After Being Targeted By A Sweet Girl With Big Eyes - Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Suffocation
Jiang Ruyi very rarely did anyone’s makeup. Although her skill level was high, she inevitably looked a bit messy while demonstrating it.
Fu Tian was right beside them, watching Jiang Ruyi straddle Sun Yanli just as she had straddled her own thigh earlier, with their two faces extremely close.
At that moment, Sun Yanli said something similar to what Fu Tian had said: “You smell so good.”
“Really? I feel like the sillage is so short. I can barely smell it myself.”
Jiang Ruyi was surprised. She looked at Fu Tian, who was standing quietly to the side. The more she looked at her expression, the more familiar it became. She exclaimed, “Hey, your expression looks exactly like my sister’s when she looks at me.”
“Is that so?” Fu Tian concealed her expression and asked nonchalantly.
“It’s… it’s just that kind of look,” Jiang Ruyi stammered, unable to answer properly. How was she supposed to describe it? Was she supposed to say her sister looked at her like she looked at a dog?
So, she changed the subject and asked, “Do you want it or not? If you don’t, I’m giving it to Little Sun.”
“I want it.” Fu Tian answered the question in just 0.2 seconds.
…
The formal start of Sunset Pact’s Farewell Stage began at 7 PM on a summer evening.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, da! da! Clang, clang, clang, clang, dong! da!
The twilight sun cast its glow over everyone’s heads. Jiang Ruyi and Fan Ling peered from backstage, feeling a sense of emotion and regret.
Jiang Ruyi said, “If only, back then…”
Fan Ling’s eyes darkened. “Forget it, don’t bring it up again…”
“Mhm.”
The performance ended smoothly. As the members of Sunset Pact tearfully said goodbye to their fans and walked off stage, they saw the two of them backstage, oblivious to the world, chatting and enjoying the air conditioning.
Jiang Ruyi had one leg propped on Fan Ling’s thigh, and Fan Ling used that leg for support while playing a game on her phone horizontally. Jiang Ruyi had her hand resting on Fan Ling’s back, occasionally flicking her thumb as she scrolled through something that made her giggle.
The other members besides Fu Tian thought: Wait, are those two’s CP not fake? They’re way too intimate.
One member quietly gossiped, “That can’t be right. Didn’t Jiang Ruyi also have a CP with that other person before? It was an absolute spectacle online. I even saw a video their fans edited on my alt account back then: Brash Young Miss × Beautiful, Strong, Miserable Lead Singer. I was obsessed and liked it at the time. My feed was all them for a while. Did that CP secretly break up without me knowing?”
Sun Yanli, who was highly active online, immediately jumped in, “It wasn’t a ‘secret’ breakup! The split was notoriously messy back then.”
The internal conflict within Burning Heart was known throughout the entertainment industry. Only uninformed fans and indifferent passersby would believe the company’s damage control, which even leveraged the incident for a new wave of fandom drama. What had been a massive event eventually calmed down because the original source of the rumor went silent and both parties vehemently denied everything.
Fu Tian turned around and told them, “Alright, stop speculating wildly. None of the CPs were real. Besides, their band has disbanded, and so have we. Let the grudges and grievances from the company days go.”
Sun Yanli, in a moment of cheerful frankness, said, “Our grievances were over the moment their band flopped, haha!”
That comment made everyone laugh. Fu Tian sobered, giving them a silencing gesture, and walked over to the two. “We’re done here. Let’s go out and eat.”
Jiang Ruyi checked her phone—still no message. She sighed and said listlessly, “You better have booked a restaurant nearby, or we’ll get stuck in traffic forever and never eat.”
“Haha, of course! It’s just a twenty-minute drive.”
But with Sunset Pact officially disbanding, who could promise them the next gathering after the sunset?
The music ends, but the people remain.
The people scatter, but the music never ends.
They gathered here because of their love, and some fans were unwilling to leave. Some fans stayed, spontaneously singing songs on the way out.
The venue was filled with the lingering cries and shouts for Sunset Pact.
Fu Tian and the other members were deeply moved, constantly comforting their fans on the way to the car. Jiang Ruyi and Fan Ling, as outside observers, only found it noisy. Human sorrow is not universally shared.
Jiang Ruyi said, “God, all this shouting for one meal. I hope my eardrums don’t burst! Plus, they’re acting like the Sunset Pact members are leaving the industry entirely. They have quite a few fans. They’re just disbanding, and their bond doesn’t seem like they’ll stop talking forever. Why the dramatic tears?”
Fan Ling was in the same band as her. What could she say? She didn’t understand it either.
Finding it embarrassing, the two of them didn’t follow the others through the employee exit. They trailed behind the staff and quickly found an opening, moving much faster than the Sunset Pact members.
A fan—either more easygoing or unable to push through the crowd—recognized them and exclaimed, “Jiang Ruyi?”
Jiang Ruyi turned back and responded, “Yes?”
