After Rebirth, My Ex-Girlfriend Became Obsessive - Chapter 53
An Yu had been secretly apprenticing at the cake shop for some time now. Every time she had to deceive her parents and classmates to rush there, she did so with extreme caution. Amidst this careful maneuvering, An Yu finally created a cake she was satisfied with-one that even the shop’s master baker praised for her rapid progress.
Lin Duxi’s usual habit was to stay at school for a while after classes to study. Taking advantage of this, An Yu slipped out of the classroom during the last ten minutes of the final period while everyone was engrossed in their work. However, the stern security guard at the gate spotted her, his head poking out of the small window of the guard booth as he barked at her to stop.
An Yu quickly handed him the forged leave slip she had prepared. The guard frowned, scrutinizing the slip before glancing back at her. With a grunt, he turned his head and let her pass.
Breathing a sigh of relief, An Yu hurried outside, hailed a taxi, and rushed to the cake shop. After picking up the cake, she immediately headed back. Despite her haste, the round trip still took a considerable amount of time.
By the time she returned to school, the lights in the teaching building had already gone out, the gates were locked, and the security guard was nowhere to be seen. Unwilling to give up, she ran along the fence until she reached a spot where she could see her classroom. Her steps faltered.
The classroom lights were off too. The entire campus was shrouded in darkness.
An Yu’s expression fell slightly, the cake still in her hand. Disappointed, she walked to a nearby tree, placed the cake on a flat surface, and grabbed a branch to climb up. She refused to give up-she had to see for herself that Lin Duxi wasn’t there.
Pushing herself onto the wall, she looked down and suddenly remembered the first day of their sophomore year when she had first met Lin Duxi. Come to think of it, she hadn’t climbed walls like this since meeting her.
Her mood lightened a little. Just as she was about to jump down, she heard a commotion from a nearby alley-raucous voices that reeked of cheap cigarettes.
An Yu frowned, casting a disdainful glance toward the alley before freezing mid-motion.
The summer evening hadn’t yet darkened completely, and amidst the dimness, she spotted a stark contrast to the filth-a flash of blue and white that pierced her vision.
An Yu immediately climbed back down and hid behind a tree, eavesdropping on the conversation in the alley.
“So this is the ‘top student’ you were talking about? Damn, she’s pretty. Look at that glare-what, you think you’re too good for us street rats? Hey, Zezi, you said she was loaded, but look at her clothes-worn-out shoes, faded uniform. You messing with me?” A greasy-looking delinquent in a tight shirt, a half-smoked cigarette dangling from his lips, sneered at a scrawny boy-clearly the leader of the group.
“N-no, I swear! She-she rode in a luxury car during summer break! She’s definitely got money!” The boy named Zezi, dressed in the same ridiculous outfit, stammered in defense. “Brother Liu, trust me, she’ll pay back the money from the other day. We’ve known each other for years-would I lie to you?”
The so-called Brother Liu gave Lin Duxi a once-over. She stood against the grimy alley wall, silent the entire time, her brows deeply furrowed as she met his gaze without flinching.
“Heh, she really is a looker.” Brother Liu took a step forward, revealing yellowed teeth as he leered. “No money? Fine. Never had a taste of something like this before. So, ‘top student’-pay up, or…” His eyes roamed over her suggestively.
Lin Duxi’s fingers dug into the wall. Unnoticed by the others, one hand slipped into her pocket, gripping a pair of fabric scissors. She mentally calculated how to strike lethally, but her face remained calm-even smiling faintly, though the coldness in her eyes never thawed. The delinquents were momentarily stunned.
“Holy shit, she’s gorgeous! Like one of those ‘heavenly beauties’ from the stories, right?”
“Zezi, where’d you find a sister like this? Hook us up too, haha! Gotta find someone this pretty.”
“Brother Liu, your drool-it’s almost…”
Brother Liu licked his lips, eyes glued to Lin Duxi. “Zezi, remember to call me ‘brother-in-law’ tomorrow.” He grinned, but before he could take another step, Lin Duxi suddenly moved-her hand darting forward with deadly intent, her eyes shadowed with murderous resolve.
Yet before she could strike, the man in front of her collapsed with a yelp. Lin Duxi froze, her gaze flickering in confusion before landing on An Yu, who stood before her. An Yu grabbed her wrist and yanked her into a sprint, fleeing while the thugs were still stunned.
