I Treat You as a Brother - Chapter 17

A week into starting school, Fang Mo had already become a well-known otaku.

He had an eye-catching appearance, and by nature, it was easy for him to make an impression on people. The two new roommates, who seemingly had no ill intentions, had unusually big mouths and could spout anything out into the open. In the course of time, his reputation had spread far and wide. Many people who Fang Mo didn’t even know, now knew that there was a handsome guy in 301 who liked to watch anime and was obsessed with big-breasted two-dimensional girls.

After another week, the class beauty, who used to take the initiative to find a topic to chat with Fang Mo for a bit every day, had quietly disappeared.

Fang Mo didn’t know whether he should be glad or not.

In his desperation, he pondered two things over and over again.

Why did Xu Xiran, a real otaku, have such good acceptance around him without anyone paying much attention to him because of this? Clearly, he was also handsome and eye-catching, yet the contrast was huge.

And why did the class beauty, who liked him, immediately distance herself after knowing he was an otaku, but still remained good friends with Xu Xiran even after knowing his unique interests?

~

It may be that the man who made him speechless from time to time, had all kinds of details that made his heart pound.

For instance, when Fang Mo finally secretly confirmed Xu Xiran’s schedule and caught him at the entrance of the dormitory area to ask him to have lunch together at the dining hall, Xu Xiran nodded and took out a small bag of cat food from his book bag.

“Would you like to take a detour with me?” he asked Fang Mo, “I’ll take you to see a little cutie.”

Fang Mo responded by repeatedly nodding his head.

He followed Xu Xiran along the residential area and went around half a circle before coming to a small garden.

As soon as Xu Xiran approached, a gray and round kitten ran out meowing with its little tail up. Fang Mo recognized this cat. Before officially meeting Xu Xiran, he had seen pictures of this little one in Xu Xiran’s Moments.

Now that more than half a month had passed, the little one had grown a lot, and its once-pointed little tail had become slender and soft.

Xu Xiran carefully poured the cat food onto the edge of the flower bed, and the little one immediately buried its head and ate earnestly.

“Cute, right?” Xu Xiran asked Fang Mo.

Fang Mo didn’t answer. He was enduring the torment in his heart. He wanted to pet it, but it was so dirty. Since he was going to eat soon, he couldn’t bring himself to move his hand.

“What’s with the expression?” Xu Xiran looked at him blankly. “What are you nervous about?”

Fang Mo clenched his fists in order to endure his discomfort, “What’s its name?”

“I haven’t named it,” Xu Xiran said. “I can’t officially raise it, so I’m scared I’ll get too attached if I name it and it won’t be good.”

Fang Mo glanced at him, and his heart suddenly moved, “Why don’t you name it Xiaoyao?”

Xu Xiran was stunned and his face turned red.

It was rare to see this person feel embarrassed. Fang Mo felt a hint of thrill, so he continued to tease him, “You should name it. Even if you can’t take it home to raise it, you already have a special bond with it… no, how do you call it… a bonded pair? You two are a bonded pair. Maybe it’ll one day turn into a beautiful girl and come to you in the middle of the night to repay you.”

Hearing this, Xu Xiran sighed softly.

“No, it’s fine,” he said, sadly shaking his head, looking disheartened, “I just found out a few days ago that it’s a male.”

Fang Mo sputtered.

“Sometimes I really feel like I’m cursed,” Xu Xiran continued. “Even if it’s a cat, it’s always the same sex that approaches me.”

Fang Mo licked his lips, he was embarrassed to answer and began to feel guilty.

“Nevermind,” Xu Xiran turned around, “Let’s go eat.”

~

The two were in different majors with different schedules, so there were not as many opportunities for them to meet up with each other during this time.

Since it was rare to have a meal together, Xu Xiran looked very happy. They talked about each other’s courses for a while, and Fang Mo casually mentioned one of his electives for this semester.

“That professor would always call me up to answer his questions, every single time,” he sighed. “I can’t dare to skip that class even if I wanted to.”

Xu Xiran frowned immediately when he heard those words, “Which professor is this? What’s his surname?”

Fang Mo thought for a moment, “…I don’t remember.”

It was merely an elective, and he had originally planned to just waste time in that class and sit in the corner seat every time. The professor only called everyone’s names in the first class, and didn’t care about anyone else being absent afterwards. However, he paid excessive attention to Fang Mo, so Fang Mo didn’t dare to mess around.

“Does he wear thin-rimmed glasses, look around this tall, and seem like the scholarly type?” Xu Xiran asked.

