Qi Sihao opened his mouth wide, seemingly unable to digest the meaning of Yan Ming’s words for a moment.

But Yan Ming had already picked up his chopsticks again and started eating leisurely and calmly.

Qi Sihao snapped back to reality like he was breathing oxygen. He desperately made eye signals at Yu Tian, but Yu Tian could only pretend not to see.

Qi Sihao had no choice but to look at Yan Ming again: “Senior, what you just said—is it what I think you mean?”

Yan Ming slightly raised his gaze: “What? If it’s not Du Yilin or Zhang Tianhou, but me, do you have an objection?”

“…” Qi Sihao was still in shock. “But doesn’t Yu Tian treat you like a brother? Weren’t you almost going to become Yu Tian’s brother…”

Yan Ming looked up at Qi Sihao unperturbed, saying coolly: “Self-theft by guards—haven’t you heard of it?”

How could Qi Sihao dare to have any objections? He laughed awkwardly for a while, finding himself an excuse: “I just didn’t think of that possibility. After all, I always thought of you as Yu Tian’s brother, and didn’t think in that direction. I thought you’d help screen boyfriends for Yu Tian…”

“I did screen them.” Yan Ming was quite calm. “None of them are as good as me.”

“…”

Qi Sihao didn’t dare speak anymore. He laughed awkwardly again, hastily and embarrassingly finished lunch, made an excuse, and fled.

So only Yu Tian and Yan Ming remained at the table.

If Yan Ming had stepped forward earlier, had brought Yu Tian feelings of being moved, elated, and secure, then now Yu Tian’s heart was like a coastline after the tide receded—only emptiness and confusion remained.

She had no sense of reality.

Yan Ming was her boyfriend?

But he had never even said so!

The boyfriend claims in the lobby earlier, Yu Tian also felt were mostly Yan Ming’s spur-of-the-moment decision to turn the situation around. After all, two people dating required clear mutual consent.

How could it be unilateral like this?

And then no explanation? No clarification whatsoever?

Grievance, unwillingness, and intense unease and turmoil.

Yu Tian couldn’t describe her feelings, yet Yan Ming remained calm and composed, returning to his usual demeanor, as if all this wasn’t a major event in his life, just some trivial details.

Walking through a quiet corridor in the hospital’s office area after leaving the cafeteria, Yu Tian finally couldn’t help it: “Don’t you have anything to say?”

Faced with Yu Tian’s question, Yan Ming shook his head righteously: “No.”

If he didn’t, then Yu Tian did!

“Then you’re claiming to be my boyfriend publicly—are you crazy?”

“I understand you wanted to help me, but impulsively declaring yourself my boyfriend to Zhao Xinxin—it’s not just Zhao Xinxin who knows. She made such a big scene, all your colleagues coming and going at the hospital saw it.”

“And even if the Zhao Xinxin incident was an emergency mistake to help me, why did you say the same thing to Qi Sihao during lunch? Do you think pretending to be my boyfriend is fun?”

Yu Tian had originally been calm, but the more she spoke, the more grieved she felt. Her angry emotions rose like delayed bubbles—the bubbling time was a bit slow, but the amount of bubbles wasn’t small.

She became angrier as she spoke: “Do you men think that even having a few more rumored girlfriends is like trophies or medals? Have you considered me? Why should I have an inexplicable boyfriend for no reason? In the future, even clarifying will still have people saying he’s an ex-boyfriend…”

Yu Tian’s heart was full of accusations against Yan Ming for such unprincipled, ambiguous behavior, but before she could finish, Yan Ming interrupted her with a shocked tone—

“I’m not your boyfriend?”

Yan Ming seemed to have learned some unbelievable information. He widened his eyes slightly and repeated: “Yu Tian, you mean I’m still not your boyfriend?”

Yu Tian had just nodded, planning to continue accusing Yan Ming, but instead was turned around and blamed by him.

The handsome man in front of her slightly frowned, his tone shocked and dangerous: “Then what do you mean?”

Huh? Shouldn’t she be the one asking this question?

Yu Tian was getting angry: “Think about it carefully yourself.”

