After Rebirth, My Archrival Omega Looks at Me Differently (GL) - Chapter 13
In her previous life, Chi Yan and Yan Youqing went a long time without ever adding each other as friends.
Even though they were classmates from high school to university, and later even colleagues at work, they always existed in a strange state of avoidance, like two monarchs who never shared the same court.
In the end, it was only because they had to collaborate on a project and were paired up by a supervisor who had no idea about their history that they reluctantly added each other.
Now, Yanyan held her phone and found herself confused.
She had no memory of Yan Youqing ever reaching out like this in her past life. What was going on?
Yanyan wasn’t the kind of person who avoided problems. She preferred to face them head-on.
With suspicion in her eyes, she tapped the accept button.
[Yan Youqing]
You are now friends. You can start chatting.
Two system messages appeared in the chat window. Yanyan looked at the screen and thought, “Alright, let’s chat then.”
Only a second later, Yan Youqing’s profile picture appeared with a new message.
Are you getting ready to sleep?
No. Yanyan replied simply.
Outside the window, a breeze passed through the green trees, and the soft rustling made the quiet room feel even more silent.
The short exchange seemed to bring the conversation to a stop. After receiving Yanyan’s reply, Yan Youqing didn’t send anything else.
Ten seconds passed. Then thirty.
Two whole minutes.
Yanyan stared at her phone, nudging the screen a few times as it threatened to go dark. She watched the time change from 8:56 to 9:00, then threw the quiet phone aside in frustration.
She had been played.
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The lollipop rolled against her teeth with a faint clack as she chewed.
The poor phone rolled once and landed beside her crumpled school jacket, both equally dismissed.
Buzz.
The warm yellow light spread across the not-too-large bed, outlining the silhouette of her hunched back.
Still chewing the candy with a touch of annoyance, Yanyan heard the message alert come through the blanket.
She didn’t want to look.
Lying on her side with her back to the phone, she stayed still.
Buzz. Buzz.
The messages kept coming, not loud or fast, but persistent. It felt like the alerts would never stop unless she turned over and looked.
With a reluctant sigh, Yanyan shifted, the half-eaten lollipop still in her mouth. She reached for the phone that had been vibrating nonstop at the foot of the bed.
The screen lit up suddenly, reflecting her unamused expression. The name Yan Youqing appeared once again.
She had no idea what kind of messages Yan Youqing had sent. The notification only showed the word “image.”
Curious, Yanyan tapped to open the message sent nearly half an hour after their first exchange.
Her eyebrows furrowed even more as the image loaded.
It wasn’t some random message or meaningless distraction. It was a photo of notes.
Neatly written black ink covered lined paper. Important points were circled in red, and examples of mistakes were marked in blue.
What was this?
It was as if Yan Youqing could see her confusion. Once all the images had finished loading, she followed up with a message.
You asked me a question yesterday. You left your notebook in my room. I looked through it and found a few errors. I summarized them for you.
Her words were brief, to the point, and even through the screen, still carried her usual calm and reserved tone.
Only then did Yanyan remember why the notebook in Yan Youqing’s hands had looked so familiar when she woke up in the hospital.
Because it was hers.
So, earlier in the hospital room, Yan Youqing hadn’t been doing her own homework at all.
The screen’s glow reflected in Yanyan’s eyes as she blinked slowly, stunned.
It hit her that the tiredness she had sensed in the car wasn’t from overworking herself, but from organizing notes for her.
And yesterday, when she had gone to ask questions at her door during her fever, Yan Youqing hadn’t been brushing her off.
Even in the chaos of that moment, she had remembered what Yanyan had said.
The sweet taste of green apple spread through Yanyan’s mouth, and a strange feeling gently rose in her chest. The soft bedding around her made the cool autumn night feel unexpectedly warm.
She didn’t know what she should say in return. Lying in bed, she awkwardly typed a short message.
Mn.
Then added a polite follow-up.
Thank you.
Just as her phone was about to dim again, the screen lit up with a reply. On the other side, Yan Youqing’s calm eyes softened slightly with the glow.
She read the two short messages and gently pressed her fingertips to the screen as she typed.
Take a look. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me at school tomorrow.
Yanyan remembered that asking for help at Yan Youqing’s door yesterday had just been a convenient excuse. She had been worried something might happen to her, so she used to study as a reason to approach her.
Now that she really had to ask for help, it felt a little awkward.
After all, Yan Youqing had always been her rival. To turn to her for help now felt like she was admitting defeat.
That was something Yanyan could not accept.
Not yet.
For Chi Yan, English had always been incredibly dull.
The letters that made up each word sat in long black rows across the exam paper, packed tightly together. Just looking at them made her feel overwhelmed. Back when she was in the life sciences department, she had all those foreign academic papers translated by professionals.
In her opinion, professional work should always be left to professionals.
If she had that kind of time for tutoring, she would rather spend it solving two tough math problems instead.
The rush of cracking the final question on a math test was unbeatable. It made her feel amazing.
Silence fell between them like an awkward pause, interrupting the steady rhythm of their conversation.
Yan Youqing glanced at Chi Yan’s notebook on the desk. On the back of a lined page she had casually used for scratch work, crooked and messy math formulas filled the space.
She typed a message.
Your English actually isn’t bad. You just need to work on grammar. If you take it seriously, your score can go up by ten or twenty points. That’s more efficient than getting one tough math question right.
Chi Yan froze.
The resolution she had just made in her head was immediately shattered by Yan Youqing’s message.
That line had hit her right where it hurt.
She and Yan Youqing were always close in scores. A difference of one or two points happened all the time.
If she actually improved her English, wouldn’t that give her a solid lead?
She could let Yan Youqing tutor her, then beat her on the leaderboard with her own help.
Using someone’s strength against them. Brilliant.
The thought made Chi Yan’s lips curl into a small, pleased smile.
That move was a winner.
A moment later, Yan Youqing’s phone lit up. The contact she had saved as “Chi Yan” had sent a new message.
Alright. Then I’ll thank you in advance.
You’re welcome. Yan Youqing replied simply, her message calm and direct like always.
Moonlight slipped in through the edge of the window and filled the clean, quiet room. She looked at Chi Yan’s profile picture in the chat.
It looked like something Chi Yan had taken herself. A strange, ugly toy was lying on a colorful, over-the-top bedsheet. Its round, bulging eyes gave it a look that was so ugly it was almost cute.
Yan Youqing propped her chin in one hand. Her usually steady gaze softened a little.
Her pale fingers lightly tapped on the picture, as if she were reaching out to touch the person behind it.
It wasn’t very late yet, but the night sky had already turned deep black. Occasionally, a passing car would leave a golden trail of headlights across the road.
The wind rustled the trees and bushes outside. The soft sounds drifted in through the window and filled the quiet room.
Chi Yan didn’t have her tablet or her usual school bag, so she pulled out a new notebook. She looked at the images Yan Youqing had sent and began copying them carefully, adding her own notes as she went.
Buzz.
Just as she reached the final image, her phone vibrated gently. A small gray-blue dot appeared in the top left corner of the screen.
Thinking it was time for a break, Chi Yan left the chat with Yan Youqing and opened the group conversation with Zhong Yi and Wang Chuning.
Wang Chuning had sent a message.
Can we ship this or what? @Everyone [image]
Chi Yan knew that Wang Chuning was always following celebrities. She figured it was just another post about a new on-screen friendship between idols and opened it lazily.
But the moment the image loaded, her eyes widened in shock.
The photo was taken in front of the school auditorium.
And the two people in the center of the image were her and Yan Youqing.