My Brother's Arranged Marriage Partner Is My Boyfriend - Chapter 40

Yan Mo’s dislike for Mo Leyang had reached a new high.

He had so many questions for Bai Nanxing, but his two roommates were simply too much of an eyesore. Not only were they in the way, but they were also foul-mouthed, making it impossible for him to ask anything openly.

Bai Nanxing caught a glimpse of Yan Mo’s hesitant expression out of the corner of his eye and had a general idea of what was on his mind. He turned and asked, “Do you want to go to the playground with me tonight?”

Yan Mo was about to ask what the point was of going to the playground on such a freezing night—going out in this weather was practically asking to be frozen stupid—but his brain clicked, and he understood instantly. He nodded quickly. “Sure, sure!”

Since they didn’t have classes in the afternoon, the two stayed in the dorm, doing nothing but lying comfortably in their beds scrolling through their phones.

During that time, Bai Nanxing continued to receive a stream of “harassing” WeChat messages from Mo Leyang. As before, he didn’t reply to a single one. He set the chat to “Do Not Disturb,” effectively banishing Mo Leyang’s avatar back to the “cold palace,” and went back to his own business.

When dinner time arrived, the two went down together. Feeling too lazy to make a second trip, they headed straight to the playground after eating.

There were quite a lot of people there—mostly those out for a post-dinner stroll or exercise. With winter approaching, the vast playground felt like a house with bare walls; no matter where you stood, it felt like there was a draft. The wind bit at their faces, feeling no different from being sliced by a knife.

Even wrapped in a down jacket, Yan Mo was shivering. “Xing baby, how about we just go back and talk? The playground is simply not fit for human habitation right now!”

Bai Nanxing knew it would turn out like this, so he had specifically brought two scarves. “They’re newly bought and very warm. Put it on and you won’t be cold.”

Yan Mo immediately took it with a smile and wrapped it around his neck. The whole world felt warmer in an instant.

However, Yan Mo soon realized something was off. Why would Bai Nanxing prepare two scarves for no reason? Even a girl wouldn’t carry an extra scarf unless she knew for sure her friend would be cold.

Something was fishy. Very fishy.

“Xing baby, are you hiding something from me?”

“Huh?”

“Spit it out. Who was this scarf originally for? It definitely wasn’t prepared specifically for me, was it!”

“If it wasn’t for you, then who would it be for?”

Yan Mo circled around to stand in front of him, staring at him with piercing eyes. “There’s. A. Problem.”

Bai Nanxing felt the boy was overthinking again and explained, “What are you thinking? Do I look like the type of person who would do something so redundant for someone else?”

That was true. It didn’t quite fit Bai Nanxing’s usual style of doing things. Could it… really have been for him?

Yan Mo was still half-skeptical. “I don’t believe you. Not unless you show me proof!”

Bai Nanxing reached out his hand. “Blame me for being a good person who did a bad thing. Now, Student Yan Mo, could you please return it to me? I’ll just take it back and put it away, okay?”

Yan Mo instinctively clutched the scarf around his neck, taking a defensive stance that suggested “once given, it’s mine; there’s no logic in taking it back.”

“If you take it back, I’ll turn into an ice sculpture in a minute! Do you have the heart to do that?”

“I do.”

“…Xing baby, you have such a cruel heart!”

“I’ve always been this cruel, you forgot?”

“There’s no love left, boohoo.”

Bai Nanxing acted as if he were determined to take it back, his face expressionless and unusually serious. “What is love? You can’t eat it for dinner, can you?”

Yan Mo regretted what he had said. He reluctantly unwrapped the scarf he had just warmed up and slowly handed it over. “Here.”

Bai Nanxing didn’t take it. Instead, he stood there and couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Yan Mo realized then that Bai Nanxing was just teasing him. He puffed out his cheeks in annoyance and, while wrapping the scarf back on, muttered, “Still laughing! Laugh, laugh, laugh your ass off!”

Bai Nanxing continued to laugh, clutching his stomach. He hadn’t expected Yan Mo to be so honest—that when told to return it, he actually would.

“I was teasing you. There’s no such thing as taking back a gift.”

“I knew it!” Yan Mo was still a bit huffy; he had almost taken it seriously. “How do you plan to compensate me? A single meal won’t get you my forgiveness this time!”

Bai Nanxing asked, “Two meals then?”

Yan Mo’s expression turned triumphant. “Fine, but don’t let it happen again!”

The two walked a lap around the playground, but eventually found that the wind was indeed too cold. Their hands were stiff, and their noses and ears were frozen red. After two laps, they doubled back halfway to find a place out of the wind to sit.

It was a famous scenic spot in the school. The pavilion was originally built just for aesthetics, but over time, it had become a popular check-in spot for students. For campus activities or when people needed to take photos and videos for publicity, they would choose this area.

When Bai Nanxing and Yan Mo arrived, a class happened to be holding an activity nearby. The pavilion and trees were covered in atmosphere lights. Everyone was busy with their own tasks, chatting and laughing, creating a very lively scene.

“Which class is this? So much energy,” Yan Mo said, looking at the busy students. “Doesn’t look like they’re from our freshman year, though.”

