Chà Chà Novel

Under that gaze, Su Nuo nearly forgot how to breathe. It felt like a long time, though it was only a few seconds, before he looked away in a panic, not daring to meet Fu Baihan’s eyes again.

He stammered, “Y-you… you… how would I know!”

“I like someone prettier.” Fu Baihan gave him no chance to wriggle out of it. He turned Su Nuo by the shoulders so he had nowhere left to go.

Su Nuo felt like he was boiling over. His face burned and his heart raced, and he babbled without thinking. “Ge, how can you be so shallow, only caring about looks…”

“I’m not shallow.” Fu Baihan brushed his knuckles across Su Nuo’s cheek. “It’s just that my sweetie happens to be beautiful.”

The little one he’d watched grow up was the most beautiful treasure in his heart.

He’d already seen the best. No one else could stir him.

“Ge…” Su Nuo called him in a daze, like a bewildered little animal that should have fled but had run headfirst into the hunter’s net.

“Why were you upset, sweetie?” Fu Baihan coaxed. “You didn’t want me seeing Ji Shuyao, did you?”

Su Nuo: “……” This was getting serious. It was like his brother had broken some kind of seal. He was a little scary right now, like a demon king luring an innocent youth to leap into the abyss.

Of course, Su Nuo knew that if he jumped, it wouldn’t be into any abyss. It would be into a jar of sweets.

Because this was Fu Baihan. The Fu Baihan who would lay everything good in the world at his feet.

Su Nuo understood what Fu Baihan meant. He was telling him: he liked him.

So it hadn’t been a one-sided crush after all. While he’d been carrying around his nervous, secret joy, someone else had been feeling the very same thing.

The person he liked didn’t hate him. He’d given him exactly the answer he’d hoped for.

He was his brother, and he could also be his lover.

Su Nuo bit his lip. “Ge, do you know what you’re saying?”

This wasn’t how you treated a little brother. It wasn’t what you felt for a little brother.

Su Nuo had known from the beginning that even if he just confessed outright, there was a good chance Fu Baihan would accept.

The reason he hadn’t was that he wasn’t sure himself whether Fu Baihan responded to him out of love, or just out of habit, from years of indulging and spoiling him.

He didn’t want to always be a child in Fu Baihan’s eyes. He wanted Fu Baihan to see him as an equal, an adult, to consider him as a potential partner, not just spoil him as a little brother.

Even though being his little brother already brought him so much, Su Nuo knew he was greedy. He’d fallen for his own big brother. He wanted to be his lover.

After realizing how he felt, Su Nuo had spent a long time calming down and thinking it over carefully. Was he just greedy for how good Fu Baihan was to him, mistaking the urge to keep him all to himself for something more? Or did he truly love him?

After turning it over again and again and testing it, Su Nuo finally understood his own heart. He simply loved Fu Baihan. No little brother constantly daydreams about growing old with his big brother, and no little brother’s heart races every time he gets close to him.

It had taken him two lifetimes to understand what love was.

Loving someone was definitely not like when he’d said yes to Chu Boyan, giving it a try on a whim. It was like now: he could easily have what he wanted, yet he never dared to say it.

Love makes you brave, and it also makes you want to retreat.

If Fu Baihan hadn’t said something today, Su Nuo would probably have waited a long time, until he was sure nothing could go wrong, before confessing.

Even now he was still torn, still unsure what Fu Baihan really thought.

“Of course I know what I’m saying.” Fu Baihan leaned closer. “Sweetie, I don’t like anyone else. I only want you.”

Fu Baihan had been waiting all along, holding himself back. What he felt was far more complicated than anything Su Nuo had agonized over.

But today, seeing Su Nuo swallow his hurt and rush away, he began to question whether what he’d been doing was right or wrong.

He hadn’t given the kid a clear answer, leaving him to keep testing the waters and pursuing him. So when someone else showed up, the kid could only be hurt and upset alone, because he had no standing to say anything.

It dawned on Fu Baihan that he’d been too timid. He’d thought he was protecting Su Nuo, but really he’d only made him suffer.

Like Ji Xinghui said, he couldn’t keep stringing the kid along. That was a jerk move.

Even if the kid was young, he shouldn’t waste so much time on him for nothing.

If they loved each other, they should be together.

He could never bear to see Su Nuo disappointed. He wanted Su Nuo to have everything he wished for and be happy every day.

Even if Su Nuo grew up later and regretted it, Fu Baihan would find a way to keep him by his side, even if it meant going back to being just his brother. But he should have a little confidence. Once they were together, how could he fail to win the kid’s heart?

He was, after all, the person who knew Su Nuo best. He could become exactly what Su Nuo liked.

Hearing Fu Baihan say it so plainly, Su Nuo froze, not knowing how to react.

Ge said he likes me?!

He actually likes me!!!

Su Nuo’s lashes fluttered. “Ge, do you mean it?”

Happiness had come so suddenly that he was almost afraid to believe it.

Fu Baihan leaned down and kissed his lips. Just a light press, but enough to make Su Nuo’s head spin.

