novellhall Chapter 20 Gratitude, Aren't you my family?
Chapter 20 Gratitude, Aren't you my family?
Before the laughter of the audience had subsided, Jessica's whisper was only heard by Lee Soon-kyu, who was sitting next to her.
Lee Soon-kyu paused for a moment, looking bewildered.
She turned to look at Jessica, then gasped.
Jessica said that Zhixing oppa lied? He kissed someone? With whom? Could it be Jessica?
Thinking back to when we were watching the movie, Krystal's eyes were practically sparkling with admiration for Lee Ji-hyung...
Oh my god! What did I just hear? Jessica, Krystal, these two sisters...?
The shocking information sent chills down Lee Soon-kyu's spine.
She shrank back, determined to keep this matter to herself.
She had no desire to get involved in this deadly battleground!
On stage, the discussion about kissing scenes continued.
Seeing Lee Ji-hyung's discomfiture, senior actor Park Joong-hoon couldn't resist picking up the microphone and adding fuel to the fire.
"Actually, it's because we couldn't get the scene with Zhixing right, and finally Director Jijun got angry and yelled, 'Yiyuan, just bite him! No kissing, bite him!'"
"Then Yewon bit Zhixing really hard, and that's how the filming finally ended. But by the end, Zhixing's lips were bleeding from the bite."
Park Joong-hoon mimicked Lee Ji-hyung's tone at the time, saying with a wronged expression, "Ji-hyung covered his mouth and asked in a particularly pitiful tone, 'Is kissing this painful? Then I never want to kiss again!'"
The audience burst into laughter again.
Lee Ji-haeng looked at Park Joong-hoon speechlessly, then feigned anger and said, "Senior Joong-hoon, so the current procedure is to expose each other's dirty secrets, is that right?"
"Do I really have to bring up the fact that you only filmed your scenes fifteen times, but still managed to attend eighteen of the crew's dinner parties?"
The laughter from the audience grew even louder.
Lee Ji-haeng nimbly dodged Park Joong-hoon's hand as he tried to grab the microphone, his gaze sweeping over the other main cast members as he provocatively said, "There are other seniors too. Do you think you have no chance against me? Come on, let's hurt each other!"
Even Xue Jingqiu laughed and scolded, raising his hand as if to cover his mouth.
Park Kyung-rim couldn't stop laughing either.
After finally catching her breath, she looked at Li Zhixing again: "Zhixing-xi, you still have your first kiss? Have you never dated anyone before?"
Li Zhixing nodded frankly.
"I've had too many part-time jobs and too busy with work these past few years, I haven't had time to think about these things."
Park Kyung-lim asked in surprise, "And before that? You didn't even have the experience of a first love on campus?"
Li Zhixing's smile faded slightly, and he fell silent for a moment.
"Things from my student days... I've forgotten them, so... I don't think they ever happened."
Upon hearing this, the emotions of the four girls in the audience were instantly pulled in completely different directions.
Lee Ji-eun subconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes, looking at her oppa on stage with a calm expression, feeling a pang of heartache.
On the other end, Soo-jung's smile faded, and she unconsciously tightened her fingers on her knees, her eyes filled with worry.
Meanwhile, Jessica in the middle turned cold, staring at Li Zhixing on the stage, her teeth grinding unconsciously.
It's that same excuse again, isn't it?
Can a simple "I forgot" erase all the past events?
Yoona, sitting in the back corner, trembled slightly upon hearing the words "forgot".
She always thought that Li Zhixing's indifference in the waiting room was just a deliberate pretense, to keep the promise made back then to "pretend not to know each other".
But now, looking at the man on stage with such a carefree expression, Yoona suddenly felt that all her grudges over the years were just a complete joke.
He wasn't pretending; he genuinely wanted to sever all ties with the past, leaving not even the slightest trace.
It turns out that she was the only one trapped in the past.
Yoona gave a self-deprecating smile and lowered her head.
Then, without glancing at the man on the stage again, she stood up and quietly left.
While still talking to the host, Li Zhixing caught a glimpse of that slender figure heading towards the exit.
He felt the person looked somewhat familiar, paused for half a second, but quickly turned his attention back to the interaction on stage.
……
The subsequent Q&A session went smoothly.
Under Park Kyung-rim's skillful command of the event, the VIP screening of "Haeundae" came to a successful conclusion.
The cast and crew headed to the backstage corridor to see off the invited guests.
Because Lee Soon-kyu and the others were personally invited by him, Lee Ji-haeng made a special trip to see them off and expressed his gratitude once again.
"Ji-hsing oppa, you're amazing! You acted so well, that eye-drama scene when you fell into the sea made me cry!" Lee Soon-kyu gave him a thumbs up.
Krystal excitedly joined in, her eyes filled with admiration as she exclaimed, "As expected of Teacher Lee! She left the seniors speechless!"
Li Zhixing smiled and bumped fists with her. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Zhi'en, who was standing to the side, seemed a little absent-minded.
Before he could think it through, he turned to look at Jessica, intending to say something smug, but found that the woman had a cold face and was completely ignoring him.
Jessica reached out and grabbed Krystal by the back of her collar, dragging her outside.
