When My Bamboo Horse Returns

I glanced at James meaningfully as he lay in my arms and said, "You should keep your distance from me. After all..."

"Is it because we are different in gender?" James asked as he looked at my eyes, I pursed my lips and didn't answer.

He shook his head slowly. "It's not the same thing. Ellie, you're my best friend. Our relationship has surpassed gender limitations. Besides, I don't even need this suffocating love."

I thought he was babbling because there was no pure friendship between a man and a woman.

Anyway, I couldn't do it.

It was true that I didn't have the feelings of an ordinary friend for James, and I had loved him for many years.

However, I never dared to reveal my feelings to him.

I was afraid that I would be rejected after expressing my love for him, and we wouldn't even be friends anymore. I was even more afraid that he would treat me like he did to his ex-girlfriends, and that he wouldn't hesitate to blacklist me and leave me in disgust once he realized how possessive I was of him.

I was like a snail that only dared to cower in my shell carefully testing him to see if I was an exception for him, but unfortunately, I almost failed on the first try.

On a sunny afternoon, I looked at James, who was drinking from my water glass, and asked tentatively, "Sam asked if we were dating."

James paused and frowned, "I'll warn him to stop spreading rumors."

I smiled, "Maybe because we're too close every day."

"So what? We're best friends." James' voice sounded cold. I was stunned and looked up at him.

"How can we be dating? Once we become lovers, everything will change. No matter who it is, when they become lovers, they get possessive.

"They will gradually lose their egos."

The noise interrupted my reminiscence. I shook the water stains from my hands and pushed open the door of the private room. James was sitting in the corner waving at me enthusiastically. I walked towards him and felt glad that I hadn't expressed my feelings to him at that moment. How could people who were in love be generous and not possessive in any way?

Unless they didn't love each other at all.

However, I felt anxious at the same time. Love was like aged wine, and the longer it lasted, the stronger the fermentation became. I had vaguely sensed that my feelings for James were getting out of control and could explode at any moment.

The light inside the bar was dim. I cautiously made my way around the crowd towards the inside, but I didn't expect to trip over the cluttered chairs, and I lost my whole body balance and fell forward.

I felt desperate and thought I was unlucky today. If I fell down, my knees would surely get hurt.

However, the pain I expected didn't come, and James caught me with a strong arm. He grunted and was obviously affected by the force. I subconsciously held onto something, but immediately felt something wrong in my hand.

James grunted lightly.

My face suddenly turned flushed, and I couldn't even think twice about where I had just touched.

Stop it!

I looked up slowly in embarrassment to see James' helpless expression, and glanced down at my hand, thinking, "Damn..."

Some men were not only tall, but also had big private parts.

He came up to my ear and said, "Aren't you going to let go yet? I don't even know who's taking advantage."

I licked my dry lips and slowly let go. Then, I pretended I didn't care and gently slapped his ass. "Of course you took advantage of me. It's my turn now."