After Rebirth, My Ex-Girlfriend Became Obsessive - Chapter 30

In the following days, An Yu and Lin Duxi tacitly turned their evenings into rehearsal time. Under Lin Duxi’s meticulous guidance, An Yu’s acting skills gradually improved.

Thanks to An Yu’s rising popularity from the variety show, even though the company had initially wanted to freeze her out due to Qi Qi’s influence, they couldn’t resist the money and ended up securing several lucrative endorsements for her.

An Yu sat in front of the makeup mirror while the artist carefully applied her makeup. As she flipped through the schedule, her phone on the table lit up. She picked it up and opened the message.

Lin Duxi:  Have you practiced today, Ah Yu?

An Yu typed back:  Filming an ad right now.

What ad?

Without thinking, An Yu sent the name of the advertisement.

The screen showed “The other party is typing…” before the notification disappeared. After waiting for a while without a reply, An Yu assumed Lin Duxi didn’t want to disturb her shoot and turned off her phone.

Ever since she had started rehearsing with Lin Duxi, the latter had been monitoring her acting practice like a hawk, always responding instantly whenever An Yu had questions-as if she had no work of her own.

An Yu pondered for a moment. Lin Duxi’s job was filming movies, which shouldn’t involve such tedious tasks. But if she didn’t have much work, why had she agreed to join  Hello, Friend  , a small, unnoticed variety show at the time?

If this was the author’s decision for the world, wasn’t it too illogical? Why would a reigning Best Actress stoop to such a minor program?

Was it the attraction between the male and female leads? But if that attraction was built on an illogical premise, didn’t that prove the system’s so-called “100% compatibility” was just a joke?

An Yu felt she had stumbled upon something significant and decided to question the system.

“System, why did Lin Duxi really join Hello, Friend  ?”

The system seemed slow to activate, taking a long time to respond after An Yu’s call.

“Host, what strange thoughts are you having now?” The system’s cold, mechanical voice echoed in her mind, as detached as ever.

An Yu: “Didn’t you say the male and female leads are 100% compatible? But this compatibility is based on a strange coincidence. Lin Duxi is a newly crowned Best Actress-countless variety shows were clamoring for her at the time. Why would she choose an obscure little program like this? Doesn’t that seem weird to you?”

She analyzed the situation point by point, but the system didn’t respond until she finished. Then, it abruptly let out a laugh-still icy, as if it were nothing more than an emotionless machine programmed to give scripted answers.

“The attraction and compatibility between the male and female leads are determined by the novel’s world. The host’s doubts are irrelevant here. Even if it weren’t Hello, Friend, they would have met on another show. This isn’t an issue at all.”

At first glance, the answer seemed to address An Yu’s concerns, but in reality, it explained nothing-just vague generalities. An Yu nodded as if understanding, but the seed of doubt had already taken root in her heart.

“In the next episode, as the host should already know, Lin Duxi will pair up with the male lead. So you won’t need to put in so much effort anymore. Didn’t you say you couldn’t see the relationship between the male and female leads? Then just watch their chemistry and compatibility closely.”

Mentioning the next episode, the system’s tone couldn’t help but carry a hint of glee.

An Yu said nothing, listening silently until it finished speaking and disappeared.

“Teacher An, filming will start soon.” A staff member gently reminded her. An Yu snapped out of her thoughts and stood up to prepare.

“This time, you’ll be working with one of our company’s younger photographers. Coincidentally, she also graduated from Jiangcheng No. 2 High School-you two are alumni!” The staff member chatted, hoping to ease An Yu’s nerves about the first-time collaboration.

“Really? What a coincidence.” An Yu smiled slightly.

Footsteps approached. When An Yu looked up and saw the person’s face, she froze for a moment before quickly recalling the name.

“Tong Ge.”

The woman called Tong Ge raised an eyebrow and extended her hand. “An Yu, long time no see.” They shook hands politely.

The staff member standing nearby was stunned. “You two really do know each other?”

Tong Ge smiled. “High school classmates. It’s been six years, hasn’t it?”

An Yu nodded with a faint smile. In high school, Tong Ge had been one of the few people she was relatively close to, aside from Shi Yu and Lin Duxi. But after  that incident  , An Yu had lost contact with all her classmates.

“Running into each other here really is fate.” An Yu agreed with a smile.

“Since you two know each other, the shoot should go smoothly. That’s a relief.” The staff member sighed happily. “Teachers, let’s begin filming.”

Tong Ge nodded and glanced at An Yu. “After the shoot, want to grab coffee downstairs?”

An Yu thought for a moment and agreed.

Since Tong Ge was an old classmate, An Yu felt much less nervous. The shoot proceeded smoothly and even finished ahead of schedule.

After packing up her things and removing her makeup, An Yu headed downstairs to meet Tong Ge.

