I'm A Math Idiot, So What? - Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Forbidden Affection (2)

As dawn gradually brightened, I woke up.

The curtains hadn’t been properly closed the night before, and the morning light streamed in early.

Worried the sunlight would soon fall on Fang Congxin’s face, I slipped out from under the thin blanket and tiptoed across the floor to adjust the curtains.

The old house had an exceptionally wide bay window.

With Fang Congxin still lying on the bay window seat, I had to arch my upper body like a bridge, bending into a significant curve to reach the curtains.

I gave it a gentle tug, but the curtain remained motionless.

Probably stuck on the track, I thought.

After several futile attempts, my patience snapped. I yanked with all my might, only for the blackout curtain to come crashing down. As I watched the curtain rod swing toward Fang Congxin, I instinctively raised my hand to block it, lost my balance, and stumbled—falling right on top of him. The falling curtain draped over both of us.

In a typical romance novel, this is the moment the heroine’s lips would brush against the hero’s.

But I wasn’t the heroine. My lips were miles away from Fang Congxin’s. And the way I landed on him wasn’t exactly graceful. Fang Congxin sat up as if reanimated from the dead, frantically tugging a dark red curtain panel off his head.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” I mumbled, even as I couldn’t help but find the scene hilariously absurd. After helping Fang Congxin shake off the curtain, I joked, “Doesn’t this feel like an ancient bridegroom lifting his bride’s veil?”

Fang Congxin wasn’t fully awake yet.

His hair stood up in spikes, one eye still squinted shut, his mouth twisted crookedly as he hunched over slightly. “Damn it, Lin Meng,” he grumbled, “your way of waking people up is way too aggressive!”

I laughed sheepishly.

The moment felt strangely tender. I couldn’t resist smoothing down his unruly hair. After a few strokes, he seemed to curl up against the window again, drifting back to sleep.

Listening to his shallow, even breathing, a hollow space opened in my chest, a sudden, desperate need to fill it with something.

Before I realized what I was doing, I leaned in slowly and pressed a soft kiss against his cheek, as light as a cloud brushing the treetops.

Then, Fang Congxin opened his eyes. His lashes fluttered like butterfly wings, no more than ten centimeters from mine.

In a raspy voice, he asked, “Lin Meng, do you even know what you’re doing?”

I shot up like a spring.

Oh my God!

Oh my God!

Oh my God!

What have I done?!

It felt like a giant celestial mallet was swinging toward me from afar. I babbled incoherently for a moment before managing to stammer out a lame excuse: “There was a mosquito—yes, a mosquito—” Fang Congxin watched me silently.

I grabbed him by the arm. “The sun’s already so high! You need to get home now!”

Fang Congxin glanced out the window. “Where’s the sun?”

“Just go home!” I tugged him toward the door.

“Hey, Lin Meng—” Fang Congxin stumbled.

“Ahhh!” I shrieked. “Don’t say my name! I’m dying of embarrassment right now! If you have even a shred of friendship left for me, shut up and just leave! Hurry, hurry!”

I hastily shoved Fang Congxin out of my apartment, as if slamming the door would slam shut the gate on this mortifying episode.

The moment the door clicked shut, I collapsed against it, sinking to the floor.

They say it’s old houses that catch fire, but I’ve only been single for twenty-odd years. Why is my libido so ramped up that I’m trying to get handsy the moment I open my eyes in the morning?

Or was I, a lost lamb, already blinded by love, unable to restrain my burning desire for his body even before winning his heart?

Pah! I should at least have some decency.

What would Fang Congxin think of me?

Would he call me a pervert?

Would he curse me for daring to covet his body?

Or would he condemn me for unilaterally breaching the safe boundaries of friendship and putting him in an awkward position?

Even a fool could see through my flimsy disguise by now.

I’m done for.

I’m done for.

I’m done for.

My cover’s completely blown.

My dual personalities were back online.

The Black Persona on the left, arms akimbo, sneered: Lin Meng, what difference is there between you and that slant-eyed woman who ruined Zhao Xiaoxiao and Zhang Ziqin’s relationship?

You’re even worse than her! At least she might have been kept in the dark by Zhao Xiaoxiao. But you know Fang Congxin and Tong Xiao’s secret. You’re doing something you know you shouldn’t. How shameless!

The White Persona on the right, dripping with faux innocence, chimed in: Lin Meng, you were the one who liked Fang Congxin first.

You fell for him long before they even got together. Besides, they just hugged, right?

“Even casual friends hug each other. You and Xu Zheng hugged too, so does that make you two a couple?

You’re not the third party—Tong Xiao is.”

“Go for it! Pursue him boldly!”

Black Persona: Sure, go ahead and chase him. As if chasing him will make him yours.

Just look at the difference between you and Tong Xiao.

He and Tong Xiao are a match made in heaven—the perfect couple. Standing together, they look completely natural, like two matching tiles in a puzzle, instantly connected.

