A warm breeze swept cherry blossom petals past the glass windows of St. Sakura Academy, but it couldn't dispel the oppressive atmosphere that permeated the teaching building.
Rong Shenghan's fingers tightened suddenly as he gripped the pen, the metal pen bar pressing against his knuckles, leaving them white.
The bell for the third period had just rung, but Yu Jiuyuan's seat was still empty, and her name wasn't even written on her open textbook. She would never do that.
"Vice President, this is the activity report for last week."
The student council member quietly handed over the document, but was startled by the coldness in his eyes when he looked up, and took a half step back.
Rong Shenghan didn't answer, his gaze falling on the cherry tree outside the window, whose blossoms were almost all gone.
When Yu Jiuyuan left this morning, she smiled and told him that she wanted to eat cherry blossom daifuku this afternoon. At that time, her face was indeed a little pale, but she only said that she was sleepy in spring. She even stood on tiptoe to straighten his tie, and her fingertips brushed against his Adam's apple with a little coolness.
He thought it was just ordinary discomfort.
With a "bang," the door to the adjacent club activity room was pushed open.
Xie Zhecheng stood at the door, his white shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing the pale blue veins on his wrists. His tone was unusually urgent: "She didn't come to class."
Yuan Xu's lab notebook slipped to the ground, and the crisp sound of the glass petri dishes colliding was particularly jarring.
His eyes widened instantly behind his glasses: "Her inhibitor is with me; she didn't take it with her this morning."
When Lin Yanran kicked open the door to the student council office, two buttons on her uniform jacket popped off, and her arrogant brows furrowed: "I made thirty-seven calls, and no one answered."
Rong Shenghan suddenly stood up, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.
He grabbed his phone and walked out. The screen showed a message from 7:20 this morning: "Baby, wait for me after school," followed by a tongue-out emoji.
The path from the teaching building to the parking lot was short, but the four of them felt like they were walking on a red-hot iron plate.
“Last month she was in so much pain that she couldn’t stand up, so I took her to the infirmary.”
Yuan Xu's voice was strained, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the medicine box in her pocket, "But never like today..."
“She never misses a class,” Xie Zhecheng added, his tone as cold as ice, “unless…”
No one responded to the rest of the conversation.
They all knew Yu Jiuyuan's personality; she was as proud as a bird that refused to break its wings. Even when she was in so much pain that she was curled up in bed, she would only grit her teeth and say, "It's okay."
Lin Yanran suddenly quickened her pace: "Go check the surveillance footage."
In the surveillance footage, Yu Jiuyuan's steps were somewhat unsteady when she walked out of the villa area gate this morning.
When she reached the cherry blossom tree at the intersection, she stood there for a full three minutes, leaning against the trunk. In the end, her driver, Lao Li, half-carried and half-supported her back to the villa.
"Damn it." Lin Yanran cursed under her breath, her knuckles turning white from clenching her fists.
Rong Shenghan's face was even colder than the monitor screen, his fingertips tracing her pale profile in the image over and over again.
He remembered how she nestled in his arms last night, her fingertips twirling around his tie, her voice soft and sweet: "Baby, don't worry if I don't go to school tomorrow."
He was kissing the back of her neck at the time, and only vaguely responded with a "okay".
As soon as the car left the school gate, Rong Shenghan's phone rang. It was Zhang Ma, the maid at the villa, calling with a sob in her voice: "Sir, please come back quickly! Miss... she's writhing in pain on the bed, her face is as white as paper, and she won't respond when I call her!"
"Keep a medicine kit handy and call your family doctor."
Rong Shenghan's voice was frighteningly steady, only his hands gripping the steering wheel were bulging with veins, "Go now!"
The cherry blossom trees outside the car window rushed past, and the April sunlight shone through the glass, but it couldn't warm the chill inside the car.
Xie Zhecheng pulled out the family doctor's number from his phone, his fingertips trembling so much he couldn't press the numbers accurately.
Yuan Xu stared at the car refrigerator and suddenly asked, "Is there a hot water bottle inside? She said before that applying heat would make her feel better."
Lin Yanran leaned back in the seat, closed her eyes, and then suddenly opened them again.
He recalled bumping into Yu Jiuyuan in the bathroom last week, where she was retching. At the time, she waved her hand and said with a smile, "I ate something bad." Now, thinking back, her face clearly showed that she was in extreme pain and exhausted.
They all knew she suffered from menstrual cramps and that she had a few uncomfortable days every month.
They even discussed in private that they would take turns caring for her when she was in pain. Xie Zhecheng would be in charge of her studies, Yuan Xu would prepare the medicine, Lin Yanran would arrange transportation, and Rong Shenghan... they all assumed that he should stay by her side.
Just like now, it's assumed he's the first person to rush into the bedroom.
When Rong Shenghan burst into the bedroom, his heart felt like it was being squeezed by a hand.
Yu Jiuyuan curled up on the soft bed, her face almost transparently pale, her forehead bangs soaked with cold sweat, her lips bloodless, her once bright eyes tightly closed, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, emitting soft, suppressed moans.
She didn't even have the strength to lift her hand.
"Jiuyuan?" Rong Shenghan's voice was hoarse. He walked over quickly and carefully took her cold hand in his.
It was scalding hot to the touch, yet carried an unnatural chill.
Yu Jiuyuan seemed to be startled by the sound, and opened her eyes with difficulty. Her vision was blurry, and she could only see a familiar outline moving in front of her.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but only managed a painful whimper, her body trembling slightly from the intense pain.
"I'm here." Rong Shenghan's heart ached as if it were being pricked by needles. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, feeling the alarming cold sweat on her skin. "Don't be afraid, the doctor will be here soon."
He had never seen her like this before.
Yu Jiuyuan, who was always calm and confident, in control of everything, and who would only grit her teeth and say "it's okay" even when in pain, was now as fragile as a feather that could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
Xie Zhecheng and the others followed them in, and when they saw the scene on the bed, they all fell silent.
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