After Being Reborn, I Had A Bad Ending With My First Love. - Chapter 16

The girl’s voice was cool and clear, unhurried as she finished speaking. It sounded gentle and slow, yet paired with her expressionless face, it carried a faint chill that made one uneasy.

Taking advantage of the boy’s momentary daze, Yan Sui suddenly stepped forward.

The unexpected closeness made the boy instinctively retreat several steps. Realizing afterward that such a reflex looked as though he was afraid of a mere girl, his face flushed with humiliation and anger.

Yan Sui caught every detail of his reaction. The corners of her lips curled into a mocking smile.

Provoked by her smile, the boy grew even angrier. As if to salvage his pride, he strode forward with long steps:
“If you hadn’t come, I would’ve gone to find you anyway. I still haven’t settled last time’s account with you!”

Yan Sui stared at his face coldly, saying nothing.

Instead, Yu Shuli, who had fallen to the side, became anxious. Struggling to his feet, he said:
“The one you have a problem with is me. Whatever it is, come at me. She has nothing to do with this.”

Yan Sui gave Yu Shuli a sidelong glance but did not speak.

The boy standing between them, however, seemed very satisfied with this protective stance. He looked as though he wanted to see the two of them perform a little act of mutual sacrifice. His tone was mocking:
“I’m in a good mood today. I’ll let you two choose—who’s staying behind?”

“The trouble’s mine. I’ll take it on myself.” Almost before the boy finished speaking, Yu Shuli rushed to take the responsibility.

That response was exactly what the boy wanted. His smile deepened, all traces of his earlier anger gone, and he turned to Yan Sui:
“And you? What do you say?”

Yan Sui glanced at Yu Shuli, standing not far away, before turning her gaze back on the boy in front of her. She let a look of fear show on her face.
“Let me think…”

The boy’s grin widened, convinced he knew what they would do.

But in the next moment, Yan Sui’s fear vanished. She tilted her lips in a sneer and her voice rang out, dripping with mockery:
“Or… why don’t we let you stay here instead?”

Before the boy could react, she lunged forward, fists clenched as if to strike. He instinctively raised his arms to defend. Seizing the opening, a glint of cunning flashed in Yan Sui’s eyes—she grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm down with brutal force.

“Ah—!”

The boy’s scream echoed through the alley. Doubling over, clutching his twisted arm, he gasped for breath. His hand twitched uncontrollably, the pain written all over him.

Yan Sui followed the direction of her movement, circling to block between Yu Shuli and the boy.

Her smile was sweet:
“Oops. My hand slipped.”

“You—!” The boy’s gaze turned vicious. Grinding his teeth, he raised his other fist and swung it toward her.

But Yan Sui was ready. At the instant his fist neared, she swatted it aside, stepped back and pivoted, seized his wrist, and drove her knee upward in one smooth motion. Her knee slammed straight into his stomach.

In a flash, the boy staggered back two steps, clutching his abdomen, collapsing against the wall, gasping for air, too pained to speak.

Yan Sui walked toward him, face devoid of triumph.

Her lips pressed into a straight line, her eyes sharp with ice:
“Now… can you stop bothering us?”

The boy bared his teeth, unwilling to concede:
“Just you wait—I’ll bring people—”

Click—

Before he could finish, Yan Sui raised her phone and snapped a photo of his defeated state.

“What would you bring people for?” she asked.

The boy froze. “Why are you taking pictures?”

Yan Sui narrowed her foxlike eyes, smiling without warmth.
“Of course… to show your friends when they arrive.”

In an instant, the boy understood her meaning. “What do you want?”

Like pressing a hand to a snake’s seven inches, his tone, though still stiff, had lost its edge.

“We want peace.”

Yan Sui tilted her chin slightly. “Is that possible? Stop coming after me and him.”

The boy stared at her in silence.

She did not flinch under his gaze, calm and steady as she met his eyes.

At last, he gave in.

Pushing off the wall, he said, “Fine.”

Yan Sui stepped back to give him space.

Still clutching his stomach, he slowly made his way to the mouth of the alley. Halfway there, he turned his head to spit out a threat:
“If that photo gets out, neither you nor your boyfriend will graduate peacefully.”

Yan Sui’s voice was flat:
“As long as you don’t come after us again, I won’t release it.”

After he left, Yan Sui turned back. Yu Shuli, who had fallen when she collided with him during the fight, was still sitting on the ground. She looked down at him from above.
“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Yu Shuli answered.

Now that she was standing close, the footprint marks on his clothes looked even more obvious. Remembering how hard it was for him to get up earlier, Yan Sui extended her hand.

Yu Shuli lifted his eyes, puzzled.

“If you don’t have the strength, borrow mine,” Yan Sui said calmly.

With the boy gone, the alley returned to silence. Yan Sui’s face remained cold as she reached her hand toward him, her voice flat and detached.

But the faint tremor and hesitation in her tone betrayed the warmth she tried to hide under her icy exterior.

Noticing this, Yu Shuli’s lips curved upward. His dark eyes softened with laughter as he lightly clasped her fingertips. Then, just as she was about to pull him up, he suddenly pulled in the opposite direction.

The force reversed. Yan Sui’s body lost balance and staggered down with him, barely steadying herself in a crouch.

Just as she was about to scold him, she lifted her head and met a pair of deep, ink-dark eyes.

Those eyes were blazing, and the moment they caught hers, they trembled, spilling forth a flood of emotion.

He stared straight at her, the swirling intensity threatening to draw her down into an abyss.

It was only eye contact, yet Yan Sui found herself helplessly drawn in, her mind and heart momentarily stunned.

The heat of his fingers jolted her back to her senses. She quickly pulled her hand away. The warmth vanished, along with the connection of their gaze.

She stepped back, awkwardly averting her face.

Yu Shuli reached for her hand again, but she avoided him.

Turning her head, Yan Sui softly called his name.

“Mm?”

Facing him again, her eyes locked on his:
“Are you really Yu Shuli?”

Yu Shuli paused.

“Or… are you the Yu Shuli of this life?”

“…”

“These days, I’ve been feeling something strange. We’ve only just met as classmates, but haven’t you been too… warm toward me? At the sports meet the other day, you covered for me with that lie. And just now—why did you look at me like that?”

The air grew still.

Under her piercing gaze, Yu Shuli suddenly smiled.
“What are you saying? Of course I’m Yu Shuli.”

Yan Sui hesitated, then shook her head. “No.”

Still smiling, he said, “I don’t know what you’re thinking. But I am Yu Shuli.”

Her expression didn’t change.

“Those two questions you asked,” he countered, “don’t you already know the answers?”

A thought surfaced faintly in Yan Sui’s heart.

“Because I like you.”

“So I want to be close to you.”