CEO, I'm Not The Girl You Once Knew (Hiatus)

One

When Shi Xiao Xi finally snapped awake to consciousness, it was to the worried face of her ex-boyfriend, the bastard who dared to cheat on her during their wedding day.

With her maid-of-honor.

After she took a reluctant sip of the water he offered, Shi Xiao Xi had enough moisture in her mouth to croak between dry, cracked lips, "Are you trying to make me regret that I'm alive? Is that it?"

He heaved a sigh, managing to muster a smile that looked as bright as a dim light bulb. "I'm glad that you're alive, Xiao Xi."

She was slightly mollified to see that he looked like hell, with disheveled hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for months, and eyebags that could double up as her carry-on.

"You don't look like it," she observed, and his smile drooped. It completely disappeared altogether when she followed that remark with a simple request. "And please get out."

She had enough manners drilled into her by her mother not to add that with a slap, a middle finger, or an attempted stab into his jugular, all of which Shi Xiao Xi desperately wanted to do. But she held on to what little composure she had, because damn it, she couldn't stoop to their level of rudeness.

Fortunately, Hu Zitao didn't try to test how long she could hold onto her civility, because he immediately rose up and went out the door. All at once, Shi Xiao Xi deflated on the bed.

She hurt all over, which meant she probably looked much worse. Shi Xiao Xi pressed the button at the head of the bed, and a nurse came in.

"The doctor will be here shortly," she said, recovering from the surprise of seeing Shi Xiao Xi awake.

The nurse picked up the glass Hu Zitao had given Shi Xiao Xi, and made her sip more water. She examined her vitals, and told her that she was doing well. The doctor came in soon after, and told Shi Xiao Xi the bad news.

"You've been in a coma for two years, Miss Shi," she said. "We need to keep you here for a few more weeks to test your physical health, since you've been in bed for so long. Do you have any recollection of the accident?"

She told her yes.

"Good. That means there was no memory impairment, for the recent ones at least. We'd have to ask you more questions later to confirm. Your EEG had been good, so I didn't think that was the case, but some people who went through the same accident as you did often end up having missing pieces of their lives, so I don't want you to panic if that happens to you."

"I understand," Shi Xiao Xi made herself say.

The female doctor smiled. "You're doing well. A couple more tests, and you should be out of here in no time."

The doctor and the nurse soon left her alone again, and Shi Xiao Xi was left staring at the drab celebrity news playing across the television adjacent to the bed.

"...Wei, who had been his fiancée before she died from a car crash that ended her short life. It's been the speculation of most tabloid newspapers that this was the main reason he—"

She reached for the remote on the bedside table, and turned the volume up.

"—although most of them ended up as simple one-night stands. Isn't that right, Peng?"

"Yes , Yang, you're right on that mark. We've even had reports that he had dated the famous Russian model, Ivanova Roslov, just before his press conference at the US. Of course, their 'date' only consisted of a single dinner at a famous five star hotel, and Lin Zhicheng left her soon afterwards, with a rumoured check of five hundred thousand dollars."

"Well, he could certainly afford to, Peng. Being the top richest bachelor in the world, and the youngest to boot, does give him the right to—"

At this point, Shi Xiao Xi tuned out. She was only interested in Ai Wei, who had been her idol since she was sixteen. Rich, gorgeous, and talented, Ai Wei was the envy of most young women in the world, including Shi Xiao Xi. They were of the same age, but Ai Wei had accomplished much more at twenty-one than she could do in a lifetime. It was a humbling thought.

Wait, thought Shi Xiao Xi. That's right. I was in a coma. That means I'm twenty-three now. Ai Wei must be twenty-three now too, except she died.

She didn't knew why, but that was then when it hit her that she had been in an accident. Shi Xiao Xi lurched to side of the bed to vomit, but nothing came out except acid that hurt her throat and made her eyes burn.

Just as she told the doctor, Shi Xiao Xi did remember the accident, a bit more vividly than she wished. The sudden rush of the ground heading towards her, the impact as the pavement walloped into her with the force of a sledgehammer—Hu Zitao and other people might have thought it was a suicide, considering that her disastrous wedding had only happened the day before, but it really was an accident, and an honest mistake on her part. She was just trying to fix the lightbulb on her apartment balcony, and Shi Xiao Xi lost her balance.

She knew it was stupid. She should have just called the local electrician. But Shi Xiao Xi didn't want to spend what little money she had saved, so she tried fixing it herself.

Now, her health insurance was toast. What few yuan she would have to pay for her fixed light bulb had mutated into a big dent in her insurance account. At least her stupidity hadn't cost her life, although the doctor assured Shi Xiao Xi that it was a near-miss.

She slept for a little while more after that, and when Shi Xiao Xi next woke up, she had Ai Wei's memories.