Marked by My Omega Rival After Moving In (GL, ABO) - Chapter 13
Xiang Shuhuai looked up and said softly, “I thought you didn’t want people to know you knew me.”
…Just now, Yu Xiaoxiao had denied they lived together with such a clumsy excuse. Looking at it now, maybe she had a point. But Yu Xiaoxiao wasn’t ready to admit it.
“You still shouldn’t pretend you don’t know me,” she said stubbornly, widening her round eyes and firmly insisting, “That’s just not okay.”
Xiang Shuhuai looked a little confused but still nodded. “…Okay.”
“That’s more like it.” Yu Xiaoxiao huffed, applied a thick layer of ointment to the wound, and then picked up a clean piece of gauze—only to realize something important. “Ah, I don’t know how to wrap this… Do I just wrap it up like this?”
It was obvious that Xiang Shuhuai knew how, but like someone who can tie their own red scarf but not someone else’s, she fumbled a bit and couldn’t quite figure out how to do it from Yu Xiaoxiao’s angle.
Yu Xiaoxiao was completely lost. The two of them stared blankly at each other for a while. Eventually, Xiang Shuhuai awkwardly pulled out her phone from her suit pocket and searched for “how to wrap a bandage on an arm.”
Staring at the pictures, Yu Xiaoxiao studied them for a bit, took a deep breath, and decided to tackle the big task.
As she bent over to bandage the arm, she suddenly asked, “—So, what do you want to say about our relationship? Why did you move into my place?”
Xiang Shuhuai hesitated for a moment and seemed unsure. “I…”
“Private reasons again?”
She nodded.
“Same reason you won’t see a doctor?”
Another nod.
“…Fine,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “Then I guess you don’t want people to know you’re living with me, huh?”
“I… it’s not because of you,” Xiang Shuhuai said hesitantly, like she wasn’t sure how to explain. “It’s just… it might cause a lot of trouble, especially for you. I can handle it, but I don’t want you to feel burdened…”
Her head was lowered, and her voice grew softer and softer—so quiet that Yu Xiaoxiao could barely hear it. She paused mid-wrap and leaned over to get a better look at her face from below. “What’s wrong?”
Their eyes met.
Those clear black eyes were wide with surprise, staring at her in a daze.
And suddenly, a thought popped into Yu Xiaoxiao’s head—
…She looked just like that cat that once wandered onto her balcony.
Both of them froze.
It took Yu Xiaoxiao a few moments to react, and then her face suddenly turned bright red.
She backed up in a panic, flustered and stammering, “S-Sorry…!”
Xiang Shuhuai turned her head away too, the tips of her ears red. After a while, she said softly, “…It’s okay.”
The air between them instantly grew awkward again. That moment of ease had completely vanished.
Yu Xiaoxiao quickly finished wrapping the bandage. She didn’t dare look at Xiang Shuhuai, but it would’ve been weird to leave right away, so she sat on the small sofa nearby, waiting for Xiang Shuhuai to put on her jacket and tidy up.
After slipping her suit jacket back on, Xiang Shuhuai tucked her long hair behind her ear, wiped off the remaining lip gloss, and reapplied a fresh layer.
As she wiped off the pale gloss, her lips—already lacking color—looked even more bloodless. Even though the room was lit with a warm yellow light, her reflection in the mirror still looked pale and lifeless, like a sculpture made of ice.
Yu Xiaoxiao had only meant to sneak a glance, but she couldn’t help feeling concerned.
…Her face looks so awful, and she’s still attending this kind of event. Doesn’t anyone care about her?
After hesitating, she finally spoke up. “…Hey, Xiang Shuhuai.”
Xiang Shuhuai looked over, curious.
Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Maybe… you should rest a bit. You look terrible.”
“Do I look really bad?”
“Well, I mean—” Yu Xiaoxiao mumbled awkwardly, avoiding her gaze. Xiang Shuhuai was definitely beautiful, and she couldn’t bring herself to say anything mean. But admitting it out loud made her feel weird. “Not… that bad…”
Xiang Shuhuai didn’t respond.
Luckily, the silence didn’t last too long. After putting on new lip color, she quickly composed herself. By the time she stood up again, she was back to her usual calm and flawless self. No trace of that earlier vulnerability remained.
“Yu Xiaoxiao.” At the door, Xiang Shuhuai looked back and said, “…Thank you.”
“Ah… ah.”
