"Ying Jie, why are you dazed? What are you thinking about?"

"A—Ah… I\'m thinking about someone back in my childhood… There was a girl that I liked so much, she\'s so pretty and a bit of an attention seeker. But she\'s very charming nonetheless."

"Ah, if only I can meet her again, I\'d ask her whether I can marry her despite the condition…"

Meng Bao stared at me with such a suspicious gaze and then asked, "Ying Jie, are you… a lesbian?"

"What?! Who said that? I\'M NOT A LESBIAN!" I yelled automatically. I had grown tired of such accusation that I often got, even though I always said that I am not a lesbian! I had nothing against them, but clearly, I still love a hot man, especially when that hot man is paired with another hot man in some smexy scene.

Oh, the beauty of Boys Love. Hehe.

What? Don\'t give your Jie that judgey look, Jie loves BL to death!

…

"Jie, you said it yourself that you\'d want to marry this girl in your childhood.. And you\'re also a girl…" Meng Bao said.

"W—Well, she\'s a bit different! And—And it doesn\'t matter whether you fell in love with a man or a woman! This is 2021!" I yelled. I had to admit that I\'ve never fallen in love with a girl other than Mengmeng in my life, so I didn\'t really know whether I was a lesbian or just Mengmeng-sexual.

"I\'ve only fallen in love with a girl once in my life, which was my childhood friend. But I\'ve fallen in love with another man now!"  I proclaimed so proudly, not realizing how impactful that sentence was.

Meng Bao, who was meek for the whole time, suddenly stood up from his seat. His cute blushy face turned into an intimidating expression that\'d make even the mightiest warrior tremble in fear. I suddenly felt a sense of crisis when his sparkly blue eyes darkened, and he gazed at me with such a cold gaze.

He grinned at me, but his grin didn\'t reach his eyes. It shocked me how fast his personality could change with just one sentence, from a cute meek bunny to a murderous bunny with a machine gun. It made me wonder whether Meng Bao was actually genuine with all the demeanour that he showed me. Since he seemed to be unable to control his own facial expression.

I could also sense that Meng Bao\'s voice changed a bit, calm and deep, but held such a severe threat, like deep water that would drown you if you were not careful. Meng Bao asked me, "Ying Jie, did you fall in love with someone else?"

"W—Well… kind of, but you don\'t know who that man is!" I dodged the question.

\'What? Do you want Jie to admit that Jie has been in love with Meng Bao just after three days of knowing him? Where is my pride of a woman ah! I\'m not a cheap woman!\'

\'Besides, if I admit it now, it\'ll be too awkward!\'

"I don\'t know him? I see…" Meng Bao\'s grin grew wider as he nodded once, with certainty, as if he had decided upon something dangerous that I didn\'t quite know.

"Maybe I don\'t know him… yet…" Meng Bao nodded again. Now, his grin turned into a malicious smirk. It was so obvious, too obvious, that he wanted to do something shady behind the curtain to this \'man\' I mentioned.

\'Meng Bao, it\'s YOU! What are you going to do with yourself? Stabbing yourself or what?\' I said in my heart. I was too ashamed to admit that Meng Bao was the man I was in love with right now.

Meng Bao clenched his fist, nodded again. He was planning something hideous and callous, I believed. Meng Bao lowered his gaze to stare at me, and then he crouched in front of me. He wrapped my hands with his warm hands and then rubbed my hands gently, "Ying Jie, do you really love this guy?"

…

\'Ah, he looks so cute like this…\' I said in my heart as I saw Meng Bao crouching in front of me, looking at me with such a loving gaze, but I could sense so much hostility in him behind that loving gaze. As if he was ready as a bunny with a machine gun, killing any of his competitors.

"Ying Jie… are you not going to answer me? Meng Bao promises that I won\'t hurt the man that you fall in love with… I just want to see if he can endure my test."

"Test?" I asked. It was quite entertaining to see Meng Bao in this state. He really looked like a murderous bunny.

