Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 658 Confession and Reply

What exactly are my feelings for Senior Sister Aki?

The moment Aki suddenly confessed her feelings to Lu Mingfei, Lu Mingfei began to seriously consider this question.

The conclusion that can be drawn is: I like it.

There are many reasons why someone might fall for another person. For example, the other person might be good-looking; the other person might be outstanding; the other person might develop feelings for you over a long period of time; or the other person might not be good-looking or outstanding, but they perfectly match your values.

In short, the reasons are varied, some profound and some superficial. The same affection can have different causes. No one dictates that you must like something in one way or another, or that it must be profound and not superficial.

When you like someone, that's all.

For Lu Mingfei, the moment he developed feelings of "liking" for Aki probably began in the deep waters of the Three Gorges, when, in a semi-conscious state, he saw Aki swimming towards him. It was like a prince in a fairy tale seeing the little mermaid desperately swimming towards him.

The Little Mermaid's lips... must be quite soft, right?
Upon hearing Lu Mingfei's reply, Aki's beautiful eyes flashed with surprise and panic: "You, you knew... you were awake at the time?"

"Not fully awake."

Lu Mingfei said, "But I still know that you gave me CPR, Aki."

Aki thought this matter had always been a secret... Well, it wasn't exactly a secret, since there were many people present at the time, and they probably all saw her jump into the water and swim to Lu Mingfei to give him CPR.

However, this matter should be a secret to Junior Brother Lu. She felt that Lu Mingfei shouldn't know about it, and for Selma, who was prone to making slips of the tongue, she specifically told her repeatedly not to tell Lu Mingfei about this, or she would break off all ties with her!
Aki didn't know why she had kept this a secret to such an extent... or perhaps she simply wanted to keep this memory to herself. Little did she know that the secret she had been trying to protect was already known to the other party.

Aki pressed her hand to her chest, where a thumping sound, like a drumbeat, was so chaotic that she didn't know how to respond. Her mind went blank for a while, and she was still a little dizzy after thinking in a daze.

She only snapped out of her daze when Lu Mingfei asked, "Aki, what's your answer?"

Realizing that Junior Brother Lu had officially responded to his initial confession, it was now his turn to respond.

She gently adjusted her breathing, not answering directly, but biting her lip, her watery eyes looking up at Lu Mingfei: "If I answer that I regret confessing, what do you plan to do, junior brother?"

Lu Mingfei thought about it seriously for a moment: "If you really regret it, there's nothing I can do. I can't force you to be my girlfriend... At most, I'll just kiss you or something."

Aki blinked blankly: "You regret it, but you still want to kiss me?"

Lu Mingfei said righteously, "You kissed me when you confessed your feelings to me. Now that I'm replying to you, shouldn't I kiss you back to be fair?"

What kind of absurd logic is that!
Although she felt that Lu Mingfei was making excuses, Aki couldn't find a way to refute him, because she was indeed the one who kissed Lu Mingfei first...

"So you've taken back your confession?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Aki's eyes darted around, and her voice surprisingly coquettish: "...I don't want to tell you."

Lu Mingfei was taken aback: "You don't want to tell me?"

"It's because you waited a month to reply to me, junior brother," Aki said, biting her lip. Her soft tone sounded unusually coquettish. "So I'll wait another month before telling you my answer."

Lu Mingfei was somewhat speechless: "Isn't a month a bit too long?"

"Junior brother, you know a month is a long time, yet you still made me wait for a month, didn't you?"

"No, I was planning to reply to you right then and there," Lu Mingfei said. "But before I could answer, Aki, you ran off."

She didn't know if Lu Mingfei was telling the truth or lying. But after thinking about it, Aki realized she had indeed run away a bit too quickly that time. Mainly, kissing Lu Mingfei and confessing her feelings had exhausted all her courage; she was incredibly shy and embarrassed, and didn't dare to stand still and wait for Lu Mingfei's reply.

The main reason was that she hadn't expected Lu Mingfei to respond to her confession so immediately.

But now that I think about it, if what Lu Mingfei said was true, and she ran away right after confessing her feelings, which is why he didn't have a chance to reply... then it really seems to be her problem?