Yu Xiaoxiao blinked, a little stunned. That unexpectedly gentle tone left her speechless for a moment. Before she could say anything else, Xiang Shuhuai had already opened the door and left the lounge.
“It’s nothing…”
Outside was Yi Anning, also dressed for the banquet. She nodded politely at Yu Xiaoxiao, then followed after her boss.
“Boss,” she said, “Yumei’s offer cut twelve dollars off the price… but they want a share in return.”
Xiang Shuhuai gave a short laugh. “Yao Yumei really has an appetite. Two point seven percent, not a bit more. Of course, as for the rest…”
Their voices faded into a quiet discussion as they walked away.
Yu Xiaoxiao finally let out a breath and stood up from the sofa.
She had been so uncomfortable just now that her back was stiff from sitting. Her face was finally no longer red, but her ears were still burning, though she didn’t know why.
That annoying woman…
Before she could sort out her thoughts, someone peeked into the room from the doorway.
“Sis, Xiaoyu-jie,” said the younger daughter of the Gu family, a twenty-year-old friend’s sister, sneaking in curiously, “What’s going on with you and President Xiang? It was just you two in there, right?”
Yu Xiaoxiao jumped.
“You—” She rushed over. “How much did you hear?”
“Not much…” the girl replied. “Something about business stuff… I didn’t understand. And I heard President Xiang thanking you? Are you two working together?”
Yu Xiaoxiao frowned. After a moment of hesitation, she decided to go along with the business excuse.
“It’s something about my family—don’t tell anyone, got it?” Yu Xiaoxiao held the younger girl by the back of the neck and warned her seriously, “Not a word to anyone. If people find out, I’m never hanging out with you again, and I’ll tell your sister to keep you in line, understood?”
The girl shivered and nodded obediently. “Okay…”
“Good.” Yu Xiaoxiao let out a breath, still gripping her neck. “Don’t be so nosy all the time. By the way, where’s your sister? Is Gu Wei still locked up at home learning company stuff? And you just snuck out to play—”
Evening.
Yu Xiaoxiao lounged in the rocking chair by the floor-to-ceiling window, lazily swaying back and forth, staring blankly at the illustration she was working on.
Xiang Shuhuai was still busy. So busy that she’d been sleeping at the office for weeks. She’d even left a note on a sticky note explaining she wouldn’t be coming back for a few days.
In short—after that night at the banquet, she hadn’t seen that icy woman again.
Why was she thinking about this? Yu Xiaoxiao scolded herself. After all… she’s just someone crashing at my place. And it’s not like I even like her. Now that she’s gone, the house is even quieter.
Caring about that annoying Big Ice Block made no sense at all. Maybe she was just bored and overthinking things.
The statue girl in her picture still looked a lot like Xiang Shuhuai. Even though she hadn’t meant to when drawing it, the face ended up looking about seventy percent similar—especially the eyes. But Yu Xiaoxiao couldn’t bring herself to erase it and start over, so she just had to accept it.
She told herself, beautiful people tend to look alike. No matter how annoying that Big Ice Block is, she is objectively good-looking. That’s just how it is… nothing she can do about it.
As she gnawed on her pen and drifted deeper into thought, her phone suddenly buzzed on the desk.
Startled, she fumbled to answer without even checking the caller ID.
“Yu Xiaoxiao.” It was Xiang Shuhuai’s voice on the other end.
Hearing the voice of the person she’d just been thinking about, Yu Xiaoxiao blanked for a moment and blurted out, “…Big Ice Block?”
“It’s me,” Xiang Shuhuai replied.
“Ah—um,” Busted for using a nickname, Yu Xiaoxiao felt a little guilty. But her specialty was playing it cool, so she went on the offensive. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to ask,” came the voice from the other side, “how you’d like me to describe our relationship to others?”
Yu Xiaoxiao blinked. “…What do you mean?”
“I’m meeting with Director Yu today,” Xiang Shuhuai said. “And there are already some rumors going around about us. So—do you want me to say anything specific to Director Yu?”
…Her mom???
Yu Xiaoxiao froze—and accidentally hung up.
Xiang Shuhuai didn’t call back. Yu Xiaoxiao was left staring at her reflection in the phone screen.
Xiang Shuhuai and her mom.
…Right. She suddenly remembered—her dad had mentioned it before. Her mom was in talks with Xiang Shuhuai on a project.
So—what should she tell Xiang Shuhuai to say to her mom?