After that, Chen Yaoyi dragged the wheelchair he’d tossed aside nearby and fled toward the park’s main gate.
The slow-to-react girl looked up, reached out—but Chen Yaoyi was already gone.
Minutes later, Zhao Xiaoluo appeared before May, panting heavily. He held up a plastic bag, proudly displaying his prize.
“I-I… I got it!”
Zhao Xiaoluo beamed, showing off the ice cream in his hand. But May’s eyes stayed locked on the path where Chen Yaoyi had vanished.
“May?”
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you talking? Are you feeling unwell…?”
“I’m fine,” May cut him off coldly. She picked up her small crossbody bag from the stone bench and stood. “Let’s wrap it up. I just remembered—Mom asked me to buy soy sauce. Gotta hurry…”
A painfully clumsy excuse. Even Zhao Xiaoluo, who’d always been patient and accommodating with May, felt a flicker of unease and frustration.
Over the past two weeks, Zhao Xiaoluo had finally recognized his feelings for May. No longer hesitant, he’d chosen to act.
Learning May had nearly been assaulted had sharpened his vigilance.
Yet May had grown distant.
Where she once teased him with playful words and hints, she now answered only with cold, dismissive grunts.
“May! You’ve been acting strange! Are you still hung up on what happened?”
His shout halted the girl trying to walk away.
“I said it! I like you! I won’t pay attention to Zi Qing anymore! I won’t go near other girls—I only like *you* now! I finally understand my own heart! And… I see all your past efforts too! I won’t pretend not to notice anymore—because I *really* like you!”
“An Ge told me everything. I know now we feel the same. I know you were upset about Zi Qing, but I’ll explain—I’ll cut things off with her! I promise!”
“And I know you like me too… so…”
“…”
Silent, the girl stood with her small but resolute back turned, as if speaking without words.
Zhao Xiaoluo stepped closer—yet felt farther from her than ever.
“Let me… think about it a little more…”
Head bowed, she stared at a dried cicada shell on the ground.
In Zhao Xiaoluo’s eyes, May walked away slowly, each step heavy.
XxxxxX
“The doctor said your condition’s not great. Doing acrobatics before fully healing? Rest properly now.”
“Thank you, Miss Su—”
“Oh, right. Your phone. Fixed.”
“Thank you, Miss Su—”
“Don’t make me sick. Get lost.”
“Thanks.”
Chen Yaoyi took the phone, immediately checked messages—all from Yaya and May, plus one spam.
“I’m off. I’ll be back for dinner.”
After watching the busy woman leave, he dialed Yaya.
She answered instantly.
“Brother Yaoyi! Brother Yaoyi! Don’t die! Yaya hasn’t even seen you one last time! Please don’t die!”
“…”
“Huh? Not talking? Really dying? Good riddance! Pop the champagne!”
“…”
“I’ll be stuck at the kids’ table! Waaah—I’m leaving—”
“When I get back, I’ll strip you naked and hang you outside the company entrance,” Chen Yaoyi said coldly, pulling the phone away just as shrill, dramatic pleas erupted from the other end.
Ten minutes later, when the noise faded, he brought the phone back.
“Brother Yaoyi… *sob*… Yaya was *so* worried! You haven’t called in two weeks… What’d I do about my salary if you vanished!”
“Still fretting over that ‘hell money’?”
“None of your business…” Yaya mumbled. Chen Yaoyi knew her well—he wasn’t angry. But the threat? Very real.
“Oh! Almost forgot the main thing,” Yaya said, thumping the table. Rustling sounds followed. “Higher-ups want this wrapped fast. Ten days left—deadline’s closing in. Move!”
Their mission: get the leads together as a couple. After that? Not their concern. So Chen Yaoyi’s goal was clear—push Zhao Xiaoluo to confess.
(Though if May confessed first? Even better—they *were* meant for each other!) But yesterday in the park… something felt off.
Zhao Xiaoluo clearly liked May. Yet May hesitated, held back by something unseen.
“Truth is, yesterday afternoon, Zhao Xiaoluo confessed to little May… but she didn’t accept.”
“Whoa! That brave?”
Monitoring them was Yaya’s job. She’d seen it all—but couldn’t tell Chen Yaoyi sooner; her phone was smashed.
“We can’t read their minds. I don’t know what little May’s thinking… but it’s weird. Doesn’t she *like* Zhao Xiaoluo?” Yaya complained, puzzled.
Chen Yaoyi stayed silent. He wasn’t clueless. Add the strange tension during his alone time with May in the teacher’s office the day before the gym storage incident—he had traces.
Clues existed. And he wasn’t dense.
“Brother Yaoyi… any… *pig* clues?”
“You’re the pig.”
“Huh?”
“I have ideas. But it’s messy—”
He couldn’t exactly say *he’d nearly taken advantage of May*. Though he hadn’t pinned down the real reason either.
This wasn’t arrogance—just calm reasoning. After all, Chen Yaoyi had “charmed” seven women before. Maybe May’s confusion came from tangled emotions, projecting fleeting feelings onto multiple people.
Adolescence does that. Boys and girls fantasize about being liked by one—or several—others. Developing temporary affections? Totally normal.
So Chen Yaoyi mistakenly believed May’s hesitation was just emotional static. Solidify her feelings for Zhao Xiaoluo… and everything would click into place.
