A Billion Stars Can't Amount to You

“If things go back to how they were before like nothing happened, then he’ll come back to my side?”

Ji Yi’s tone of voice was so soft that she sounded like she was talking to herself. Some words were spoken so quietly that Ning Shuang couldn’t catch what she said. “What?” she asked in confusion.

Over the phone, Ji Yi stopped talking.

Ning Shuang waited for a while then spoke out again. “Miss Ji, what did you say?”

“Nothing,” came Ji Yi’s voice from the phone. Her voice sounded really quiet as though she hadn’t said anything at all. “I got it. Thank you for calling to tell me. If there’s nothing else, I’m going to hang up first.”

“Miss Ji...” Ning Shuang noticed Ji Yi’s voice sounded a little flat and distant, so she thought Ji Yi wasn’t going to stop He Jichen. When she heard Ji Yi was going to hang up, she anxiously tried to stop her.

Ji Yi didn’t hesitate in the slightest like she hadn’t just heard the anxiousness in Ning Shuang’s voice. Then she continued on her own train of thought, said “goodbye” and hung up the phone.

Without Ning Shuang’s voice in her ear, the entire world was a lot quieter.

It seemed like Ji Yi slipped into some kind of conflicted thought as she stared at the corner of the bed in a daze for a while before she gazed at her phone screen.

She unlocked her phone to see the schedule which she hadn’t closed.

She stared at the “television awards” reminder for a long time without so much as blinking. All of a sudden, a determined glow appeared in her eyes like she had just made a life-changing decision.

–

He Jichen called Ji Yi the day after Ning Shuang called.

When he called, Ji Yi was in a photo shoot and her phone wasn’t on her, so she couldn’t take the call.

She didn’t see his incoming call until she finished and finally had time for a breather to get a drink. Tang Huahua handed Ji Yi her bag, so she pulled out her phone and saw his missed call on the screen.

Ji Yi vaguely knew what He Jichen called to say.

She wasn’t in a hurry to pick up the call, so after she casually drank a bottle of water, she then gave Zhuang Yi and Tang Huahua beside her, who were chatting and giggling away, the excuse of going to the restroom to walk away on her own.

Ji Yi walked out of the set and found a remote place to call He Jichen back.

He Jichen was probably busy as the phone rang a few times before it was picked up. “Hello,” cried He Jichen in a flat voice.

Ji Yi ‘s fingers clutched the phone tightly as she tried her best to sound natural like she was having a casual conversation. “You called me?” she replied.

“Yeah.” With He Jichen’s reply, Ji Yi could hear an exhale through the phone. She knew it was He Jichen smoking.

Ji Yi waited until after the sound of the exhale had disappeared before she asked, “Is there something wrong?”

It was quiet over the phone for a while before He Jichen said, “I contacted people at the civil office.”

It was just as I thought – he called me to tell me about the divorce procedures.

Ji Yi didn’t say anything.

Over the phone, He Jichen said again, “Check to see if you’ve got some free time and if you really can’t come, I’ll give you the information and send someone over for you to sign...”

“Definitely not today. Tomorrow’s the television awards, so I’ll be in C city.” Ji Yi didn’t wait for He Jichen to finish when she interrupted him. “Can you do the morning of the day after tomorrow?”

The call was silent for a while then He Jichen’s indifferent-sounding voice was heard: “Yeah.”