And you, standing between them, look like a flower girl, the kind who approaches and says, “Sir, would you like to buy a flower for the lady? Ten yuan each, freshly picked today. She’ll love it!”

Have you ever seen a flower girl suddenly declare, “Actually, I’m the female lead here. Little Sister, please step aside and stop blocking my shot!”?

White Persona: What’s wrong with being a flower girl?

Don’t flower girls deserve love too?

There’s even a famous novel called “The Flower Girl”!

Black Persona: That’s “La Dame aux Camélias,” “The Camellia Lady.”

White Persona: Who cares if she sells camellias, peonies, or roses!

Natural rights! Everyone has the right to pursue love.

Besides, why assume you can’t win him over?

Why does he get jealous when you’re with other people?

Why did he come to your place in the middle of the night?

Why did he stay with you last night?

To each their own. Some like Tong Xiao, others like you!

Black Persona: Maybe. After all, you have such a pitiful story. Everyone can’t help but feel sorry for you.

White Persona: Fang Congxin said their feelings for you have nothing to do with your hands!

Because you’re worth it!

Remember: you’re worth it.

Fang Congxin’s words, “You’re worth it,” were devastatingly effective—worth a hundred.

Gradually, the White Persona’s perspective gained the upper hand. We’ve already kissed, I thought. There’s no turning back now. Better to be like Xu Zheng and say what needs to be said than pretend to be dead.

I mentally repeated the saying, Fortune favors the bold, while cowardice starves the timid. Take a chance, turn a bicycle into a motorcycle. Double down, turn that motorcycle into a Jeep. With a surge of determination, I pulled out my phone and texted, I like you. Simple, direct, brutal.

After sending it, I started picking at the floor, wondering if I should recall it, or recall it.

Then the knocking started again, pounding on the door.

“Lin Meng, open up!”

Hearing Fang Congxin’s voice, I braced myself against the door with all my might, as if he were about to force his way in. I growled, “I’m not opening!”

“I’m not wearing shoes.”

True enough, a pair of black Converse sneakers sat by the door.

This was a reason I couldn’t refuse.

Goddamn it, as much as I hate this, I can’t let him go home barefoot.

“Promise you’ll only wear the shoes inside?”

“Okay, I promise.”

He agreed instantly.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I cracked the door open a sliver.

Fang Congxin flowed in like water, his eyes sweeping my face before he crouched down to leisurely slip on the shoes.

Damn, this guy really knows how to keep his cool.

It took him longer to put on one shoe than it would take a centipede to put on its entire outfit.

I’m an impatient person. Seeing him dawdling, I blurted out, “You saw my message, right?”

Fang Congxin immediately slipped his other foot into the second shoe, sprang to his feet, and said, “Yeah, I saw it.”

“What do you think?”

“I’m sorry.”

His eyes flickered.

That single “I’m sorry” hit me hard, like a punch to the heart.

Fuck it, I’m better off sticking with my bicycle. Who needs a motorcycle anyway?

I dug my fingernails into my palm, trying to salvage what little dignity I had left. “It’s okay. You know how I am. Anyone who’s even a little nice to me, I fall for them easily.”

“In a few days, if someone else treats me even a little better, I’ll forget all about you—” I was halfway through my sentence when he suddenly leaned down, tilted his head, and gave me a light peck on my rambling lips. “I’m sorry.

I should have been the one to confess.

Lin Meng, let’s be together, okay?”

I closed my eyes briefly. “You don’t have to say that out of pity—” Fang Congxin grinned and pecked me again. “Just feel my feelings.”

I closed my eyes again. “I’m not picking up the signal very clearly. I suggest you install a signal booster and crank up the frequency.”

Fang Congxin cupped my face. “The whole world knows I like you, you signal-blocking pig!”

“Bullshit! What ‘whole world’? If you’re going to start spouting philosophical nonsense about a flower containing an entire universe, I’m walking away!”

He ticked off names one by one. “My brother, my dad, my grandma, your parents, Tong Xiao, Su Xu—”

“Wait, Tong Xiao?!”

My mind was a whirlwind of confusion. “Tong Xiao… she’s not—”

Fang Congxin cut me off. “I told her about it on the very first day of your ridiculous, half-baked ‘Millet Wine Tease’ plan.”

“The girl you mentioned that day, the one who was insatiable, wanting to get closer and stay longer—”

“Of course, it was you,” Fang Congxin said impatiently. “I only spent time with you those days.”

I stared blankly for a long moment, stunned. Finally, I blurted out, “You were such a normal person… how did you go completely insane?”

Fang Congxin shoved my head sharply. “What nonsense are you spouting?”

He grabbed my shoulders, spun me around 180 degrees, and pointed at the full-length mirror behind the door. “Look how perfect we are together!”

I glanced at my hair in the mirror—a tangled mess from overthinking—then at Fang Congxin’s defiant, upright strand of hair. I couldn’t help but agree.