weddingnovel Chapter 51 I Like You
Chapter 51 I Like You
By the time the live stream ended, it was already past 1 a.m.
Li Yuan waited in the lounge until the flowers withered. Luckily, he had brought a charger, otherwise he would have had to take a nap.
Finally, when I got really bored, I started fiddling with the unidentified green plant in the lounge—I plucked off a few yellowed leaves and poured half a bottle of mineral water into the soil.
The cake was delivered more than two hours ago and was hidden on a small cart next to me.
"Why is it so late?" Li Yuan muttered to himself, throwing the yellow leaf he had torn off into the trash can.
Then a commotion arose, followed by footsteps approaching from afar, and several agents and assistants entered the room.
Leading the way was IZ*ONE's manager. He paused at the door, then quickly walked up to Lee Won and gave a slight bow.
"Li Yuanxi, Youzhen and the others have finished their activities and will be here soon. The staff still have some finishing work to do, so they should be here in about ten minutes." His tone was respectful but with a hint of caution.
He recognized the young man in front of him.
When Ahn Yu-jin participated in "Produce 48", Lee Won approached the production team and made an absurd, almost naive request—if Ahn Yu-jin got more screen time, he would write a debut title track for the group after they were formed.
The team leader couldn't understand where this young man got his confidence from, as if his sister would definitely become a member of the group if he got more exposure.
What puzzled him even more was that the production team actually agreed—before the show aired, he knew that one person needed more screen time than average, and the person who made this request wasn't a company director or president.
Later, as the head of IZ*ONE's management team, he finally learned the young man's identity.
The string of hit songs following the name made him start to get excited.
Who doesn't want their group to be a huge hit? At least now the songs are guaranteed, and as for the group's popularity...
As a group born from a talent show, IZ*ONE was a group that came with a lot of popularity from the start.
Moreover, the fact that so many companies are involved is itself a testament to its popularity.
"Thanks." Li Yuan nodded, stood up from the sofa, and stretched.
He turned and went to the bathroom, turned on the tap and washed his face.
The icy water splashed on his face, jolting him awake and dispelling much of his drowsiness.
When I returned, I could already hear the noise of many girls in the room.
The people closest to the door were probably Choi Ye-na and Lee Chae-yeon; both of them have very distinctive voices.
Especially Choi Ye-na's incredibly spicy voice, which can be heard clearly even through a door.
He quietly pushed open the door and made a "shh" gesture to the two people closest to the door. The two people at the door covered their mouths in surprise—they hadn't expected to see Li Yuan here either.
Choi Ye-na gestured towards the room—inside, Ahn Yoo-jin was chatting with Kim Min-ju, and they were laughing so hard they were doubled over.
Ahn Yoo-jin was completely unaware of what was happening here.
It seems that Li Yuan really likes this younger sister. On her birthday and the day she became an IZ*ONE, he specially flew from China to celebrate with her.
Of course, they didn't know that Lee Won had actually been in South Korea for a long time.
All Li Yuan remembers about that night is how noisy it was.
The dressing room was packed with people: members of IZ*ONE, a few trainees who hadn't made it to the final round and were celebrating their birthdays together, plus several managers and assistants. The small room was filled with noise.
"Happy birthday—" everyone shouted in unison, their voices so loud they shook the ceiling.
Li Yuan noticed that there were several girls in the room whom he didn't recognize; they must have been rejected by the competition and came to celebrate their birthdays together.
Those who can still celebrate their birthday with you at this time either have a really good relationship or have exceptionally strong mental fortitude.
During this time, Kang Hye-won insisted on eating the whole cake, Jang Won-young chatted with herself, Choi Ye-na kept singing the birthday song, and the others were also making a ruckus.
After they'd had enough fun, laughed until they were tired, and eaten most of the cake, the group lay sprawled on the sofa, some yawning, others rubbing their eyes.
"Are you going out to play tomorrow?" Li Yuan asked, putting down his phone.
Tomorrow is Saturday, and it's also Zhang Yuanying's birthday.