Yan Ming’s expression became ugly, looking stormy. He stared at Yu Tian’s face for a moment, then showed a look of sudden realization, followed by a gritted-teeth tone: “Could it be that even after all this, you still don’t plan to establish a relationship and still want to string me along?”

Ah???

The calm and composure finally disappeared from Yan Ming’s face. He looked like he was about to die of anger.

“Yu Tian, could it be you still don’t want to admit I’m your boyfriend? Won’t give me a legitimate status? Still plan to maintain your single persona? Then play ambiguous games with me?”

Yan Ming was purely stealing her lines!

Yu Tian was completely stunned: “When did you become my boyfriend? From just now? You unilaterally declare it and become my boyfriend? Don’t you need my consent and approval?”

This was indeed Yu Tian’s confusion. She thought this way and couldn’t help asking.

But Yan Ming looked like he was about to blow steam from all seven orifices. He raised his voice slightly: “‘Just now’?”

“I only became your boyfriend just now? Then what were we before?”

He pressed his lips together: “So in your heart, I wasn’t your boyfriend before?”

Yu Tian was a bit dazed: “…Were you before?”

Yan Ming looked like his worldview had been overturned by new theories. He stared at Yu Tian: “I kissed you.”

“So?”

Yan Ming seemed pushed to desperation. He rubbed his temples and said in an exasperated tone: “I kissed you. If I’m still not your boyfriend, then what am I? What other identity could there be?”

Of course, there could be other identities.

Yu Tian didn’t need to think: “A scumbag…”

“…”

Yan Ming seemed somewhat helpless, trying to find reasons to argue: “We’ve gone that far—how could we still not be boyfriend and girlfriend? Besides, you kissed me later, too. In your understanding, can people kiss without confirming a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship?”

Speaking of this, Yu Tian got angry: “I don’t think so, but I want to remind you of one thing—you made the first move.” She looked away and coughed. “You kissed me first, twice, before I retaliated. You were the first to lack socialist male virtue by being ambiguous without establishing a relationship!”

“You know, here’s a fun fact: if a man and woman become boyfriend and girlfriend, at least one party should express clear intention and the other should agree—that’s called establishing a relationship. The beginning of a relationship requires mutual consent between two people. Before we… did we ever reach any conclusion about our relationship?”

Facing Yan Ming’s incredulous eyes, Yu Tian decided to give an example: “Yan Ming, it’s not that whatever you unilaterally declare becomes reality. Could I see a handsome man on the street and just declare, ‘this person is my boyfriend,’ and he’d become my boyfriend?”

“No.”

Yu Tian was about to continue her patient persuasion when she heard Yan Ming say firmly, “Because your boyfriend is me. You can’t declare someone else as your boyfriend.”

“…”

“As for our mutual consent to date, of course, we had that.” Yan Ming was quite angry but still tried to stay calm. “I said I agreed, so we established the relationship first, then I kissed you.”

“You agreed to what?”

“Agreed to your request to be my girlfriend.” Yan Ming was quite calm. “I said it when I kissed you. I never had an ambiguous relationship with you, never. The moment I kissed you, you were already my girlfriend in my heart. Only you unilaterally won’t give me status, won’t treat me as a boyfriend, stringing me along like a scumbag, while still being so close to Qi Sihao.”

Yu Tian stared blankly at the usually economical-with-words Yan Ming speaking like he was in a debate competition, eloquent and logical—

“Isn’t Qi Sihao already with Gao Mei? What kind of man has no morals? Initially, to create opportunities to be with Gao Mei, he stole my umbrella. Now he’s pursuing Gao Mei while being attentive to you—does he have no sense of boundaries? Just now, he even said Du Yilin and Zhang Tianhou would suit you. At least he’s rotating in ophthalmology—is his eyesight that bad? I think he shouldn’t examine patients anymore and should register with me to treat his eyes. Trying to steal you from me, pulling you to some rotating doctors’ social gathering—that was him, right? If he’s so free, he could completely take on two more night shifts…”

Yan Ming was fine when he didn’t speak, but this speech made Yu Tian realize how much he disliked Qi Sihao…

However, after this outburst from Yan Ming, it was Yu Tian’s turn to be dumbfounded. Thinking back, indeed, after the first kiss, Yan Ming had inexplicably said, “I agree.”

