Bai Ye scratched the back of his head, revealing a slightly embarrassed smile, seemingly trying to ease the tense atmosphere. Then, he said, seemingly casually:

"Of course I remember that! We're best friends for life!"

However, just as Bai Ye was speaking, he suddenly felt a burning gaze fixed on him.

He looked up in surprise, and his eyes met Ye Qingcheng's.

Ye Qingcheng's eyes seemed to be burning with a flame, and that intense gaze made Bai Ye's heart race.

Just then, Ye Qingcheng's alluring cherry-red lips parted slightly, uttering a sentence that Bai Ye never expected: "I don't want to be your friend for life, I want to be your..."

However, before she could finish speaking, Ye Qingcheng suddenly seemed to realize something, her face instantly turning red. She quickly turned around, looking somewhat uneasy like a startled fawn, and swallowed back the words she was about to say.

Seeing this, Bai Ye understood, but decided to pretend that he didn't know anything for the time being.

He deliberately frowned, putting on a very sad expression, and sighed, "I always thought we were best friends for life, but I never expected you wouldn't consider me a friend. This really hurts me..."

Bai Ye knew very well that the best way to handle this situation was to divert the other person's attention and avoid making the atmosphere even more awkward.

As expected, Ye Qingcheng was angered by Bai Ye's "heartbroken" appearance. Her chest heaved slightly with anger, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.

She glared at Bai Ye, thinking to herself, "Is this guy really stupid or just pretending? Does he really not understand what I mean?"

Ye Qingcheng grew angrier the more she thought about it. She simply crossed her arms haughtily, tossed her head aside, and let out a soft snort to express her dissatisfaction.

However, Ye Qingcheng was still not satisfied. Without any politeness, she raised her foot, which was wearing a small leather shoe, and stomped hard on Bai Ye's instep with a "bang".

"Ouch!" Bai Ye cried out in pain, looking at Ye Qingcheng with a helpless expression, and muttered, "Why did you step on me? I didn't do anything to you..."

Seeing this, Ye Qingcheng became even angrier. She said irritably, "Don't play dumb with me. I know you definitely understood what I said. Stop pretending to be stupid!"

Like a child, Bai Ye exaggeratedly tilted his head to the side of the balcony as if he wanted to break his neck, then exclaimed in surprise, "Oh dear, it's so late already! I should go home!"

He thought to himself that it was best to retreat at this point, otherwise it would be troublesome if Ye Qingcheng got entangled with him.

However, Ye Qingcheng wasn't going to let him off so easily. She had suppressed her feelings for a very long time, and now that such a good opportunity was right in front of her, how could she let Bai Ye slip away?

What if she was a step too late, and Bai Ye's ex-girlfriend beat her to it and they got back together? Besides, Bai Ye had other girls around him who were just as beautiful as her. Compared to them, she didn't seem to have many advantages.

However, Ye Qingcheng thought for a moment and realized, wait a minute, if we're talking about advantages, there actually is one. Bai Ye is a huge anime and manga fan, with countless waifus in the world. And she has some experience in cosplay; if she cosplayed more of Bai Ye's favorite characters, then wouldn't that be...?

Thinking about this, Ye Qingcheng felt that this idea was getting better and better.

She made a condition: "You can leave if you want, but you have to play games with me tonight!"

A huge weight was lifted from Bai Ye's heart. He had been worried that she would make some unreasonable demands, but it turned out to be as simple as playing games with her. So he answered without hesitation, "No problem!"

"Then you can leave!" Ye Qingcheng waved her hand, indicating that Bai Ye could leave.

Bai Ye felt as if he had been granted a pardon, and quickly turned around and walked towards the door, preparing to open it and leave.

However, just as he was about to grasp the doorknob, Ye Qingcheng suddenly stopped him again.

Bai Ye looked at her with some surprise, only to see that Ye Qingcheng's expression was extremely resentful, as if she had suffered a great injustice.

"Hey, do you really not want to stay with me? Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Ye Qingcheng's tone was tinged with dissatisfaction and reproach.

Bai Ye was caught off guard by the sudden question. He paused for a moment, then quickly explained, "No, no, I was just worried that the takeout I ordered would get cold if left out too long, and it wouldn't taste good if it got cold."

To make her reasoning sound more reasonable, Bai Ye specifically emphasized the importance of food delivery.

However, he knew very well that this was just a lie he had made up on the spot.

Bai Ye couldn't help but sigh inwardly, wondering how he could lie to a girl so easily. What a wicked guy he was! He secretly mocked himself.

Ye Qingcheng clearly didn't completely believe Bai Ye's explanation. She looked at Bai Ye suspiciously and asked, "Really? Wasn't your delivery just an excuse to make us leave the coffee shop?"

Bai Ye's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't expected Ye Qingcheng to be so perceptive, seeing through his lie so quickly.

But since things had come to this, he could only bite the bullet and continue to lie: "That's no excuse, the food delivery really did arrive."

Ye Qingcheng stared into Bai Ye's eyes, seemingly trying to glean some clues from them.

After a while, she slowly said, "So what if we're here? If it gets cold, I'll just order you another one."

Bai Ye waved his hands awkwardly: "But if we order another one, it will be too late by the time we get there. I'm very hungry now."

Ye Qingcheng rolled her eyes, clearly not believing Bai Ye's words: "I have a lot of snacks on my table, go and have some to tide you over first."

Bai Ye said against her will, "I'm planning to be more disciplined lately, and eating snacks will affect my self-discipline."

Ye Qingcheng sneered: "Heh, do you think I believe you or not?"