"Hey? Unnie! What are you doing! Aren't we going with Oppa...?"
Krystal's screams faded into the distance as Jessica dragged her away.
Li Zhixing stared at their retreating figures, bewildered, then turned to Li Shungui and asked, "What's wrong with her now?"
Lee Soon-kyu probably guessed it, but wanting to avoid it if possible, she just chuckled twice and said, "Maybe something came up and I had to leave in a hurry! Um, Oppa, I'll be going now too."
As she spoke, Lee Soon-kyu turned around and called out, "Seohyun, let's go."
However, unexpectedly, Seohyun did not leave with her.
Instead, he stepped forward and looked at Li Zhixing with a serious expression.
"Senior, I have some questions I'd like to ask you. Could we find a place to talk?"
Upon hearing this, Lee Ji-eun, who was standing to the side, suddenly looked up, her face turning pale.
Lee Soon-kyu's eyes widened as well.
Sun-kyu was utterly shocked that her own conservative maknae had actually asked a guy out!
Li Zhixing was also taken aback for a moment, and asked hesitantly, "Hmm? Is there something wrong?"
Seohyun felt a little uneasy when she met Lee Ji-haeng's gaze.
But she nodded vigorously: "There is something very important I want to ask you, senior. I can accommodate your schedule."
"Then we can do it now." Li Zhixing nodded. Actually, he also wanted to ask this strange girl why she always called him senior.
Seeing that he agreed so readily, Seohyun was stunned for a moment, then her face lit up with joy.
Unexpectedly, a gasp suddenly came from the side.
"Ouch..."
Lee Ji-eun suddenly bent over, clutching her stomach with both hands, and groaned in pain, "Oppa...it hurts so much..."
"Um?"
Li Zhixing rushed over to support her: "What happened? Why does your stomach suddenly hurt?"
"I don't know... Oppa, it hurts so much, I..." Lee Ji-eun said haltingly, "Oppa, please take me to the hospital."
Seeing her pained expression, Li Zhixing immediately nodded: "Okay, let's go now."
He then apologized to Seohyun, saying, "Seohyun-ssi, it seems I can't make it today. I need to take my sister to the hospital first. I'm sorry."
After nodding to Lee Soon-kyu, Lee Ji-haeng helped Ji-eun leave in a hurry.
In the corridor, Seohyun quietly watched the two figures leave, lost in thought.
IUxi... Strange, are you so afraid of me meeting my senior?
Meanwhile, Lee Soon-kyu, standing to the side, silently observed his maknae's inquisitive and thoughtful expression.
Thinking back to what happened in the waiting room that day, and considering that the youngest member insisted on coming to the screening with us, and his current actions...
As expected, the maknae knows Zhixing oppa! What about Yoona...?
Was the person who made Yoona break down in tears really Ji-hye oppa?
But why does Zhixing Oppa look at them with such unfamiliar eyes?
Thinking of Lee Ji-hyeong, Lee Soon-kyu frowned, feeling as if he had overlooked some crucial information.
……
On the other side, on the streets of Seoul.
Li Zhixing was driving, and Li Zhien was sitting in the passenger seat, clutching her stomach and occasionally groaning.
After driving for a while, Li Zhixing looked straight ahead and said speechlessly, "Still pretending? Aren't you tired?"
The humming stopped abruptly.
Lee Ji-eun froze, turning her head to look to the side with a surprised and uncertain expression: "Oppa?"
Li Zhixing looked at her helplessly: "Zhi'en, you should improve your acting skills when you have time. It's too exaggerated."
Seeing that she had been caught, Lee Ji-eun chuckled sheepishly, "You found out."
"Tell me, why did you pull this stunt? It's completely inexplicable."
Lee Ji-eun's eyes darted around, and she retorted, "That Seohyun, she definitely had ulterior motives for asking you out alone. Maybe she wanted to confess her feelings to you or something! Oppa, you've just debuted, you can't go off to date already, your career should come first!"
Li Zhixing rolled his eyes at her: "What nonsense are you talking about? Xu Xian doesn't seem to like me at all."
However, he did feel a little strange.
Why did Seohyun contact me? Was it to ask about Jessica?
I heard this girl has a very old-fashioned personality. Could it be that she knows I'm close to Jessica and wants to warn me to stay away from her?
But this doesn't make sense, does it? Are they really that nosy?
Li Zhixing was lost in his own thoughts.
Lee Ji-eun, in the passenger seat, looked worried and flustered as she recalled Seo Hyun's words earlier that day.
She gripped the seatbelt tightly, worried that Oppa would be agitated, and even more afraid that if he regained his past... he would leave her completely.
After a long pause, she suddenly spoke: "Oppa."
"What's wrong?"
Will you... leave us someday?
Li Zhixing looked at her suspiciously: "Leave what? Why are you acting so strangely? Just say what you want to say."
Lee Ji-eun stared intently at Lee Ji-heung, her eyes filled with unease: "I mean... if one day, Oppa finds his past and reunites with his family... will Oppa leave?"
The carriage fell silent.
Li Zhixing remained silent for a long time.
Just as Lee Ji-eun held her breath, on the verge of tears, he finally spoke.
"Ji-eun, aren't you my family?"
......