White Day. It is predominantly an East Asian tradition, originating from Japan. It is also known as Men's White Valentine's Day.
This is because in China, during the February 14 Valentine's Day, men usually are the ones who give chocolates to the girls. This is the opposite of the tradition in Japan, and so the White Valentine's Day or Baise Qingren Jie also comes in reverse.
On White Day, the women must return these chocolates they received, obligatory or not. Of course, not everyone follows this tradition, but people consider it a romantic thing.
Mo Aini hates this day.
Because it instantly becomes a bragging showdown between the boys.
"My baobei gave me thrice as much as I gave her last time, and I gave her a whole box! I can't seriously eat this on my own, you guys can have some!"
"Whaaa, is your baobei Japanese or something? Nobody follows the 'times three' rule here."
"Nah, I think she's not. She just has tons of money to burn. And besides, three times is nothing. My baobei worked so hard on part-time just to buy me five times the chocolate I have given her, twice the marshmallows, and gave me a 0 scolding pass no matter what I do on this day! It's 520*, isn't she the best?"
"That's sweet, but I don't really need any cheesiness like that. My baobei and I have something better than chocolate in store for me tonight~ It will truly be 'white day', we'll be painting my whole room white!"
See how insufferable they are? It's like this before classes start, Mo Aini could only distract himself by watching the footage they took for the documentary.
There's something he's curious about though. He looked at the front row of seats...
How come Mo Jiagei is not giving She Haoran any chocolate!? Does this mean he didn't give her some during Valentine's Day? What kind of boyfriend-girlfriend relationship is that?
But he thought, (Maybe She Haoran is thin-faced and doesn't like being seen receiving gifts, maybe he's not the type to brag. But then again, he's quite possessive and cunning, so shouldn't be the best way to make people back off from his girl is to have his girl profess her love to him through gifts in front of everyone? There really is something wrong with this couple.)
Shu Chuanli, who was reeking of vinegar beside him, made a long whine. He had been groaning for 5 minutes and waiting for Mo Aini to notice so he could rant.
Mo Aini sighed, and finally asked, "What is it?"
They were both otakus so no matter the world or version, its easy for them to get along.
"Look how shameless these people are, talking about their girlfriends and painting the room white! Utterly shameless!" He complained and crossed his arms. "It's unfair. Not all girls observe White Day and prefer to be just the receiver, not the giver. The girls that I gave chocolates to on Valentine's Day did not even bother to return it."
Mo Aini could already guess what happened based on this guy's personality. "Well, do they know that it was you who gave them in the first place?"
"Of course not! That's embarrassing, leaving your name on the chocolate! I just left it on their lockers as a secret admirer should, I gave a bag to all our female classmates!"
"Then how do you expect them to return the favor when they don't even know who gave it to them, bro?"
"I left hints! Like a drawing of them in my style! That should have been obvious, my art style is pretty distinct!" Shu Chuanli brought his gray hoodie with mouse ears over his head and curled on his desk. "Maybe this is just a sign that no one will love me. I'll continue giving all my love and efforts and money but I'm too much of a nerd for anyone to like me back."
"Ayysh, don't be so pessimistic, bro." Mo Aini patted him gently like he was a fragile little pet. "Tell you what. If I was a girl and you gave me chocolates on Valentines' Day, I'll give you ten times of that, no joke."
"Reeeeaaalllly???" Shu Chuanli's eyes lit up. "You'd do that for me, bro?"
"Yeah, coz I feel sorry for all the money you spent on giving chocolates to the other girls who did not realize it was you, so I'm returning the favor for them." Mo Aini said, then made a mocking high-pitched girl impression. "So don't be sad anymore, Shu-kun, kay~ Mo-senpai will give you all the chocolates you want~"
"Ugggh, then it's out of pity then, not love!" Shu Chuanli sank even deeper in his hoodie. "I don't want for you to return the favor just out of guilt! I want it for you to genuinely like me!"
The fujoshis sharp 'BL antenna' ears heard this out of context, and their eyes start to go wide. They moved closer to listen in on the two bros' conversation, not realizing that this is just a hypothetical situation if one of them is a girl. One of them even whipped out a voice recorder, ready to post this on Weibo.
"Well, how can you be sure it's purely out of guilt? I could also love you and feel sorry for you!" Mo Aini argued, still keeping up with the 'anime girl' act.
"That's not love, senpai!" Shu Chuanli scratched his head. "Love should not be out of debts and the wrongs you have done to a person! It should come naturally and you love them for who they are!"
Something struck with Mo Aini from those words, and his tone immediately changed into something more serious, no longer portraying an anime girl. "Yeah, but what if I can't help feeling sorry? Do I just free myself from this guilt and let you shower me with love even when I don't deserve it? I have a strong conscience, that's just who I am!"
"But that doesn't mean you should lead me on, pretending that you have feelings for me, when it's just your conscience!"
