After Rebirth, My Ex-Girlfriend Became Obsessive - Chapter 19

When An Yu finished her shower, it was already very late. Glancing at the clock on the wall, its hands pointing to 12, she quietly closed the bathroom door.

She had spent too much time lost in thought in the shower and hadn’t realized how late it had gotten.

The room was silent, save for the occasional  drip  of water falling from her hair. An Yu looked toward the bed-the neatly spread covers had a small lump under them, motionless. It seemed Lin Duxi had gone to bed early.

An Yu only roughly towel-dried her damp hair, stopping once it was half-dry before preparing to sleep.

The bed in this room was placed flush against the wall. Lin Duxi slept on the outer side, buried under the blanket with only her peaceful face exposed, quiet and still.

An Yu couldn’t get to the inner side from anywhere else, and she didn’t want to wake Lin Duxi, so she carefully prepared to step over her. Just as she lifted her leg to cross over, Lin Duxi suddenly turned over, the rustling of the sheets startling An Yu.

An Yu froze mid-step, balancing on one foot like a statue. After a moment, when Lin Duxi only murmured something softly without waking, An Yu finally relaxed and stepped over.

She spread out the blanket and comfortably settled into bed, turning off the light. In the quiet whispers of the night, the exhaustion of the day seemed to melt away into the soft mattress. But before she could even sigh in relief, she heard Lin Duxi’s faint murmurs beside her.

An Yu turned her head toward Lin Duxi. Under the moonlight, she could clearly see Lin Duxi’s furrowed brows and pained expression, her lips slightly parting as if silently suffering.

An Yu’s heart sank. She leaned closer and finally made out what Lin Duxi was saying.

“It hurts… so painful… so sore…”

Her exhales brushed against An Yu’s skin. Despite the room’s comfortable temperature, her breath felt chillingly cold.

Frowning, An Yu reached out to check Lin Duxi’s forehead-no fever.

She withdrew her hand, lost in thought, when she suddenly remembered the last time she had picked Lin Duxi up from a gathering. Back then, too, Lin Duxi had leaned into her arms, frowning and murmuring in pain. And just like now, she had been drinking.

Was it because she drank and then got exposed to the wind?

An Yu recalled an article she had read before. She, a minor celebrity, already had to attend countless unavoidable banquets, carefully avoiding getting drunk.

But what about Lin Duxi?

Had she been enduring this for years? A sharp pang struck An Yu’s heart, spreading into an ache of pity, tinged with bitterness.

Without another thought, An Yu reached out and gently massaged Lin Duxi’s temples, hoping to ease her pain.

Sure enough, after a while, Lin Duxi’s furrowed brows gradually relaxed. An Yu’s tense heart also eased, and soon, the exhaustion from only a few hours of sleep combined with the day’s fatigue overwhelmed her. She blinked once, then succumbed to drowsiness.

Late at night, the silvery moonlight spilled through the half-drawn curtains, casting a pale glow over the floor and blankets.

In the silent room, the sheets rustled abruptly as Lin Duxi suddenly opened her eyes. The next second, overwhelming pain wracked her body, forcing her to grit her teeth and gasp for air. Instinctively, her hand reached for her pocket to grab her medicine-only to freeze.

For this trip, she hadn’t brought her medication, afraid An Yu would find out.

Helpless, Lin Duxi clutched her head, biting down hard to suppress any sound as her body trembled, enduring the pain in silence.

After what felt like an eternity, the agony finally receded. Lin Duxi panted like a stranded fish, her body drained of strength, her heart pounding violently as if trying to escape her chest. A thin layer of sweat covered her skin. She wiped her forehead and pulled the blanket aside for air-only to see An Yu’s sleeping face beside her.

Perhaps too exhausted, An Yu was deep in sleep, undisturbed by Lin Duxi’s movements, lying there like a peaceful doll.

Lin Duxi couldn’t help but smile.

An Yu was sleeping right beside her. Even with the blanket between them, just hearing An Yu’s soft breathing melted her heart into a pool of spring water, sinking her deeper into the abyss named  An Yu  .

