For a long period of time, Su Tingwan always had the same dream. In her dream, she was cornered, the surrounding light too dazzling for her to open her eyes. Scathing voices were around her, ridiculing, making difficulties, scolding...
During her struggle and at the moment of waking up in shock, she would reach up to touch her cheeks only to find that they were wet with hot tears. Glancing at her pillow it was already soaked. Those past memories she was desperately trying not to recall always managed to awaken her in such a forceful manner. Holding her forehead, she heaved herself up weakly. Even at this distance, the dazzling sunlight from the floor-to-ceiling window was blinding.
The alarm clock rang. Su Tingwan, battling exhaustion, turned it off. On the summer solstice, the sky was bright before six o'clock. Pulling off the quilt, she got out of bed, her feet weak, causing her to fall straight onto the floor.
With a thump, Su Tingwan drew a sharp breath from the fall, wrinkling her brow. Having no energy to stand up, she just sat there until the doorbell rang, pulling her wandering thoughts back.
Early in the morning, she knew without thinking who it was. Last night, Gu Xiaokui called to say that Xu Zhenghou was out of town. Feeling lonely, she insisted on coming over to freeload for a few days. Su Tingwan had mixed feelings for her sister, finding her a headache, but also didn’t have the heart to say anything bad about her.
Grabbing her coat from the tatami, she put it on as she walked out. As soon as she opened the door, she was greeted with the aroma of coffee.
"Ding-dong-ding, your delivery is here, good morning, sister!"
Gu Xiaokui was holding a box of coffee and a bag of pastries. Her eyes curved as she greeted Su Tingwan, but her smile froze when she saw Su Tingwan's pale face and swollen eyes.
“Sis, did you go out to steal something last night? Or got your heart broken? Why do you look like this?”
Su Tingwan felt a throbbing pain in the back of her head. She didn’t want to give Gu Xiaokui another look, turning to return inside. Even the hazelnut macchiato that she usually loves didn’t interest her.
“Sis, what on earth happened to you? Don’t tell me it’s because Jiang Jingnan went to the States and you are heartbroken because you miss him?”
The mention of that name made Su Tingwan halt her steps. She turned around abruptly, her expression unhappy, "How many times do I have to tell you? Jiang Jingnan is not my type. I don’t want to provoke him, so stop trying to make trouble for me. And another thing, it’s all right if you want to call him ‘second brother’ in front of Zhenghou, but not in front of me."
Gu Xiaokui was taken aback, then ran over to Su Tingwan, her eyes wide, "You guys had a fight? Believe me, I truly think you two are a good match. Jiang Jingnan is so powerful and influential! Many socialites can't reach him, and he is so into you, yet you are as cold as an ice cube."
After a night of nightmares, she hadn’t gotten a good sleep, and memories she'd been trying to forget were dug up, like reopening a healed wound. Su Tingwan felt an insuppressible oppression. Gu Xiaokui kept bringing up a certain someone at this time, making the vein at her temple throb painfully.
With a weary face, her fingers clenched and unclenched at her side repeatedly. After several times, she took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Whether it's suitable or not isn't for others to decide. At least for now, I'm not interested in romance. Have breakfast on your own. I am going back to bed for a bit."
Several steps later, Su Tingwan turned back, stretched out her hand to take the coffee box from Gu Xiaokui's hands, noting, "Pregnant women can't have coffee. Hasn't your house Xu Zheng Hou taught you this basic knowledge? There's milk in the fridge, pour yourself a cup and warm it up in the microwave."
"Um... the one I bought for myself is banana milk..."
Gu Xiaokui's voice, fine as a mosquito hum, didn't fail to take several more glances at Su Tingwan's expression while she was speaking. Intuition told her that her sister was definitely hiding something from her and it wasn't anything good.
It's a pity, though, no matter how you probe or ask, you could never find out anything that Su Tingwan didn't want to disclose.
"Aren't you going to eat something before going back to sleep?" she stubbornly asked again.
Su Tingwan turned her throbbing head around, "Aren't pregnant women supposed to love sleep? Are you a mutant or something, Gu Xiaokui? It's not even six o'clock yet and you're at my house waking me up. Believe it or not, I'm kicking you out."
Designers often need to concentrate entirely on their work. Over time, they become mentally tense and unable to relax easily, resulting in light sleep being the most prominent manifestation.
Su Tingwan particularly disliked putting her phone next to her when sleeping. Just a single vibration could wake her up and give her a fright, leaving her unable to fall back asleep. Gu Xiaokui came ringing the bell first thing in the morning and even brought breakfast. The disturbance left Su Tingwan wide awake. Feeling sleepy but unable to sleep, she got up reluctantly, took a bath, and walked out of the bedroom with a dry towel wrapped around her hair.