thin line; daoming si

Chapter 3

"Did you find them honey?" Is the first thing that comes out of your mother's mouth when you arrive home. You are startled by the question, quickly shaking your head no.

Sitting down for dinner, you try your best to avoid your parents' gazes. You hope they don't ask to see your wrist, or else you're screwed.

You still find it hard to believe that your soulmate is...Daoming Si? He's the only person you have come in contact with since your timer ran out. And he seemed very surprised to see you as well.

Honestly, he's probably the worst option for a soulmate you ever could have thought of. How could you end up with someone as rude and cold as him? It just doesn't make sense. You have no idea how you will make this work. For now, you just plan to stay away from him, no matter the consequences.

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Weak. That's how you feel when you wake up the next morning. Your body feels heavy and you have almost no energy. And as much as you don't want to admit it, it's probably because you had next to no physical contact with your soulmate since you've met them. And you don't plan to.

So you drag yourself out of bed as usual, this morning being a bit more difficult than the others. You're more quiet during breakfast and your mother seems to notice. She probably thinks it's because you're running out of time to find your soulmate. She looks very worried, but you can't bring yourself to tell her the truth.

With a sigh, you head off to school. You feel terrible, your brain is cloudy and your head is pounding. But you don't want to see Daoming Si and you doubt he wants to see you either.

Luckily, you don't have the stress of getting to school late today. You try to greet Li Zhen and Chen Qinghe with as much enthusiasm as possible but they can tell that something is off.

"Did you find your soulmate, Y/n?" Qinghe asks and you shake your head in mock disappoinment. "Don't worry, you'll find them soon." He reassures you and you nod.

Class today is even more torturous. Your tiredness only gets worse and you feel like your head is going to explode. You're sweating now too. You want nothing more than to go home and rest.

"Are you okay?" Qinghe whispers, tapping your shoulder from behind you. He gasps as you turn around to face him. "You look pale, you should go to the nurse."

"No, I'm fine, I-"

"Excuse me, Miss." You hear the deep voice of the professor as he pauses his lecture. You quickly face forward to see that he is looking straight at you.

"Yes, Mr. Lee?"

"Since you think it is okay to talk during my class, would you mind explaining what I was just talking about?"

"I uhh..." You stand up hesitantly, trying to think of what to tell the professor. You definitely weren't paying attention enough to repeat it back to him. This anxiety paired with your already bad condition makes black spots appear in your vision.

"I'm waiting."

"I'm sorry professor, I-" Suddenly your legs feel like jelly. It's hard to breathe and the floor feels unsteady beneath you. Before you know it, you can't hold yourself up anymore and collapse to the floor. All you hear are gasps and murmurs of worry erupting from around you before your whole world goes black.

____

When you come to, your eyes are strained by the sight of white walls. You still feel the pressure on your head, but it's not excruciating pain like before. Sitting takes a lot of effort, but you want to know exactly where you are. Looking around a little bit, you see a cabinet of supplies, some informational posters, and a desk of some sort. You're in the infirmary.