After Rebirth, My Ex-Girlfriend Became Obsessive - Chapter 15

After cutting the vegetables, An Yu swapped positions with Lin Duxi, taking on the role of assistant while Lin Duxi took charge of cooking.

Lin Duxi, now the “head chef,” skillfully washed the meat, her fair hands-seemingly untouched by labor-handling the task with practiced ease. Seeing how effortlessly she worked, An Yu felt she had no place in the kitchen and quietly stepped out.

Wandering around, she eventually made her way to the backyard, where Pei Lu and Feng Zhinian were struggling to assemble the barbecue grill. The two pampered young masters, completely inexperienced with such tasks, were huffing and puffing but still hadn’t managed to put it together.

An Yu stood at the doorway, watching them fumble in frustration.

Pei Lu, sharp-eyed, noticed An Yu the moment she arrived. He shot her a hostile glare and snorted loudly through his nose.

When the director had announced earlier that the two of them had won a special reward, Pei Lu had been consumed with jealousy, even wishing he could replace An Yu as Lin Duxi’s partner.

What right does this nobody have to stand beside Lin Duxi?  he thought bitterly.  I’m the one who best matches her, yet An Yu snatched the opportunity first. That reward should have been mine!

With that thought, he shot another fierce look at An Yu, suppressing the anger in his chest and ignoring her as he returned to fiddling with the grill.

His hostility was too blatant to ignore. An Yu inwardly rolled her eyes but, following the system’s orders, turned and headed back to the kitchen. There, she found Lin Duxi meticulously marinating the meat, her back turned.

Softly, An Yu spoke up, “Pei Lu and the others seem to be struggling with the grill. Should we go help?”

Lin Duxi didn’t pause or react, as if she hadn’t heard.

The chat exploded with comments

[Xixi’s so focused on marinating she didn’t even hear, haha!]

[She’s totally pretending. So cute!]

[Lin Duxi’s ears-automatically filtering out unwanted noise. I need that feature too!]

An Yu raised an eyebrow, inexplicably pleased by this reaction. Her earlier irritation began to fade. She didn’t repeat herself and turned to leave, intending to help just to shut the system up. But just as she took a step, a cool, clear voice spoke behind her.

“Ah Yu, I’ll go. Can you put the meat away for me?”

Her tone was as considerate as ever, full of warmth, as if she never harbored any negative emotions. But to An Yu’s ears, it carried a different meaning.

An Yu paused, then walked over and took over the marinating, spreading the seasoning over the meat.

Lin Duxi washed her hands meticulously, watching An Yu’s movements. She lathered soap over and over, scrubbing every inch of her hands clean. Her nails were neatly trimmed, and the thick foam made the live chat flood with shameless comments.

An Yu glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, an inexplicable tightness forming in her chest. She turned away, forcing herself to focus.

Noticing this, Lin Duxi finally turned off the tap, dried her hands, and prepared to leave. Before going, she stepped closer to An Yu and gently tugged at her rolled-up sleeve, whispering tenderly,

“I’ll be back soon. Ah Yu, remember to miss me, okay?”

Her tone was reluctant, as if she were setting off on a long journey.

As Lin Duxi’s footsteps faded, An Yu’s hazel eyes darkened further. She was tangled in conflicting emotions.

Lin Duxi’s half-joking words had struck a chord. Would An Yu miss her? If you had asked the An Yu of six years ago, she would have answered without hesitation:  Yes.

Humans tend to forget pain once wounds heal, but An Yu remembered every second of that agony with painful clarity. Because she remembered, she was now lost.

If I kept missing her, did that mean I loved her?  An Yu sifted through blurred memories, trying to discern whether she had truly loved Lin Duxi back then. If she had, then she must have poured every ounce of her being into that love.

But the system had made it clear: in this world, the male and female leads were destined. Pei Lu had fallen for Lin Duxi at first sight, and now, Lin Duxi was helping him.