"Well, like, scratch test, drop test, and bent test…" Meng Bao said.

"Ahahahahah!" I laughed harder as I got his answer. Seriously, just said that you were going to slash his neck, cemented his feet and drop him to the bottom of the lake, or put him in a briefcase and threw him away from a cliff.

"If I told you about him, then you\'ll definitely do something, right?" I raised my brow teasingly. But contrast to my expectation, Meng Bao actually smirked maliciously and shook his head.

"Meng Bao is a good man. I will not hurt him. Everything will be clean and painless, I promise!"

…

\'That\'s even scarier!\'

I gulped and shook my head, "It\'s okay, Meng Bao. I\'m just joking. I\'m not in love with anyone right now," I said to stop Meng Bao from thinking about some scary stuff.

However, Meng Bao didn\'t seem to buy it. He continued smirking and said, "I see. Ying Jie seems to like this man a lot just to protect him. Ying Jie, I will make everything clean and painless, trust me…"

\'Aiya, you\'re worrying me, Meng Bao!\'

"N—No, I swear that I have no one I like right now!"

"Really? But your gaze softened when you said that you\'ve fallen in love with a man now…" Meng Bao said. "I wonder who this man is, Jie…"

\'You, Duh. You dense man. Of course, I like you. Can\'t you see from my body language that I like you? Be less dense, seriously. Glad to know that I\'m not as dense and clueless as you, thank Buddha,\' I said in my heart.

I sighed and released my hands from Meng Bao and patted his head instead, "I\'m enjoying my single life right now. I don\'t feel like dating anyone. Don\'t you remember that I hired this rental boyfriend thing because of my parents\' pressure?"

"Yeah…" Meng Bao nodded weakly. He still looked restless, but he calmed down a lot, and his dark gaze disappeared after I patted his head, like patting a bunny.

"That\'s why you don\'t need to overthink about it. I was just joking."

Meng Bao nodded again. It seemed that he had completely out of his weird thought, right?

I mean, Meng Bao wouldn\'t do something crazy just because I said stupid stuff, right?

I kept pondering for a moment, then I blinked when Meng Bao sneakily tried to hold my hands again. I brushed off his hand this time and said, "Meng Bao, you can\'t do that."

"Eh, why?" he asked. He pouted cutely. It was really not a demeanour that a twenty-five years old should have, but I couldn\'t help to feel that Meng Bao was truly eye candy, especially when he acted cutely.

"Because we\'re not dating," I said. I sighed as I got up to avoid him. "I will not date someone who is still in a dilemma with himself, unable to leave his past. I don\'t know if you actually like me, or are you just projecting the image of your childhood sweetheart in me. Because you said it once that I looked and act like her so much."

"Just because we may look or act similar doesn\'t mean that we\'re the same person, Meng Bao," I said. I took the empty plate and drink and went to the kitchen. I saw Meng Bao was still on his knees, looking at me like an abandoned puppy.

"Don\'t give me that look, just go find your childhood sweetheart first, and after you realized your true feeling, then you may… though I find it unlike, you may return to me."

"But Jie—"

"There are no buts. You can leave now, Meng Bao. I accepted your confession, but I will not answer your confession until you find that childhood sweetheart of yours, then I will tell you my true feeling," I said. I was still in my stance, that I would not be entangled with Meng Bao much longer. He was far too dangerous and different than me, it\'d be too dramatic, and I disliked a dramatic life.

But I knew that Meng Bao was so stubborn, so all I could do was to make him unable to see me for a long time, maybe forever.

Since Meng Bao hadn\'t find his childhood love after a massive search.

\'Buddha, please don\'t let Meng Bao find his childhood sweetheart quickly. So he won\'t bother me for a while.\'

\'But please, let me meet with Mengmeng, I think all my badluck is because I\'ve scammed her too much. Let me compensate and please give me lots of good luck in the future, amen.\'

"Jie..."

"You know where the door is, don\'t come back at me until you\'ve find her, okay?