Chapter 177: Just How Close is This Relationship

By now, Huang Mao had gathered some basic information on Chu Mengyao. He immediately said he was going to buy water, giving him an excuse to step away from the two of them and secretly text Zhao Yuanyuan.

Watching him walk away, Chu Mengyao finally slung an arm around Chen Mo’s shoulder. "It’s just us now. C’mon, tell me, what’s the deal between you and that girl?"

"Roommates for now, I guess," Chen Mo replied with a smile.

Seeing that Chen Mo wasn’t giving her a straight answer, Chu Mengyao asked more directly this time, "I mean, do you have feelings for her?"

"What kind of feelings?" Chen Mo asked, looking back at her.

"She’s that pretty. Do I really need to spell out what kind of ’feelings’ a guy like you would have?" Chu Mengyao gave him a look that said, *don’t play innocent with me*.

"What’s with that look? I, your Brother Mo, am a man of integrity. We used to sleep in the same bed as kids, did I ever take advantage of you? You were the one who clung to me for dear life like a facehugger," Chen Mo immediately retorted.

Chu Mengyao couldn’t help but laugh, hearing that Chen Mo still remembered them sleeping together as kids.

She, too, was reminded of her own wild sleeping habits back then.

"I’m not talking about pervy thoughts," she said, asking him straight out. "I mean, she’s gorgeous and lives with you every day. Don’t you want to take things to the next level? Like, become a real couple?"

Hearing this question, Chen Mo realized he had known the answer deep down for a long time.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; he just didn’t dare.

After all, just as Chu Mengyao had said, they were a young man and woman living alone under the same roof.

As long as their relationship wasn’t official, he could still maintain some self-control. But once it was...

Seeing each other day in and day out, Chen Mo found it hard to imagine having enough willpower to stop something from happening with Su Yuqing.

He was afraid that if things happened too soon, it would lead to negative consequences.

That was why he had always maintained a kind of hazy intimacy with Su Yuqing.

They were more than friends but not quite lovers, and they both held themselves back.

Truthfully, it would be easy enough if it were just a matter of him controlling his own actions. What he truly feared was that once they made it official, Su Yuqing would get closer and more intimate with him.

With her initiating more intimate contact, he wasn’t exactly Liu Xiahui; it would be incredibly difficult to control himself.

At his hot-blooded age, once his passion was fully aroused, controlling his "little brother" would be harder than controlling the recoil on an AK-47.

But if he had to push her away just to "control his recoil," then what would be the point of making their relationship official in the first place?

Wouldn’t that just break her heart?

This was the most important reason why Chen Mo was trying so hard to hold back and not take their relationship to the next level.

’It would be better to wait until after high school graduation before we take things further.’

So, he answered Chu Mengyao’s question quite seriously this time. "Sometimes, acting on your feelings can end up hurting the other person. As for taking things to the next level... we’ll see after we graduate high school."

Seeing the serious look on Chen Mo’s face, Chu Mengyao froze for a moment.

She rarely saw him look so serious. When he did, it meant he had truly taken the matter to heart.

’It looks like this girl is really important to you,’ Chu Mengyao thought with an inward sigh, not saying the words out loud.

She couldn’t believe that in the short time they hadn’t seen each other, he had already developed such deep feelings for another girl.

She couldn’t help but regret not keeping in touch with him more. She also regretted her own shyness and the facade she put up.

’Whenever I see Chen Mo, I always act like we’re just a couple of good buddies meeting up.’

’Our relationship feels like it will never be anything more than childhood friends.’

Chu Mengyao could sense that Chen Mo barely even saw her as a girl.

The reason he could be so unguardedly close to her—sitting practically glued together like they were now, letting her sling an arm over his shoulder while they talked—

...was because he didn’t see her as a girl at all. To him, she was just a best friend he could sit and gossip with. That’s why he didn’t mind, and there was no need for any awkwardness or distance.

Normally, even boys and girls who knew each other well would rarely be this physically close.

A wave of sadness washed over Chu Mengyao at this thought.

In Chen Mo’s eyes, she had never been a woman.

She glanced down at her clothes, then took out her phone to look at her short-to-medium-length hair. ’Maybe it’s because I don’t pay enough attention to my appearance that he doesn’t notice my feminine side.’

She couldn’t help but think that if they managed to get into the same university, she would definitely show Chen Mo her true, girly self.

But by then, who knew if he and this campus belle would have already taken their relationship to the next level.

She prayed that fate would give her enough time—that it would delay Chen Mo and Su Yuqing’s relationship just long enough for her to have a chance to reveal her own feminine charm.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yuanyuan had just received the intelligence report from Huang Mao.

"Yikes. Childhood sweethearts. This is bad, Yuqing," Zhao Yuanyuan said, immediately showing the text to Su Yuqing.

When Su Yuqing saw Huang Mao’s intel on Chu Mengyao and Chen Mo’s relationship, her heart immediately sank.

She never expected Chen Mo to have such a beautiful childhood friend.

In Chen Mo’s eyes, Chu Mengyao was just one of the guys; he never paid any mind to how attractive she was.

But in the eyes of Su Yuqing and Zhao Yuanyuan, Chu Mengyao, even with her androgynous style, was incredibly charming.

She had the kind of face that appealed to everyone, men and women alike.

This only deepened Su Yuqing’s sense of crisis.

As a loyal best friend, Zhao Yuanyuan was naturally anxious seeing such a strong rival appear.

It was one thing for her to be pretty, but the childhood friend connection was a huge factor.

That kind of bond was incredibly strong.

Especially seeing how Chen Mo didn’t shy away from Chu Mengyao’s touch at all. They were over there with their arms slung around each other’s shoulders, talking and laughing, making it easy to imagine just how close they must be.

People saw the same relationship differently depending on their perspective.

From Chen Mo’s perspective, he was just hanging out with his best childhood buddy. Putting an arm around her shoulder was something they’d always done; he didn’t even think of her as a girl.

But from Su Yuqing and Zhao Yuanyuan’s point of view, the two of them seemed impossibly close—so close that it seemed to surpass even that of a romantic couple.

A normal couple probably wouldn’t dare to be so affectionate in such a public place, especially with so many teachers around.

And yet, here they were, completely unbothered by anyone watching. Just how close and natural could their relationship possibly be?