76 MissImperfectlyFine's story submission
Four days later, Jun and Ai decided to start going back to the library again. She felt well after the second day itself, but Jun was stubborn to stay at home until her periods were over. He didn’t want to witness her getting collapsed like that ever again.
Mrs. Quan Su beamed seeing them return.”,
“Oh, you two are back! How are you feeling, Ai? Is it better now?””,
She cleared her throat. “I am. Jun was a good servant.””,
He clenched his jaw. “Yeah, sure. Now those days are over so you better watch out, Zhou Ai.””,
Ai smiled.”,
Jun seemed to be annoyed, but he had taken really good care of her from cooking to washing bed sheets.”,
Even better than Mom did, I must say.”,
She coughed. But Ai was taken aback as Mrs. Quan’s question dawned upon her.”,
“Do you know that I…””,
“Oh that you are living at Jun’s place? Yeah, I do. Jun called me four days back saying that he won’t be coming to work because you were sick.””,
She coughed. “Honestly, I was really shocked to know. I couldn’t believe that Jun offered you his place.””,
Jun glared at her. “What do you mean?””,
“Well…you aren’t exactly the type to bother with others’ problems,” she sheepishly grinned. “In fact I hadn’t expected you to agree to become the assistant librarian here either to help me out.””,
He sneered. “I see. Then I think you should look for another one as soon as possible. I might have just gotten offended.””,
She quickly waved her hand. “No, no. I was just joking. I know you are a sweet boy.””,
He snorted.”,
Mrs. Quan Su curiously alternated her gaze between them. “You two have gotten so close.””,
They blinked in confusion.”,
“Haven’t you noticed it? You are more comfortable around each other now. I even saw Jun smiling a minute ago when he was talking to you. And you know what? When he informed me about your sickness, I offered that you could stay at my place,” she cleared her throat. “Naturally, I felt it would be convenient for you to live with another woman during your periods. But oh my, Jun got so furious!””,
Jun’s gaze darkened.”,
Ai glanced at him with curiosity. “Really?””,
“I wasn’t angry!””,
“Yes you were. You said, ‘Hey, back off! Why does everyone want her to move out from my place? I can take care of her just fine! Now, if I heard a third person offering her God damn house to her, I would burn her place down!'”,
And then you cruelly hung up,” she sniffled. “So mean, Jun. I was just trying to help you.””,
His mouth twitched. “I didn’t say it like that! You are just making things up, old woman!” He turned and stomped his way to the third floor.”,
Mrs. Quan chuckled. “He is so cute.””,
“…Yeah.” Ai touched her cheek and felt it growing warmer.”,
“Did Jun really say that to you?””,
“Of course! Why would I lie? He said it exactly in the tone which I just expressed. Hehe, he ran away because he got embarrassed. He cares so much about you. I never saw him acting like that for any woman before. You know how he behaves with women here, right? So, it’s really surprising. But I am happy to see him opening up to you little by little. In fact, you too,” she kindly smiled.”,
Ai quickly bowed and went up with her lips uncontrollably smiling all the way.”,
—”,
Jun dumped his bag on his desk and mumbled a string of curses. “Mrs. Quan has too much free time it seems. I didn’t say it that way at all!””,
The patrons exchanged glances in wonder.”,
Why is he talking to himself?”,
Why does he look so angry?”,
Doesn’t he always look like that?”,
You have a point…”,
Jun shot a dangerous glare at them. “What?””,
The patrons hastily buried their heads in their books.”,
He opened his laptop and started doing his usual work. He got a ding and read Yunru’s message.”,
‘Bro! Did you read MissImperfectlyFine’s work? I did, and man it’s awesome! We should totally select her. I wonder why she would come to us when she works for Dream High though. Anyway, get back to me as soon as you can! I have mailed you her draft.'”,
Oh yeah…”,
Jun remembered reading Yunru’s message three days back. He was honestly shocked to learn that MissImperfectlyFine was pitching a draft to Sky. But he kept that work aside and only wanted to focus on Ai’s recovery.”,
I should check the draft now, he opened his mailbox.”,
He was curious to read what she had submitted. Though he had made the rule that Dream High writers weren’t allowed, he made an exception just for her. Usually, any other writer would have gotten rejected, but Yunru knew about the love-hate relationship with that author. So, he passed the draft onto Jun.”,
I hope it’s not another tragic story, he snorted.”,
Jun opened the document and saw that it was a short story.”,
Short story…”,
Which reminded him that Ai aka Butterfly was going to submit her story too.”,
Why hasn’t Sky still received any draft from her? She should be done days ago. He frowned.”,
Jun read through MissImperfectlyFine’s short story and froze. He blinked his eyes several times.”,
What, what, what?”,
He quickly scrolled down all until the end and found that the story was exactly the same as what Ai had worked upon. He checked again, and it was indeed sent from MissImperfectlyFine, not Butterfly.”,
What the hell…How can her story be the same as Ai’s!?”,
Her face was marred in utter bewilderment, and he quickly dialed Yunru’s number.”,
“Are you sure it’s the draft from MissImperfectlyFine?” He chillingly asked.”,
Yunru confirmed. “Yes! I was passing by four days ago and heard Sun Bai was going to reject her story. I heard her name but because I knew how much you ‘admire’ MissImperfectlyFine, I stopped her from rejecting it and sent it to you.””,
“No! I mean is it really from MissImperfectlyFine? Is there a misunderstanding between the drafts? It must be sent by Butterfly!””,
“Huh? Of course not. Butterfly didn’t send us any story. Sky received MissImperfectlyFine’s short story from her own mail account. It’s the one officially recorded in Dream High too. Why wouldn’t it be her?””,