MTL - Sir, Madam Went Back To Her Maternal Home Again - Chapter 172 Interested in him? Want to sleep with him?

BL manhua artist, Ti Xiao, has been single for many years. As such, he is under constant pressure to find a partner and get married. His family’s little niece shipped him together with her school’s English teacher to form a CP. The editor at work also want to introduce their friend to him. One day, a new neighbour moved in next door. He couldn’t help but notice that he seemed kind of reserved and cold. After getting a glimpse of him, he was ready to make trouble. He used his numerous ninja skills to discover his new neighbour’s identity. It turned out he was the English teacher at his niece’s school! Not only did he like his work and was his fan, but he was also his editor’s friend!

- Description from Novelupdates

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.

I don’t need companions. I don’t do party play. But… the game forces party play?