41 Marlon

The next morning.

"This is the end of me..."

Duan Nanzhou just woke up, dazed for a moment as she looked around her surroundings. She couldn't help thinking that life was truly like a drama—was her own life really this dramatic?

Recalling the events of the previous night:

Duan Nanzhou and Liu Shiwen had exerted every ounce of their energy to support the two inebriated men all the way to the hotel. However, since they only had two ID cards between them, they could only book two rooms.

Consequently, Liu Shiwen took Zhangike into one room, while Duan Nanzhou helped Ma Long into the other. Duan Nanzhou had originally intended to drop him off and leave immediately, but the alcohol, delayed in its effects, was now hitting her full force.

Duan Nanzhou felt the world around her starting to blur into unreality. Realizing she was in no condition to make it home safely, and after several unanswered phone calls to Liu Shiwen, she felt too embarrassed to disturb the young couple next door. She debated whether she should just lie down on the sofa for the night.

As for her own alcohol tolerance, Duan Nanzhou knew it was average, but even when drunk, she usually remained relatively sober—just a bit delayed in her reactions. Therefore, she wasn't worried about throwing a drunken tantrum or doing anything reckless. As for Ma Long on the bed, he had been completely quiet and unresponsive ever since he got drunk, and likely wouldn't exhibit any unruly drunken behavior.

Thus, Duan Nanzhou reassured herself, lay down on the sofa, and prepared to tough it out until morning. Although it wasn't ideal to end up sharing a room with someone she had just rejected that very night, safety took precedence over awkwardness.

Later on, Duan Nanzhou only remembered getting up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and then habitually crawling back onto the bed to take off her outer clothing and sleep. Because her brain was functioning sluggishly, she hadn't sensed that anything was amiss and simply continued sleeping.

She simply hadn't expected Ma Long to be in the same boat. He had briefly woken up once before Duan Nanzhou stirred in the night, gone to the restroom, stripped down, obediently climbed back into bed, wrapped himself tightly in the duvet, and laid there rigidly and quietly to sleep.

Therefore, the primary culprit was Duan Nanzhou herself; Ma Long had nothing to do with it. She had even thought Ma Long was trying to steal the blanket and kept tugging at it, until finally, the two of them ended up sleeping together under the exact same duvet.

This directly led to the scene Duan Nanzhou woke up to: both of them lying in the same bed wearing almost nothing but their undergarments, covered by a single blanket, and pressed extremely close together.

No matter how one looked at it, the scene screamed of a drunken mistake. Although nothing had actually happened—they had merely shed some layers of clothing and innocently slept in the same bed—it was already completely impossible to explain away.

Clearly, Duan Nanzhou was not the only one thinking this. Ma Long, waking up beside her, was equally dumbfounded, staring at the sight before him with zero comprehension of the situation.

Duan Nanzhou at least retained some fragments of memory and knew roughly what had transpired. Ma Long, on the other hand, had suffered a complete blackout. To make matters worse, his hangover was still pounding fiercely, and combined with this visually shocking scene, his brain felt entirely frozen.

"We..." Since no one spoke for a long time, Ma Long broke the silence first, mostly because he genuinely had no idea what was going on.

"Nothing happened!" Duan Nanzhou replied decisively, though every single word sounded utterly feeble and unconvincing.

"Oh..." Ma Long had no way of knowing whether something had happened or not, but seeing how desperately Duan Nanzhou wanted to distance herself from the thought, he chose to follow her lead and signal his understanding.

After all, he had just been rejected the night before, and Ma Long had no wish to make Duan Nanzhou feel uncomfortable. He decided that whatever she said went; even if she wanted to draw a strict boundary between them, he would accept it.

"I mean it, really nothing happened!" Duan Nanzhou added, feeling like a total scumbag the moment the words left her mouth.

First, she had seemingly led Ma Long on under the guise of friendship before rejecting him, and then, on the very night of the rejection, she had ended up "sleeping" in the same bed with him. No matter how she framed the narrative, she came across as a terrible woman.

Duan Nanzhou fell into a brooding silence at her own thoughts. Then, glancing at Ma Long, who was so obediently and understandingly echoing her, her conscience stung even more. Why did she feel like she was constantly bullying a pure, innocent man?

"I'm so sorry..." Duan Nanzhou's collection of classic heartbreaker quotes continued to expand.

"You don't need to apologize..." Ma Long had wanted to say this since last night. "You don't have to apologize for not being able to return the same feelings. This is a liking I willingly offered, and perhaps it only brought you pressure. So you have no need to be sorry; the one who should truly apologize is me."

"It's fine. We can just stick to what you said last night, and you don't need to put any pressure on yourself," Ma Long comforted her, dutifully preparing to retreat into the most ordinary status of merely being an acquaintance.

Ma Long's considerate words only made Duan Nanzhou feel even more like a terrible human being. It felt as though she were trampling all over the genuine sincerity of a wonderful guy.

A "Got it" was right on the tip of her tongue before she swallowed it back down, because she saw Ma Long getting up to tidy his clothes and heading toward the bathroom to put them on.

Just from that single glance, Duan Nanzhou realized she might not be entirely immune to other feelings after all. She had never expected that Ma Long, who usually looked like a soft, adorable, milky dragon, actually possessed a muscular physique under his clothes—the kind of body that made one quietly gasp and bite their thumb.

