Marking My Arch-Rival [Rebirth] - Chapter 15

Using her free hand, Ji Shihuan picked up her phone, switched to the front-facing camera, aimed it at Jiang Boyan, and snapped a photo of her sleeping peacefully on her shoulder.

“The next time you try to go against me,” she muttered under her breath, “I’ll pull this picture out and settle the score with you properly.”

After taking the picture, she immediately opened her gallery to admire it.

In the photo, Jiang Boyan’s eyes were closed.

Her features were completely different from Ji Shihuan’s. Her facial structure was soft and harmonious, with delicate bone structure and perfectly balanced features—the quintessential Eastern classical beauty. Fast asleep, the aloofness that usually kept others at arm’s length had completely vanished. Instead, the soft flesh pressed up against her cheek made her look unexpectedly adorable.

A few strands of hair draped over half her face.

Ji Shihuan stared at the corner of Jiang Boyan’s lips resting just above her collarbone and couldn’t look away for a long time.

Only moments ago at the banquet, she’d been discussing economic trends, government projects, and future business developments.

Now all of it seemed meaningless.

It was as though she had dressed up so meticulously tonight for this one moment alone—to become nothing more than a chauffeur and a human pillow, escorting Jiang Boyan safely home on a spring night scented with blooming freesias.

“How…”

Ji Shihuan lost herself for a moment.

She stopped staring at the photo and turned instead to the real woman resting against her shoulder.

Disturbed by her breath, Jiang Boyan frowned slightly and let out a soft murmur in her sleep.

Ji Shihuan froze immediately.

Snapping back to herself, she bit her lower lip hard enough to create a sting before muttering resentfully,

“…How… how can someone have such beautiful collarbones?”

After a brief internal struggle, her eyes suddenly lit up.

She raised her phone again, pointing the front camera toward her shoulder.

The angle wasn’t quite right.

She lifted the phone higher and shifted it to the side.

This time, with her own shameless posing as accompaniment, she took pictures without the slightest guilt.

At her most outrageous, she rested her chin atop Jiang Boyan’s head.

On the screen, the two of them appeared intimately close.

Ji Shihuan gently rubbed her chin against Jiang Boyan’s hair, continuously pressing the shutter while breathing in the sweet scent of freesia.

Only after she was finally satisfied did she open her gallery to admire the results.

Just then—

The quiet cabin was abruptly shattered by a ringing phone.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Startled, Ji Shihuan nearly flung her own phone across the car.

She quickly calmed herself and realized the vibration was actually coming from Jiang Boyan’s coat pocket.

Jiang Boyan hadn’t woken up immediately.

Realizing she still had a chance to salvage the situation, Ji Shihuan leaned over to silence the phone.

But just as she pulled it from Jiang Boyan’s pocket…

…Jiang Boyan opened her eyes.

Still groggy, she hadn’t yet figured out what was happening. She only knew someone was taking her phone, and instinctively reached out to stop them.

Ji Shihuan hadn’t anticipated that at all.

Her fingers trembled.

The phone slipped from her grasp and landed on the floor of the car with a loud thud.

The ringtone stopped.

The rear compartment became deathly silent.

“…Sorry.”

Ji Shihuan was the first to break the silence.

Pretending nothing had happened, she bent down and picked up Jiang Boyan’s phone.

Neither of them realized that during their brief struggle, the incoming video call had accidentally been answered.

When Ji Shihuan handed the phone back, her face filled the screen—

—and she found herself staring directly at Qi Mengying.

Ji Shihuan maintained forced composure.

“…”

Qi Mengying looked utterly dumbfounded.

“…”

Only then did Jiang Boyan realize something was wrong.

“…”

“Miss Ji?”

It wasn’t Qi Mengying’s fault.

Ji Shihuan’s face was simply far too memorable.

Anyone who had seen it once would have difficulty forgetting it.

Qi Mengying looked completely bewildered.

“Y-you… Isn’t this Boyan’s phone?”

Ji Shihuan didn’t dare say a word.

She obediently handed the phone back to Jiang Boyan.

“Mengying.”

Jiang Boyan cleared her throat.

Qi Mengying’s eyes widened.

“What’s going on?”

She looked as though she wished she could crawl through the screen to the scene of the incident.

“Why are you with Miss Ji?”

“She…”

Jiang Boyan sped up her speech, eager to end the awkward conversation.

“…happened to be heading the same way and gave me a ride home.”

“We’re still in the car. I’ll call you back after I get home.”

Qi Mengying suddenly understood.

After a long day, she was already preparing for bed, so she got straight to the point.

“Uh… it’s nothing urgent. I just wanted to tell you that… you really can’t put that off any longer. No matter what, you have to come over tomorrow!”

Hearing her friend’s concern, Jiang Boyan’s tense nerves relaxed slightly.

“Okay.”

“Mm. That’s all. I’m hanging up.”

Qi Mengying picked up the sleep mask from her bedside table.

Then, as though remembering something, she added,

“…You… get along well with Miss Ji.”

After the video call ended, the words “get along well” seemed to echo inside the quiet car.

Only then did Jiang Boyan finally have the mental space to think back over what had happened.

She was still drowsy.

She couldn’t understand how she’d managed to fall asleep beside Ji Shihuan with absolutely no guard up.

But the tingling warmth lingering in her right cheek where it had been pressed against something was far too obvious to ignore.

She glanced toward the woman sitting beside her.

Ji Shihuan was frowning deeply, her lips pressed into a tight line, clearly looking displeased.

Lowering her gaze, Jiang Boyan noticed the vivid red lipstick mark just above Ji Shihuan’s collarbone.

The color was unmistakably identical to the lipstick she was wearing today.

Startled, Jiang Boyan quickly pieced together what must have happened.

Ji Shihuan had kindly driven her home.

She, in return, had fallen asleep in someone else’s car.

Not only that, she’d apparently used the owner of the car as a pillow, causing her considerable inconvenience.

The scenery outside had become familiar.

There were only about five minutes left before they reached her residence.

Jiang Boyan grew increasingly uneasy.

She first murmured a quiet,

“…I’m sorry.”

Then she looked up.

“You could have pushed me away.”