I Fell in Love With My Cold-Hearted, Flirtatious Roommate (GL) - Chapter 20

Perhaps because the two had been out and about too vigorously the day before, Ran Jiu had fallen ill.

For some people, sickness strikes like a collapsing mountain—silently, suddenly, without any warning. The previous evening, when they returned home, Ran Jiu was still joking around with her. They both took hot showers before saying good night.

Later, Rong Ting recalled that her smile had looked a little pale.

Initially, she couldn’t tell that Ran Jiu was sick, as the door to that room was always closed, and she wouldn’t open it without Ran Jiu’s permission.

But today, she came back early at noon. Subconsciously, she looked over at Ran Jiu’s room. The gap under the door was black, with no light filtering out. Rong Ting felt suspicious, walked over and knocked on the door. No one answered. She thought she was overthinking it.

She had been too busy recently, and her tutoring sessions had been suspended for a while. This week, the parents asked her to make up a few lessons. Since she had no classes in the afternoon, she agreed. On the bus, she rested her chin on her hand, her gaze fixed on a point in the air.

As she neared the destination, she saw her face in the car window. Her hair was slightly messy, and the fine hairs on her forehead fluttered with the breeze, like tangled thoughts.

Getting off the bus, she walked toward the German Embassy. This tutoring job was given to her by a senior she knew from her German class. The senior was going to study abroad in Germany and passed on this tutoring resource.

The market for tutors wasn’t great at the time. Sometimes the commute was long, and the pay was low. This family, however, was a Sino-German one—the father was German, and the mother was Chinese. The two children grew up in Germany until they were 10, then moved back to the Imperial Capital. The family needed someone who could converse in German to teach the children Chinese. Naturally, because the requirements were strict, the salary was also generous.

The senior liked her gentle and composed personality, saying the two children were mischievous but the salary was high, encouraging her to consider it. Rong Ting agreed within a few days.

The two children, a boy and a girl, had just returned from their spring camp, carrying small hiking backpacks. The housekeeper at home took them down and politely said, “Teacher Rong, please wait a moment. The children are too excited.”

Rong Ting supported her chin and smiled with both eyes. She was also happy, as if this was a joyful season.

The two children proudly pointed to the new German words they had learned in their book. “Teacher, do you know how to say summer?”

Rong Ting pretended not to know and said in Chinese, “Can you teach me?”

The little girl pronounced it in a childish voice. Her older brother then seriously corrected her, “Wrong. You should round your mouth and make the ‘o’ sound. der Sommer!”

The little girl looked a bit wronged. Rong Ting coaxed her for a long time, then looked out the window and said thoughtfully, “Summer is coming.”

She vaguely felt their relationship had deepened, and everything she did felt energized. In the evening, she passed by the library and even stayed inside for a while, researching a lot of information about the climate and travel guides for Inner Mongolia.

She said she might take her to the grassland.

Thinking of this, Rong Ting felt a ripple in her heart and researched many local customs and folk traditions.

At 5 PM, she quickly organized the files in a document and sent a message to Ran Jiu, asking what she wanted to eat that night. Usually, Ran Jiu would reply within an hour, but this time there was no response.

Rong Ting felt a little disappointed at the lack of a message.

She still went to the supermarket and bought some spare fruits and vegetables. The seasonal thick scallion pancakes had just come out, and Rong Ting bought several after smelling the aroma.

When she returned, the house was very quiet. The windows were tightly closed, and it seemed like no air had been circulated all day.

She finally realized something was wrong. She knocked on Ran Jiu’s bedroom door again, but there was still no sound inside.

“Ran Jiu?” Rong Ting instinctively grabbed the doorknob and pressed down slightly. It opened without any resistance.

Ran Jiu hadn’t locked the door.

She had a vague, bad feeling.

As the door opened, her view widened, and she finally saw the messy computer desk next to Ran Jiu’s bed.

The quilt wasn’t folded at all, almost lumped together. The dark blue bedding looked thick, and a human shape could faintly be discerned inside.

“Ran Jiu?” Rong Ting called softly.

There was no movement on the bed. The person was deeply buried in the bedding, somewhat like they had been murdered by the bed.