Ahn Yoo-jin's eyes lit up for a moment, but quickly dimmed again. She shook her head: "We have classes. We've already missed a lot lately, we can't afford to miss any more."
"There's nothing I can do about that." Li Yuan waved his hand, not forcing the issue.
However, Ahn Yoo-jin really wanted to go out and have fun with Lee Won, but there was something going on at school...
"Skipping a class once in a while is no big deal," Jiang Huiyuan said, peeking out from behind the cake box, chocolate still smeared on her lips. "Just think of it as... just think of it as giving yourself a break. Going to class every day is so tiring."
She shrank back after saying that and continued to work on the piece of cake in her hand.
Ahn Yoo-jin glanced at her but didn't reply. Then she turned her head and looked at the Monopoly game box that hadn't been taken away in the corner of the lounge.
The dice were scattered on the game board.
She walked over, picked up the dice, and held them in her hand.
"If I get a number, I'll skip class today," she said.
Then she tossed the dice into the air. The dice tumbled twice under the light, landed on the floor, bounced once, rolled half a circle, and came to a stop.
six o'clock.
The atmosphere became a bit tense.
"It's doubled!" Choi Ye-na exclaimed first, jumping up from the sofa. "We rolled a six, doubled, and got to escape for six days!"
"Is this even possible?" Li Yuan thought helplessly, his lips twitching.
Isn't this just making excuses?
As a result, others joined in the commotion, each chiming in with their own voices.
Ahn Yoo-jin stood in the middle of the crowd, still holding the dice in her hand, and the corners of her mouth slowly turned up.
And so, they decided not to go to class tomorrow.
It wasn't skipping class, it was asking for leave.
Late at night, the birthday celebration was finally coming to an end.
The staff began urging everyone to go back and rest. The members stood up in twos and threes, stretched, grabbed their coats, and helped each other out.
Li Yuan also stood up, brushed the cake crumbs off his pants, put his phone in his pocket, and prepared to leave.
"Oppa!" Ahn Yu-jin's voice came from behind.
Lee Won turned around, and Ahn Yoo-jin was standing in the middle of the corridor.
"Wait a minute." She walked over quickly, stopped in front of Li Yuan, and looked up at him.
"I have something I want to tell you." Her voice trembled slightly.
"Okay, let's talk as we walk," Li Yuan nodded.
As the two walked, moonlight streamed in through the window at the end of the corridor, falling on Li Yuan's shoulders and on An Youzhen's head, as if draping them in a silvery-white coat.
Or, like a wedding dress? Ahn Yoo-jin thought to herself, then was startled by the thought and her heart started racing.
"Oppa..." Ahn Yu-jin took a deep breath, then quickened her pace, ran to Lee Won in two steps, turned around to face him, and blocked his way. "I like you."
There was no preamble, no prelude, no roundabout probing.
Li Yuan paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "I like Youzhen too."
"I'm not kidding!" She shook her head, then continued, "Let's be together."
Li Yuan looked at her for a few seconds.
The moonlight enveloped her in a silvery halo. She stood before him, her face upturned, her eyes shining like two stars.
"You're still young," Li Yuan finally spoke. "Let's talk about this after you've come of age and made a name for yourself in K-pop."
"You can come and 'marry' me then, and I'll get to experience what it's like to be a kept man." Of course, this was a joke.
How old is Ahn Yoo-jin now?
When she realizes what happened in two years, she definitely won't want to mention this absurd thing again.
Most confessions during adolescence are like this: at the time, it feels like the sky is falling and you can't live without them, but looking back a few years later, it's just a small pebble on the road to adulthood, something you kick away and move on.
Ahn Yoo-jin paused for a moment, and then...
"Yes!" She nodded vigorously. "Oppa, you have to keep your word."
Li Yuan felt a little guilty under that gaze.
He wanted to say, "I was just kidding," but he swallowed the words back.
He simply nodded, neither saying yes nor no.
Ahn Yoo-jin chuckled, then turned and ran away.
The footsteps faded into the distance, growing fainter until they were swallowed up by the door at the end of the corridor and could no longer be heard.