Chapter 3
If my stepbrother Si Bonian was the definition of denying his true feelings, then the school heartthrob Jian Li was Denial 2.0.
At first, he hadn’t liked the original heroine. When he learned she had feelings for him, he’d even taken offense.
Gradually, however, pity and possessiveness had taken root. He could no longer stop himself from wanting to protect her, and she came to believe Jian Li would be her salvation.
Then Si Bonian showed Jian Li exactly what had happened between himself and the heroine—and mocked him mercilessly.
Feeling deceived and humiliated, Jian Li’s love turned to hatred, and he joined the campaign to torment her.
He ridiculed her, taunted her, and humiliated her.
He forced her to leave traces of their “games” in every corner of the campus, all because he wanted to watch her struggle to restrain herself before inevitably losing control.
Love was the foundation of all that hatred!
Rounded up, Jian Li was madly in love with me!
If you yearned hard enough, eventually your wish came true. I owed him the dignity of answering his feelings!
At my question, Jian Li’s face stiffened. He clearly hadn’t expected me to say such a thing.
“Pei Youyou, what did you just say?”
I moved closer and murmured into his ear in a magnetic, seductive voice, “Si Bonian may be very obedient, but I like you more.”
Jian Li stared at me as if I were deranged. Apparently, describing a notorious tyrant like Si Bonian as obedient was beyond his comprehension.
He regarded me with distant disgust. “I don’t want to know what’s going on between you and Young Master Si, and I have no interest in finding out.”
“But please have some self-respect. I never want to hear you say anything like that to me again.”
I blinked at him in feigned confusion. “Anything like what? That you’re jealous, or that I like you more?”
“Oh, I understand! You’re thrilled, but you’re afraid that showing it would make you look cheap, so you’re saying the opposite of what you mean!”
“What a proud little tsundere.”
Jian Li was so furious he could hardly speak. “Pei Youyou, have you no shame?”
“I’ve never met anyone as brazen as you!”
I clung to his shoulders and breathed into his ear in my deepest, sexiest voice. “Baby, you’re the only one I treat this way.”
Jian Li shoved me off and shouted, “You’re insane!”
Then he ran away, red-faced.
I sighed, put a hand to my forehead, and shook my head with an indulgent smile.
“Honestly, what am I going to do with you?”
Morning classes began soon after, and everyone hurried to their rooms to wait for the teachers.
Unfortunately, Si Bonian wasn’t in my class.
Jian Li was.
My seat happened to be directly behind his.
The original heroine had only dared to steal glances at his back and record her girlish feelings in her diary.
I was different. Secret crushes weren’t my style.
The moment I sat down, I began kicking Jian Li’s chair.
He wasn’t merely the school heartthrob; he was also the top student, famous for being aloof and untouchable.
As I kicked his chair, his free hand curled into a fist, while veins rose along the hand gripping his pen.
Yet, mindful of his image, he said nothing and bent over his work in restrained silence.
Ah, the sight of him seething yet forced to endure made my heart flutter.
At last, he couldn’t bear it anymore. Jian Li spun around and glared at me.
“Pei Youyou, what exactly do you want?”
“If…”
He lowered his voice.
“If this is because of what I said this morning, then I apologize. Could you please stop harassing me?”
He spoke quietly, as if afraid anyone might hear, but I didn’t care for the perfunctory tone.
“Is that how you ask someone for a favor?”
His lips tightened. Through clenched teeth, he warned, “Don’t push your luck.”
He thought this was pushing it? I had plenty worse in store!
I caught his wrist and yanked him toward me.
“Can’t you tell I’m trying to get your attention?”
“What’s so interesting about a book? Is it prettier than me?”
Jian Li looked horrified, his face white as paper. “Let go of me!”
“Pei Youyou, if you don’t let go, I’ll hit you!”
I thrust my face closer. “Go ahead! Do it! Could you really bear to hurt me? My body might take the blow, but your heart would feel the pain!”
Jian Li jerked his arm back, and the desks and chairs crashed together with a deafening bang.
In an instant, the whole class turned toward us, eyes brimming with curiosity and gossip.
I smiled at them, then gazed indulgently at Jian Li. “He’s throwing a tantrum. I’ll coax him later.”
Their expressions grew even more fascinating.
Jian Li shot to his feet and pointed at me, clearly desperate to say something.
Just then, the teacher came in. Seeing him standing, the teacher asked, “Jian Li, what are you doing?”
He clenched his fists and ground his teeth, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to tell on me. He sat down.
“Nothing.”
See? He hadn’t reported me to the teacher.
What did that prove? Deep down, he liked it too.
What a shameless tease.