Yet, Duan Nanzhou inwardly despised herself. She had stubbornly insisted she had no romantic inclinations toward him, but the moment she caught sight of a little eye candy, she was instantly seduced by his flesh and began thinking that maybe giving it a try wasn't such a bad idea. She was truly a textbook example of a heartless flirt.

So, how was she supposed to salvage this now? Should she tell him that they could actually give it a try? Why hadn't Ma Long pulled this move earlier? If he had just seduced her with his looks a bit sooner, she would have changed her mind long ago! Duan Nanzhou was silently weeping inside. She had been trapped by her own stereotype that she could never fall for a friend.

Duan Nanzhou deeply regretted her actions now. She felt like she had completely blocked off her own escape routes. Yet, she really was just a superficial hypocrite drawn to physical attraction, and now she genuinely seemed to be falling for Ma Long's body, which was quickly extending into falling for Ma Long the person.

"Nanzhou, are you done changing?" Ma Long's voice came from the bathroom, clearly waiting for her to finish dressing before coming out.

"All done." Duan Nanzhou quickly reined in her wandering thoughts and hurried to change her clothes. She was a respectable person once again—though her thoughts were anything but respectable.

When the two of them sat down on opposite ends of the sofa, another wave of silence descended. Feeling the scene was overwhelmingly awkward, Duan Nanzhou resorted to taking a tactical sip of water.

"Nanzhou..." Ma Long pressed his lips together and finally spoke. Amidst Duan Nanzhou's puzzled upward look, he voiced what was on his mind:

"Can you really not give us another chance? Actually... you don't have to view me strictly as a good friend. What if you looked at me as a suitor? Is there any possibility of you giving a suitor a chance?"

Ma Long had originally planned to be an obedient, sensible, and compliant listener, but a moment ago he decided that youth was meant for impulsiveness, especially after an absurdly dramatic event like today's. Perhaps this was a turning point and a stroke of luck. He was still young; how could he retreat so easily? He hadn't even truly courted Duan Nanzhou yet! Duan Nanzhou had only deemed it inappropriate because she was trapped in the stereotype of placing him in the "friend" zone. If he approached her as a suitor, it wasn't entirely impossible!

"Huh?" Duan Nanzhou, who was still brainstorming how to initiate a reconciliation, started in surprise. She hadn't expected Ma Long to bring the topic up again; after rejecting him twice, she had assumed his pride as a young man would have stopped him from pursuing it further. She never imagined he would bring it up a third time.

Looking at the determination and persistence on Ma Long's face, Duan Nanzhou genuinely felt a wave of relief. She had been agonizing over how to handle this, and she never expected Ma Long to be such an incredible teammate!

"Alright then!" Duan Nanzhou replied, taking another sip of water immediately afterward to hide the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Huh?" Ma Long, thoroughly accustomed to rejection, was momentarily stunned by this entirely different answer.

"Really?! You aren't just saying that out of embarrassment, are you? ...Actually, you don't have to force yourself; you should follow your heart." After the initial wave of pleasant surprise, Ma Long began manufacturing excuses for her, terrified that she was merely agreeing out of obligation because of what happened last night.

"I'm not forcing myself at all. Actually, I gave it some thought. I used to view you strictly as a good friend, which is why I never considered your feelings. But I realize now it's not entirely that way anymore. We can give it a try. However, I might not be able to match the depth of your feelings right away. If you mind that..."

Before Duan Nanzhou could finish, she was interrupted by Ma Long, who was staring fixedly at her:

"I don't mind at all! As long as you have even a tiny bit of feelings for me, I'll work hard enough to make you care for me even more!"

"Deal!" Duan Nanzhou agreed so decisively that it completely eradicated any lingering doubts Ma Long had about her feeling coerced.

Still, Ma Long couldn't help feeling that this was truly the most theatrical day of his life. Last night, Duan Nanzhou was rejecting him and talking about remaining good friends, and by today, she had magically transformed into his girlfriend.

As for the chief culprit, Duan Nanzhou, she only wanted to say that she hadn't expected herself to flip sides so quickly. It just went to show that people shouldn't put on too many airs—always leave yourself a way out, lest you live to regret it! She could only consider herself lucky that Ma Long hadn't given up, otherwise she wouldn't have had the slightest clue how to backtrack and confess that she actually liked him a little bit.

And just like that,

With Ma Long acting as a prime candidate for a devoted, head-over-heels boyfriend, and Duan Nanzhou acting on her sudden physical attraction, the two of them entered a phase of rapid relationship development—which included certain indescribable adult intimacies.

True to form, the romance of adults progressed at lightning speed. At this moment, Ma Long still hadn't realized that his girlfriend had initially fallen for his physical form before gradually growing to love the entirety of him, remaining entirely blissfully immersed in the sweetness of the honeymoon phase.

As for Duan Nanzhou, she was thoroughly satisfied with everything post-relationship. Primarily because what she saw and what she experienced were both top-tier, and everything felt wonderful. Her affection for Ma Long grew deeper by the day. The contrast between his delicate, endearing, cute face and his rigorously sculpted physique was something she adored beyond measure!

And so, their harmonious romance progressed steadily. Meanwhile, Xu Xin and the other two conspirators—who had single-handedly set the wheels in motion without having the slightest clue what had actually transpired—were left utterly bewildered. They had simply wanted to ease the tension between the two and test the waters for potential development. Who on earth could explain to them what had happened? How did they manage to accelerate into a full-blown couple overnight?

Could it be that the three of them genuinely possessed an innate matchmaking constitution, where every single pairing they orchestrated hit the mark with absolute precision?