Jian Changnian, who had been famous for a long time, remained silent for a few seconds before speaking.
"Hospital."
"And what's your least favorite color?"
"White."
The public has been gossiping about her love life for a long time.
"Who is the person you miss the most right now?"
At that time, Jian Changnian, a star in the sports world, fell into a long silence once again, clenching the fabric on his knees tightly.
After a long pause, he whispered, "My...partner."
***
As soon as Kim Nam-ji returned to her apartment, she soaked in the bathtub, closed her eyes, and enjoyed this rare moment of relaxation.
Her phone, which was on the shelf, vibrated. She opened her eyes and picked it up excitedly, thinking it was Yin Jiayi replying to her message. But when she opened it, she saw a long string of comments on social media criticizing her.
"Useless. Can't even beat a patient."
"Retire, don't waste national resources."
"You're good for nothing except for your pretty face."
"Honestly, I think you'd be better off going back to inherit the family business."
...
There were also some offensive words and pictures.
Public opinion has fully demonstrated what it means to change one's mind faster than turning the pages of a book.
Just yesterday, they were praising her as a rare genius in the history of Korean badminton. Today, they suddenly turned around and started criticizing and vilifying her, as if she had done something heinous instead of just losing a match.
Kim Nam-ji gave a mocking laugh, threw his phone onto the shelf, and then suddenly sank down.
The water in the bathtub went over my head.
The shimmering water gave her the illusion that she was being gently embraced, and tears streamed down her face silently.
She was addicted to the feeling.
His mind was gradually stripped away.
Just when she was about to give up, her phone rang abruptly. She surfaced, gasping for breath, and reached out her wet arm to pick up the phone from the shelf. It was her head coach calling.
"Hello?"
"It's me, Nam Ji. Have you rested well?"
Kim Nam-ji responded with a nonchalant "Mm".
"Well, the sponsor has invited you to a dinner party, and I thought it would be good for you to relax, so..."
He must have seen the negative comments online, otherwise he wouldn't have called her at this time.
Despite some differences in opinion between her and her coach, he still cared about her.
"when?"
"Nine o'clock tonight."
Kim Nam-ji glanced at the time on her phone, but before she could speak, the coach said again, "Don't worry, your evening gown has been prepared. Once you're ready, come downstairs. I'll be waiting for you downstairs."
Kim Nam-ji had attended many such business dinners with her father since she was a child. She liked lively atmospheres, so she also enjoyed these occasions. With men and women dressed in colorful clothes, clinking glasses, she could eat delicious food, broaden her horizons, and most importantly, many people would come up to chat with her. She enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention.
That's why the head coach called her here today.
"The sponsor this time is a South Korean company, which is also one of your father's businesses. In addition to us, we have invited many celebrities and dignitaries from the political and business circles tonight..."
Before he could finish speaking, Kim Nam-ji's teammates greeted her.
"Nan Zhi, you're finally here. Come, come, sit down. We're short one person for our game."
At the dinner table, several wealthy young men were also sitting nearby.
The coach, holding a champagne glass, quietly left the stage.
"I won't participate in your gatherings, which are for young people."
When Kim Nam-ji's teammates saw that she was still a little down, they knew she was upset about losing the game that day, so they poured her some champagne.
"Relax, now that the competition is over, eat and drink as you please, don't take it to heart."
Kim Nam-ji stared at the champagne glass in front of him for a long time, then picked up the bottle next to him, filled the glass, and drank it all in one gulp.
The others cheered.
"Nan Zhi has a good capacity for alcohol, fill it up, fill it up."
The group ate, drank, and played games. After a few rounds of drinks, Kim Nam-ji was already a little drunk and leaned on her teammate's shoulder. The men sitting opposite her thought she was asleep and started telling jokes and commenting on the female celebrities present.
Kim Nam-ji heard it in a daze.
"Speaking of so-and-so from Fengyu Media, she has a stunning figure, she looks very..."
"Hey, how many people in the entertainment industry are clean? Don't be fooled by her current appearance; she's actually been..."
"Well, to be honest, I've dated a few in the entertainment industry, but it wasn't interesting. But the sports world, well..."
"You're not thinking of making a move on Nan Zhi, are you?!"