The person regained composure and said awkwardly, “Sorry, I just couldn’t help but call out. If you’re Jiang Ruyi, then the one wearing the mask must be Fan Ling.”
Seeing her name called, Fan Ling had no choice but to lift her head and offer a half-awkward greeting.
The fan continued, “I saw you at the bar yesterday too! You even played the drums for my Sun! None of us expected the drummer to be you. Are you two here to watch the show?” Your own band was so obscure you didn’t even have a farewell stage. You still have the nerve to watch your former rival’s show? You have incredible composure.
“Haha, surprised?” Jiang Ruyi answered the non-essential part. Even she hadn’t expected it.
Seeing they were finally near Fu Tian’s car, she breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Fan Ling inside.
The fan was even more surprised, muttering, “You two are actually that close with Fu Tian?”
Jiang Ruyi and Fan Ling shrank wearily below the car window. She said sourly, “They are unbelievably popular.”
She had planned to be that popular too, but things don’t always work out as planned. At least their band’s obscurity was unmatched by anyone.
She felt a flicker of surprise when she was recognized on the street. Tsk, what a bad habit. It’s going to cause heart palpitations.
…
The event ended at 9 PM, but they didn’t leave until 10:30 PM. Jiang Ruyi quickly checked her phone. Shi Yuyan still hadn’t sent the time and location for their meeting. She started to get anxious. The day was almost over. She typed, deleted, edited, deleted, and finally sent one message: “Sister, are we still meeting today?”
The message sank into the abyss, and so did Jiang Ruyi’s heart.
Gulp, gulp. She was running out of oxygen.
So, when Fu Tian held up her phone to film a farewell stage vlog for her fans and asked Jiang Ruyi to smile, Jiang Ruyi rigidly maintained her persona. She simply sat in the back row, exuding the “laziness of a rich girl playing around, yet inadvertently revealing an unspoken vulnerability in her downcast eyes and restrained smile.”
Fan Ling half-covered her face. “Blur me out! I don’t want to be on camera.”
Fu Tian said, “Blurring you out won’t work. You two are as close as twins. Does it matter if I blur you?”
“But your fans only know you, not her and me. Blur me out.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll blur you out! I’ll blur you out, okay?”
At the dinner table, Jiang Ruyi was absent-minded. Fu Tian asked with concern, “What’s wrong? No appetite, or are you feeling unwell? Did you get overheated when you went shopping this afternoon?”
Fu Tian was genuinely hungry and ate heartily, her mouth turning red. Jiang Ruyi found it incredibly irritating, but since the person was expressing concern, she couldn’t find an opportunity to say something mean. She shook her head. “I’m fine. It’s too stuffy inside. I’m pretty much done eating. I’m going out for some air.”
Jiang Ruyi went to the restroom to wash her hands, then leaned against the private dining room door. She truly had no appetite left. Why hadn’t Shi Yuyan replied? Did something happen? Why isn’t she messaging me? She wouldn’t treat me like this before. Jiang Ruyi pursed her lips, feeling terribly wronged.
She paused over Shi Yuyan’s chat box for a long time before finally sending two characters and a question mark.
Sister?
“Ruyi?” someone called.
Jiang Ruyi was startled. That familiar questioning tone! She looked up, and this time, it really was a familiar face: her number one, ultimate fan!
“Jiangxin Mingyue (River Heart Bright Moon), is that you? What are you doing here?”
Jiangxin Mingyue: “What am I doing here? This is a restaurant! What else would I be doing? I’m collecting trash, I suppose.”
Anyone who could be Jiang Ruyi’s fan was not an ordinary person. Her mouth was just as sharp as Jiang Ruyi’s.
Jiang Ruyi, stung by the retort, glared at the person resentfully. Jiangxin Mingyue laughed easily. “You could say that. Look, didn’t I just find you?”
“What are you talking about? You’re the trash.”
Jiangxin Mingyue ignored her comment and led her toward their room. “If I told people outside, they’d never believe it. What idol shows up right outside my private room door? Oh my, we’re so lucky!”
Jiang Ruyi found it amusing and gave up struggling, letting Jiangxin Mingyue continue. “We heard a rumor yesterday that you went to some lesbian bar to play drums. Look how far you’ve fallen. The other sisters in the group and I were missing you, and we decided to get together. There are nine other people inside, and you know them all. Do you want to go in and chat with them? Your broken band broke up just like that. You’re so obscure, and the company doesn’t care. You didn’t even get a farewell stage…”
“Ah, so that was a lesbian bar. No wonder the atmosphere was so good.” Jiang Ruyi grabbed Jiangxin Mingyue’s hand, which was on the doorknob. “I want to! But wait for me for a moment.”
She spoke while darting back into their dining room like a gust of wind. She was so fast that Fu Tian and Fan Ling, who were on either side of her, didn’t even have time to say a word before she grabbed her bags and was gone.
Fan Ling comforted Fu Tian, “At least her bags are still here.”