Chapter 62: Can the Class Belle’s Body Pillow Experience Voucher Be Renewed?
The scent of sandalwood shampoo and the unique fragrance from the girl’s chest slammed into Chen Mo’s nostrils.
Su Yuqing’s uniform collar brushed against the tip of his nose, and the feel of her warm skin made the blood in his veins freeze solid.
After pretending she wasn’t looking, Zhao Yuanyuan seemed to have an idea and quickly pulled a battered-looking phone from her pocket.
The instant her phone made a CLICK, Su Yuqing shot up off of Chen Mo like a startled rabbit.
"I-It’s not what you think!" As Su Yuqing scrambled to her feet, the faint scent of lavender laundry detergent still lingered on the tip of Chen Mo’s nose.
Huang Mao immediately struggled to hold four water bottles with one arm while using his free hand to cover Zhao Yuanyuan’s eyes. "Parental advisory! Parental advisory!" he said, turning her away.
"You’re the one who’s a kid!" Zhao Yuanyuan pried his fingers away. Glimpsing Su Yuqing’s bright red cheeks, she let out another snort of laughter. "Brother Mo, I didn’t realize you two were moving so fast!"
She bounced closer, only for Chen Mo to lightly tap her on the forehead. "Keep talking nonsense, and I’ll cut off your allowance."
Chen Mo got up and took two bottles of water from Huang Mao. He pressed the cool plastic of one against Su Yuqing’s flushed cheek and smiled. "Cool down a bit."
"You tyrant! I’ve got blackmail material on my phone now, you know. It’s just a shame the camera sucks and the resolution is so low." Zhao Yuanyuan stuck out her tongue. "You’d better think long and hard about how much hush money you’re going to pay us."
"I can pretend I didn’t see a thing! But Old Mo, you have to teach me your ways later. How do you get the class beauty to fall into your arms like a huggable pillow?" Huang Mao said with a cheeky grin.
The blush on the tips of Su Yuqing’s ears spread down to her collarbone. She looked down and fumbled with the water bottle cap, her movements as frantic as if she were defusing a bomb.
Chen Mo suddenly reached out, his hand covering her trembling fingertips. The cool plastic of the bottle instantly grew warm from their combined body heat.
Just as Zhao Yuanyuan was about to start catcalling, Huang Mao pressed an ice-cold water bottle to the back of her neck.
Waggling his eyebrows, he started dragging her toward the sports field. "Come on, come on, we’re being way too obvious! Let’s go see if Zhang Ji and the guys are done with their frog jumps."
Zhao Yuanyuan immediately got the hint and let out a sly giggle. After waving to Chen Mo and Su Yuqing, she quickly ran off after Huang Mao.
WHOOSH! A cool breeze swept through, filling the now-silent corner.
Su Yuqing stared at their fingertips, which were overlapping on the bottle cap. The warmth of Chen Mo’s palm against the back of her hand sent a tickle through her heart.
Her knee, which had just collided with his chin, was still faintly aching. But the pain transformed into a tiny electric current that flowed through her veins and into her wildly pounding heart.
"I’m sorr—" Seeing that Chen Mo’s chin was still red, Su Yuqing started to apologize, but he cut her off by raising the water bottle to her lips.
"Have a drink. It’ll help you relax." Chen Mo gave her a gentle smile, seemingly unbothered by the hard knock he’d just taken.
Beads of condensation on the bottle trickled down Su Yuqing’s wrist and into her sleeve, and the icy touch sent a shiver through her.
Chen Mo suddenly let go and pulled a neatly folded handkerchief from his pocket—gently wrapping it around the damp bottle.
"Here, use this so your hand doesn’t get cold." As his fingertips brushed her palm, Su Yuqing clearly saw a bit of fluff on his eyelashes tremble with each breath. She couldn’t help but reach out and gently pluck it away.
The rhythmic counting for the frog jumps rose and fell from the sports field in the distance, but the sounds seemed to be muffled, as if coming through a pane of frosted glass.
Su Yuqing took a sip of water. The moment the cool liquid slid down her throat, she tasted a faint, barely-there sweetness.
Su Yuqing took small sips from the bottle, but the cool, sweet water couldn’t extinguish the heat simmering beneath her collarbone.
