The moment they were having was broken, and Li Chuanmo was very irritated. How did he get to befriend this fiend?
"Get lost, idiot. Besides, since when did you become a single dog? Weren't you boasting about your prowess —or lack of it— recently?" This was from Li Chuanmo, while Pei Yueran held her cheeks. She had honestly forgotten he was still online.
"So harsh? Did I disturb something?" Jiang Philip teased him. "And in case you were curious, I became single yesterday. I was dumped."
"Serves you right. Now, just shut up and let's continue our work."
"Or else? What would you do? Send me to Africa? I heard there are many wild animals and diseases there."
"Are you genuinely stupid or are you just pretending to be dumb? Don't you know Africa is a huge continent with many countries within? Do you think it's just a large, undeveloped forest?"
"It's not?" Jiang Philip knew of course, but he was just trying to annoy Li Chuanmo further.
Li Chuanmo stared at him with so much malice that he trembled involuntarily.
"Since you seem to have fed your expensive education to the dogs, let me inform you that it is a very civilized part of the world, and definitely not a dumping ground for an ignoramus like you who does not even have this basic knowledge." Li Chuanmo roasted him ruthlessly.
"Alright alright, thanks for the knowledge Professor Li. Apologies. Infact, I'm leaving now, so don't vent your anger on me. But seriously, I'm not the reason you're feeling frustrated, and I can't help you. You should tell Yue..."
Li Chuanmo pressed on the end button with so much force that it almost left a dent on the screen. This idiot friend of his and his filthy words.
He glanced at Pei Yueran, who was pretending to be buried in work and reading a document with full concentration. He knew she was just hiding her embarrassment.
"Don't mind him. He says the most perverted things, but he's a good guy."
"I'm fine. He's kind of like my friend, Su Qianhua. Her words can make you wish the earth would swallow you instead. I think they would get along very well."
Both of them fell silent, and only the sound of the clock ticking could be heard for a long while. Pei Yueran was done with her work, but she sat there, thinking about Han Yichen's words.
She was pretty sure of her feelings for Li Chuanmo and was not averse to telling him, after all, she was sure he had feelings for her as well. The problem was that she knew he carried a lot of baggage. His experiences of the past were pretty heavy.
What if it had eroded his capacity for love? What if he was too cynical to pursue his heart? What if he saw her as a gold digger?
But then again, what if he was just being a bit slow and she needed to give him a little push for him to realize his own feelings?
Pei Yueran felt a headache coming on with all these "What ifs" floating through her mind. She planned to shelve the issue first and had just decided to go and see Zhang Heying for a chat before bed, when a voice spoke hesitatingly.
"I think.....I love you."
Pei Yueran's thoughts paused, and as if controlled by a puppeteer, she slowly turned to face the owner of the voice. "What did you say?"
Li Chuanmo was sweating, and he had to resist the urge to unbutton his shirt in order to breathe better. But he insisted on repeating himself.
"I said, I think I love you." Then with increasing determination, he said, "Scratch that, I'm sure I'm in love with you."
When she continued staring at him without a word, his heart sank. What compelled him to make a confession at this odd time?
"I know this is probably a wrong time. I'm sorry I chose to say that here, in the midst of work and after an argument with that idiot. I can't say I suddenly had an epiphany, yet I can't say this was something that has been on my mind. I just..."
It was obvious that he was jabbering and his words were probably incomprehensible, even to him. He stopped and took a deep breath. He stood up and went to sit beside her, taking her hands in his. He started again.
"Yueran, you know my story. I never thought I would even consider love again, much less find someone. When I met you, it was an instant attraction, but I was too cowardly to admit it. I fought it so hard.
"But that day at my parents' house, I realized how useless it was to pretend it wasn't there. Everytime I look at you, I lose my mind, but in a good way. You touch me on a level I cannot explain.
Even then, I shrunk away from telling you how I feel, for so many reasons. The what ifs have been holding me captive for so long. Even Yuchen has ridiculed me for lacking courage, among other things.'
He paused, furrowing his brows in frustration. It seemed like everything he was saying kept making no sense, not even to him. He sighed in defeat, but resolved to finish his "confession", even if the person he was confessing to did not react in any way.
"To sum it all up, you're the ray of light that came into my world and brightened it. I'm glad and changed to have met you. I love you, Yueran, and no matter what, I'm glad I get to tell you just how much you mean to me."
He felt like a significant weight had been taken off his shoulders, but just as he breathed a out in relief, his heart clenched in nervousness. What was she going to say?
Pei Yueran on her part, was devoid of speech and suitable rejoinders. Infact, all rational thought had flown away due to euphoria at the beginning, when he called her name, but she soon came back to earth, in time to hear the rest of his heartfelt confession.
Her heart was so full that she didn't know what to say. She was just thinking the exact same thing minutes ago, and her wish had come true mere moments later.
She figured she had to do something to show her stance. Now that she wasn't doing the confessing, she at least needed to do the responding.
When Pei Yueran gently removed her hands from his, Li Chuanmo's heart sank.
So this was her answer.
Fine. He couldn't deny he was disappointed, after all he had exhausted his courage in speaking up today. But in a way, telling her had unshackled him and made him bolder. If today was a failed mission, there would be other days. He was willing to pursue...
It was his turn to be devoid of all rational thought when she bent towards him, cupped his face and sealed his lips with hers.