NOVEL NEXT Chapter 122 - Meeting
The next day arrived.
Unlike her usual weekend routine, Bai Yu woke up an hour later than usual. Based on her recent habits, she should have been up by seven—
Yet today, she had slept in for a whole extra hour. Perhaps it was because she had slept well last night, and her insomnia had improved somewhat.
“Mm…”
Rising from bed, Bai Yu rubbed her eyes, then turned her head to look outside the window. The weather seemed much better than before. She stretched lazily—
“Hm… wait? Where’s YouYu?!”
Still half-dazed, Bai Yu instinctively reached toward the other side of the bed, wanting to wake YouYu up—only to feel nothing but empty sheets and a mattress.
The moment she realized YouYu was gone, her previously sluggish mind tensed up instantly. She sat upright, her eyes darting around the room, a wave of unease washing over her like never before.
But fortunately, that panic didn’t last long.
Just as she was about to call out YouYu’s name, the door to the room swung open.
“Bai Yu, you’re awake.”
The one who had opened the door was none other than YouYu.
“You… YouYu?! How did you—”
“You looked exhausted, so I figured I’d let you sleep in.”
Guessing what Bai Yu was about to say, YouYu interrupted her casually.
“Anyway, no need to overthink it. I made some breakfast—wash up and come eat.”
“Otherwise, it’ll get cold.”
Bai Yu was silent momentarily before lowering her head and murmuring, “…Sorry, YouYu. I should’ve gotten up earlier. Next time, I won’t trouble—”
“Let’s take turns making breakfast, okay? Bai Yu?”
“Huh?”
Seeing her surprise, YouYu sighed, a bit helpless.
“Taking turns. There’s no reason for one person to do it all. I wouldn’t be okay with that.”
“Anyway…”
He paused for a moment, then said,
“Consider it a request from me.”
“Is that okay?”
“…Okay.”
Bai Yu had been about to protest, but the way he phrased it made her swallow her words.
With no choice, she obediently got up and went to freshen up for the day.
Watching her leave, YouYu let out a breath before turning back toward the dining table.
He sat down and picked up the phone that Liu Meng had given him. Upon opening the messaging app, he noticed that Liu Meng’s chat had a 99+ notification badge. But more notably, another contact had a red notification dot.
Clicking on it, he saw an avatar of a flower—WuYue.
“So they’ve exchanged contact info already…”
After a brief glance, YouYu didn’t accept the friend request. Nor did he bother opening Liu Meng’s messages. Instead, he locked the screen and placed the phone aside, deep in thought.
“Liu Meng and WuYue can wait… Bai Yu must’ve told them something yesterday, so the only one I need to focus on for now is her.”
After all, last night, when Bai Yu had been “talking to herself,” YouYu had more or less pieced together the root of her actions.
Most likely, she was doing all this to seek a sense of “security.”
Put simply… she wanted to prevent history from repeating itself. To stop another tragedy from happening. To return things to normal, to a life free from suffering.
And in order to achieve that—she was willing to do anything.
That’s why her actions now seemed extreme. Even… foolish.
Still, the solution was simple: gradually guide her out of that mindset.
Since things were only just beginning, there was still room to maneuver.
“……”
“I’m back.”
“…Mm? Ah, Bai Yu, you’re done?”
“Yeah.”
Lost in thought, YouYu snapped back to reality as Bai Yu returned, quickly taking a seat at the dining table.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at the breakfast YouYu had prepared and immediately dug in at an astonishing speed.
“…Uh? Bai Yu, you don’t have to eat that fast—what’s the rush?”
“Wait, wait, wait! Slow down!”
Watching her exaggerated eating pace—if it could even be called “eating”—YouYu hurriedly stopped her.
He handed her a napkin and said, exasperated,
“What’s with the rush? Is there something urgent you need to do?”
“…Not really.”
After wiping her mouth, Bai Yu paused before replying,
“It’s just… YouYu, you said breakfast wouldn’t be as good if it got cold.”
“So I had to wash up quickly and finish eating before that happened.”
“That’s way too over the top.”
Hearing her explanation, YouYu shook his head and sighed.
“Fine… Then let me make another request. From now on, when similar situations happen—just handle them normally, like usual.”
“Don’t overdo it, okay? Bai Yu?”
“…Okay.”
She nodded in agreement.
Seeing her slow down to a normal eating pace, YouYu finally relaxed and started eating as well.
…
Since YouYu hadn’t made a large portion, breakfast was finished within ten minutes.
Afterward, Bai Yu began clearing the table. YouYu helped, and soon enough, everything was tidied up.
Once that was done, they both returned to their seats.
Because YouYu could tell—Bai Yu had something she wanted to say.
“YouYu, I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“You’re sure… you’re not going to run away, right?”
“…Wow, straight to the point. Don’t worry, I won’t run.”
“Is that so…”
After a brief silence, Bai Yu continued,
“YouYu, around noon today, I’m taking you to meet them—WuYue and Liu Meng.”
“Hm? That soon?”
YouYu raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah. I already promised them yesterday.”
Bai Yu nodded.
“If I don’t, they’ll come knocking anyway.”
“I see…”
“But don’t worry, YouYu.”
Noticing his contemplative look, Bai Yu’s voice grew firm.
“I won’t… hand you over to them.”
“……”
That… actually made him more worried.
“Forget it…”
Sighing, YouYu said,
“Let’s just get ready and head out at noon.”
…
Noon arrived quickly.
The meeting place was the same familiar restaurant.
WuYue and Liu Meng had already arrived ahead of time, sitting together as Bai Yu had requested. But they weren’t speaking to each other—just silently looking at their phones.
Until—
Footsteps approached.
“YouYu!”
The moment they heard those steps, their heightened senses immediately told them who it was. Excited, they looked up—
And saw Bai Yu, hand in hand with YouYu, walking toward them.
“……”