would obviously make Meng Yiqiao angry.

But… if it was Li Xingya’s request?

Meng Yiqiao’s lips lifted just a little.

She smiled—a smile that belonged only to Li Xingya.

Seeing this, Li Xingya felt relieved.

‘A pretty nice smile.’

‘No matter how you look at it, she’s just a piece of sticky mochi.’

‘Sister’s heart is actually soft and sweet on the inside.’