Chongqing Chilli's Luoyang Laoban

7

“Hey, she is here, she is here!” 

“OMG! She came back? Wow! She is really something!” 

“Yeah! Bai Gyeong is really something.” 

Cheng Xiao heard her fellow group members whispering while eating in the mess. She was in the queue, expecting her turn soon.

“No wonder she came from a wealthy family or with our manager's temper, she wouldn't be in the industry anymore.” 

“Yes, yes. That's right. She really is a great catch.” 

There was something ringing in Cheng Xiao's head. The bruises and last day's activities really worn her out and the lack of food is taking her to the edge. 

“Only this?” 

Her heart almost broke at the sight of a single banana placed on her platter. Following the strict diet, she only eats lunch. She was starving the whole day and what she got was just a single banana. The counter attendant just shrugged. Even her teary eyes didn't have any effect on them. 

“We have orders. That's what your diet chart has.” 

Their reply was impassive and Cheng Xiao hoped for nothing that she would be given something more until they took the plate of another one in the queue. 

She bit lips, in utter shame. She had experienced this before too, begging for food to her own family. Now she is rich, that's what she knows and still is begging for food. 

The strong whiff of a familiar perfume invaded her nose all of a sudden and the weight of a bunch of pancakes placed on her platter almost gave her hands out. 

“Hey-”

Protests of the attendants died halfway down their throat at the single sight of Cheng Xiao's defendant. 

“What? Do you wanna die?” 

Her voice was harsh as if she didn't pick up the pancakes from the counter under the attendant's nose. On her glare, they shook their heads vigorously and went back to whatever they were doing. Who wants to get into trouble anyway? Nobody gonna know if a few more pancakes are eaten by Cheng Xiao unless someone reports it. The attendants definitely not gonna do it.

Soon a flabbergasted Cheng Xiao was caught by wrist and dragged to a vacant space by Bai Gyeong. Cheng Xiao's protests were meek. Her head ducked down due to the uneasiness of being watched by others in the mess. She was sat on a chair and the defendant's death glare put others in place. Cheng Xiao didn't dare raise her head. Gulping, she stared at the food. 

“Aren't you eating?”

“H-huh, y-yeah.” 

Cheng Xiao flinched a little under the piercing gaze of the girl sitting against her and took a pancake out to munch on it. 

Bai Gyeong was always like this. Not really giving a fuck about what others would think about her. If anybody would describe, she is arrogant, selfish and ambitious but that's what brought her where she is now. 

As Cheng Xiao finished with the last bite, Bai Gyeong got up and went on her way, not sparing another word of goodbye to Cheng Xiao.

With her stomach filled with a satisfying amount of food, Cheng Xiao sighed in contentment. She had been thinking about what Yibo said to her the previous night. To go and live with him. 

She was really considering it at this moment. Being beaten up to pulp and starved, Cheng Xiao doesn't know how many days she can survive there at this rate. With Yibo, at least she wouldn't be starved. But at the same time, losing all the luxuries and living a below average life was scaring her more than that. Maybe she should rethink it before acting reckless.