Chapter 2 - DO YOUR WORST (1/2)

The gentle tap on her shoulders and the sound of a soft voice stirred Jingyi up. In a groggy state, it took her a moment to realize she fell asleep. With her heart pounding erratically as a result of the dream, she raised her eyes to look at the woman in a white coat who was hovering over.

”Are you okay?” the senior resident asked with a hint of concern.

With her mind still caught up with her dream, she sounded stupid to ask the question, ”What happened?”

”You were screaming.”

Jingyi looked down for a moment and tried to remember. After her back to back surgery, she ran to her office to write reports but had fallen asleep and started dreaming of that horrible day. By reflex, she pushed the nail on her index finger to her thumb, marking the white skin with red. The pain helped her calm her nerves. Moments later, she regained her gaze on her. Jingyi apologized.

”Was it a bad dream?” the other doctor asked as she handed her a bottle of water.

The words 'it was' was stuck in her throat. But she didn't voice it out, after gulping half of the content of the bottle, she simply said, ”It was nothing.”

The truth was, it was far from nothing. But she didn't want to delve on it at the moment. She stood and entered the bathroom. Dr. Lin wanted to ask but as everyone knows, in the hospital, Luo Jingyi wasn't close to anyone. Make a step closer and she'll step back 5 steps farther. There's always that impenetrable barrier around her.

”Go and check your interns. Don't just stand there!” came a yell from the bathroom. Dr. Lin left.

Jingyi let cold water run over her face before grabbing a clean towel to pat it try. As she coiled her long hair into a workable ponytail, she stared at herself in the mirror.

What's staring back at her is the original body's appearance which somehow looks like her old self but not quite the same. She is called Luo Jingyi. Where she was petite in her last life, the original was tall. Where she had an angular chin, this one has a perfectly sculpted v-line, making you think the original body had chin augmentation. However, she didn't.

With deep-set eyes and high cheekbones, the original is what people in ancient times would say calamitous beauty.

Her trance was disrupted by a loud bang coming outside.

....

”Don't think because I'm a woman, you can easily bully me. ” Luo Jingyi scoffed. Her hand gripped the man's arm before his slap landed on her face and pushed him aside.

The man fell on his bottom, feeling vague pain radiating from his coccyx up to his spine.

He looked up and stared at her beautiful face which made him think she's a perfect specimen. Beauty and brains.

But Dr. Luo isn't a gullible person so he scratched her name off the list of potentials.

Chen Guozhi didn't understand why she seemed to hate him. She didn't mask her contempt and disgust when talking to him. She blocked him at any cost. One time, chased her but the woman told her, ”I'll never date skunks.” This left a bad taste in his mouth till now.

He is Chen Guozhi. As the son of Minister Chen, he can never allow anyone to trample him. Especially a woman. As proud as he was, he stood up and eyed her sharply.

”Why has my application been rejected for the second time?” He was referring to the open position at the Medical University where Luo Jingyi lectures from time to time. He wanted that assistant clinical professor spot badly. But Luo Jingyi as the program director of medicine in that university passed up his application twice and given it to someone else. His father said, as long as he can take that position, his grandfather's opinion of him will change.

Luo Jingyi shrugged her shoulders and sat on her swivel chair. She looked at him in the eye and spoke coldly, ”If you're success outweighs your failure rate, come back and I'll put it into consideration.”

”What do you mean?” With brows furrowed, he asked.

”Up to your interpretation.”

His nostrils instantly flared and his face reddened. His ego couldn't accept that. ”Are you saying I'm an incompetent doctor?!”

”Are you?”

”Answer me!” Anger made him forget that the woman in front of him ranked higher than him in this hospital.

”Well, if you think you are an incompetent doctor, then you are. After all, without your family behind you, you are nothing.”

The taunt in her voice and that mirth in her eyes made him snap. He slammed her desk, almost creating a crack on it. Nobody ever dared to say these things to him. People would always bow down their heads to him. After all, he is the son of Minister Chen. Then there's his grandfather. Even if his grandfather retired from his political career, he can still influence lawmakers in their decisions.

That's why people would inadvertently treat him with respect except for this woman. Dr. Luo had always treated him blandly. While others clamor to be his friends, she refused him immediately.

Being called 'nothing' and labeled as 'inept doctor' is a sore spot for him.

”Take it back!”

”Or what?” Luo Jingyi sneered.

The man strode to the shelf that contains awards she won, papers she published and important books. He grabbed one by one and threw them onto the floor. Crashing sounds and pages being torn echoed inside the office.

Luo Jingyi curled her lip in contempt as she watched him threw a fit in rage. He was like a child stomping his feet when he couldn't grasp his favorite toy.

”Very immature.” she murmured.

Looking at him, an image overlapped in her head. Someone in her past life. He looked exactly like the best friend of her brother. Like him, he was spoiled rotten to the core that when he didn't get what he wanted, he threw a temper. And because of greed and jealousy, he backstabbed his very own best friend. In front of her and her brother, he defiled her sister-in-law.

Her poor sister-in-law's whimpers were ringing in her ears like it just happened yesterday. Without realizing it, her nails dug into her skin and her stomach clenched.

Snap out of it!

Snap out of it! A voice in her head screamed.