Someone Else's Youth

When Zhou Yuwen and Shen Ding played games, Chen Rongrong would watch cartoons by herself when she had nothing else to do.

She still sat without a shred of proper posture, as if a single chair couldn't contain her.

She wore a simple white spaghetti-strap top and gray cotton shorts, lounging half-reclined in the chair with her long legs propped on Zhou Yuwen's lap and her little feet tucked against his chest.

Only when she heard Shen Ding talking about her did she lean closer, somewhat interested.

Well, that meant Zhou Yuwen no longer had her little feet to play with.

Shen Ding was torn between hope and fear. He had a vague feeling that Chen Rongrong was growing distant from him, and he suddenly realized that, back in high school, they had been in the same class and seen each other every day. Even if they went a day or two without speaking, it was no big deal. But now that they had graduated, once they stopped keeping in touch, that was it.

What if Chen Rongrong met a more outstanding guy and no longer thought Shen Ding was good enough?

Shen Ding asked Zhou Yuwen that question, and Zhou Yuwen said, "I don't know either."

"Brother Zhou, you should be able to tell, right?"

"I can't tell."

"I like Chen Rongrong."

Zhou Yuwen was wearing a headset, and Chen Rongrong had leaned close to his ear to listen carefully. Hearing Shen Ding say that, she felt a little smug and slapped Zhou Yuwen's thigh, her expression seeming to say, See that? I'm so popular.

Zhou Yuwen chuckled, however, and reached over to pull Chen Rongrong's "voluptuous body" into his arms, grabbing one of her huge boobs and giving it a vigorous squeeze.

Chen Rongrong grew flustered and laughed, and the two of them began messing around with her sitting on Zhou Yuwen's lap.

"Hello? Brother Zhou, are you listening to me?" Shen Ding had been talking for quite a while, but when he heard nothing through the headset, he asked curiously.

"Huh? Go on, I'm listening."

Zhou Yuwen put his headset back on, and Chen Rongrong sat in his arms and listened with him.

Shen Ding said, "Brother Zhou, I know you like Chen Rongrong too. I'm not asking you to step aside for me. I think we're friends, and if Chen Rongrong chooses you, I won't say anything. But I'm afraid she'll choose someone else. I've pursued Chen Rongrong for three years!"

"You've pursued her for three years, but does she know?" Zhou Yuwen asked.

"Well..." Shen Ding had never made his feelings known. After thinking it over, he said, "Probably not?"

"If he doesn't know, it doesn't count as pursuing her," Zhou Yuwen said.

"Yeah, I know..."

Shen Ding said, "I've talked to you so much today because I wanted to discuss something with you."

"Discuss what?" Zhou Yuwen asked.

Shen Ding said he wanted to confess his feelings to Chen Rongrong.

His birthday was next week, and he planned to treat everyone to dinner and karaoke.

When it was time to blow out the candles at the KTV, he would ask Chen Rongrong to close her eyes and then take out the flowers he had prepared.

"Old Zhou, do you think Chen Rongrong will accept me?" Shen Ding asked.

"Well, I'm not really sure." Zhou Yuwen didn't know how to answer.

"Then will you come?"

"I think I'll pass."

Zhou Yuwen had never been interested in gatherings like that, but Shen Ding insisted that he come. He said everyone claimed Zhou Yuwen was a loner and hard to invite.

But he was determined to invite Zhou Yuwen anyway.

"Old Zhou, I really do consider you a friend, so you have to come to my birthday!"

"Oh, we'll see when the time comes."

Left with no choice, Zhou Yuwen agreed.

Afterward, Zhou Yuwen excused himself, saying he had something to do, and hung up.

The moment the voice call ended, Chen Rongrong, sitting on Zhou Yuwen's lap, said impatiently, "See that? I'm still in demand! Seriously, so many people like me, and you got me but don't even appreciate me."

Zhou Yuwen said, "Oh, should I let someone else have you, then?"

"Get lost~"

Chen Rongrong was immediately angered by his words.

Seriously!

At the very beginning, she had clearly intended to have Zhou Yuwen wrapped around her finger, but somehow, before she knew it, he had gotten her wrapped around his instead.

Though she was furious, she couldn't do anything about Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen felt he was quite well-mannered. At the very least, he hadn't pulled Chen Rongrong's shorts off while he was on the phone with Shen Ding. But now the call was over.

Zhou Yuwen began tugging at Chen Rongrong's shorts.

Shorts with an elastic waistband like these were ridiculously easy to pull off; basically, one tug and they were down.

After pulling them off, Zhou Yuwen had Chen Rongrong bend over the computer desk.

Chen Rongrong said, "What are you thinking? Shen Ding's going to confess to me. Tell me, should I accept him or not?"

"Whether you accept him is your business. Why are you asking me?"

"Listen to yourself. Is that any way for a human being to talk?" Chen Rongrong's face reddened a little with anger.

Well, maybe it wasn't from anger.

The two of them went at it by the computer desk for nearly an hour, then took a shower. After they came back, Chen Rongrong checked her phone and found a message from Shen Ding, saying roughly that it was his birthday and he wanted to invite her to karaoke.

"Zhou Yuwen's coming too. Didn't you say he was hard to invite? Well, I managed to get him to come (grinning)." Shen Ding seemed quite happy.

Chen Rongrong said, "Mm, I'll definitely come for your birthday, but you're not going to pull that whole confessing-to-me-on-your-birthday routine, are you?"

When Shen Ding saw the message, his head instantly grew hot with panic.

Wait, how does she know?

Does she know me that well?

Shen Ding didn't know how to answer and sent several shocked emojis.

When Chen Rongrong still didn't reply,

Shen Ding finally said, "Aren't you overthinking it? Come on, aren't we good buddies? (picking nose)"

Chen Rongrong had just finished showering, and her hair was still a little damp.

She had a bath towel wrapped around her body, but it clearly couldn't hide her huge boobs, half of which were exposed.

Only after seeing Shen Ding's reply did Chen Rongrong say, "As long as you know that."

"I've always thought of you as a friend, so don't even think about confessing to me or anything."

"Otherwise, it'll be pretty awkward, and we won't even be able to stay friends."

Looking at Chen Rongrong's messages, Shen Ding was overcome by a jumble of feelings and didn't know how to reply. All in all, he felt a sting in his nose.

In the end, he didn't reply to that message from Chen Rongrong and turned to Zhou Yuwen instead.

He sent Zhou Yuwen screenshots of his chat with Chen Rongrong.

With a bitter smile, he said, "Look, Old Zhou. Tell me, how does Chen Rongrong know me so well? She even knows exactly what I'm thinking."

Zhou Yuwen saw the message, then glanced at Chen Rongrong, who was over there drying her hair, and asked, "So are you still planning to confess?"

"How can I confess now? I already know it won't lead anywhere."

"Oh, all right then. Want to play a game?" Zhou Yuwen had just finished exploring things with Chen Rongrong and was bored now, so he could focus on gaming.

"No, I want some quiet for a while."

"All right."

About ten minutes later.

Shen Ding sent another message: "Log on, let's play a round."

"?"

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah. I thought about it carefully, and Chen Rongrong must have feelings for me. Look, she said that if I confessed, we wouldn't even be able to stay friends. That means she still wants to be friends with me. I still have a chance!"