Chapter 181: Help from the Homeroom Teacher
The rehearsal wasn’t complicated. With the staff’s guidance, they went on stage, found their positions, sang a few lines, and the backstage team played the right music according to the performance order.
At that moment, Li Mu seemed like a natural performer. As soon as she got on stage, she stopped joking around and wasn’t nervous at all. She completed the process seriously and carefully.
But Yu Fan was sweating nervously.
He was still feeling the after-effects of being teased earlier. It hadn’t completely gone away, and now he was a bit embarrassed, slightly bending his back like someone with a stomachache. He kept pulling down his jacket, trying to hide his “little Yu Fan”.
The whole time, Yu Fan was distracted and couldn’t focus. It wasn’t until they got off the stage that he finally let out a big sigh of relief.
Li Mu wanted to say something, but her face suddenly started turning red right before his eyes.
She looked down at her chest, and her face turned bright red like she had a fever. The redness spread to her neck and ears.
“You’re back?” Yu Fan noticed something was different about her.
“Yeah.”
Li Mu tried hard to hide her embarrassment, but the feeling of rubbing against Yu Fan’s arm was still fresh in her mind, and it made her nervous.
Xiao Jing!
She scolded Xiao Jing silently, turned her red face away, and didn’t dare look at Yu Fan. She also pushed her bangs away from her eyes without thinking.
Yu Fan felt a strange flutter in his heart seeing her like this.
Usually, Li Mu didn’t give off a very feminine vibe. She was beautiful, but her personality was cool and a bit like a guy’s, with a mix of both male and female traits. That made her unique and very attractive in her own way.
But right now, her shy and soft look was way more attractive than usual, maybe a hundred times more.
“Um… how about we go get lunch outside?” Yu Fan nervously pulled down his jacket again and looked up slightly.
“I want to go back and change clothes.”
“How about after lunch?”
He quickly came up with a reason. “Everyone in our class thinks I’m dating your sister, but they’ve never seen us go on a date. Doesn’t that seem fake?”
“If this keeps going, people will think I’m in a guy-on-guy relationship with Li Mu instead.”
“......”
“And since you’re wearing makeup today… they probably won’t recognize you, right?”
Li Mu lowered her head and lightly bit her lip. After a long pause, she gave a small nod.
Honestly, Yu Fan’s reason didn’t really convince her.
“Th-then…”
Yu Fan didn’t look like his usual cheerful and confident self. He wasn’t acting like the cool guy who always had girls around him. Now, he nervously held out his hand, too scared to say more, afraid she’d turn him down. His eyes looked away but held a bit of hope.
Seeing him this nervous, Li Mu suddenly wanted to laugh, even though she’d just been super embarrassed.
With a bit of a smile in her eyes, she calmly placed her hand into his palm. Just for fun, she lightly scratched his hand with her nails.
“Let’s go.”
“O-Okay!”
Maybe letting go of that last bit of male pride wasn't so bad after all.
Li Mu felt Yu Fan’s warm, slightly sweaty hand. It made her happy inside, though part of her still felt like a shy schoolgirl, regretting how bold she had just been.
Maybe she shouldn’t have agreed… maybe she should’ve just gone back to the dorm and removed her makeup.
Would Yu Fan think she’s too easy? Was that little scratch on his palm too flirty?
Now that he had successfully asked Li Mu out, Yu Fan clearly felt more relaxed. He started talking more smoothly, and the smile returned to his face.
“You two are leaving already?”
The two of them were startled and quickly turned their heads. They saw Yang Ye standing there with a warm, pleased smile on his face as he looked at them.
Li Mu instinctively tried to pull her hand out of Yu Fan’s, struggling a little, but couldn’t get free.
“The rehearsal isn’t over yet. All the top ten singers still need to go up on stage one more time.”
“Really?” Yu Fan gave a silly smile.
“But you two can go do your thing for now. I’ll help you ask for time off,” Yang Ye said with a friendly wave. “Just follow the others tomorrow, whatever they do, you do the same.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t forget we still have class in the afternoon.”
As Yang Ye walked away to help out, Yu Fan gently tightened his grip on Li Mu’s hand. He glanced at the person beside him who was looking down, clearly feeling shy.
He took a deep breath and led her out of the school gate.
“When are you coming to my place?”
“Huh?”
Li Mu immediately looked on guard.
“I secretly drew a lot of pictures of you. It’s too much trouble to show you one by one, but if you come over, you can see them all at once.”
“Why’d you draw me without asking?”
“Because you’re pretty.”
In the past, Li Mu would’ve gotten angry if someone took photos of her secretly. But now, she just felt a little embarrassed. She gave him an annoyed look, then suddenly noticed a classmate walking toward them, and quickly looked down again.
“Yo! Yu Fan, is that your girlfriend?”
“Yep. Li Mu’s older sister. She came to hang out with me today.”
“Really? I almost thought your girlfriend was Li Mu.”
“That’s just me being nice to my future brother-in-law.”
As the three passed by each other, Yu Fan turned to Li Mu and said, “See? If not for today, they’d all think ‘Li Mu’ were my girlfriend.”
“......”
“Um…”
Yu Fan suddenly looked unsure. He hesitated, wondering how likely he’d succeed if he confessed his feelings now.
Even though Li Mu probably already knew how he felt, and she didn’t seem to dislike him, who really knew what she was thinking?
What if she turned him down? That would be super awkward.
They walked in silence for a while. Just as they stepped out of the school gates, Li Mu finally asked, “What were you going to say?”
“What do you want to eat for lunch? My treat.”
“Anything’s fine.”
Yu Fan tried to quietly pull her a little closer to him, but Li Mu didn’t move at all. They kept a distance of about twenty centimeters between them.
He suddenly remembered something from last month. After a short pause, he let go of her hand.
Li Mu looked confused. She glanced down, only to find that his hand had quickly moved to wrap around her waist.
Her body froze, but the scent of him made her relax again.
She didn’t know where to put her hands, awkwardly clutching the sides of her jacket. She even felt like she couldn’t walk properly, her legs so weak it seemed like she might fall right into Yu Fan’s chest.
“How about we eat something nice? Maybe seafood?”
Li Mu didn’t answer, and Yu Fan felt really nervous too. Just resting his hand lightly on her soft waist was already making his body react. And now that she was leaning gently against his chest, her sweet fragrance made a fire light up in his stomach.
He didn’t dare move carelessly. But looking at her pretty, flushed face and cherry-like lips, his thoughts started to wander.
Guys often want more when they’re with the girl they like.
His face turned red, and he slowly leaned his head down.
Just then, Li Mu suddenly looked up to speak, and bumped her forehead right into Yu Fan’s mouth and nose.
“Ah!” They both cried out and quickly stepped away from each other.
“What was that for?”
Li Mu backed up two steps, covering her forehead with a shocked look on her face.
“……”