But at this moment, Yu Tian couldn’t focus on other information in Yan Ming’s words, nor did she want to defend Qi Sihao. She only caught one key point.

Yu Tian glared: “You just said you agreed to my request to be your girlfriend, but when did I ever make such a request? When did I say I wanted to be your girlfriend? What are you unilaterally agreeing to?”

Yan Ming was confident: “You didn’t say it, but all your actions meant that.”

Yan Ming started listing quite plainly: “For example, you fed me food, dressed nicely for me, constantly followed me with your eyes every day, cleverly called me ‘brother,’ kissed me when drunk, got jealous over Chen Xi…”

Yu Tian was so embarrassed she couldn’t listen anymore.

The words were correct, Yu Tian had indeed harbored improper thoughts toward Yan Ming, but…

But saying it out loud like this made Yu Tian somewhat angry from embarrassment.

“Who?! Who pursued you?! I didn’t!”

Yu Tian was furious: “So what are you agreeing to? I never pursued you! Your agreement is useless! Because I don’t agree! You’re not my boyfriend!”

“My market value is excellent. I don’t need to pursue men myself—men pursue me. You haven’t even gone through the process of pursuing me. You can’t be my boyfriend! You’re not qualified!”

Yu Tian wanted to leave, but was blocked by Yan Ming’s tall figure.

This man’s face was hidden in shadow, his expression unclear, but his tone sounded somewhat angry and unwilling.

He asked quite seriously: “Why am I not qualified?”

Yan Ming’s gaze lightly swept Yu Tian’s face, then moved away to look elsewhere. This man seemed to be speaking to Yu Tian but also somewhat talking to himself: “Didn’t you say before that you wanted to write into the same household registration book with me? That you admire me and hope to have a family like mine? But now you’re giving up so easily? Even revoking my qualifications. Weren’t you quite good to me before?”

“…” This was ancient history!

And!

Yu Tian couldn’t help rolling her eyes internally. She glared at Yan Ming defiantly: “Do I need to remind you again? My mom and your dad’s blind date failed. Your dad has a new partner. You and I won’t be family in the future. Why should I waste effort now? Of course, I choose to give up!”

Not mentioning it was fine, but bringing it up brought out some old and new grievances.

Yu Tian was both angry and aggrieved: “You were so difficult to deal with, cold and indifferent to me initially. I put my warm face against your cold butt for so long, wasn’t it all for my mom to have a harmonious remarriage family relationship in the future! Now, that chapter is long closed! I explained everything last time! The possibility of writing into the same household registration book is long gone. Even if you didn’t want to be friends with me, I could accept it. But now, how can some people take it for granted that they can directly take the position of my boyfriend?”

“‘You’re so excellent, I admire you so much, I want to become family with you, such a pity we couldn’t become family’—these kinds of words are just for listening. Everyone makes small talk in society, who doesn’t have some polite words?”

Yan Ming was silent for a moment, seeming not to know how to respond to Yu Tian’s words.

Just as Yu Tian was about to go around him and leave, Yan Ming grabbed her hand from behind.

His voice was low, carrying serious earnestness: “Yu Tian. I’m not difficult to deal with.”

“You can try again.”

“Also, I think we should still be able to write into the same household registration book.”

Yu Tian’s first reaction was complete confusion. Had Yan Ming’s dad also broken up? Were Song Chunxiang and Yan Wenhua both back to being single again? But that wasn’t right…

Almost instinctively, Yu Tian replied: “As far as I know, my mom and your dad have thoroughly developed a revolutionary friendship. Although your dad did visit when he heard my mom was injured, their interaction mode is indeed friendly. This kind of situation probably has no possibility of sparking romance again…”

Yan Ming said expressionlessly, “I know, but there are other more suitable positions on my household registration book for you.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to be family with me? Although our parents have no hope, you and I becoming family is still possible.”

Yan Ming looked at Yu Tian with deep eyes: “Those polite words you said later about wanting to be family with me, saying it was regrettable we couldn’t become family—I’ve already taken them seriously. So I’ve already arranged another family position for you on my household registration book.”