Fang Mo recalled for a moment, then nodded, “I think so. Have you also taken his class before?”

Xu Xiran’s expression immediately became serious, “Outside of class, has he ever approached you privately?”

“No,” Fang Mo finally responded, “Does this person have a problem?”

“A big problem,” Xu Xiran said, “It’s my fault, I should’ve reminded you earlier.”

He looked very worried and concerned, which made Fang Mo feel a little touched.

“He used to teach a class in my major,” Xu Xiran said, “During that time, he kept sending me… those kinds of messages.”

“…What kind?”

Xu Xiran clicked his tongue and gave Fang Mo a “you know” kind of look.

Fang Mo finally understood.

“Were they very explicit?” he asked.

“Not really. They were normal in the beginning, and he only expressed his care and discussed things that were related to the class. But later on, things felt more and more off,” Xu Xiran looked like he couldn’t bear looking back on the past. “He started asking me if I had enough allowance money and said that he wanted to help me more in my studies and in my life. During the Lunar New Year, he gave me a big red envelope and even invited me to his house for dinner.”

“He wanted to sugar you!” Fang Mo exclaimed.

A number of people around them immediately cast their curious eyes at them.

“Keep your voice down,” Xu Xiran quickly grabbed Fang Mo’s left wrist resting on the table, “Don’t be so loud.”

“Oh,” Fang Mo looked  at both their hands and cautiously nodded, “Then how did you answer him?”

“I just played dumb, what else could I do?” Xu Xiran said. “After finishing the course, I immediately blocked him. He definitely must have some intentions about you too. It would’ve been better if I told you earlier to not take this course.”

“How can I blame this on you? I didn’t even know we go to the same university when I chose this class,” said Fang Mo.

Looking at it again, the professor’s attitude towards him was fairly normal. There was no private contact, and he never talked much after class. Apart from his fondness for letting him answer questions, there was nothing that could be considered out of line.

“Did he ever hint at anything to you?” Xu Xiran asked.

Fang Mo secretly thought about it in his heart, and cautiously nodded. “…Maybe. I never thought about it much until you brought it up, but now that I think about it, the way he looks at me seems quite ambiguous.”

Xu Xiran started to get more worried, “Did he ever send you any messages?”

“Not yet.”

Fang Mo felt that he probably wouldn’t get any in the future either. He didn’t even notice that the professor had this tendency, which showed that the other party’s words and deeds were still decent. Ever since he was a child, there were countless teachers who liked to pay close attention to him and ask him questions in class. The reason was actually very simple, when people are bored in class, they will pick on someone pleasing to the eye to fixate on to lighten their mood. Therefore, being attractive was not always a good thing, as it makes it much harder to skip class.

The professor most likely did not have any intentions towards him. However, this did not prevent Fang Mo from selling himself badly in front of Xu Xiran.

“Although this is just an elective, but…” he sighed, “If I ignore him, will he deliberately make things difficult for me in terms of grades?”

“He probably won’t,” Xu Xiran thought for a bit. “He let me pass.”

Thinking about it now, this professor was not too excessive. Although his pursuit was not very honorable, he was at least level-headed when he let go.

Fang Mo suddenly had a strange thought.

In a way, Xu Xiran was almost like a male protagonist in a harem. Around him was an endless stream of pursuers, both out in the open and lurking in the dark, all having a deep attraction towards him. And he himself would always politely decline this kind of attention, never accepting any of them.

It was almost as if he were a male lead of a romance novel.

The only difference was the target audience of this work he was in.

If Xu Xiran really was the male lead, then Fang Mo could only hope that he wasn’t just one of the side characters in his harem. He wanted to be the other main lead.

After thinking for a while, Fang Mo began to have a feeling of self-contempt.

During the time in which Xu Xiran made him stay indoors, he had also unexpectedly picked up this anime’s way of thinking as well. How amazing.

“When’s your next class with him?” Xu Xiran asked him suddenly.

“Let me take a look,” Fang Mo picked up his phone, “Next Monday at 2pm.”

Xu Xiran also picked up his phone and looked at it for a bit, then said, “I happen to be free at that time, let me accompany you.”

Author’s note:

A scenario that I really want to write but will probably never appear in the story. Proceed with caution.

*Two of them standing next to each other at the urinals

*Xu Xiran: What are you looking at, do you want to compare sizes? This I’ve never lost before…

*Fang Mo: … (silently feeling his blood rush)

*Xu Xiran: Holy fuck, are you cheating???