"And Aki, you've been avoiding me all this time."

Lu Mingfei said, "It's one thing that you didn't tell me you were coming beforehand. But once you arrived, you didn't avoid me at all. I didn't even have a chance to meet you, let alone reply to you."

Aki suddenly felt a little guilty: "I... I only received the mission notification suddenly... I received the mission notification in the afternoon, and flew here in the middle of the night. How could I have had time to tell you beforehand, Junior Brother? Besides..."

"and?"

Aki pursed her lips, her eyes slightly turning away from Lu Mingfei's face, and said softly, "I don't want you to feel pressured, like I'm urging you to reply or something... After all, we originally agreed that you would reply after you started your preparatory class."

Lu Mingfei paused, surprised that Aki had been deliberately avoiding him for this reason. She was afraid he would misunderstand and think she was pressuring him to reply.

"So, it seems I misunderstood you?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Aki nodded and said, "To punish you, junior brother, I will have to wait another month until you all go to the preparatory class before I can give you an answer."

Lu Mingfei asked, "Do we really have to wait another month? Is there any room for negotiation?"

Seeing Aki shake her head, Lu Mingfei assumed that Aki meant "there is no room for negotiation," and couldn't help but feel a little bitter.

But the next moment, he saw the girl in front of him suddenly open her arms and rush into his arms.

"fake."

Aki pressed her forehead against a spot on Lu Mingfei's left atrium and spoke softly, her voice trembling slightly: "I can't wait even a second longer."

……

Outside a suite on the executive floor of the Regent Hotel, Selma paced back and forth anxiously, biting her nails.

She had been standing in front of the door for who knows how long, knocking on Aki's door but getting no response, and calling her but getting no answer.

She didn't know if Aki was really asleep, or if she was heartbroken after witnessing Lu's interaction with his girlfriend and was now hiding in her room, crying secretly under the covers. In any case, no one answered her knocking.

Even passing waiters came to ask her if she needed help, whether she had lost her room key, and if so, if so, they could contact the front desk to get a replacement. If Selma hadn't been so beautiful, with a typical Latina look, and if her designer clothes weren't so striking, the waiters might have even suspected that Selma was one of the group that had been slipping cards under hotel doors lately.

Selma chuckled and brushed off the skeptical waiter. She certainly didn't need his help.

Her ability is "Word Spirit: Difference," a lower-level Word Spirit of "Word Spirit: Evolution," which can greatly enhance the user's computing power, making it very suitable for professions such as mathematicians or hackers.

Because of this power of words, she naturally assumed the role of central hub and command system within Professor Mans' team. As the brain of the team, hacking into a hotel system to open a room door was naturally no problem for her.

The main issue was that she was hesitant about whether she should barge into Aki's room.

If Aki is sleeping, wouldn't it be a bit abrupt for me to barge in? It would also disturb Aki's rest.

But if Aki is really crying secretly, then I need to comfort her now. That's when a good friend comes in handy!

If you want to comfort Aki, you have to go into the room first, but Aki probably doesn't want others to see her in such a sorry state, right?

She had almost completely worn down the nails of her ten slender fingers. Selma made up her mind; she had to barge into Aki's room anyway, she'd get in first no matter what.

If Aki is alright and just sleeping, then everyone's happy, and Aki certainly won't blame herself. She's never been grumpy in the morning; if something's wrong with Aki, then she definitely needs her comfort right now.

Just as she was about to go back to her room and hack into the hotel's system with her laptop, she turned around and heard a "ding" from the elevator nearby.

The elevator doors opened, and a faint, melodious humming sound filled the air. Selma suddenly stopped, met the eyes of the newcomer, and spoke first: "...Aki?"

“Selma?”

Aki had obviously also noticed the figure standing at her room's door. She stopped humming and looked puzzled. "Did you come to see me for something? Have you been waiting long?"

"It didn't take long at all."

Selma's tone hardened, and she scratched the back of her head with an exaggerated fake smile: "Nothing much, I just had some nothing to do after dinner and wanted to come and chat with you, Aki, but I didn't expect you weren't in your room."

