Chapter 83: Love Story

This time it was Qiao Lan's turn to be stunned.

Because Qiao Lan couldn't figure out why Tan Mo would ask her such a question.

Qiao Lan feels that after two years of knowing each other and going through so much, they have finally come together, whatever it is, it's a perfect match.

Why are we together? Because I liked you a lot, for a long time, and it just so happened that by chance I found out that you were liking me too, so we came together.

How natural and soothing.

Between them, even though no one had ever said the word like like, the look of fondness and the act of fondness had been obvious for a long, long time. And from the side where they were together, they had hugged and kissed, so intensely, that Qiao Lan thought they didn't have to explain this at all, thinking that Tan Mo, like herself, actually understood everything.

But Tan Mo now suddenly asked her why she wanted to stay together.

Tan Mo doesn't get it at all.

He simply does not understand his fondness for him.

The bell rang and everyone was going downstairs to do gymnastics after the second period.

"Follow me", Qiao Lan said, pulling Tan Mo in the opposite direction of the playground.

The open space between the school building and the school building is a lawn with a pathway in the middle of the lawn and a spiral staircase in the inside of the pathway, which is very private and usually unoccupied, even less so during exercise time.

If she didn't go during the exercise, the class teacher would definitely ask questions later, but Qiao Lan thought it was more important to talk to Tan Mo.

Tan Mo obediently allowed Qiao Lan to pull him along and only after turning into the small spiral staircase and holding Tan Mo down on the steps did he speak, "Tan Mo."

Tan Mo sat on the stairs and looked up at Qiao Lan standing in front of her, "Hmm?"

Qiao Lan pressed her hand against the small wall at the entrance of the steps, looked down at Tan Mo and said, "I always thought we were together because our hearts and minds were the same as each other, so even if we didn't say anything, you and I would understand", Qiao Lan said seriously, "but I But now I realise that there are some steps in a relationship that you really can't skip, and that rituals are really important."

Tan Mo opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

Because he had somewhat missed Qiao Lan's point.

He tilted his head and looked at Qiao Lan, who looked at Tan Mo, "So let's just ask all the questions we've left behind, Tan Mo, why did you steal a kiss from me that day?"

Tan Mo's fingers tighten.

For, Tan Mo, listening to the sound of his heart beating mute, said

"I like you."

Liked it for a long time, liked it to the bone.

Qiao Lan smiled, his dark eyes shining as his body crouched down a little and continued, "So why do you think I kissed you back?"

Tan Mo was silent for a moment and spoke honestly, "I don't know."

Tan Mo does not know.

Even today, Tan Mo still can't figure it out, maybe because he kissed her and she responded unconsciously, or maybe she just hasn't figured it out herself.

Qiao Lan was so angry with Tan Mo for not knowing that she wanted to grab Tan Mo by the collar and yell at him for not knowing! But he held back and continued, "Then why do you think I'm with you?"

Tan Mo was silent for another moment before saying, "Have pity on me."

Qiao Lan: ......??

Qiao Lan was really pissed off this time.

"I pity you?"

Qiao Lan didn't know what to say, but he was so angry that he didn't care about his image, so he stepped on the step next to Tan Mo and put his arm on his knee.

"What do I pity you for? What do you have for me to pity? Don't turn your head, look at me", Qiao Lan reached out and turned Tan Mo's turned face back, "and I'm the kind of person who makes decisions about my life just because I feel sorry for you?"

There are so many people in the world for her to pity, but Tan Mo is the only one she chooses.

And Qiao Lan is completely confused as to why Tan Mo feels sorry for him, isn't she the one who should be pitied more than Tan Mo?

"I can't understand why you think that. In contrast, I'm from a difficult family, my father doesn't love me and my mother doesn't care for me, and I'm in a lot of trouble, have you ever pitied me?"

Tan Mo shook his head, how could he feel sorry for Qiao Lan, in his heart Qiao Lan was beautiful, smart and so good that he felt perfect.

Tan Mo's opinion of Qiao Lan is no longer simply a filter, and Qiao Lan felt a little embarrassed at Tan Mo's words, smiling and saying, "I almost believed you when you said it so nicely."

"It's all true," Tan Mo says, and in his mind Qiao Lan exists as such.

"Then do you know that in my heart, you are the same?" Qiao Lan slowed down his speech, as if he was worried that he wouldn't understand and couldn't hear, and said almost word for word, "Maybe it's true that I felt pity when I started to approach you too, but that's not the whole story, no one has a relationship with anyone that is only maintained by pity."

"You don't know how good you are in my heart, better than any boy I've ever met", Qiao Lan reached out and caressed Tan Mo's cheek, "so good looking and so smart and so good, you don't know how much I admire you and look up to you and want to stay by your side and go on with you like this. You don't know how much I admire you, how much I want to stay by your side and go on like this, shh, don't talk, wait for me to finish."