Rong Ting took off her slippers and stepped onto the carpet in her socks. The floor felt soft underfoot. The long pile rubbed against her ankle. The room was filled with a cold scent of broadleaf trees mixed with petitgrain.

It felt less like entering a room and more like entering an ice cellar. She felt completely enveloped by winter and couldn’t help but sneeze.

The person on the bed seemed to stir. Rong Ting focused her attention on the pile of bedding, but then the lump stopped moving again.

Rong Ting sniffled, her gaze sweeping from the desk to the carpet, unable to find the air conditioner remote control.

After narrowing down the remaining area, she cautiously approached the bedside and slowly fumbled for the remote control in the large, crumpled mass of the quilt.

It wasn’t by the headboard. Next, she tried to lift the quilt a little to check by the foot of the bed.

While fumbling, she suddenly touched a section of icy cold skin, smooth and soft, yet chilling to the bone.

As if sensing a heat source, that leg rubbed over and pressed against Rong Ting’s arm.

Rong Ting: “……” She found the remote control, sighed in relief, and quickly turned off the air conditioner.

The cold air in the room gradually dissipated, finally returning to a normal temperature. Rong Ting held Ran Jiu’s ankle, which was so cold it made her shiver.

She held it for a while, until her own hand also became cold. She then covered Ran Jiu tightly with the quilt, tucking in all four corners before feeling reassured.

Ran Jiu was sick, which was an undeniable fact.

Rong Ting was glad she had brought a body temperature gun when she moved in. She ran back to her room, found the box among her belongings, and ran back.

She dug Ran Jiu out from the head of the bed, pointed the gun at her ear, and measured a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius.

Seemingly feeling the coldness, Ran Jiu shrank her head back, the quilt tightly pressed over her shoulders, revealing only her head, like a long, thin silkworm chrysalis.

Rong Ting left her bedroom, first boiled water, then put on her clothes to go to the pharmacy downstairs to buy fever medicine. When she returned, the water was perfectly boiled. She poured it into a cup and mixed it with the existing warm water.

Rong Ting took the medicine to Ran Jiu’s room. The person was still lying on the bed, but had changed position again. The quilt was mostly piled up on her upper body, revealing two long, fair, slender calves outside, with gracefully curved arches.

“Ran Jiu.” Rong Ting gently shook her arm. “You have a fever. Hurry up and take your medicine.”

Ran Jiu’s leg suddenly twitched, and she let out a muffled sound, her voice hoarse and blurry.

“Don’t want to drink.”

Rong Ting had no choice but to place the water and medicine on her table first. She checked her forehead with the back of her hand; it was still hot.

She tried a more negotiable approach: “Medicine helps you get better faster. You can keep sleeping after you take it. How about I cook your favorite dishes tonight?”

No response. The under-eye puffiness was visible on Ran Jiu’s thin eyelids, like a light grey eyeshadow. Her cheek was pressed into a sickly pink color, creating an undeserved delicate vulnerability.

Rong Ting tried hard to keep calm: “Have you not gotten out of bed all day? You won’t have the energy if you don’t take your medicine. What about your work?”

She just said it casually, but didn’t realize how much that phrase would affect a working person.

The bedding on the bed fluttered twice. The person inside slowly drilled out and leaned against the headboard, her eyelids still drooping. In a voice as faint as a mosquito, she stretched out her hand to her: “Medicine.”

Rong Ting handed her the pill. Ran Jiu stuffed it all into her mouth, took the water cup and drank it in one go, then slid back down and burrowed into the chrysalis.

Rong Ting was about to leave when she heard her whine: “If I take the medicine, will I be better tonight?”

The corners of Rong Ting’s mouth curved into an arc. “Yes.”

“You can’t lie to me.”

“Mm.”

“I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

Rong Ting struggled with the thought. As long as the fever broke, she wouldn’t take her to the hospital. But she smoothly replied: “Okay.”

“And you have to make those delicious things you promised.”

Rong Ting turned her head. Ran Jiu was looking at her with open eyes. Her gaze held a hint of vulnerability, and the corners of her eyes were red, but there was a stubbornness in them.

Rong Ting smiled: “Mm, I will.”