She couldn’t struggle free-nor did she want to.

The memory of An Yu’s blatant indifference to her seduction earlier resurfaced. Lin Duxi lowered her eyes, her long lashes trembling as an obsessive, stubborn emotion seeped from her gaze. She clenched her fists and smiled silently.

An Yu doesn’t know… after seeing her reaction today, I was truly heartbroken. So heartbroken it felt like dying.

I can’t accept it. Absolutely can’t accept it.

Lin Duxi’s trembling fingers brushed aside a stray lock of hair from An Yu’s face, staring at her with fascination.

Watching An Yu’s serene sleeping face, the darkness in Lin Duxi’s eyes deepened, and other thoughts gradually crept into her heart.

—

Thanks to the day’s exhaustion, An Yu slept deeply. At some point, a faint, refreshing fragrance drifted into her senses. Her nose twitched slightly as the scent tugged at memories buried deep in her mind, spreading through her dreams. Unconsciously, she tightened her arms around the person in her embrace.

After naturally breaking the thin ice between them, An Yu and Lin Duxi settled into an ordinary deskmate relationship.

They exchanged brief conversations between classes, asked each other questions, reminded one another about textbooks for the next lesson-nothing beyond that.

A relationship hovering between friends and ordinary classmates.

Yet this relationship wasn’t entirely ordinary.

Lin Duxi wasn’t the type to socialize easily. When no one approached her, she would sit at her desk solving problems, appearing to others like an untouchable, ethereal figure.

But whenever An Yu was near, she would set aside her work and actively engage with her, even supervising An Yu’s daily homework progress. As Shi Yu once put it, “An Yu has a teacher sitting next to her.”

An Yu noticed all this but found it strange without dwelling on it, assuming it was just Lin Duxi’s special way of treating a deskmate.

Lin Duxi had excellent grades and striking looks. Though she rarely interacted with others, her voice carried a gentle softness when she did. Someone like her couldn’t possibly lack admirers in high school.

Though An Yu didn’t pay much attention to others’ opinions, she still overheard praises of Lin Duxi’s beauty from all corners of the classroom. She also noticed the stolen glances from students in other classes whenever Lin Duxi walked past.

Once, in a hallway, she even overheard a group of male classmates laughing loudly. Only when she passed by did she catch their conversation.

“That one-top three in the grade. I’ll have her in a week!”

An Yu cursed under her breath as she walked by. The boys’ faces flushed red, but the moment they saw it was her, they deflated like punctured balloons. An Yu walked past them coldly, and the boys didn’t dare move.

An Yu found it ridiculous-all bark and no bite, shrinking the moment they encountered someone with influence.

There were too many incidents like this, and though An Yu tried not to care, they always found their way into her mind, stubbornly refusing to leave.

These thoughts reminded her of another small matter-back in first year of high school, she often received notes from people, either asking to be friends or inviting her out. But by second year, she no longer had to deal with such annoyances. Though she found it strange, she was relieved.

As the monthly exams approached, the homeroom teacher began emphasizing the importance of second year’s first major test, spouting the usual “determines the college entrance exam” rhetoric.

An Yu sat at her desk, drowsy. The dry autumn wind rustled the golden leaves outside, their reflections shimmering under the sunlight.

It’s autumn.  An Yu sneezed appropriately.

The person beside her shifted slightly closer. A faint, soothing fragrance drifted into An Yu’s senses, replacing the dry air and instantly easing her nose. Her muddled mind cleared slightly.

“The teacher’s coming.” A gentle reminder sounded.

An Yu snapped back to attention, picking up her pen to pretend she was busy. But her head soon returned to its foggy state. She lowered her head, and when she tried to lift it again, she found she lacked even the strength to do so.

Her mind throbbed as if tiny people were dancing inside-painful and heavy. The world around her blurred between reality and illusion. She faintly heard a voice beside her, someone speaking softly, as if asking her something. The voice was pleasant. Out of politeness, An Yu instinctively responded, and then the voice grew distant.

Just as she thought she could finally rest, someone suddenly pulled her up. Too weak to resist, she was half-carried out of the classroom in a daze.