Chapter 59: I Am This Kind of Man

"It seems..."

Quillan opened his mouth to speak, his tone neither hurried nor agitated, devoid of any negative energy, giving off an impression of remarkable composure. "There are some things I need to clarify to Uncle and Aunt! Things like... Cousin Takeo’s questioning regarding my age just now, as well as Cousin Takeo’s doubts about whether I am a real man or not. I believe Uncle and Aunt must be very concerned about these matters as well, right? After all..."

With a subtle smile, right in front of Gyosuke and Kaori Harada, Quillan suddenly pulled Norika Harada into his embrace! Unable to react in time, Norika stumbled straight into Quillan’s chest!

In terms of height, even while wearing high heels, Norika was still slightly shorter than Quillan. Coupled with her instinctive urge to lower her head, the two of them currently looked as though Norika had been swept into Quillan’s arms, with Norika bashfully lowering her head...

No one could have anticipated that Quillan would suddenly display such an assertive side—and right in front of Mr. and Mrs. Harada, sweeping their daughter into his arms!

Even Norika herself, the victim of the gesture, was completely dumbfounded. Right now, she could only bury her head deeply into Quillan’s chest to hide her thoroughly flushed face from view. Naturally... deep inside, Norika still had a bone to pick with Quillan for acting so suddenly.

After all, he was merely her fake boyfriend!

"Heh..."

Quillan let out a quiet breath of relief. Seeing that Norika didn’t immediately push him away and was cooperating so well gave him far fewer misgivings. Maintaining a smile, Quillan continued speaking to Gyosuke Harada: "After all, I am Norika’s boyfriend right now, so Uncle and Aunt will definitely pay attention to me, right? As for hiding behind Norika earlier, I hope Uncle and Aunt won’t mind it. In my eyes, as her boyfriend, I am certainly going to protect Norika at all times. However! As a real man, I wouldn’t constrain my woman just out of fear that she might get into trouble. On the contrary, when your woman gets into trouble, being able to step forward bravely and solve the problem while standing in front of her—that is what makes a real man! May I ask, Uncle Harada, am I right in saying this?"

"Is that so!" Gyosuke Harada nodded, agreeing approvingly, "Not bad. A real man stands tall between heaven and earth; he ought to possess such spirit!"

"I do possess such spirit!" Quillan chuckled and said, "Although I am indeed young—only seventeen years old—and still attending high school..."

No one expected Quillan to actually state his real age, let alone openly admit that he was a student!

Leaning against Quillan’s chest, Norika’s body trembled slightly. Lowering her voice, she whispered right into Quillan’s ear, "Hey, Quillan, what are you doing?!"

Quillan acted as if he hadn’t heard a word she said. He continued speaking to Gyosuke with unruffled composure: "Even though I am still a high school student, I believe I can protect Norika and give her the happiness she wants. This is the confidence I possess as a man when facing Norika and you two elders! However..."

Changing his tone, Quillan shifted his gaze toward Takeo Kobayashi, who had remained silent for quite a while.

Takeo had also been stunned by Quillan hugging Norika right in front of everyone. Others might not have known, but Takeo was well aware that Gyosuke Harada was a deeply conservative old man. He had been extremely strict with Norika since childhood—so strict that Norika had rarely interacted with boys growing up!

In front of such a conservative elder, Quillan had actually taken Norika into his arms. Such a thing was something Takeo had never dared to imagine or do.

Even after marriage... Of course, in Takeo’s own mind, if he were to marry Norika in the future, he probably wouldn’t even dare to hold Norika’s hand in front of Gyosuke...

Now that Quillan was looking over, Takeo felt inexplicably nervous.

Because he knew this young boy was by no means as simple as he had thought. At the very least, the current situation seemed to have been seized by this boy, tilting the scales in his favor!

This much could be read from Gyosuke’s appreciative remark toward him!

The smile on Quillan’s face vanished the moment his eyes met Takeo’s, replaced by a look of utter disdain. Continuing in that calm, steady tone, he said, "However, in our cousin’s eyes, acting like this seems to be an expression of weakness! To put it another way, there are two types of men. One is like me—unafraid of trouble, knowing how to cherish and accommodate his woman so that she can truly rely on me as her real man. The other type is like you, Cousin—afraid that your woman might get into trouble that you won’t be able to solve, yet bound by a man’s pride, not daring to let your woman step forward, unable to give her the greatest sense of happiness. Am I right, Cousin Takeo?"

After changing his perspective on Quillan, being shocked by Quillan’s sudden embrace of Norika, and now listening to this series of arguments, Gyosuke Harada’s impression of Quillan underwent an earth-shattering transformation!

This was plain to see from Gyosuke’s expression. Previously, Gyosuke had maintained a stony face, but now, his furrowed brows smoothed out.

It seemed Quillan’s words had struck right at Gyosuke’s heart. Seeing this, Takeo naturally panicked, quickly arguing back: "T-That’s not it at all! What nonsense are you talking about?! I, Takeo Kobayashi, am clearly a real man! Besides, what does a seventeen-year-old kid like you know about being a man? What I’m talking about is a real man!"

"A real man, is it?"

Quillan felt Norika squirming in his embrace—perhaps because she had been held for too long and felt uncomfortable. Taking advantage of the moment, he released Norika, turned around, looked at Gyosuke, and said, "Perhaps I really don’t know what a real man is. Maybe I should... seek guidance from you, Cousin Takeo, and let you instruct me!"