When Su Yan woke up the next morning, he had a vague feeling of dread. It seemed something was wrong with him. It wasn't a problem in case Nie Chang really loved him but if he had gotten it all wrong, then this was a disaster!
He hurriedly washed up and dashed to his parents' home. He needed to make sure with his mother as soon as possible! He couldn't go on living like this!
If Su Yan knew that his poor friend Nie Chang had had to live with this uncertainty for several years and hadn't experienced a nervous breakdown while he only had to cope with it for a single day and already couldn't hold on anymore he would probably have a mighty guilty conscience.
As soon as his mother opened the door, Su Yan plunged into her arms with tears in his eyes. "Mom!"
Madam Su heard alarm bells ringing in her head. The sound was followed by an intense feeling of rage. She dragged her son inside and shut the door with a bang. "Who dared to bully my baby?!" She hugged her precious son and caressed his back. "Tell your mother! I'll send someone to beat him up!"
Su Yan's face was covered in black lines. This was a little too much, alright? "No one bullied me, mom." He let go of her but his expression clearly didn't seem happy to Madam Su. She was sure something must be going on!
"Come on in then, tell your mom everything!" She pulled him into the living room and sat down with him, holding onto his hands while she studied his face. He looked like he hadn't slept much last night. Ah, her heart was really hurting right now! Who had dared to torture her poor child so?
Su Yan pursed his lips as soon as he sat down next to her. "Mom … How do I know if a person likes me or not?" He blinked his eyes that were still a bit teary.
Madam Su couldn't help but reach over and pinch his cheeks. Ah, her son was just too adorable! Mn, wait! This question … Did this mean she was about to get a daughter-in-law?! No way! Which girl could be good enough for her son? "Who is she?!"
Su Yan shriveled at his mother's forceful tone. Oh god! He didn't want to bring trouble to Nie Chang! He only wanted to make sure if he had gotten it right and Nie Chang really liked him!
"Mom! Don't be like this! I'm just here to get some advice. I … I don't know whether that person likes me or not." He looked down and absentmindedly played with the buttons on his shirt.
Madam Su pursed her lips just like her son. "What do you mean you don't know? That girl would need to have a hole in her brain to not fall for my son!"
Su Yan sighed and ignored the fact that his mother just assumed the person to be a girl. Well, two days ago he would have done the same and his mother was a respectable lady. Naturally, she wouldn't know about those things either! He also glossed quite naturally over the fact how biased his mother was. Well, this was probably to be expected even more so. "It's not so easy. He's great himself."
"Aiya, stop worrying. Just tell me everything."
Su Yan looked up and pouted. "We went out together. Yesterday."
Madam Su felt like slapping her son. "What's with this kind of telling a story! Start from the beginning and don't stop after every sentence. You'll be the death of me."
"Oh." Su Yan thought about where to start but he didn't really know. He looked at his mother with an especially miserable expression. "Well, it's not so easy to explain. We've known each other for a long time already. I always thought we were just friends but then yesterday …" Su Yan wanted to stop again but his mother's expression was too scary. He hurried to continue. "Last week, I changed jobs. And, well, I wasn't feeling too good so we spent some time together. It was nothing much, just eating together and watching a movie. And then he suggested that we could go out to take my mind off everything and I could choose what to do. I didn't have any good idea, though. So … I said we could go learn how to cook since we both don't know how to do that and he was alright with that. He even offered to plan all the details so I just let him do whatever."
Madam Su finally saw the light. Mn, this girl was quite good. That dense son of hers needed someone who would take the initiative or it would end like back then.
Ah, just remembering that pitiful child Nie Chang made her want to cry. It really was heartbreaking to see him looking at her son so obviously lovestruck while her son remained completely oblivious. Mn, that reminded her … she hadn't heard anything about him for a while. Did these two still keep in contact?
She eyed her son but didn't dare to ask right now. Su Yan got side-tracked too easily. She had to make sure this idiot would confess every last detail to her!
"So then it became a romantic date?"
Su Yan seemed like he wanted to nod but then he froze and just stopped moving altogether. "I … I don't know."
Madam Su sighed. This boy! "What did you two do in the end? I'll tell you if it was a date or not."
Su Yan instantly sidled closer. This was what he had hoped for. His mother would really be a Sage-type character if his life was a novel. "Well, at first we went to Auntie Zhu's food stall. Oh, that's where we've been going to eat breakfast for most days last week. The food there is —"
"Yes, yes, yes. What happened then?"
"Uh, we went to a park and strolled around a bit. Then he took me to the workshop. Well, it wasn't really cooking, though. You know that Chocolate Academy? We went there and made chocolate. After that …" Su Yan blanked. Uh, right. What had they done after that? He scratched his head. "I think we went to a restaurant but I'm not sure."
"What do you mean you're not sure?" That girl couldn't have drugged him, could she?
Su Yan squirmed around. "I … wasn't really paying attention. When we were in the workshop …" He lowered his head and blushed. How was he supposed to tell this?
"Speak!"
Su Yan covered his face with his hands. "Ah, he gave me a heart-shaped chocolate with the words 'I' and 'you' on it. I also don't know if he likes me!"
Madam Su looked at her embarrassed son and seriously pondered which side of the family was to be held accountable for getting a child with such low EQ. How much more direct did her future daughter-in-law need to get to have her dense son shed even the last bit of doubt?