It wasn’t until Brother Liu, clutching his leg and howling in pain, screamed at them to chase that the group snapped out of it and gave pursuit.
An Yu held Lin Duxi’s wrist tightly as they weaved through the alleys. Lin Duxi, instead of resisting, tightened her grip in return. The wind tore at their lungs, the pain of near-suffocation sharp in their chests-yet in this moment, Lin Duxi felt more alive than ever.
An Yu knew these streets well from her childhood bike rides. She led them in circles before finally emerging near the school gate. Panting, she knocked on the security booth’s window, hoping to borrow a phone.
But the guard wasn’t there-likely on patrol. An Yu’s anxiety flared. She reached for Lin Duxi’s hand to steady herself, only to grasp empty air. Panic shot through her as she whirled around, searching-until she spotted Lin Duxi standing behind her, holding the cake box, her eyes shimmering.
An Yu walked over and took her wrist again, her expression sheepish. “Where’d you find that? I… I wanted to make up for missing your birthday.”
Lin Duxi couldn’t suppress the warmth in her chest, her lips curving slightly.
An Yu huffed. “You’re laughing? Let’s get inside the school first. I’ll call my parents to pick us up, then we’ll report this to the police.”
“Mm.”
“Don’t ever interact with those people again. My parents will deal with them!” An Yu gritted her teeth, furious.
These scum deserve to be melted in hell’s furnace, their remains buried in the darkest corners of society.
If she hadn’t gone to pick up the cake today-if she’d gone straight home-she didn’t even want to imagine what might have happened.
Lin Duxi shook her head. “I don’t know them. The class monitor said someone outside was looking for me. I thought… it might be you in trouble, so I went.” She interlaced their fingers, squeezing gently.
It was a strange coincidence. Lin Duxi hadn’t found a good way to reconnect with An Yu lately-she’d been so busy that they barely spoke. Her heart had felt like a broken bellows, hollow and aching with every day of silence.
“The class monitor?” An Yu scowled. “Don’t listen to him. You’re not even close. Anyone who acts as a messenger for delinquents is no good. We’ll switch seats tomorrow-you’re not sitting near him anymore.”
For some reason, when it came to Lin Duxi, An Yu was always this decisive.
“Then whose words should I listen to?” Lin Duxi asked.
An Yu opened her mouth to say “mine” , but caught herself just in time-realizing she was being led into a trap.
Lin Duxi, undeterred, pressed on. “I’ll listen to whoever A-Yu says. Should I listen to A-Yu? From now on, I’ll only listen to A-Yu.”
The repeated “A-Yu” sent heat rushing to An Yu’s cheeks. Too flustered to respond, she strode ahead-yet couldn’t bring herself to let go of Lin Duxi’s hand.
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll take my family’s car to school.”
“There’s no need. I can leave earlier in the afternoons. Besides, our homes are in opposite directions. I can’t trouble you like that.”
“No. You’ll stay at my place.” The words slipped out before An Yu could stop them. Her face burned, and she immediately let go of Lin Duxi’s hand, fleeing forward in embarrassment.
“I-I mean, we have a guest room! And my grades just improved, so my parents were going to hire a tutor, but I hate tutors. We could study together at my house!” She rambled, her face growing redder with each word.
After An Yu said so much, Lin Duxi only heard one sentence.
An Yu didn’t like tutors. An Yu liked her teaching.
Lin Duxi stood frozen in place, clutching the cake box, her heart clamoring wildly because of An Yu’s words. She couldn’t help but tighten her grip on the box, her eyes brimming with complex emotions, before finally stepping forward to chase after her.
The two climbed over the school wall. An Yu slipped into the security office, picked up the landline, and dialed her home number with practiced ease. Lin Duxi waited obediently outside, occasionally glancing down at the cake in her arms. Under the dim light, she could make out the words piped on top: Happy Birthday, Lin Duxi -a little crooked, but that didn’t diminish its perfection in her eyes.
An Yu had prepared this for her. An Yu had specially made this for her. Over a month had passed since her birthday, yet An Yu had still gotten her a cake.
So she had never forgotten.
Lin Duxi’s heart swelled with joy, the realization sending tremors of excitement through her entire body. She couldn’t resist running her fingers over the cool surface of the cake box again and again.
An Yu shut the security office door and walked back to Lin Duxi, taking her hand once more. Today’s events had been too sudden, and she was still rattled-only by feeling Lin Duxi’s presence could she calm down even a little.