Yan Ming’s serious, unsmiling appearance was somewhat stern, so much so that Yu Tian didn’t immediately catch the implication.

But after a moment of daze, she realized what Yan Ming meant.

Yu Tian’s face immediately heated up.

She stared at Yan Ming, almost dumbfounded, feeling in a trance that such words coming from Yan Ming’s mouth were simply unbelievable.

Some men were something—unilaterally declaring girlfriend status wasn’t enough, now they were unilaterally declaring legal spouse status?

Yu Tian was both angry and amused, mixed with huge excitement and indescribable complex emotions. Her heart felt like giant fireworks exploding in a quiet night sky without warning.

So this was what Yan Ming was thinking.

And at this moment, the instigator was completely unaware. He lowered his gaze, his tone very insistent: “So you shouldn’t revoke my qualifications.”

His voice was slightly unnatural: “Actually, if you had tried a bit harder back then, it would have been about right. You could have been my girlfriend.”

“‘Back then’? Which ‘back then’? What time’s ‘back then’?”

Yan Ming looked away: “Before, quite early on, if you had tried a little, it actually wouldn’t have been impossible.”

He said this while glancing at Yu Tian, then became somewhat gritted-teeth and resentful: “But I didn’t expect you had no plans to try at all, didn’t even make a token effort.”

Yan Ming’s meaning… he had had feelings for her early on…

This realization hit Yu Tian and left her somewhat at a loss.

But the superiority in Yan Ming’s words still made Yu Tian a little angry.

“What do you mean ‘try a bit harder and you could be my girlfriend’? Why should I have to try hard? Can’t it be you try harder to compete for the position of my boyfriend? Having to work hard to be your girlfriend, I won’t do it. Too tiring. I’m an urban slacker. I’m leaving. I declare your unilateral declaration invalid. Yan Ming, you still don’t have a girlfriend.”

After saying this, Yu Tian glared at Yan Ming angrily, then ran off in a huff.

What kind of person!

Yu Tian was furious, but after running a distance and standing at the elevator waiting, her rapidly beating heart became somewhat uneasy and anxious again.

Being Yan Ming’s girlfriend… did seem very tempting indeed.

Yu Tian was indeed very moved.

But still angry.

Yan Ming wasn’t trying to be ambiguous, which was good, but Yan Ming was also too presumptuous.

Why should he?

Could someone unilaterally own a girlfriend?

In his dreams.

Yu Tian felt like a greedy child who got three wishes. Originally, only hoping that even one wish could come true would be enough, but human nature is dissatisfaction—one begets two, two begets three, three begets infinity. Having the first wish made her want more.

Originally only thinking it would be good if Yan Ming could be her boyfriend, but when Yan Ming said those words, she began to feel he came too easily, and she wanted more attention and more love.

But standing at the elevator entrance, Yu Tian anxiously ran her fingers through her hair again.

A man like Yan Ming always had girls chasing him. After her tantrum, would he follow?

Would he… would he just give up directly?

Yu Tian’s intention was to test Yan Ming’s feelings, but at this moment, she was afraid of the answer.

She was afraid that in Yan Ming’s heart, she was just so-so.

Maybe he would just leave on his own, not even willing to coax Yu Tian a little, not even giving her a way out.

Soon, in this indescribable and unspeakable tangle and contradiction, the elevator came.

Probably because it was lunch break time, this usually packed elevator now had no one else besides Yu Tian.

Yan Ming hadn’t come yet.

Yu Tian bit her teeth, deciding not to fantasize anymore or wait for anything, and walked into the elevator.

But just as she turned and stood properly, watching the elevator doors slowly close, she finally saw Yan Ming in her field of vision.

He was running from the end of the corridor.

In the last second before the elevator doors closed, this man pressed the elevator stop button again.

Yan Ming was slightly out of breath from running. He used one hand to block the closing elevator door, and under Yu Tian’s astonished gaze, looked back at her with burning eyes.

“Yu Tian, is this kind of pursuit acceptable? I’m already running after you.”