Ge kissed me!

Laughing at how cute his reaction was, Fu Baihan tweaked his earlobe. “Believe me now?”

Su Nuo nodded rapidly, covering his mouth and giggling like a little fool.

After grinning to himself for a while, he looked at Fu Baihan, worked up his courage, and leaned in to kiss him back with a loud “mwah,” his eyes brimming with joy. “I like you too, Ge!”

He paused, then added, “The kind of like where I want to date you!”

Teased like that, Fu Baihan couldn’t take it.

He held back and held back, but couldn’t convince himself to let this little treasure off.

“Sweetie, this is how you kiss when you’re dating.”

He held Su Nuo close until his lips were flushed and glistening, fuller than usual, then pressed a fingertip to the corner of his mouth and smiled. “Got it?”

Su Nuo whimpered and buried his face in Fu Baihan’s chest. “Ge, how are you so good at this? Who taught you?”

“Natural talent, probably.” Fu Baihan stroked the kid’s hair and shamelessly gave himself credit.

When they went downstairs, the tips of both their ears were red. Su Nuo held out his hand, looking up at him hopefully. “Hold hands.”

This was his boyfriend now. He could stake his claim. Nobody else was getting a blind date with him.

Of course Fu Baihan couldn’t say no. He took Su Nuo’s hand before leading him downstairs.

Su Jing had seen the guests off and had been planning to give her son an earful when he came down. But seeing him come down with her little treasure, she couldn’t bring herself to get angry. Her expression softened, and she asked with concern, “Sweetie, you barely ate. Is your stomach hurting today? Are you feeling unwell?”

Sons could wait. Her little treasure came first.

Su Nuo lowered his head, embarrassed. What could he say? That he’d been throwing a tantrum at her son and had ended up snatching him for himself?

Waaah. Right now his conscience was giving him a grilling.

Fu Baihan was about to speak up for him when Su Nuo scratched lightly at his palm to stop him.

Su Nuo blinked, blushing as he lied, “I wasn’t feeling great, but I’m fine now.”

Su Jing immediately fussed over him, checking him over from head to toe for a good while before finally standing up. “Auntie will go make you some soup. Do you have time to come stay at home lately? Studies and work are important, but nothing is more important than your health. You need to take care of yourself.”

Fu Baihan sighed at his mother’s nagging. “Mom, I’ll take care of Nuonuo.”

What was wrong with him living with me?

Su Jing glared at him. “You dare say that! Nuonuo’s gotten thinner living with you. What kind of big brother are you?”

Mothers came with a built-in filter that made their kids look too thin no matter what. She’d have stuffed him round in one meal if she could.

Su Nuo defended Fu Baihan. “Auntie, Ge takes really good care of me. I’m the one who wanted to lose weight. I look thinner, but it’s all muscle.”

Su Jing laughed and patted his arm. “Okay, okay, our sweetie’s gotten strong.”

Once Su Jing went back to the kitchen, only the two of them were left in the living room. Su Nuo looked around furtively, then turned to Fu Baihan. “Did Sis Shuyao go home?”

Fu Baihan cleared his throat. “I didn’t notice.”

Su Nuo knew it wasn’t nice to think this way, but he was still pretty glad Ji Shuyao had left.

However much he liked her, once she’d become Fu Baihan’s blind date, Su Nuo found it hard to welcome her staying.

He raised his chin and huffed. “Ge, there’s one thing you need to understand.”

Fu Baihan asked seriously, “What?”

“When I was your little brother, I was very well-behaved. But now I’m your boyfriend…” Su Nuo drew out the words. “If we’re dating, you have to accept that I’ll have a temper and throw tantrums at you.”

Fu Baihan looked tenderly at his smug little treasure. “Sweetie, there’s one thing you need to understand too.”

Su Nuo: “Hm?”

What, you’ve got a temper too and want to lay down some rules?

Fu Baihan said, “When you were just my little brother, you were already plenty willful and plenty dramatic. I’m used to it.”

Su Nuo jumped up to hit him. “That’s not true!”

Don’t make things up. I’m not, I didn’t.

Su Jing came out of the kitchen and saw them roughhousing. She didn’t think anything was off. “Baihan, don’t pick on Nuonuo.”

Su Nuo huffed. “Did you hear what Auntie said?”

“I heard.” Fu Baihan leaned close to his ear and kissed his earlobe, his voice low. “Boyfriend.”

Su Nuo instantly went quiet, flustered.

Suddenly having a boyfriend, and the very boyfriend he’d dreamed about for so long, really was a little thrilling.

After coaxing the kid off to have a late-night snack, Fu Baihan sat across from Su Jing. Only then did she lower her voice to scold him. “Baihan, what was that today? You embarrassed Shuyao like that.”

“Mom, I never agreed to you setting me up with anyone, let alone bringing her home,” Fu Baihan said calmly.

Su Jing knew she was in the wrong. “That was my mistake. But if you didn’t like Shuyao, you could have told me privately. How could you act like that?”

Fu Baihan looked at his mother. “Because there’s someone I like.”