"You can't mess with a tiger's tail. If I were to lay a finger on Nan Zhi, her dad would kill me! I just think that Yin Jiayi from the Chinese team is pretty good too..."
Upon hearing this, Kim Nam-ji, despite feeling a bit dizzy, gritted her teeth, slowly sat up, and reached for the champagne glass on the table.
Her teammate sitting next to her, oblivious to her presence, chimed in.
"If you like Yin Jiayi, then you've come to the right person. Our Nan Zhi and Yin Jiayi were very close when Nan Zhi first came to China. They were inseparable. Even now that they're rivals, the night before the semi-finals, Nan Zhi accidentally fell asleep in the training room, and it was Yin Jiayi who brought him back..."
Upon hearing this, a series of images suddenly flashed through Kim Nam-ji's mind.
Exhausted, she lay on the ground and slowly closed her eyes, murmuring to herself, "Yin Jiayi, if I beat you, would you like me even a little bit?"
The woman responded gently.
"Win or lose, I will love you."
So, it wasn't all just a dream?
Yin Jiayi had responded to her so passionately and genuinely.
Kim Nam-ji's eyes instantly welled up with tears.
The chat continued.
"Yeah, if you had told me you liked her earlier, I could have helped you get her number. She's currently filming an advertisement for our company in Changsha."
Wow, that's great!
Kim Nam-ji jumped to his feet and ran away.
"Hey, Nan Zhi, where are you going?!" a teammate asked.
She paused, then turned back, picked up her champagne glass, and poured it over the face of the shameless man who had just claimed to like Yin Jiayi, switching fluently to Chinese as she cursed him.
"Keep dreaming. You dare to touch Yin Jiayi."
After saying that, in full view of everyone, he tossed the champagne glass aside, stepped into his seven-centimeter high heels, and walked away with an air of nonchalance.
She ran all the way, finding the long hem of her evening gown in the way, so she simply lifted it up and ran to the hotel entrance, where she hailed a taxi.
"Driver, the airport."
With trembling fingers, she booked a flight to Changsha, the closest and most expensive one. Then, she took a deep breath to calm herself down and called the person in charge of the company the man had mentioned. Coincidentally, that company also had business dealings with her family.
Kim Nam-ji thought that her decision to fly to China to study badminton a year ago was the craziest decision she had ever made, but she never expected that all the crazy things she did in her life were related to Yoon Ga-yi.
When the plane flies high into the sky and disappears into the clouds.
A Chinese idiom suddenly popped into her mind: moths to a flame.
That description couldn't be more fitting for her right now.
How pessimistic, yet how romantic.
***
After a day of filming, the staff took her back to her five-star hotel.
"Ms. Yin, you've worked hard these past few days. There's another behind-the-scenes and costume poster shoot tomorrow, so please get some rest. I'll come pick you up tomorrow afternoon."
Yin Jiayi nodded and went into the hotel lobby on her own.
"Okay, I'll leave it here."
She returned to her room, turned on the TV, tuned to the sports channel, and then took a bath while listening to sports news.
When the host said, "Today, the Badminton World Championships concluded in Shanghai. Xie Shi'an of the national team, despite being ill, won the first gold medal in women's singles and also broke her own world record for the highest ball speed in women's singles. Kim Nam-ji of the South Korean team unfortunately lost 1-2."
Yin Jiayi frowned, opened her eyes, and just then, the doorbell rang. She thought it was her food order arriving, so she got up, wrapped herself in a bathrobe, and tied it tightly before opening the door.
"Didn't you say you'd leave it in the lobby and I'd go down to get it...?"
She froze on the spot before she could finish speaking.
Kim Nam-ji smiled sweetly at her.
"I saw it, so I brought it up for you."
Kim Nam-ji dressed up carefully for the banquet tonight, wearing a low-cut evening gown, high heels, and tassel earrings that swayed gracefully, exuding charm with every movement.
Yin Jiayi was a little afraid to look at her and looked away.
Why are you here?
Kim Nam-ji looked at her, but did not answer the question. She simply said...
"Yin Jiayi, you like me."
It's not a question, it's an affirmative statement.
Yin Jiayi's heart, which had finally calmed down, was suddenly filled with turmoil, and her thoughts were written all over her face.
Kim Nam-ji repeated it again, emphasizing it.