The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

51: Who Do I Need to Kill?

"Hello, ladies!" Yi Kai trailed back from the other end of the room with his phone in hand. I furrowed my eyebrows as he strolled in our direction. I completely forgot that he's here with us too... when did he leave the scene?

"What's up?" I grinned, in a cheerful mood now because Li Jing and I had finally resolved our dispute.

Yi Kai walked over to the other side of Li Jing's bed, folding his arms over his chest. "Well, while you two were having your little chit-chat over here," he gestured to the both of us, "I called the dance president concerning Li Jing's injury."

"Ah." I sucked the air through my teeth nervously, while Li Jing seemed completely neutral.

Yi Kai bent down so that he was at Li Jing's eye-level. I noticed that his hand was fiddling with the edge of her blanket. "I mean... they agreed that Li Jing shouldn't participate in the Festival until she fully recovers."

Li Jing nodded at that reluctantly. "I understand. Okay."

There was a vibration in my pocket then, and I pulled my phone out to check the caller ID. Si Yang.

"I'll go take this call," I told Li Jing and Yi Kai before trotting over to the other end of the room. I pressed the button to take the call, letting it connect before I put it to my ear. "Hey, Si Yang?" I asked in a softer tone to not let the other two hear.

"Yue En," his voice sounded through the phone's speaker. "I found some exercise books and a box of pens at home on the shelf. You don't have to buy them anymore."

"Oh, ah," I answered dismissively, gritting my teeth. Uhh. About the bookstore...

"By the way, why haven't you come back yet?" Si Yang asked over the phone. "It's so late. Where are you?"

"I'm at the hospital--"

I heard a loud clatter on the other end and I pulled the phone away from my ear momentarily. When I listened back to the call, Si Yang was already telling me in a panicked tone, "I'm on my way. Which hospital are you at? Who do I need to kill?"

"Relax, jeez!" I held back a giggle. Even though Si Yang's overprotectiveness could go on the extreme side sometimes, my heart would still warm whenever he showed that he cared. "I'm fine, it's not me who's injured. I had to bring a friend of mine here."

I heard Si Yang sigh in relief. "Okay. Is your friend alright now? Or do they still need you with them?"

My eyes roamed over to where Li Jing's bed was. Li Jing was smiling softly at something Yi Kai told her, with his hand over Li Jing's. Yi Kai was looking at her with bright, twinkling eyes, talking to her with a grin on his face. Yi Kai then tried to shift the corner of the blanket upwards, but Li Jing held his hand back and shook her head, mouthing something I guessed were along the lines of her not being cold, still smiling at Yi Kai.

A grin of my own played on my lips as I witnessed their adorable interaction, trying to suppress my inner fangirl as I focused on Si Yang's call. "Uh, I don't think so," I replied after a moment. "I'll come home soon. You can eat your dinner first."

"Okay. Stay safe," Si Yang reminded before we said our goodbyes and hung up.

The click of a door behind me echoed through the ward and I whipped around. A tall, skinny middle-aged man who had a balding scalp and was wearing a business suit burst into the ward, half-panting. "Are you Li Jing's friend?" he asked breathlessly.

I assumed him to be Li Jing's father before I pointed over to her bed. "Yes. Li Jing is on that side."

"Many thanks," the man answered shortly before sprinting over to Li Jing's bed. Yi Kai immediately jumped back from Li Jing's side at the presence of the man. I watched the man thank Yi Kai gratefully, then turned to attend to his daughter.

Then Yi Kai jogged over to me, putting an arm on one of my shoulders. "Time for us to take our leave, Senior Yue En."

"Alrighty," I grinned as we both exited the ward.

Once we were both outside and the door swung shut, Yi Kai tapped my shoulder. "Senior, there's something I have to tell you."

"About Li Jing?" I asked cheekily as a joke, but what I didn't expect was to see Yi Kai's eyes averting away sheepishly and his hand subconsciously moving up to scratch the back of his neck. "Wait... actually?" I gasped in surprise.

"That's not what I wanted to tell you!" Yi Kai defended indignantly, then cleared his throat to regain his posture. "I'm talking about the dance performance."

"Oh? What about it?" I queried, cocking my head to the side in curiosity.

Yi Kai sighed. "Well, I was discussing with Li Jing earlier, and she agreed to go along with it. Over the call, the president had suggested to me that you can replace Li Jing as the main dancer."

My jaw dropped to the floor in shock at the suddenness of the statement. I blinked. "Huh?"

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~ Snowy ♡