Bai Nanxing was about to say a few words when he caught sight of a familiar figure. As luck would have it, they had run into a certain lunatic’s class. And to make matters worse, the person he saw was Zhou Lin, the childhood friend of that lunatic.

Bai Nanxing immediately pulled Yan Mo to walk away.

But his departure only made him more conspicuous. Among the many onlookers, Zhou Lin recognized Bai Nanxing at a glance. After saying a few words to his classmates, he stepped out to chase after him.

“Junior!”

Bai Nanxing was a step too slow and was caught by Zhou Lin. He could only turn around. “Oh, it’s Senior Zhou Lin. Is there something? If not, we have things to do, so we’ll be leaving first.”

Zhou Lin knew he was doing it on purpose but didn’t call him out. He originally wanted to keep him there to chat, but after glancing him over, his gaze stopped below Bai Nanxing’s neck, near his collarbone.

There were two very obvious bite marks there. Rather than bite marks, they were more like the ambiguous traces left after a certain kind of “exercise.”

Zhou Lin looked at him, temporarily at a loss for words.

Bai Nanxing felt Zhou Lin’s gaze was odd, though he couldn’t pinpoint why. He repeated his question, “Senior Zhou Lin, is there anything else?”

Zhou Lin said, “Nothing much. I just wanted to say that A-Yang just went to the restroom. Do you want to wait for him for a bit?”

Bai Nanxing instantly recalled the events in the bar private room. He gritted his teeth and refused directly. “No need. If there’s nothing special, we’ll be going now.”

Without giving Zhou Lin another chance to speak, Bai Nanxing turned around, grabbed Yan Mo, and left without looking back for a second.

Zhou Lin didn’t intend to call them back either. He stood there watching Bai Nanxing’s receding figure for a while before returning to the activity site.

By then, Mo Leyang had returned from the restroom. He was surrounded by a group of female and male fans clamoring for photos; he was even cooperating quite well, clearly enjoying himself.

“You’re quite enjoying the attention, aren’t you?” Zhou Lin couldn’t help but tease.

Mo Leyang heard the hidden meaning in his words. He apologized to the surrounding fans and followed Zhou Lin to the side.

“If there’s no actual business, I’m going to kill you when we get back tonight.”

“Your junior was just here.”

The smile on Mo Leyang’s face froze instantly.

Zhou Lin continued, “But unfortunately, he didn’t want to see you at all. He left before I could even say two words to him.”

Mo Leyang’s expression flickered with hesitation. After a moment of silence, he let out a disappointed “Oh.”

“Did you think he came specifically to see you? What are you dreaming about?” Zhou Lin finally caught an opportunity and couldn’t pass up the chance to twist the knife. “He was probably just out for a stroll after dinner and ran away as soon as he saw me, knowing you’d be here. See how much he dislikes you? That’s why he acted like that.”

Mo Leyang didn’t speak, his eyes downcast as he thought about something. He looked quite dejected.

This made Zhou Lin even more certain about how the “marks” below Bai Nanxing’s neck had gotten there.

“Although I shouldn’t ask, as your childhood friend, I still want to ask—did you and him…”

“We slept together.”

Zhou Lin slapped his own forehead. “You just admitted it like that?”

Mo Leyang tilted his head back and sighed. He hadn’t expected things to develop to this extent either. Truly, beauty is a snare.

“Hey, wait,” Zhou Lin questioned. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t cross that line? In just one night, you slept with him! Tsk tsk, a man’s words are as deceptive as a ghost’s.”

But since it was a consensual matter, there wasn’t much to say. The real trouble lay ahead.

Zhou Lin didn’t know what to say. “So what do you plan to do now? Bai Nanxing is the Mo family’s marriage partner. If nothing goes wrong, he’ll be your sister-in-law in the future. Yet here you are, having a secret affair. If your old man really makes him marry your older brother, you might act like nothing happened, but what about him? You’d better think this through.”

Mo Leyang fell into silence.

After a long while, he squeezed out a sentence: “Think what through?”

Zhou Lin clicked his tongue again. “What, do you want to be a scumbag who puts on his pants and refuses to take responsibility? If that’s really what you’re thinking, then our friendship is over. You know my old man hates ungrateful, wife-and-child-abandoning, degenerate scumbags the most. If he knew you were that kind of person, he would 100% make me break off ties with you.”

Mo Leyang had thought about taking responsibility, but he didn’t know what was in Bai Nanxing’s heart. If Bai Nanxing was unwilling, then forcing responsibility would just be a display of narcissism.

“What do you think… his attitude toward me is?”

“Huh?”

Zhou Lin thought to himself, With your behavior, don’t you have a damn clue about how he feels?

But in the end, he changed his tune: “At a glance, he doesn’t like you. Not just ‘doesn’t like’—I reckon if you gave him the chance, he’d probably want to kill you.”

Mo Leyang felt like he had been stabbed in the heart. “Is that so?”

“Otherwise? That he loves you to death?” Zhou Lin laughed. “I say, Brother Yang, you are good-looking, but I suggest you go to the hospital and look in a mirror to get a little self-awareness.”

Mo Leyang was stabbed in the heart once again.