A god-level beauty system? But I'm already a god-level beauty!

"no."

Shen Ye provided the answer.

Concise, straightforward, and without any unnecessary embellishment.

Mu Jingyan's breath hitched.

Why...?

She blurted it out almost without thinking.

Only after asking did I realize it was inappropriate. What right did she have to ask why?

But Shen Ye didn't take it to heart.

Instead, he laughed, raised an eyebrow, and asked her in return:

"What, you really want me to say yes?"

"I......"

Mu Jingyan opened her mouth, but swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

What else could she say?

Saying "No, no, no, I don't want you to agree"?

What right does she have to say such things?

So she shut her mouth, lowered her eyes, sat upright on the sofa, and remained silent.

But silence itself is the answer.

Humans are selfish.

She understands the reasoning.

Lin Chunuan had liked Shen Ye for so many years, and finally mustered up the courage to confess her feelings. She should offer her blessings and hope that the lovers would eventually get married.

But selfishness is a irrational thing.

The voice rising from the deepest part of my heart kept shouting: Don't agree, don't agree to her.

Even she herself couldn't explain where this selfishness came from or what justified its existence.

Shen Ye looked at her silent expression, at her tightly pursed lips, her taut shoulders, and her eyes that were trying so hard to appear calm.

He smiled.

"Didn't you ask me why I wouldn't agree?"

"Then I'll tell you."

"It's not because I treat Nuannuan like a younger sister."

"It's not entirely because I can't change."

He stopped there.

Mu Jingyan's heart leaped into her throat with that pause.

The living room was eerily quiet.

The ticking of the wall clock had disappeared at some point, and it seemed that only the breathing of the two people remained in the world.

Shen Ye suddenly stood up.

The coffee table wasn't big, so he leaned over the table and put his hands on Mu Jingyan's shoulders.

Those hands were steady and hot; the heat was clearly felt through the thin fabric of the pajamas.

Mu Jingyan was forced to raise her head.

The girl instinctively tried to dodge, her gaze wandering, but he held her shoulders, leaving her nowhere to escape.

"listen to me."

Shen Ye said.

Mu Jingyan's eyelashes trembled.

She didn't know what the man was going to say; all she knew was that her heart was pounding so hard she couldn't even breathe, and all the blood rushed to her face, making her feel frighteningly hot.

Then she heard him say:

"The biggest reason is—"

"The one I love is you."

boom!

Mu Jingyan's mind exploded.

In an instant, all sounds faded away from her and became inaudible.

Between heaven and earth, only this one sentence remained, echoing repeatedly in my ears.

Do you like me?

You like me?!

She stared blankly at the magnified face before her, her pupils slightly dilated.

This answer exceeded all her expectations.

She had imagined him agreeing to the warmth.

Lin Chunuan had imagined him rejecting Nuannuan, and even imagined that he had come tonight to say goodbye, and that from now on they would each go their separate ways...

This is the only one I've never considered.

The girl felt light as a feather, as if she were walking on clouds.

"But......"

"Why...?"

She murmured, her voice ethereal.

Why her?

She didn't meet him as early as Lin Chunuan, nor did she cling to him with such confidence. She hasn't even said "I like you" to this day.

Why?

But Shen Ye didn't give her any more time to be stunned.

"I--"

Mu Jingyan's lips moved, but she couldn't utter a word without stopping.

When the moment came, she suddenly chickened out.

"I, I..."

Her eyes darted around, and she tried to shrink back, her words incoherent, but her shoulders were held tightly, leaving her nowhere to retreat.

She tried to point out her own shortcomings and persuade Shen Ye to reconsider.

Impulsiveness is fleeting, but long-term relationships are a long process. He shouldn't have said such things on a whim tonight.

But after thinking it over, she realized with despair that she couldn't think of any major or fatal flaws.

Is it difficult to calculate one's family of origin?

That depends on how bad it is.

She comes from a wealthy family, lives in a villa, drives luxury cars, and has both money and looks. The so-called family problem, to put it bluntly, is just her eccentric mother.

What kind of fatal flaw is this?

"stop."

Shen Ye interrupted her.

He found it both funny and heartbreaking to see her racking her brains to find fault with him.

This guy's first reaction to being confessed to was to criticize himself and advise the other person to think it over carefully.

"I don't want to hear what you're saying."

He tightened his grip, his voice becoming lower.

"I only want to know one question."

Do you like me?

Mu Jingyan's breathing became completely disordered.

There was no turning back now.

Shen Ye looked down at her, his gaze resolute.

He intends to go all the way.

He won't give up until he gets an answer tonight.

Since the matter has already been discussed, there's no point in going forward or backward; we might as well take each step to the end.

Mu Jingyan met his gaze; there was no joking, no probing, and no way out in those eyes.

She knew there was no escaping it.

Why bother hiding?

Do I like Shen Ye?

Is that even a question?

Of course I like it.

Mu Jingyan had long since seen through her own feelings, but she was just being stubborn, just running away, just afraid to admit it.

When did it start?

Perhaps it was that monthly exam in junior high school.

She came in second place, completely outclassed by Shen Ye, and was about to be punished by her mother when Shen Ye stood up for her.

Perhaps it was the first time I wore those clothes in front of him.

Perhaps it was because they had been deskmates for so many years that he had gradually softened and warmed her heart.

But from which point in time to start.

There's no doubt that she likes Shen Ye.

If you don't like it.

How could she tolerate his many outrageous actions?

If you don't like it.

Nominally, it was for refuge, but in reality, she wanted to stay.

I want to be closer to him, even closer.

"I......"

Mu Jingyan spoke with difficulty.

"like......."

The two words landed.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment in the living room.

The next second, the distance between the two shrank infinitely.

She was so close that she could see the curve of his eyelashes.

He was so close that his warm breath touched the tip of her nose.

Before Mu Jingyan could react to what was happening, a soft touch covered her.

"Hmm!"

She widened her eyes.

For eighteen years, Miss Mu, a woman of aloofness and quiet demeanor, experienced her first kiss unexpectedly in a restaurant late at night.