Yue Ran finally made a cup of hand-poured Geisha for Ning Dongya, her movements smooth and elegant, as if the previous confrontation was just an illusion. However, she herself sat down naturally in the seat opposite Ning Dongya, holding a cup of milk.
“President Ning, please.” Yue Ran pushed the coffee over, a flawless shopkeeper’s smile on her face, but there was no warmth in her eyes.
“Thank you.” Ning Dongya nodded, picking up the coffee cup, her fingertips elegantly pinching the handle. She took a light sip, but her gaze seemed to inadvertently sweep over me as I stood there like a wooden post. “Manager Yue Ran’s skill is indeed well-deserved.”
Ugh… why did they sit down?! Does that mean I can…
Holding onto the last shred of hope, my paws quietly moved backward, trying to slip along the wall toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
“Little Guiyun~~” * 2
Two voices rang out simultaneously again, like two paralysis spells.
My whole body froze, and I turned around in despair.
Wuwuwu, why can they both notice me slipping away the first time while they’re confronting each other!
“What are you doing standing there?” Yue Ran’s voice carried a gentle reproach as she patted the empty seat beside her. “Come sit and talk with us. You just got back, why are you running?”
Ning Dongya didn’t speak; she just set down her coffee cup and looked at me quietly with her silver-gray eyes, wearing a sweet smile.
How should I put it? Sweet enough to be… creepy?
I… I don’t dare go to either side!
I felt like I was about to split apart. The tip of my tail swept back and forth across the floor in anxiety. Finally, under the “kindly” gazes of the two, I chose a relatively neutral position. This shouldn’t be a problem, right?
“Hehe,” Yue Ran chuckled softly, seemingly satisfied with my tact. She pushed her cup of milk forward. “Drinking coffee at night isn’t good. Have some milk; it’ll calm your nerves.”
Her care and consideration were like an invisible barrier standing between me and Ning Dongya.
Almost at the same time, Ning Dongya pushed the plate of untouched cat-paw cookies in front of her toward the center of the table, her tone flat and waveless. “You’ve worked hard overtime. Eat something.”
Again?!
I looked at the steaming cup of milk on the left and then at the plate of tempting cookies on the right. I felt like I wasn’t being cared for, but rather being roasted over a fire. Drinking Sister Yue Ran’s milk was equivalent to siding with her; eating Ning Dongya’s cookies was equivalent to slapping Sister Yue Ran’s face in public…
I lowered my head tightly, paws on my knees, clenched into fists, motionless, wishing I could evaporate on the spot.
“What? Is the milk I warmed not to your taste?” Yue Ran’s voice was soft but carried a faint, imperceptible pressure.
“It seems the cookies aren’t to your appetite?” Ning Dongya spoke almost at the same time. Her tone was still steady, but her eyes had narrowed slightly.
Meow! Just kill me!
A desperate wail came from within, and I felt like my head was about to smoke. Under the pressure of the two increasingly tangible gazes, I tremblingly reached out my paw. First, I quickly picked up the milk Sister Yue Ran gave me and gulped down a large mouthful as if drinking poison. The warm liquid slid down my throat but didn’t ease my tension at all.
Then, under Sister Yue Ran’s slightly softened gaze, I grabbed a cat-paw cookie from the plate Ning Dongya pushed over with lightning speed and stuffed it into my mouth without even daring to look. Cookie crumbs almost choked my windpipe, and I covered my mouth, coughing miserably, tears nearly squeezed out.
Yue Ran immediately patted my back gently, her movements tender, but her eyes glanced at Ning Dongya with a sense of victory, as if saying: See, she still drank what I gave her first.
Ning Dongya ignored Yue Ran’s gaze. She just looked at my miserable appearance. The corner of her lips seemed to curve slightly before she returned to calm, leisurely taking another sip of coffee.
My face was red from coughing, and I felt like a toy being pulled in different directions by two ropes; my soul was about to be torn apart. This smokeless war revolving around me seemed to have just begun, and I, this weak, pitiful, and helpless catgirl, had no power to fight back except to bear it passively.
Wuwuwu… Ling Xiaoxiao, Sister Shiyu, where are you… come save me…
Ning Dongya elegantly set down her coffee cup. The porcelain cup and saucer made a crisp sound, making my heart skip a beat. Her silver-gray eyes turned to Yue Ran, the corner of her lips hooking into a smile that looked easygoing but hid a sharp edge.
“Manager Yue Ran takes such good care of Guiyun; surely you know many interesting stories about that relative of hers?” Her tone was relaxed, as if just chatting. “I remember that guy, for a while during his freshman year, he was obsessed with an online game. He stayed up all night and ran to class in a daze the next morning. As a result, he bumped straight into the dean’s arms in the hallway and was caught red-handed.”
As she spoke, her gaze drifted over my instantly frozen back.
Ugh! How does she even know about that?! I was so sleepy that morning I couldn’t even open my eyes…
“At the time, he was so scared his face went white, shrinking his neck like a quail.” Ning Dongya chuckled, with a hint of reminiscent teasing. “It was only because I happened to pass by and told the dean he stayed up late helping me organize club activity materials that he was fished out. He was so scared that for a week after that, he would walk around me whenever he saw me.”
Meow…! Don’t bring that up! It was so embarrassing back then!
Also, why are you using my dark history to stake your claim QAQ…
I felt my cheeks burning. My paws tightly gripped the tip of my tail, wishing I could bury my face in the fluffy fur.
Yue Ran’s movement of wiping the cup paused. She looked up, the gentle shopkeeper mask still on her face, but there was no temperature in the depths of her eyes. “Oh? Is that so.” Her tone was flat, but carried the power of a soft touch deflecting a heavy blow. “I would have forgotten if President Ning hadn’t mentioned it. However, he learned his lesson later. Instead of foolishly running to school after staying up all night playing games, he hid in my family’s dojo, calling it ‘feeling the martial arts atmosphere to refresh himself’.”
She set down the cup and looked at me, a hint of “kindly” smile in her eyes that only I could understand: “And the result? He slept like a log on the tatami of the dojo, drooling all over the floor, and even held me tightly like a body pillow, muttering ‘the BOSS is almost out of health’… It took a lot of effort for me to kick him away. That look was much cuter than any picture.”
Boom—!
It was like a mushroom cloud exploded in my head! A hundred times more shameful than being caught by the dean! Drooling?! As a body pillow?! And, and muttering about the game?!
All the fur on my body stood up, my ears were so hot they were about to smoke, and my tail straightened and trembled as if it had been electrified.
Wuwuwu, why does this person also have to strike back by telling my dark history!
Seeing the two of them chatting back and forth like this, I suddenly had an ominous premonition.
Not good! My manly dignity as Guiyun!!