A Young Woman's Heart

"No, you can press it by standing on that little stool. Just press the switch to turn it on!"

Older home appliances do tend to have this problem.

Not only air conditioners, but also televisions.

As you use it, you never know when you'll break or lose the remote control. If you don't get a universal remote, you'll just have to press the buttons on it directly.

However, this time Mo Xueyao waited for a full half hour before Wang Jiale finished washing up and went into the study.

"Sorry to keep you waiting~!"

"It's alright." Mo Xueyao took another sip of tea, feeling for the first time that she was actually quite patient. "So, what are we here to do?"

"Hey, Haruka, have you had breakfast yet?"

"Ate."

"Oh, okay, then I'll have bread...mmm..."

"So, what exactly happened?" Mo Xueyao asked again.

Summer vacation is already halfway over! Only one month left!

"So, you want to invite other people to go out and have fun?"

"Uh, no, I was just reminiscing. Actually, it's something else... umm... just asking in advance, has Xiaoyao ever... been in a relationship?"

"what?"

……

Chapter 84 Wang Jiale's Love Troubles

For Mo Xueyao, the word "love" was something that seemed incredibly distant.

She seems to have never been in a relationship from childhood to adulthood.

But she's still young, what's so strange about a high school student who's never been in a relationship?

It would be strange if they had talked about it.

—She firmly believed this all along.

Just now, when Wang Jiale asked that question, she even had the illusion that the other person was about to confess their feelings to her.

After all, girls tend to be more tactful. For example, asking if you have a girlfriend means, "If not, can I be your girlfriend?"

But that was just an instinctive reaction. When she came to her senses, she realized that she was a girl now, and the other person wasn't a strange girl like Hua Yinyin. Asking this question must mean that she was having some problems in her relationship, right?

"Ahem." Mo Xueyao cleared her throat. "Although I've never been in a relationship, I still understand boys' thoughts quite well."

"Hmm... I feel that way too. I always thought Xiaoyao would make friends with boys very easily. When she first came, she didn't talk much with the girls, but she became familiar with a few boys instead." Wang Jiale took a red bean bread from the refrigerator, poured herself a cup of hot tea, and ate it while talking.

Drinking hot tea in an air-conditioned room is a real treat, but it's a different story if the air conditioning isn't on.

"So, what happened? Did you have a fight with Lu Bolun?" Mo Xueyao blinked curiously. "Why did you come to me?"

"Because I feel that Xiaoyao has the most experience in communicating with boys."

"Uh..." Mo Xueyao thought about it carefully and found that it was true. After all, she had quite a few boys she was on good terms with at school.

—At least more than Wang Jiale.

"So, you had a fight?" Mo Xueyao asked again. "Lu Bolun seems to have a pretty good temper, so it shouldn't be, right?"

"Of course not!" Wang Jiale swallowed the bread in his mouth. "Well, it's just that I feel like I can't figure out what he's thinking?"

"Pfft, why don't you just ask him what you want to know?"

"But isn't it bad for a girl to be too proactive?"

"I don't think you were passive when you were with him... you were practically a mother..."

"Um--?"

"Uh, it's nothing, it's nothing~" Mo Xueyao quickly corrected herself, "Let me guess, although we didn't quarrel, there might have been a small conflict?"

Wang Jiale nodded vigorously: "That's pretty much the idea, uh... well, I don't know if he's angry or not."

"How to say?"

“I feel that when I text him, he is sometimes a bit indifferent and only replies with a few words.”

"Maybe she's hanging out with friends." Mo Xueyao had experience with this. "Is that all?"

"Of course not. Also, when we're together, I always feel like he wants to hug me."

"Pfft, fine, I'll hug you then."

"But that's a public place! Holding hands is fine, isn't it?"

Mo Xueyao was speechless for a moment, never expecting Wang Jiale to be so innocent.

"It's okay. If you're a couple, it's fine to hug and kiss in public, as long as it doesn't bother others."

"So I'm wondering, does he like me, or does he love me?"

Is there a difference?

“Of course there is.” Wang Jiale said seriously, “If someone likes me, it’s probably because they like my appearance; if someone loves me, it’s because they like my inner self.”

"I don't know about that..."

"Maybe he's just attracted to my appearance... otherwise why would he keep hugging me?"

"This, this is probably just a way to express love, what else can we do? Say 'I love you' all the time? That would be too weird, wouldn't it?" Mo Xueyao was speechless for a full minute before answering.

"Holding hands can also express something, right?"

"That's not strong enough!"

"And when no one's around, he always wants to... to do that with me, kiss me..."

"It's a kiss, isn't it..." Mo Xueyao didn't expect Wang Jiale to use such a kindergarten-like adjective.

The air conditioner in the room was blowing cold air, and she felt as if she had been chilled by this harsh, realistic joke, and shivered.