“My parents will be here soon. Let’s hide inside first,” she said cautiously.
The two hurried through the campus to a classroom, drawing the curtains to shut out all light. They placed the cake on an empty desk, then huddled together beside a seat like two small animals seeking warmth.
After about ten minutes, there were still no sounds from outside-only the howling wind marking the passage of time.
An Yu and Lin Duxi cautiously pulled back a corner of the curtain and peered out. Seeing no one, they finally relaxed.
An Yu’s body seemed to lose all strength at once. Her legs wobbled as she slumped into a chair, and Lin Duxi immediately pressed close to her side.
An Yu neither avoided nor leaned into the contact, simply letting her stay there. Her gaze drifted to the cake on the desk.
“Let’s eat the cake. It won’t taste as good if we wait too long,” she said softly.
Lin Duxi looked over. In the darkened room, she could only make out the cake’s silhouette-the words Happy Birthday, Lin Duxi were now swallowed by the night, no longer visible.
“Okay,” she replied, reaching to untie the cake box. But the next moment, An Yu’s voice cut through the darkness.
“Wait for me.” An Yu stood and opened the classroom door. “Keep the windows and curtains closed. I’ll be right back.”
Relying on memory, An Yu navigated the darkness with ease. She ran upstairs to her classroom, rummaged through her bag for a moment, then hurried back down with something in hand.
When she pushed the door open, moonlight spilled through the gaps in the curtains, scattering across the floor, the desks, and Lin Duxi’s body. Her eyes shone especially bright.
“You’re back.”
An Yu closed the door and held out her hand. In it was an old digital camera.
“I bought this a while ago. It’s been sitting in my bag forever, but a moment like this has to be recorded,” she said, slightly breathless.
Lin Duxi’s eyes misted over. “Okay.”
An Yu raised the camera and turned on the recording function. It still worked perfectly. The classroom wasn’t completely dark-they pulled the curtains open slightly, allowing scattered moonlight to fill the room.
Lin Duxi’s hands trembled as she carefully untied the ribbon around the cake box. Only then did she notice it had been tied into a bow. She lifted the lid, revealing a two-tiered cake inside.
An Yu saw the crooked lettering and immediately deflated. “It’s not very good. I’ll make you a better one after I’ve practiced a few more times.”
Lin Duxi’s breath caught. An Yu had made this for her , with her own hands. “I love it,” she said-so much that she wanted to preserve it forever.
An Yu noticed her hesitation and wondered if she actually disliked it. Regret washed over her. I shouldn’t have rushed this.
“Let’s put in the candles and make a wish,” she said, her cheeks burning. Luckily, the darkness hid her embarrassment from Lin Duxi.
Lin Duxi inserted the candles, and An Yu set the camera on the lectern to record. Together, they lit each one with the lighter the bakery clerk had given her. The flickering flames illuminated their faces in the small space.
An Yu’s eyes reflected the firelight, and when Lin Duxi looked up, she saw only herself in them.
“Close your eyes. Time to make a wish,” An Yu murmured, her voice soft as she watched her intently.
Lin Duxi obediently shut her eyes, clasped her hands, and smiled faintly. The gentle glow of the candles lit up her devout expression, and An Yu couldn’t resist snapping a few extra photos with the camera.
After blowing out the candles, they cut the cake. An Yu served Lin Duxi a large slice, and Lin Duxi took it, scooping a small bite with her spoon.
The filling was her favorite fruit jam.
“What did you wish for?” An Yu couldn’t help but ask, leaning closer.
Lin Duxi thought for a moment, but before she could speak, An Yu stopped her. “Never mind, don’t tell me! Wishes don’t come true if you say them out loud.”
Lin Duxi smiled. “It’s okay. I wished that for every birthday after this, I could have a cake made by you.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” Lin Duxi whispered, her eyes reflecting the moonlight-and An Yu within it-filled with tenderness and longing.
An Yu didn’t know this was the first time since leaving home that someone had celebrated Lin Duxi’s birthday, the first time anyone had let her make a wish.
But she had actually been greedy. She’d made two wishes.
The other was hidden deep in her heart, a silent plea to the full moon above:
I want to stay with An Yu forever.
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Zei_An
Although I’m not a fan of stories that goes back and forth in time, I’m getting fond of this novel