Tong Ge sat in a corner of the café. Following the waiter’s directions, An Yu found her and took a seat across from her.

“It’s been so long. You couldn’t make it to the last class reunion either.” Tong Ge handed her the menu casually.

An Yu smiled. “I really was too busy at the time.” Her eyes quickly scanned the dessert options before settling on one.

“Mango pancake.” She handed the menu back to the waiter.

Tong Ge raised an eyebrow slightly. “You’ve changed your tastes after all these years. I remember you didn’t really like mangoes before?”

She didn’t finish her sentence, swallowing the rest of the words.

Lin Duxi loved mangoes the most.

An Yu:  “People grow up and learn to accept things.”  She was in a hurry, so she cut straight to the point.

Tong Ge, who had been gazing out the window at the passing cars, said, “It’s been six years. Running into an old classmate like this really is a coincidence. I was shocked too when I found out I’d be working with you.”

“We haven’t seen each other since graduation. Actually, I’ve always wanted to apologize to you.” Tong Ge turned back, her expression sincere.

An Yu froze, stirring her coffee with a spoon. “Why? It wasn’t your fault.”

Tong Ge lowered her head and shook it slightly. “Not about that. I only found out after school started that your parents had… passed away.”

As one of the few classmates An Yu had been somewhat close to, Tong Ge had been completely unaware of her situation after the incident-her best friend leaving the country, her breakup-and she had carried this guilt for years.

Tong Ge’s head was bowed, her brows tightly furrowed, her fingers unconsciously fidgeting on the table. All this time, she had felt she owed An Yu an apology. When she learned she’d be working with An Yu, she had resolved to finally say those words.

Hearing her apology, An Yu smiled faintly. “Back then, not many people knew about my parents’ passing.” She comforted the person who seemed on the verge of burying her head in the table. “I’ll accept your apology, so don’t feel bad anymore.”

Tong Ge finally relaxed, the weight in her heart lifting slightly. She looked up, her eyes still misty.

An Yu handed her a tissue with a smile. Tong Ge took it, wiping her tears, feeling a little embarrassed.

“You’re laughing at me, but aren’t you back together with Lin Duxi now?”

An Yu’s smile stiffened. “No.”

Tong Ge’s hands, still dabbing at her tears, froze. Realizing she’d put her foot in her mouth again, she quickly shut up.

So all those online rumors were lies? That’s brutal!

“S-sorry, I watched your variety show together, and you two seemed just like before, so I thought…” she stammered an apology.

An Yu was taken aback: “Same as before? Was my relationship with Lin Duxi back then the same as it is now?”

“Actually, not quite.” Tong Ge replied. Seeing An Yu’s inquisitive gaze, she gritted her teeth and began fabricating.

“Back then, the two of you just looked perfect standing together. Everyone in the class knew you two started dating after graduation. Those who had crushes on you were heartbroken for ages. It was like you two had this magnetic field that shut everyone else out-only you two understood each other, like kindred spirits.”

There was one thing Tong Ge didn’t say aloud: the two of them looked even more visually harmonious now than before, and the way they interacted had this push-and-pull tension, an ambiguous undercurrent. What kind of exes act like this? It was even more addictive to watch.

Hearing firsthand accounts of her high school days with Lin Duxi from someone who had been there left An Yu feeling restless. She sat in her chair, goosebumps rising on her skin, but she forced herself to listen patiently.

“That’s it?”

“How much more do you want to hear?” Tong Ge was stunned, starting to suspect that An Yu’s earlier claim of not having gotten back together was a lie-maybe they were secretly dating and hiding it. That would explain everything.

“When you two broke up back then, I thought it was just a normal fight. But then you really split-you vanished, and Lin Duxi left Jiangcheng too. I felt so bad about it for the longest time. Thank goodness you’ve run into each other again and are even on the same show now.” She couldn’t help adding a few more words.

After listening, An Yu lowered her head, propping her chin on her hand as she carefully thought it over. After the breakup back then, she had been buried in her parents’ funeral arrangements and the battle for control of the company, moving through life like a zombie.

Perhaps as a self-defense mechanism of the mind in extreme pain, An Yu had very few memories left of that summer. The only thing she remembered clearly was that phone call on a rainy day-maybe because it had hurt too much, that was why it stayed so vivid.

An Yu couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh, casually spearing a piece of mango crepe cake and putting it in her mouth.

The fresh sweetness of mango bloomed on her taste buds, a pleasant electric current spreading from her mouth to her mind. Suddenly, a scene flashed through An Yu’s head-she caught only a glimpse before it dissipated again.