The spot on her slender waist where Chen Mo’s knuckles had rested still felt hot, as if the lines of his palm had been imprinted onto her skin right through her uniform.
In the distance, Huang Mao’s exaggerated counting for the frog jumps carried over, mixed with Zhao Yuanyuan’s bell-like laughter.
Seeing Su Yuqing drinking so demurely in small sips, looking as shy and well-behaved as a little kid, Chen Mo found her irresistibly cute. It made him want to tease her a little.
He suddenly tapped her red earlobe with the water bottle and grinned. "So, about that ’hug the class beauty’ experience ticket... can I renew it for next time?"
"..." The memory of what just happened—the feeling of his warm breath against her chest with every inhale and exhale—flashed through her mind. Chen Mo’s "renewal" offer left her feeling a mix of relish, shyness, and panic. Her hand trembled, and the bottle cap slipped from her fingers, clattering across the ground and rolling into a crack between the stones.
As she bent down to pick it up, Chen Mo’s warm breath suddenly washed over her. He had, at some point, bent down as well, his long fingers deftly snatching the rolling plastic cap.
The tip of Su Yuqing’s nose nearly brushed against the nape of his neck, which was still slightly damp from his workout. The citrus scent of his body wash mixed with his unique masculine scent, fermenting in the spring afternoon air into an intoxicating cocktail.
Su Yuqing snatched her hand back as if she’d been shocked. In her haste, the water bottle tipped over. Clear water snaked across the stone ledge, melting their reflections into a shimmering river of stars.
She stared at his blurred silhouette in the water, suddenly remembering the function graphs Chen Mo had drawn on scratch paper while explaining a math problem. Those intersecting curves were just like her own chaotic heartbeat right now.
The students who had just finished their frog jumps flooded toward the equipment room. Zhang Ji’s trademark loud voice cut through the bushes: "Chen Mo! Teacher Tian wants you for a lung capacity test!"
Su Yuqing instinctively took a step back, only to find her back bumping into Chen Mo’s hand, which he had placed behind her just in time.
The warmth of his palm seeped through the two layers of her uniform to her skin. Only then did she realize their pose looked just like the final flourish of a tango—he was bent over her, his hand at her waist, while she looked up into his eyes.
"You’re always so clumsy," Chen Mo said with a smile. He placed the bottle cap, which he had wiped clean on his uniform, into Su Yuqing’s palm before finally answering Zhang Ji’s shout.
From a distance, Zhang Ji had witnessed the entire interaction between Chen Mo and Su Yuqing, and a look of envy crept into his eyes.
After all, Su Yuqing was the class beauty—perhaps even the school beauty. It was only natural for the boys in their class to have a crush on a girl who was not only gorgeous and had a great figure, but was also gentle and sweet.
But most of them knew she was out of their league and could only admire her from a distance.
Zhang Ji was one of them.
He had a huge crush on Su Yuqing, but he knew he wasn’t on her level and could never get close to her.
Seeing his goddess being so intimate with another guy, it was impossible for him not to feel a pang of jealousy.
But the moment he remembered his rival was Chen Mo, he immediately squashed the thought.
He couldn’t compete on family background. He couldn’t compete on looks. In terms of physique, they were evenly matched at best. As for athletic ability—something guys tended to pride themselves on—he’d thought he had the upper hand. But after Chen Mo’s performance today, he’d been utterly demolished.
Naturally, he had given up all hope.
Staring at Chen Mo’s departing figure, Su Yuqing’s heart pounded in her chest, and she had no idea what to make of her own feelings.
She felt a conflicting pull; part of her longed for more intimate moments with Chen Mo, while another part of her was terribly shy and panicked by the very idea.
During the confusing years of adolescence, while boys feel a strong desire to be close to the girls they like, that desire is often even stronger in girls. It’s just that most girls, like Su Yuqing, find that longing mixed with a measure of fear and panic.
She couldn’t help but worry that her reactions were sending Chen Mo the wrong signals, keeping their relationship in this ambiguous, push-and-pull state.
She took a deep breath. ’I have to change this timid personality of mine,’ she thought, ’but I don’t even know where to begin.’ She decided she would read more psychology books when she got home to build up some inner strength!