So what An Yu had felt back then couldn’t have been love-just nostalgia for a first love, a fleeting memory of youthful naivety.

Memories were unreliable. What was lost could never truly be reclaimed.

An Yu laughed mockingly at herself.  What if back then…

No. No what-ifs.

The slightly ajar door behind her creaked open, but An Yu, lost in thought, didn’t notice.

Lin Duxi stepped forward quietly, slowing her pace. Seeing An Yu’s back, her lips curled slightly. Then, without warning, she pounced forward, wrapping her arms around An Yu from behind and nuzzling against her.

“Ah Yu, I’m back. Did you miss me? I missed you so, so much.”

An Yu stiffened, then quickly softened, replying gently, “You only left for a little while, and you’re already like this?”

The sudden warmth in her voice caught Lin Duxi off guard, sending her heart racing. She pressed her face against An Yu’s back, greedily breathing in her scent. “Mhm, I really missed you. I wanted to do this with you. Did you miss me?”

An Yu chuckled, the sound light but edged with something indiscernible. “Lin Duxi.”

Lin Duxi shuddered. She immediately sensed the shift in An Yu’s mood and opened her mouth to speak-but then An Yu’s sweet yet knife-sharp words cut her off.

“I used to miss you so much it hurt. I couldn’t bear to be apart from you for even a second. But now…  Hah.  ”

Lin Duxi’s blood ran cold. She hastily released An Yu, trying to turn her around to see her face.

What happened? Just a moment ago, she seemed fine. Why now?

“Ah Yu…”

Her heart pounded erratically. That suffocating sense of defeat, long absent, surged back. Her eyes reddened unnaturally as she gripped An Yu’s wrist, desperate to see her expression, to understand what was in her heart.

But An Yu didn’t indulge her. She pried Lin Duxi’s fingers away and walked off without looking back.

“The meat’s marinated. You can check it yourself. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave.”

Unable to resolve her inner turmoil, An Yu avoided Lin Duxi and retreated to a secluded corner of the villa, staring blankly at the overgrown grass.

Meanwhile, on the second-floor balcony of the villa, a stunning woman stood watching the lone figure sitting gloomily in the garden. Waves of emotion churned in her eyes as she stared-for as long as An Yu remained lost in thought, Lin Duxi never looked away.

As Xie An’an had predicted, it was already evening by the time everyone hastily finished preparing for the barbecue, bringing out the skewered ingredients from the kitchen.

The grill was preheated with charcoal. An Yu placed a few skewers on it, the evening breeze dispersing some of her earlier frustration. She sat on a chair, sipping slowly from a bottle of alcohol.

Someone suddenly sat beside her. An Yu instinctively moved to distance herself but then heard a cheerful voice.

“Teacher An, drinking alone? Not joining the barbecue?” Xie An’an handed her a skewer while happily munching on her own.

Live chat comments flew by

[Carefree Xie An’an, can’t you see Teacher An’s contemplating life? Lol.]

An Yu accepted the skewer, inwardly mocking herself. “Just put some on the grill. I’ll join later.”

“Ah, I thought maybe today’s task left you traumatized,” Xie An’an said offhandedly.

“Traumatized?” An Yu turned to her, puzzled. “By what?”

“Yeah! So many people crowding into the shop, layers upon layers of them. Even if you weren’t scared, it’d still be overwhelming, right? Yet you didn’t seem bothered at all. Respect.” Xie An’an gave her a thumbs-up.

An Yu blinked in confusion.  What did she mean? Was Lin Duxi overwhelmed by the customers when selling the fans today? Why didn’t I know? Lin Duxi never mentioned it.

Her gaze instinctively sought out Lin Duxi, who sat slightly away from the fire, watching the others at the grill with an almost innocent expression.

Noticing An Yu’s stare, she turned. The firelight flickered across her face, highlighting her exhaustion-yet when she saw An Yu, she smiled. The flames reflected in her eyes, bringing them to life.