She chuckled as she looked Aki up and down. To her surprise, contrary to her expectations, Aki's face showed no trace of sadness, distress, or anguish.

I'm not just not sad, I'm absolutely happy!
Aki's pretty little face was radiant and beaming with joy. Her slightly upturned lips couldn't hide the smile on her face, and she even started humming a tune. She looked just like a little girl who had just parted ways with her boyfriend after a date.

Aki walked towards the room door, paused for a moment, and replied, "Oh... because the room was a bit stuffy, I just went for a walk in the nearby pedestrian street to get some fresh air."

Selma nodded, not doubting Aki's explanation. After all, where else could she go if not her room? She'd probably just take a walk nearby, right? It couldn't possibly be that she went to secretly meet that scumbag, Junior Brother Lu, could it?
It seems that Aki has really let go of Lu Shidi. Selma is relieved and genuinely happy for Aki.

But then she noticed something slightly unusual and exclaimed, "Eh?"
"Aki... what's that red thing on your neck?" Selma asked, staring at a spot on the left side of Aki's neck. Because of the distance, she couldn't see it very clearly.

"Red?"

Aki paused for a moment, then as if she had remembered something, she immediately covered her neck.

Oh no, that's where Junior Brother Lu... and Ming Fei just met...

Fortunately, Selma didn't seem to see very clearly. Aki spoke vaguely, "Ah...right! It must be from the mosquito bites I got outside. That explains why my neck felt a little itchy the whole way here."

Of course it couldn't have been a mosquito bite; that was obviously just an excuse she made up.

She thought back to how she had confessed her feelings to Lu Mingfei and hugged him, unable to control herself, and they had kissed for a long time... The red mark on her neck was probably the hickey she had left back then.

However, she didn't blame Lu Mingfei, after all, she seemed to be the one who took the initiative, and she didn't hold back in her words to Lu Mingfei's neck...

So she didn't know if she had any similar hickeys on her body, so she had to go back to her room and carefully check herself in the mirror... no, she had to check herself several times!
If Selma finds out about her relationship with Lu Mingfei... who knows how far her big mouth will spread the word?
We absolutely have to keep this from Selma for now!

Fortunately, there are many mosquitoes in the southern cities of China in the summer. Selma had been bitten by mosquitoes a few times during this period, so she accepted Aki's excuse quite naturally.

However, Aki wanted to end the conversation quickly, as the longer she talked to Selma, the easier it would be to expose her weakness. She said, "By the way, Selma, why don't you come back later? I just finished shopping and I'm all sweaty, so I want to take a shower first."

As she spoke, Aki deliberately fanned herself as if she were feeling hot.

Selma seemed oblivious to the implied dismissal in Aki's words and casually replied, "It's alright. I can sit in your room and wait for you for a while."

"..."

But I can't wait...! Aki thought to herself.

If Selma saw that red mark up close, she would definitely recognize that it wasn't a mosquito bite at all, but a strawberry that Mingfei had planted for her!

Aki suddenly remembered something and said, "By the way, Selma, do you have any medicine for mosquito bites? Can I borrow it? My neck seems a bit itchy."

Selma had just noticed that the red mark on Aki's neck was indeed quite large, like a hickey. Hearing Aki say this, she also showed a worried expression.

"Could it be an allergic reaction?" Selma asked. "I think I brought it with me. I'll go back to my room and look for it. Aki, wait for me a moment."

"Uh-huh."

Aki watched Selma leave her room and hurriedly return to her room next door before finally letting out a long sigh of relief and quickly walking back to her own room.

He swiped his card to open the door, pushed it open, and locked it behind him in one smooth motion. He didn't even have time to change his slippers before immediately going into the bathroom and looking at himself in the mirror.

"Isn't it a bit too big?"

Aki's slender neck turned slightly, revealing a striking red mark on her neck, which was actually a heart-shaped strawberry... Fortunately, after a careful inspection, this was the only strawberry mark that seemed to be relatively obvious.

I wonder if a band-aid will be enough to cover it up...?
……

(End of this chapter)