Qiao Lan put her foot back on the step and squatted down in front of Tan Mo, looking up at him and continued, "I'm telling you the truth, when you went to America without telling me anything, I thought about you every day, wondering when you would come back, wondering if you would just leave me and go away. I would be afraid too, afraid that you would meet someone else where I couldn't see and you would do to her what you did to me, and I would be afraid that one day in the future you would fall for a girl I didn't know and be just a better friend to me from then on."

"I also tried many times to see if you liked me too, so I was in a lot of trouble. Tan Mo, after all that, what I want to tell you is that I was never with you because I pitied you, I wanted to take care of you for the rest of my life because I liked you, I didn't like you getting too close to other girls because I liked you, I kissed you back that day because I liked you, and I decided to be with you and wanted to be your girlfriend still because I liked you, there was never a second reason."

"I didn't expect you to be so insecure, I'm sorry I didn't say that", Qiao Lan took Tan Mo's hand, rested his chin on Tan Mo's knee and tilted his head, "You can hear it as many times as you want later, Tan Mo, I really like you. I've never liked someone like this before, I want to be together for the rest of my life..."

Tan Mo grabbed Qiao Lan's hand, wanting nothing more than to hold her in his arms, but before he could do so, a head poked out of the small, hidden stairway and spoke in a quiet voice.

"What are you doing here?"

Also with Tan Mo, Qiao Lan: "......"

Tan Mo, who froze for a moment and calmed down first: "...... talk."

A look at the class teacher who had been looking for almost ten minutes after two people were missing from the exercise: "......"

When can't I have a heart-to-heart? Where can we not have a heart-to-heart talk? Do we have to go to this shitty place in the middle of class to talk? Why can't we wait until after recess to talk about what we have to say?

The more the class teacher thought about it, the angrier he became.

He had turned a blind eye to the two, after all, they hadn't lost their grades, but today's behaviour was just too much! He had been bringing up students for decades, but he had never seen such audacity in an early love affair!

Luckily he saw it, if the head teacher saw it, he would have been criticized by the whole school?

This can't end here, it has to be done!

Even if your relationship has been acquiesced to by your family, even if your two grades are the first and second in the grade, you must still manage, this makes the school students see what is the decency, who is responsible for teaching bad!

So a group of students in Class 18 found the class teacher furiously bringing Qiao Lan and Tan Mo back with her and taking the two out again, disappearing for an entire language class and not returning until the language class was over.

Qiao Lan and Tan Mo wrote an examination for one lesson. Qiao Lan dutifully and seriously wrote 800 words, while Tan Mo's examination report consisted of one sentence, "Sorry teacher, I was wrong.

No one knows what the two have been up to, as their grades are so good that even Bai Yu thinks the class teacher is looking for them because of academic problems.

The class teacher finally finished educating the two and gave strict orders against being so rampant in school.

So the two who were educated finally settled down for a few days.

In fact, it was not the class teacher's fault, but Tan Mo's confession of love to Qiao Lan that finally put an end to his anxious period of self-doubt, even to the extent of making him half-hearted and happy as a little fool because of the sweetness of his confession.

It wasn't until Friday night that the power of Qiao Lan's words finally wore off and Tan Mo's dizzy head could finally think straight, that the little fool finally stopped being stupid and became excited.

In the middle of a late night study session, Qiao Lan received a text message from Tan Mo, who said he was outside the school building.

Qiao Lan looks at the biology teacher sitting on the podium.

It was good that it wasn't a class night, and the class teacher never showed up this evening, so it seems he didn't come at all.

Qiao Lan went to ask for leave from her biology teacher, who was not suspicious of a good student like Qiao Lan and was concerned enough to tell her to take care of her health.

Qiao Lan nodded obediently, which led her out of the classroom and out of the hallway, and just as she got down the steps she was hugged.

Tan Mo practically lifted her up in the air and Qiao Lan, panicked, hugged Tan Mo's neck and whispered, "Why are you suddenly coming here at night?"

"Missed you," Tan Mo whispers as she buries her cheek against Qiao Lan's collarbone.

"I'll be home tomorrow weekend," Qiao Lan stroked Tan Mo's head, "and had to come over unexpectedly today."

"Said I missed you," Tan Mo whispered after repeating it again, "Do you still mean what you said the other day?"

"What words," Qiao Lan said deliberately, "I said a lot of words that day."

Tan Mo laid her down on the floor and lowered his head to gently rub his forehead against Qiao Lan's, "You said you would tell me whenever I wanted to hear it, and I want to hear it now."

Qiao Lan laughed softly, ran her fingers over Tan Mo's cheek and finally cupped his earlobe, stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear, "Say what? I like you, I like you so much, I like you the most, which one do you like?"