The Older Brother of My Student is My Secret Crush

Chapter 142

They said that Xiao Chen used to have a pretty good personality - not aloof at all, quite approachable and easy to get to know. You didn't need an introduction to strike up a conversation with him.

As a result, he had always had a lot of friends and was tremendously popular at school, a veritable mover and shaker.

But Xiao Chen was savvy enough to steer clear of being alone with girls. If a girl asked him out solo, he would turn her down for sure.

It was easy to get to know him and he readily made new friends.

But you must not confess your feelings to him under any circumstances - that was one of his red lines. As soon as he sensed a girl was interested in him, he would swiftly distance himself from her.

When Yu Na heard this, she could relate all too well.

Hadn't things been exactly the same between her and Xiao Chen in the beginning?

They used to get along very well, but as soon as she confessed her feelings, he had distanced himself right away, leaving her with no hope.

With his affable personality, he seemed nice enough. But it had also landed him in trouble once before.

This was according to Zhang Yang.

Back then, there was this fight-loving gangster in their school - to put it nicely, he was the school bully. He had a crush on a girl in the dance team.

But that girl liked Xiao Chen instead.

So their little love triangle became common knowledge. Moreover, all three protagonists were famous characters, so the story had a sort of popular girl - popular boy - school bully love-hate entanglement.

The school bully was pretty pissed off about this. That Friday, he deliberately picked a fight and called in a bunch of his friends from outside school to corner Xiao Chen in an alley, warning him to stay away from that girl.

Zhang Yang happened to be there too and was so frightened he could hardly speak properly.

But then something extremely awkward happened -

Xiao Chen had no clue who that girl was at all.

The love triangle only existed in the minds of the "school bully" and the "popular girl".

The popular boy didn't even know he was called the popular boy.

Xiao Chen patted the school bully on the shoulder and kindly advised him, "Listen to me. Puppy love is not good. What's the point of prematurely confessing your affection? Why don't we go to the arcade for a round of games instead?"

Now whenever Zhang Yang thought about this, he still felt it was hilarious. Somewhat tipsy, he even cursed out loud, "And then the damn weirdest thing happened - that gangster went with him to play games every goddamn Friday, sticking to him like a leech!"

Yu Na: "..."

The school bully turning into a groupie was quite an unbelievable twist indeed.

Except for Yu Na, the rest had all drunk quite a lot. As the only sober one, she had been listening to their stories about the past the entire time.

Hearing their depictions, Yu Na couldn't help picturing it in her mind's eye, walking into that passionate and wonderful youth of Xiao Chen's as a bystander.

It was very late by the time they all left. Yu Na tiptoed back lightly, afraid to wake up her grandparents.

After a simple shower, the two of them went back into the bedroom together.

Yu Na still found it hilarious when she thought about it. She poked his face repeatedly, "Baby..."

Xiao Chen was clearly drunk. Lying in bed, he let Yu Na do as she pleased, "Hmm..."

The single bed was still a little cramped. She simply climbed on top of Xiao Chen, burying her head in the crook of his neck, "I wish we had a time machine. I'd love to see what you looked like when you were a student."

He thought about it for a moment, "I think there are quite a few old photos of me from that time."

"Really? Where?"

She was only wearing a little spaghetti strap nightie.

Xiao Chen stroked her waist, "You lie down. Let me go find them."

"Okay, okay!"

Xiao Chen searched all over the room and finally found several photo albums in the drawer of the closet.

Yu Na's eyes lit up as if she had discovered some kind of treasure. She eagerly turned on the bedside lamp, "I want to see!"

Xiao Chen handed her the albums and got back into bed, "Come, sit in front of me."

Yu Na obediently sat down in front of him. He firmly wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly.

In the dim bedroom, the warm yellow light spilled over them. Xiao Chen rested his chin on her shoulder as she flipped through the photos. He would explain each picture she turned to.

"This was taken during a basketball match. The school took it."

He was wearing a white basketball uniform, in the middle of a jump shot. The camera had captured the decisive moment where he was the focus, the protagonist, brimming with youthful spirit as he stood bathed in the blazing sunlight.

Yu Na asked rather unkindly, "Did a lot of girls bring you water and stuff?"

Xiao Chen: "Well... yeah, but I didn't take any."

Yu Na: "Why not?"

Xiao Chen narcissistically explained, "If I had accepted them all, I'd either be in the bathroom all day or on my way there."

"...You narcissist!"

Xiao Chen pointed at the next photo, "This was taken during the school sports meet."

He had a race bib stuck to his back and was warming up on the track.