“Sorry to delay you for a minute.” He glanced at Yu Tian, then calmly corrected himself, “One minute is too long. Ten seconds. I’ll give you ten seconds to consider.”

Yu Tian’s heart began beating rapidly if she were weightless. She suppressed her inner excitement and stared wide-eyed at Yan Ming: “Why only ten seconds?”

“Because I have emergency surgery in half an hour.”

Yu Tian was almost exasperated. She lowered her voice: “There’s still enough time to prepare! Why only give me ten seconds!”

Yan Ming’s expression was calm, looking at Yu Tian with a serious attitude of introducing medical knowledge.

“Because kissing you will make me nervous, and I need more time to calm down and enter surgical state.”

“I’m a doctor. My patient urgently needs me now. For the patient’s health, I can only give you ten seconds to decide whether to be my girlfriend. If you reject me, I need time to get over the sadness. If you accept me, I also need time to digest the excitement. And if you don’t give me an answer, I might have no way to concentrate on surgery.”

Yan Ming looked at the currently empty elevator behind Yu Tian: “Although there’s no one else in the elevator now, normally, there might be patients or patient families waiting to use the elevator upstairs or downstairs at any time. Time is very precious to them, so you only have ten seconds.”

Yan Ming’s voice was low: “Of course, even more impatient than they is I.”

He smiled at Yu Tian: “What to do?”

Yu Tian was so angry that she wanted to stomp her feet.

How, how could there be such a shameless person!

Yan Ming was doing this on purpose!

“If you don’t object after ten seconds, it’s default acceptance. Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

Yu Tian had no time to cope. She became flustered, like a poor butterfly trapped in a glass cover. No matter how she flapped her wings, no matter how close and real the scenery outside the glass cover appeared, she had nowhere to escape.

She seemed to have no way to fight back at all.

When encountering Yan Ming, Yu Tian had no way to truly calm down.

He always had ways to make her excited and nervous, like a sudden storm attacking the sea.

But this time, Yan Ming also seemed unable to stay as calm as before.

When he counted to five, he suddenly stopped.

“I changed my mind.” This man calmly and shamelessly said, “Can’t wait until five.”

“If you don’t like it, push me away.”

Yan Ming looked righteous, but his subsequent actions still revealed his wicked nature—

“But if you push me away, this old elevator won’t stay open without a hand blocking it. It will immediately close automatically, so it will catch me. According to our current standing positions, it should catch my hand.”

“So what to do is up to you.”

“The judgment of my hands is in your hands.”

Yan Ming didn’t give Yu Tian a chance to protest and question, because almost the next second, he cupped Yu Tian’s face with both hands and leaned down to kiss her.

And just as he said, because he moved the hand blocking the elevator, the old hospital elevator door, obviously worn from age, started automatically closing again.

Yan Ming stood outside the elevator, his hands reaching across the elevator door to cup Yu Tian’s face and kiss her lips.

Yu Tian had no way to push Yan Ming away.

Because her hands had to take over blocking the elevator door to prevent it from closing and injuring Yan Ming’s hands or arms.

Yu Tian couldn’t see even the slightest risk of an excellent surgeon’s hands being damaged.

Especially when these were Yan Ming’s hands.

Damn Yan Ming hadn’t even bought insurance on her suggestion!

He did it on purpose! He was doing it on purpose!

Yu Tian had no way to push him away.

She was like a poor victim, not only unable to resist but even having to facilitate the perpetrator, helping the person who sold her count the money, when she wouldn’t get a penny of that money.

Yan Ming seemingly democratically and fairly gave her choice, but what Yu Tian could choose was actually only one path.

He was determined not to allow Yu Tian to refuse.

It seemed like he wanted to thoroughly implement his unilateral declaration and was determined to have his girlfriend.

But soon, Yu Tian had no way to think about anything else.

All her blood and feelings seemed to malfunction. The only thing she could still perceive was her own lips and Yan Ming’s lips and tongue carefully tracing hers.

This kiss only lasted a short time, but Yu Tian felt like it lasted a century.

She became flushed and heart-pounding, at a loss.

Yu Tian felt like an island surrounded by ocean, unable to resist or protect herself as she was forced to allow the tides to wash over her secret beaches again and again, step by step eroding her already not-vast coastline.

