Chapter 263: Summer, Beach, Fireworks, and a Confession! (Huang Mao’s Bewilderment)
The mirror reflected a distraught face, its eyes hollow, the corners of its mouth drooping.
Chen Mo leaned against the wall outside the bathroom door. He didn’t rush him, just waited quietly.
He could hear suppressed, heavy breathing from inside, mingled with the sound of running water.
After a good while, the sound of water stopped.
The doorknob turned, and a drenched Huang Mao walked out, his bangs plastered to his forehead, making him look even more dejected.
He didn’t dare to look at Chen Mo. He walked straight to the bed, threw himself heavily onto the mattress, and buried his face in the pillow, letting out a muffled sigh that sounded like a whimper.
"It crashed and burned?" Chen Mo walked over and sat on the edge of his bed. His voice was calm, with no hint of mockery, only the concern of a brother.
Huang Mao’s body stiffened for a moment. He nodded, his head still buried in the pillow. "...Yeah."
Huang Mao’s muffled voice, thick and nasal, came from the pillow.
"How so? Tell me about it. It’s worse if you bottle it up." Chen Mo’s tone carried a reassuring sense of reliability.
Huang Mao shot up, his eyes bloodshot—whether from the water earlier or from crying, it was hard to tell. He ran a hand through his wet hair, his voice thick with a sense of utter defeat. "Old Mo! I’m done for! I completely blew it!"
"Calm down. I see how you and Yuanyuan are all the time. It can’t be that bad. First, just tell me exactly what happened," Chen Mo soothed.
"I... I picked the exact moment Niu Lang and Zhi Nv embraced, when the golden light exploded at its brightest! I thought the atmosphere was absolutely perfect! I mustered up all the courage I’ve ever had in my life and said everything I’d been holding in for so long! I told her I liked her! I told her I love watching her smile, how it’s as brilliant as the sun! I said I wanted to be with her!
"And what happened...? She... she looked like she’d been struck by lightning! Her eyes went wide as saucers! She told me to give her some time!
"Then... then she started backing away! She wouldn’t meet my eyes, and her face went pale! And then... then she ran! She ran without a single look back! She ran so fast, it was like a ghost was chasing her! I guess she really, really doesn’t like me."
Huang Mao’s voice was filled with immense disappointment. "Right now... right now, the thing I’m most afraid of isn’t her rejecting me! I’m afraid... afraid that we won’t even be able to be friends anymore! That it’ll be awkward whenever we see each other! Then I... then I..."
He choked up, his head hanging dejectedly. He buried his hands in his wet hair, his shoulders slumped, and his voice was almost a whisper. "Is it... completely hopeless for me? Did I ruin everything?"
Chen Mo listened quietly, not speaking right away.
He understood Huang Mao’s impulsiveness and his current anguish, but he had also keenly picked up on a key point—Zhao Yuanyuan’s reaction wasn’t disgust, but pure panic and confusion from being completely stunned.
He patted Huang Mao’s shoulder with a firm, steady pressure.
"You didn’t ruin your ’chances,’ you messed up the timing and the delivery," Chen Mo’s low, clear voice reached Huang Mao’s ears. "I think she was just scared."
"Scared?" Huang Mao snapped his head up, a bewildered look on his face. "But... I was just confessing my feelings!"
"For Yuanyuan, you took a ’good buddy’ relationship that’s existed for years and, without any warning, in such an overwhelming setting, you abruptly shattered it to introduce ’romance.’ The shock was too much for her.
You know how oblivious she usually is.
From what I’ve seen, when she’s with us, she has never even considered that kind of relationship. Your confession wasn’t a pleasant surprise, it was just a scare.
"Let’s put it this way, how do you see the relationship between me and Yuanyuan?"
"Like a real brother and sister," Huang Mao said without hesitation.
"Exactly. Yuanyuan and I are pretty close, right? But no one thinks we’re a couple, or that we’d be a good couple. That includes me and Yuanyuan ourselves. We’re both very clear that our closeness and deep bond are more like that of a brother and sister.
No matter how close we are when we’re joking around, you never think it’s weird, and I’ve never seen you get jealous because of it, right?"
Now that Chen Mo had put it that way, the confusion in Huang Mao’s mind instantly cleared by half. He nodded blankly.
It was true. If he saw Zhao Yuanyuan getting close to another guy, he would get jealous. But when he saw Zhao Yuanyuan and Chen Mo teasing each other and being caring, he felt no jealousy at all.
That was because he knew very well that their bond was purely that of a brother and sister.
"Now, try to see it from her perspective. After everyone has accepted this as the default relationship, what do you think her reaction would be if I suddenly confessed my feelings to Yuanyuan?"
With that, it was like a light went on for Huang Mao.
"She probably wouldn’t know what to do, and then she’d run away."
"See? So when she ran away from your confession, it doesn’t mean she has no feelings for you or doesn’t see you as a friend. She just couldn’t process the sudden transformation of your relationship."
"You don’t mean... she thinks of me as a brother, too?" Huang Mao said, even more dejected after this realization.
"You’re so dense. How could the way you two interact be like a brother and sister?
To Yuanyuan, you’re definitely a good friend. But upgrading from ’good friend’ to ’boyfriend’ requires a mental shift.
Don’t be fooled by her age. Even though she’s the same age as us, her disposition is actually quite childish.
For you to suddenly dump such a heavy, emotional relationship on her... I’d be surprised if her brain *didn’t* crash," Chen Mo explained patiently.
Chen Mo paused, looking at Huang Mao’s pensive yet pained expression, and continued, "She doesn’t dislike you as a person. She was just blindsided by the sudden concept of ’romance’ being thrown at her. She’s probably even starting to doubt if she can handle that kind of relationship. She’s afraid of losing the easy, carefree friendship you have now. Did you notice? Before she ran, she said to ’give her some time.’ That means she’s not outright rejecting you; she just genuinely needs time to process this huge new development."
As Chen Mo analyzed the situation, a faint glimmer of light slowly began to pierce the ashen despair in Huang Mao’s eyes, only to be immediately overshadowed by an even greater worry. "Then... then what should I do now? I feel like it’ll be super awkward for both of us if we see each other!"
Chen Mo said decisively, "Act normal. Do what you always do, but don’t bring this up for now. Let her see that you’re still there, that you’re still the same Huang Mao, that you’re not going to get weird or distant just because the confession didn’t go well.
Reduce the pressure she feels about dealing with your feelings for her.
As for the rest... leave it to time and for her to figure it out on her own.
What she needs right now is a sense of security—reassurance that no matter what, she won’t lose you as a friend.
Because right now, while she’s grappling with her own confusion, she’s also under pressure to accept your confession out of fear of losing you as a friend.
That would make her afraid of accepting your confession for reasons other than loving you, and thereby trampling all over your feelings.
"You should know this. Yuanyuan’s personality is tough on the outside but soft on the inside. She’s a very gentle girl. She can’t stand to see people get hurt, especially a good friend on your level. For her to cause you even the slightest bit of pain would be something she could never forgive herself for."