State of Panic

Is it necessary for a female lead to act like this? A sigh left her lips before she decided to grab some dinner and sleep. For the next few days, Li Yue's daily life followed a set, leisurely routine. Wake up, food, emails, art, school, food, sleep. It was simple, carefree and peaceful.

Aside from this, Li Yue had started earning a few bucks from completing the art commissions she received. When she was at school, Li Yue tried her best to avoid Xia Jin, Li Weiwei and practically everyone else in the school. That is, except for Mo Li who insisted on having lunch with her every single day.

"Aren't you tired of eating ramen?" Mo Li asked after five straight days of eating ramen.

"Aren't you tired of eating with me?" she countered, beaming.

"No."

"Then no." She answered. "There are salt based ramen, pork broth ramen, soy sauce ramen and a variety of other ramen. You can choose a different one every day."

"That's not my point."

Li Yue responded with a small shrug as they walked towards the Ramen House. "People are thinking that I seduce you, or something." Despite trying her best to avoid everyone, these rumors are pretty popular in the university's forums. As someone who is always on her computer, she has also read a lot of the rumors posted on the forums these past few days. One of which was clearly speculating that the previous queen bee seduced Mo Li to become popular again.

Mo Li shrugged in response. "Not true."

"Still! I don't want my reputation to get dragged down because of you."

"It's the other way around."

"Excuse me?"

"You have a pretty bad reputation. You're dragging my name in the mud." Mo Li's words almost made her choke. She cleared her throat.

"Really? I'm not aware of that."

Again, he shrugged in response.

Days like these continued. After lunch, the two went back to the university. This has been their cycle for days by now. Afterwards, the class would start and Li Yue would go home to tend to her projects. Thanks to her hard work, she had landed a few projects from a social media fan in the animation industry and had been spending her time sketching and investing her money in purchasing stocks.

Of course, the people who wanted to bully her never stopped following her around, looking for any and every opportunity to poke fun at the fact that she was no longer the heiress of the Li Family. Each time, Li Yue would be forced to scare them off with the dirty secrets that she knew about them. However, she knew that this tactic would not last too long.

She needed to find a way to pry their attention away from her before she left to study abroad.

Tonight, Li Yue had a deadline to meet. Because of this, she spent all her time completing her project instead of eating her dinner. She yawned as she eyed the clock. It was already two in the morning. Not too late to go and grab some food from a convenience store, she thought. She then grabbed her coat and left her apartment. Li Yue originally thought that going out in this hour is fine. After all, she lives near the university.

Oh, how wrong she was.

At two am, the streets near her apartment were empty. The darkness in front of her was thick, cold and unwelcoming. Without the lamp post illuminating the streets, they could easily become the setting of a thriller slash horror film with a serial killer on the loose. She chuckled, strands of her long black hair fell, framing her face in the process. She immediately fixed her bun. Li Yue knew that there was a convenience store just at the corner of this street. However, she was not sure if they would still be open around this time.

Alas, her suspicion was proven to be true.

The convenience store had already closed. Gazing at the closed sign, she contemplated if she was willing to walk to the next block only to buy some instant noodles. Her growling stomach was enough to convince her to keep on walking. Tonight, Yin city was not as lively as the previous nights. Probably because of the cold, Li Yue thought as she shivered from the chilling gust of wind. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself, tucking her chin downwards into her jacket to protect herself from the cold.

After walking for a few more minutes, Li Yue arrived at the store and hurriedly bought some instant noodles and some more food so that she could easily cook next time she got hungry— something that she should have done earlier since she had moved to her own place. She sighed inwardly. She really should start buying groceries later when the shops opened.

After paying for her food, she went out and started walking back towards her apartment building. And that, was when she noticed them.

At first, she thought the group of men walking behind her, were nothing but strangers with the same route. But when they gradually quickened their pace towards her, she immediately realised something was off. She jogged towards an alley that would lead her towards the university. She knew that a guard would always stand at the university gates. Once again, she was proven wrong.

The university gates were unoccupied!

A curse escaped her lips as she turned towards the five men jogging her way. Clenching her jaw, she decided to find a place where she could hide. Li Yue was not an expert in self-defense, her knowledge in martial arts were not enough for her to beat five burly men that were about double her size. She started running, her heartbeat accelerated, her fight or flight mechanism triggered as she started turning every corner, hoping to confuse the people following her around. Another curse left her lips before the blinking neon sign of what seemed to be a night club caught her attention. Now that she got closer, she realized that it wasn't a night club but a cyber cafe. Without any second thoughts, she immediately walked inside and asked for access to a computer. However, instead of using the computer, Li Yue walked towards the men's bathroom.

'You should have asked them to help you.' The robotic voice echoed inside her head. Li Yue however, ignored the voice. She was not used to situations like this, alright? She was in a state of panic! Moreover, she was afraid that they wouldn't believe her. Gritting her teeth, she opened the first cubicle so she could hide and try to call the police, only to realize that there was someone inside.

"Eh?"

.....................................

Thank you for reading!

Announcement!

After I finish villains wife in a couple of weeks. I will give a big mass release for this novel.

I am still waiting for the contract to get an approval! I really enjoyed writing this novel. Unlike Villain's Wife, this one is lighter with lots of funny face slapping.

Enjoy!