"Then what else should I do? You wouldn't give up even when I reject you, and you would be devastated by it. You don't want me to return any favors, but don't want to cut off relations with me. What else am I supposed to do then, huh!?"
"Then just say it to my face and decide what you really want! If you don't like me, then push me away completely! If you don't feel comfortable about me showing my love for you, then say it to my face, and let's forget about it! But giving back just because you feel like you owe me? That'll just give me mixed messages, and make the suffering longer!"
"Let's never see each other again, then! This is also difficult for me, you know! I value our friendship, but do you think I enjoy watching you suffer? Of course not!"
The fujoshis whispered and giggled among themselves. "Oh my god, this is like having a completely uncensored danmei live adaptation!"
"Yes, not filters, no sworn brothers and stuff! What a treat!"
"I ship it! I ship it! I ship it!"
Shu Chuanli was ready to give another burning argument, but then he realized how much this situation had derailed. Are they re-enacting a dog blood drama or something?
"Er....Bro, aren't we just talking about if you were a girl and I gave you chocolates here? Why did this suddenly evolve into the topic of love and guilt? We were more riled up than the Debate Club, let's chill, ok?"
Mo Aini blinked. "Oh, right. Sorry, I got carried away of playing as this 'girl that you gave chocolates to' role."
"EHHHHHHHHH???????" The fujoshis exclaimed with disappointment all at the same time.
Mo Aini turned at them and creased his eyebrows. "Were you girls listening in the whole time? Have your parents never fucking taught you that it's wrong to eavesdrop?"
"W-We're not listening in!" The immediately hid their phones and defended themselves. "You guys are just being to loud. Can you blame us for being concerned?"
Mo Aini rolled his eyes. "Pfftt. Alright then, none of this concerns you so go mind your shitty business."
The girls grumbled and went back to their seats, whispering amongst themselves.
"Ugh! I almost thought he'd make the ideal gentle shou who thinks of friendship before love, forever conflicted about his feelings to the straightforward gong!"
"What a horrible attitude. Who knows they were just roleplaying?"
"This doesn't change anything, guys! Those emotions gotta be real, they were so intense! I'm still gonna make a whole page about them."
Excitedly, they went on their phones, but as the girl who said she'll make a page typed the name Mo Aini, there was already a suggestion that showed up.
"Mo Aini x Ma Jianyu?"
"Who the hell is Ma Jianyu?"
"Ah, he's the president of the Theater Club! He's in Class B, I think!"
"Look at this picture, guys!"
They peered at the post made by a user under a pseudonym showing Ma Jianyu kissing Mo Aini's cheek. Their eyes almost got out of their sockets. The conversation they recorded earlier is nothing compared to this!
"Is he a playboy or something? How can he be getting these boys left and right and leave nothing for us!?"
Right on time, a blond delinquent barged into their classroom.
"Da Ge, we need to talk!"
---------------
1 minute before the 'Da Ge, we need to talk'...
While the fujoshis were discussing Mo Aini's possible love interests and his being a 'Cassanova', the bored side character calmed himself by looking at camera footage again.
(What's wrong with me? I got way overboard there for a second, Shu Chuanli and I were supposed to be joking around.) He rubbed his chest uncomfortably. (But when he said those things..... Why do I imagine HIM saying them?)
He overheard the girls say: "Ugh! I almost thought he'd make the ideal gentle shou who thinks of friendship before love, forever conflicted about his feelings to the straightforward gong!"
He scoffed at this. (I can hear you, you know? The fuck. What the hell are they talking about, projecting their own fantasies to people in real life?)
He went on to have his little mini rant about these girls who only know how to look at gay relationships at a surface level, thinking that men on men is the peak of all romances just because they're both guys and they're hot.
But thanks to them, his mind wanders off from THAT person a bit. He was the only one Mo Aini can think of these last few days.
How is he doing right now? He can't help but worry.
He was his friend after all.
Somewhere in the back his mind, his own subconscious thought spoke. (A friend wouldn't be this worried.)
And no matter how much he tried to ignore it, it kept repeating like a broken track record. In the end, he could only daydream about Hu Chuntian again, and how they could have spent White Day if things had been better.
------------------------------------------
~BRIBE ME, PLEASE~
Ok, I'm getting desperate and pathetic so now I'm willing to accept bribes. I get jealous easily of other books that have a huge following and get sad everytime, thinking what's the point of writing if I feel like no one's reading/appreciate it.
1 NEW 5 star review with genuine feedback (emojis and just saying compliments doesn't count) - 1 extra chapter
100 comments in a week (only those with TEXT count) - 1 extra chapter
5 NEW people voting for my other books- (so invite your friends haha) -1 extra chapter dedicated to them
100+ votes in a week in any of my books - 1 extra chapter for all of them
Magic Castle and up - Burst update
If you love my stories and would want to read more of them, please show your support through one of these bribes. Thank you!