Chapter 34: We have a very, very interesting class!

The silent night passed, and the next day arrived as expected.

Today, I had to go to Ning Dongya’s company. She said she’d prepared an interesting lesson for me. Although I had a feeling nothing good would come of it, I knew that if I didn’t go, things would only get more troublesome.

After a quick wash, I changed my clothes, finished breakfast, and stood in front of the shop to say goodbye to everyone.

“Remember to come by in the afternoon, okay? And if Ning Dongya treats you badly, you can quit anytime.”

Mmm, Yue Ran just couldn’t forget to remind me of that.

After a simple farewell, I boarded the bus.

Today was the weekend, and since I arrived rather early, aside from a few people meeting with clients, Ning Dongya’s company was empty.

Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief inside. Maybe she really had just arranged for someone to give me a regular lesson on commercial art?

After all, no matter what, I’m still an employee of her company.

But soon, that thought was shattered…

Just when I thought I’d be the only one riding the elevator up, a familiar face appeared in front of me.

“Meow!!!”

My small body suddenly shuddered, and the tail behind me went stiff as a wire.

It was no one else but Ning Dongya—the very person I least wanted to run into!!!

There was a look of fatigue on her face, but the instant she saw me in the elevator, it vanished completely, replaced by a dangerous, teasing smile.

“Aiya aiya, our adorable catgirl intern is here too~”

Hearing that voice, my ears perked up like antennae, alert to the incoming danger. This is bad!!

All my fur nearly stood on end. Instinctively, I wanted to shrink into the corner of the elevator, wishing I could find a crack in the ground to hide in.

My heart thumped wildly in my chest, the pounding almost drowning out the faint hum of the elevator’s operation. Why did she have to show up now?!

Is she cursed or something? Why is it always this coincidental every time?!

Ning Dongya stepped elegantly into the elevator in her stiletto heels, the familiar, slightly aggressive scent of her perfume instantly filling the cramped space.

The elevator doors closed silently behind her, locking the two of us inside this metal box.

She turned, leaning in slightly, her beautiful eyes—always sending a chill down my spine—now stared at me with keen interest, as if admiring a small animal that had fallen into a trap, flustered and helpless. The smile at the corner of her lips deepened.

“Hiding, are we?” Her voice dragged out, carrying a hint of lazy mockery as her fingers tapped idly on the elevator’s metal handrail, a crisp click-click that struck my nerves with each tap.

“Coming in so early on the weekend to work overtime, how diligent of you, Gui Yun~” She pronounced the words “Gui Yun” with extra clarity, the intonation rising at the end, with a playful, hard-to-define tease.

“Ugh, what diligence! It’s all because of you and your tricks yesterday…”

I mumbled quietly, so low she couldn’t hear, my back pressed against the cold elevator wall, the chill seeping through my thin clothes while beads of sweat gathered at my brow. My ears were plastered tightly to my head, my tail stiff and hanging behind me, not daring to move.

The elevator steadily climbed, the numbers ticking up one by one, the pace agonizingly slow. Once again, I experienced what it meant for every second to feel like a year.

In the small space, there was only her domineering perfume and the sound of my own increasingly rapid breathing. I could even feel the weight of her gaze, like tiny hooks dragging over the tips of my ears, then settling on my tense shoulders.

“Why aren’t you speaking?” She tilted her head, her red lips curving into a perfect arc, her gaze becoming even more dangerous. “You see your boss and forget to greet her? Hmm? Employees who don’t have manners will have to be pun~ished~”

Ning Dongya drew out the word “punished” especially long—that could never be a good thing!

It felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the narrow elevator, leaving only Ning Dongya’s forceful, coldly floral perfume, and my pounding heart. Her lingering, drawn-out words slithered over my nerves like an icy serpent’s tongue.

I almost tried to press myself into the cold elevator wall, my back so tense it hurt, the fur on my ears and tail standing up uncontrollably, even my breath held tight. My gaze was locked onto the jumping floor numbers, praying that this damn elevator would hurry up, faster, faster! Every second dragged by like torture.

“Hmm?” She let out a lazy questioning sound from her nose, nudging her pointed heel half a step forward, then reached out and pressed her hand against the wall next to my face.

“Meow!! G-Good morning, Boss!” I practically squeezed out the words, my voice dry and tight, with a tremor I didn’t even notice myself, eyes not daring to meet hers.

Only then did I realize I had already been backed into a corner by Ning Dongya.

If she wanted to do anything to me right now, I wouldn’t even have a place to run!

“Heh…” A soft laugh escaped her throat, playful. “It is early, but your courage…” She paused deliberately. I could feel her scrutinizing gaze sweeping over me like a searchlight, finally landing on my bristling ears. “…is still so small.”

The elevator finally chimed a soft “ding”—like a sound from heaven. The doors slowly slid open, and light from the corridor flooded in. I nearly reflexively wanted to dart out, to escape this suffocating metal prison.

“Why the rush?” A slender hand, gentle yet firm, pressed lightly onto my shoulder.

That warm touch, even through my thin clothes, made my whole body freeze up, as if under a petrification spell. The half-step I’d taken stopped dead in its tracks.

“I-I was just thinking…time for class…”

She didn’t use much force, just let her hand rest there, yet it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. I could even sense her fingertips teasing lightly, cat-and-mouse amusement in her movements.

“Class? Oh, I forgot to tell you—the teacher in charge of interns is off today. After all, with yesterday, it’s been six days straight already.”

Hearing that, a sense of dread washed over me, “Then-then I’ll just go home, since there’s no teacher!”

With that, I didn’t even wait for the elevator, trying to bolt down the stairs, only to be caught by Ning Dongya again.

“No rush~”

She leaned in slightly, that aggressive scent washing over me again, her red lips nearly brushing my sensitive cat ears, her warm breath stirring the tips, “If the teacher isn’t here, I’ll teach you myself. It’ll be a very, very interesting lesson~”

“Meow!!!!”