In a dimly lit room, a girl in a school uniform sat on a chair, her eyes closed as she smiled sweetly, clasping her hands in front of a clumsily decorated cake as she made a wish. The faint candlelight illuminated only a small area, casting a soft glow on the girl’s serene face. Her smile was gentle, traces of tears still lingering at the corners of her eyes, but it didn’t diminish her beauty.

“An Yu, An Yu.” Tong Ge waved a hand in front of An Yu’s face.

An Yu snapped back to reality, her expression still dazed.

“What’s wrong? You zoned out just now.” Tong Ge asked, puzzled.

An Yu averted her eyes. “It’s nothing. Just remembered something from the past. Tong Ge, I should go. Don’t tell anyone in the class about us meeting today.” She stood, gathering her things as she prepared to leave.

Tong Ge: “O-okay. See you next time.”

An Yu picked up her things and returned to the company car. Her assistant, Xia Song, leaned over to brief her on upcoming work, but though An Yu appeared to be listening, her grip on her bag tightened imperceptibly.

Thanks to Lin Duxi’s careful guidance over the past few days, An Yu’s understanding and interpretation of her role had deepened significantly.

Recently, under the pretext of discussing acting, Lin Duxi had often brought homemade dishes and desserts for An Yu to try, sometimes even inviting her over. They were also in constant contact via text. An Yu maintained a calm exterior, but inwardly, she had already grown accustomed to it.

But today, for the first time, there was no word from Lin Duxi-no texts, no knock on her door. An Yu pored over her script, though in reality, she had been stuck on the same page for an hour.

Her phone suddenly buzzed beside her. An Yu glanced over, then picked it up casually.

Spam message.

An Yu: “…”

She stood and paced the living room a couple of times, frowning. Had something happened to Lin Duxi? Then she scoffed at her own concern-what did it matter to her if something happened to Lin Duxi? Maybe she was just busy with work and hadn’t checked her phone.

An Yu picked up her phone and sent Lin Duxi a couple of messages, then sat back down on the sofa with her script, her gaze flickering to the cookies on the table.

They were the ones Lin Duxi had baked yesterday-another batch she had claimed was “too much” and given to An Yu. She hadn’t finished them yet.

Before long, An Yu closed the script and picked up a cookie, popping it into her mouth. It was crispy and sweet, perfectly suited to her taste. She thought of Lin Duxi’s smiling face when she had handed them over yesterday, and her expression softened unconsciously.

Brushing the crumbs off her hands, An Yu headed to the kitchen. She opened the top cabinet and rummaged around before finally pulling out a long-neglected dessert cookbook-a freebie that had come with some furniture.

Thinking it might be fun to try baking something, An Yu cheerfully gathered the ingredients.

As it turned out, making desserts was nothing like cooking. After multiple failures, An Yu finally produced a presentable batch of egg tarts. She took a bite-not bad.

Slumping onto the sofa, she looked out the window. Unnoticed, night had fallen. She got up, gathered the ingredients again, and prepared to make one last attempt.

Lin Duxi didn’t get home until late, Ji Qi’s words still echoing in her mind.

“This time, they just paid someone off. Next time, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”

Lin Duxi rubbed her temples, a headache brewing, mingling with an irritability that made her want nothing more than to sleep.

The doorbell rang. Lin Duxi snapped back to attention, thinking it might be An Yu. She patted her cheeks to wake herself up, forced a smile in the mirror to appear less haggard, and went to answer the door.

“Ah Yu.” She opened the door, smiling at the person outside. “Here to rehearse? Give me a second, I haven’t even washed up yet-”

Mid-sentence, her vision was filled with an outstretched garment.

“I was cleaning today and found your jacket at my place. Returning it to you.”

Lin Duxi took it blankly, a pang of disappointment hitting her. She clutched the jacket, glancing miserably at the balcony. “But Ah Yu’s clothes still aren’t dry yet.”

An Yu shrugged. “No rush on mine.” Then she extended her other hand, holding out a box.

“I had some free time today and tried making desserts. Ended up with too much, so I thought I’d return the favor. Help me finish these.” She handed the box over.

Lin Duxi froze, something deep in her soul trembling as if struck. Her exhausted nerves, worn thin from the day, failed to react immediately. Her dark lashes fluttered slightly, as if she couldn’t quite process it.

An Yu took her hand and placed the box in it. “Don’t worry, I’ve already tried them. They’re not poisoned.”

At her words, Lin Duxi’s lips curved into a smile, warmth spilling from her eyes like the gentlest of waters.

Holding the still-warm box, the heat from it seeped into her palms, spreading through her body. Surging emotions rose in waves within her.

All the frustration and gloom of the day vanished in an instant. Her world narrowed to just An Yu.

“Can I treat this as a gift from Ah Yu?” she asked softly, her eyes inexplicably misty.

An Yu: “Whatever you want.”

“Oh, right-did I ever make desserts for you in high school? Like cake or something?”