Yan Ming had already let her go, but her surroundings were still filled with Yan Ming’s scent.

He gently touched foreheads with Yu Tian: “I was wrong to say that. In the future, you won’t need to try hard. I should be the one trying hard.”

“I should try hard to compete for the position of your boyfriend, try hard until you can’t see anyone else around you and have no choice but to pick me.”

He had been calm and rational like a saint before, but now, with just a few simple confessions, Yan Ming was as shy and flustered as an elementary student.

His face was slightly red, his voice unsteady and somewhat unnatural, but to maintain composure, he still controlled his expression, cleared his throat, and tried to return to professional doctor mode—

“Alright, now I’m going to prepare for surgery.”

Though he said this, compared to Yu Tian, Yan Ming didn’t look much better.

Probably to hide his nervousness, Yan Ming didn’t linger, turned around, and seemed to plan to prepare for surgery properly first.

Yu Tian suppressed her nervousness and flushed face, lowering her head to frantically press the elevator close button.

But the damn elevator, when it should close, refused to close.

Yu Tian vented by pressing twice, but it still didn’t close, so when she looked up slightly, she could see Yan Ming in his white coat walking away.

She felt somewhat unbalanced again. Her heartbeat was fast to an almost ridiculous degree, but Yan Ming looked, at least on the surface, still so calm.

Saying he’d be so happy about being her boyfriend that he’d need to calm down.

Yu Tian felt she couldn’t see where Yan Ming was excited at all.

Wasn’t he quite composed?

Obviously not very happy at all.

Yu Tian fought with the elevator button while grumbling internally, but when she looked up, she saw Yan Ming, who had already left, returning with a serious, professional expression, walking toward her.

Was there something wrong?

Did he also need to go downstairs?

Before Yu Tian could ask anything, Yan Ming walked to her, cupped her face, and under Yu Tian’s incredulous gaze, kissed her fiercely again.

“Anyway, the elevator hasn’t closed yet, and there’s still time before surgery.”

This man was quite confident after stopping his domineering behavior.

And at this moment, Yu Tian’s hand instinctively rested on Yan Ming’s chest. She could finally feel this man’s unrest, hidden beneath his overly calm exterior and matter-of-fact tone.

He was also intensely excited, just like Yu Tian.

Because Yan Ming’s heartbeat had also become rapid.

He just still pretended to be very calm and composed, like a steady surgeon should.

He glanced at Yu Tian, then looked away: “Alright, this time I’m leaving.”

“Tonight at six-thirty, dinner together. I’ll send you the location later.”

After saying this, Yan Ming turned and left in a very natural way, but his slightly red ears and his previously wildly beating heart had already betrayed his emotions.

The elevator door finally cooperated. Soon, after the door closed, the elevator slowly descended.

It was already close to the afternoon work time at the hospital. The outpatient lobby was again packed with people preparing for consultations, bustling and noisy, but Yu Tian seemed unable to hear any of it.

She felt like Yan Ming’s kiss had sealed her in another space, even doubting the reality of all this.

Until her phone’s message notification sound pulled Yu Tian back to earth—

【Qi Sihao is a Good Person】: Damn!!!!!

【Qi Sihao is a Good Person】: Damn damn damn!!!!

【Qi Sihao is a Good Person】: Yu Tian, how can you be so unprincipled!! Didn’t you say you treated Yan Ming as an idol and brother? Didn’t you say you wanted to be family? But how did it become this kind of family where you’ll sleep in the same bed with him in the future?! Your feelings have changed, you know?!

【Qi Sihao is a Good Person】: Why the hell didn’t you tell me earlier!!! Do I have to call Yan Ming brother now? Can I count as having connections now? Can you get Yan Ming to give me more time off so I can date?

【Qi Sihao is a Good Person】: You’re too brave, how did you get Yan Ming… My emotions still can’t calm down, so many ups and downs…

Never mind Qi Sihao—Yu Tian stared at her phone, her heart also unable to calm down for a long time.

Had she gotten Yan Ming?

Yu Tian touched her chest, feeling like she needed to press hard to stop this heart from escaping her ribcage.