Yu Na stared at the picture in a daze, seemingly transported right back to the scene, with athletes dripping in sweat and cheers ringing loudly in her ears.

As they looked through the photos, Xiao Chen's hands started wandering.

Yu Na let out faint moans beyond her control.

She didn't stop him, just letting him have his way.

Suddenly, she came across a photo taken at the arcade and was randomly reminded of something they talked about tonight.

Yu Na grinned and brought up the old incident again, "So you went to play games with the school bully every week?"

"Yeah." Xiao Chen said, "He pestered me to no end every day."

"Do you still keep in contact?"

"No, I deleted his contact."

Yu Na hugged him by the neck, "I thought you'd beat him up when he threatened you."

"I definitely would have if he came alone. The problem was he brought over ten of his friends from outside school! Some of them had big tattoos on their arms."

Yu Na couldn't help giggling. She poked the tip of his nose, "My dear coward. I just love how you know when to submit and when to stand firm."

Xiao Chen: "..."

They continued browsing the photos. Xiao Chen patiently explained each one to her -

"This was me performing when I was little."

In the childhood photo, he still had a little red dot on his forehead. Yu Na laughed so hard a tear ran down her face and she even snapped a picture of it.

"This was Chinese New Year."

"This was dad's birthday."

"This was my coming-of-age ceremony."

"..."

The photos provided a complete record of the trajectory of his growth.

Yu Na complained resentfully, "How come your life has been so perfect?"

Xiao Chen: ?

"Your parents have a good relationship, your grandparents have a good relationship. You don't have any complicated family circumstances. Even your neighbors dote on you!"

Xiao Chen: "...Well—"

Yu Na got more and more upset as she spoke: "You're good-looking, tall, refined, successful, popular with girls back in school who chased you left and right, had tons of friends, and you're a rich man's son to boot!"

"How is it that all the good things in life fell into your lap?!"

Xiao Chen: "...Don't you think you're exaggerating?"

"What's there to exaggerate?! I'm racking my brains but I can't think of anything you've agonized over in your entire life so far!"

"That's not true at all!" Xiao Chen argued, "When I was little, my grandma wouldn't let me drink soda."

Yu Na: ???

He heaved a sigh, "My grandpa always took me out to buy it in secret. Then he would stand lookout for me while I secretly drank it."

How infuriating! How infuriating!

"You see, in the end you still got to drink it!"

"..."

"What's more—" Yu Na was so angry she wanted to shove him away, but reacted belatedly to something. "You even managed to chase me so effortlessly!!! Do you know how many guys have pursued me?!"

Xiao Chen: ?

She griped with a woeful expression, "I'm just so shameless..."

He kissed her cheek lightly and gently coaxed her, "Well? Aren't I good to you?"

Yu Na ignored him and continued browsing the photos.

Xiao Chen took out his graduation picture, "Guess which one is me?"

She immediately pointed at the middle of the top row, "This one. Too obvious."

He was the tallest guy in their class, so he stood in the center C spot where he could be easily spotted.

In the picture, his expression was serious. Perhaps because of the sweltering weather, he was frowning slightly, looking rather impatient.

Come to think of it, it did seem rare to see him angry.

Yu Na tilted her head slightly, "Are you very scary when you get mad?"

"Hmm?" Xiao Chen laughed. He gently nuzzled her cheek, "What makes you ask that?"

"I don't think I've ever seen you mad before. Even when Qiao Rui makes trouble, you seldom get angry. At most you just ignore him."

"Well, nothing to get angry about."

"What do you look like when you're angry?"

"Very frightening." Xiao Chen held her tightly. "Want to see?"

"Yeah, I wanna see."

"I don't want to." He rested his chin on her shoulder, "I'd never get angry at you, no matter who I was angry with."

Yu Na wouldn't let it go. "What if I went too far and crossed your bottom line?"

"If you coax me a little, I'll be fine. If you don't coax me--" He seriously pondered this irrelevant question, "I should lock myself in my room to calm down on my own, then come out to coax you."

"I was the one who upset you, why would you need to coax me?"

"Because I would be neglecting you by cooling off on my own."

Yu Na: ?

She put down the photo album and lay on him again, "I was just casually asking, I know my boundaries and won't make you angry."

"Even if you make me angry it's okay, but you won't cross my bottom line, because--"

Xiao Chen suddenly flipped over, pressing her under him, the alcohol-laden kisses covering her lips, their lips and teeth clinging together, soft yet scorching, their breaths intertwining, his words, together with his actions, like electric currents, tingling as they spread through her whole body,

"You are my bottom line."