"It's all the same anyway," Wang Jiale said angrily. "Besides, I'm not clueless. Does he just want to...do that with me? Does he really love me?"

"I think it's perfectly normal to love a girl a lot and then hug her or... or kiss her." Mo Xueyao's lips moved for a long time but she couldn't say the word 'kiss,' so she used a language other than her native tongue instead, "Did he force you?"

"No, not really. It's just that sometimes they'll suddenly ask me if I want to try... a kiss."

"That's good then. It shows he still respects you. He just wanted to do that because his feelings were there. But no matter what, don't do anything more intimate." Mo Xueyao, who had absolutely no dating experience, was acting like a seasoned veteran. "Only talk about it when you really feel he's someone you can entrust your life to. At the very least, you should wait until you graduate high school and go to college, right?"

"Hmm, so, Xiaoyao, can you tell whether he loves me or not?"

"Huh? Well... well, it still needs time to tell, right? As of now, he definitely likes you. By the way, how exactly did you accept him back then?"

"Well, he later became the English class representative, right? We often did things together, and I felt he was pretty good. Later, he confessed his feelings to me, and I said yes. Hmm... I wanted to see what it was like to have a boyfriend."

"I see." Mo Xueyao rubbed her chin and poured some more water from the teapot into her cup. "I think you shouldn't overthink it. Boys aren't as complicated as you think."

"Really?"

"Well, for example, wanting to hug you is probably a way of expressing affection, and also a way of showing off to others that I have such a beautiful girlfriend."

"Hmm!" She was pleased with the word 'good-looking'.

Mo Xueyao chuckled and then said, "If you want to kiss, you probably want to go deeper. Guys all have a desire for control and want you to belong to them forever, so they want to do these deeper things."

"That seems to make some sense."

"But the starting point is probably not for that kind of thing, don't overthink it. Being with you is definitely not just for that kind of thing either." Mo Xueyao said "that kind of thing" several times in a row, to the point that she almost forgot what "that kind of thing" actually meant.

"Sometimes when I talk to him, he only replies with one or two words? Not when we're texting."

"Maybe he just didn't know what to say. After he finished speaking, did he change the subject?"

"Hmm... Hmm, it seems so?"

“That’s right.” Mo Xueyao slurped up a mouthful of hot tea, sticking out her pink tongue from the heat. “So, don’t overthink it. Also, just tell him directly if you have something to say. Don’t keep guessing behind his back. Isn’t that tiring? Most boys are actually simple creatures, straightforward and don’t think too much about complicated things.”

"Hmm... So, for example, he always tells me to eat more, is it just because he thinks I'm too thin? And not because he thinks no one will like me if I get fat or something?"

"Of course, of course I just want you to be healthier..." Mo Xueyao helplessly covered her forehead, "It would be strange if you thought of other things!"

"Huh? Okay..." Wang Jiale nodded thoughtfully, "Maybe I'm overthinking it."

"You're overthinking it!"

After resolving their inner conflict, Wang Jiale started teasing Mo Xueyao again: "By the way, isn't Xiaoyao planning to find a boyfriend? There must be a lot of people who like you, you could easily pick one you like, right?"

"I'm not interested in that kind of thing. I have too many things I like, I don't have time to date." Mo Xueyao's words were true. Putting aside whether she could accept a guy or not, if she had to take time to go to the movies or go shopping with a boyfriend, she would rather spend a whole day at the arcade.

"Tsk tsk, will you still say that when you're in college?"

"Well, we'll see when the time comes," Mo Xueyao shrugged, changing the subject. "By the way, Lele, have you finished your summer homework?"

"Ah—! Hmm, there's still a month left!"

"Who just said there's only one month left?" Mo Xueyao teased.

Although both are about a month, the two versions convey completely different feelings.

“Since Xiaoyao is coming to play today, I won’t do my homework,” Wang Jiale said, taking out a box of needles and thread and several beautifully packaged cross-stitch kits from the drawer. “Xiaoyao, do you want to try them? I bought them before, and I’ll use them to practice these next few days.”

"Tsk, I'm not interested in cross-stitch..."

"Just practice, cross-stitch is actually quite fun, watching various patterns take shape in your hands."

"Wouldn't it be faster to draw?" Mo Xueyao pouted, reluctantly rummaging through a large box of cross-stitch kits.

"But it's different. Cross-stitch has a tactile feel, and it can be washed."

"Then I'll choose... this one, the cross."

"Yao definitely chose the easiest one~ I knew it!"

"Tsk, even the simplest cross is quite difficult for me, okay?" Mo Xueyao hadn't done cross-stitch in a long time, and when she tried again, she was very rusty and couldn't even hold a needle properly.

"Xiaoyao hasn't forgotten, has she?"

"Of course," she replied confidently.