"I wanted to make something clear between us."
Bai Bo's chest felt tight, his words jumbling together, "What, what is it?"
The girl was pure and beautiful. She sat obediently, her eyes clean and clear, her long lashes slightly lowered. Her pale pink lips were pursed.
Her lips were perfectly shaped, small and thin, with a full color, as if a gentle bite would draw out sweet juice. When she spoke, a fragrant breath would escape, drawing one closer to inhale, to sniff deeply.
Bai Bo's gaze couldn't be controlled, his eyes stiffly lingering on those lips. His heart was racing, like a startled deer.
He tried to calm his too-fast heartbeat and rapid breathing, only to hear the girl softly say something he didn't quite catch.
The boy took a sip of coffee, his throat feeling less dry. He spoke in a soft, hoarse voice filled with apology, "I didn't hear you clearly. Could you say that again?"
Shen Yue glanced at him, staring at her milk tea as she repeated what she had said earlier.
"I cannot accept your feelings."
His hand, stirring the coffee, paused. Bai Bo's expression went blank for a moment, the warmth in his eyes dropping sharply, his brow furrowing. "What do you mean?"
With his handsome eyebrows, high nose bridge, and a tightened jawline that formed a sharp curve, he usually wore a gentle smile for Shen Yue. Now, with a sudden blank expression, he appeared more gloomy than fierce.
Bai Bo rarely showed this side to Shen Yue. Every time, he was like a fawning lapdog, obsequious and trying to please Shen Yue. This led Shen Yue to subconsciously forget the kind of person Bai Bo truly was.
She seemed not to notice the change in the boy, her eyes lowered as she spoke slowly, "I accepted those roses, but it doesn't mean I accepted you. I was just afraid it would embarrass you in front of everyone if I didn't."
With that sentence, she cleanly extricated herself, as if it were all Bai Bo's fault, that he was wishfully thinking.
Actually, Shen Yue felt guilty. Most people would feel played in this situation, and Bai Bo seemed to have a good temper... right? He probably wouldn't make things difficult for her.
This kind of persona was truly difficult to handle. The act of stringing someone along was truly vile.
The boy seemed displeased, his voice much colder than usual, "So, you were playing with me?"
Her reddened fingertips trembled slightly, flustered and uneasy. Shen Yue looked up, her exquisite, picture-like eyebrows glancing sideways. Her small face was transparently pale, her lashes quivering. She pursed her lips and looked at the boy.
Bai Bo's chest trembled, and he felt an urge to grab the girl without restraint and punish her.
To make her understand the price of playing with him, and to punish her more fiercely and ruthlessly.
Stared at by such dark, brooding eyes, Shen Yue's palms became sweaty. The corners of her eyes, slightly reddened, drooped for a moment. She bit her lip and said pitifully, "I wasn't playing with you, Bai Bo. You're like a brother to me. You're a very good person, and I think you'll meet someone better, someone more suited to you."
The innocent girl loved nothing more than giving a platonic compliment. The girl's eyes reddened, as if she were the one being bullied.
Bai Bo was almost amused to the point of laughter, and indeed, he let out a low, mocking, sarcastic chuckle that made Shen Yue's scalp tingle.
After laughing for about five seconds, he abruptly stopped. Veins bulged on his forehead, and he grit his teeth, "Brother? You want to dismiss me so easily?"
Shen Yue trembled her lashes, her small face pale, and still had to brace herself and fan the flames. "Bai Bo, if you say that, we can't even be friends."
"Who the hell wants to be friends with you?"
The boy, unable to control his anger, slammed the table. The transparent glass table shook twice. The excessive commotion also drew sideways glances from others.
The girl flinched, her shoulders shrinking. Crystal tears dripped from her eyelids. She gently bit her pale pink lip, her expression one of despair and pitifulness, petite and fragile.
Bai Bo's gaze lingered on those crystal tears for a few seconds. His eyelids twitched several times, and his heart felt as if it were being squeezed.
Anyone who didn't know would think she was the one who had been played.
"Why are you crying?"
His fingers retracted. His handsome brows were tightly furrowed, his face gloomy. "What do you have to cry about?"
If Shen Yue hadn't accepted his feelings, she could have simply refused his roses. Bai Bo wasn't someone who couldn't afford to lose face. But now, he had tasted a joy and excitement he had never known before. He had been so happy yesterday that he couldn't sleep, waking up from beautiful dreams and laughing halfway through the night.
Now, Shen Yue told him he was just some damn brother, and he had fallen from heaven to hell.
How could he be willing to let go like this?
He had always been the one to toy with others. This was the first time someone had teased him like a leashed dog, and then cried after saying a few words. How could she have the nerve to cry?
The boy's eyebrows shot up in anger, his face so dark it seemed water could drip from it. "Shen Yue, I'm not someone who's easily fooled. Your excuses won't make me leave."
The girl's face was pale. Her lips parted, and then she finally said softly.
"I already have someone I like."
This sentence exploded like a bomb in the boy's mind. He widened his eyes in disbelief, his expression contorted, his face like a surging cold tide.
He said, word by word, "Shen Yue, you have guts."
The girl seemed to sense the boy's bluster, her lashes trembling. Her thin eyelids were reddened, and she frowned, appearing troubled.
"Stop bothering me. It's unsightly."
Shen Yue didn't dare to keep stringing Bai Bo along. Seeing his expression, she knew he was troublesome, and not just ordinarily troublesome. If he was pushed too far, she didn't know what he might do. Seizing the slight chance to escape, she had to distance herself.
Perhaps he had only been pretending in front of Shen Yue, harboring a mad streak in his heart.
Unsightly?
Bai Bo clenched his fists, his breathing pausing for a moment.
She actually called him unsightly. The girl's skin was fair, the corners of her eyes drooping, looking pure and obedient. And she used those pale pink lips to call him unsightly.
It was as if he were something shameful, unfit for public display. Perhaps it was his fragile male ego at play. He sneered, not deigning to beg for reconciliation.
He tilted his chin slightly, his tone mocking, "Shen Yue, don't think too highly of yourself. What do you think you are? Worthy of my entanglement? Stop flattering yourself."
"If you have the guts to play me, then be prepared to never appear before me again, or I'll make you regret everything you've done today."
Shen Yue's heart tightened. She slowly raised her eyes, and Bai Bo was also staring at her.
Having grown accustomed to Bai Bo's gentle, humble, and fawning demeanor in front of her, she now saw him looking at her expressionlessly. His dark eyes were deep and thick, his handsome face devoid of any emotion, as if he had completely changed into someone else.