106: lover
After another two days of grueling training, Yan Zhuohua finally felt like he was starting to adjust.
Finishing today's tasks, he hurried back to the dormitory carrying his helmet, deciding that he absolutely had to call Yan Qinghe today to interrogate him about whether he was messing around outside!
Yan Zhuohua reached the door and placed his hand on the handle, but hesitated to press it down.
There were footsteps inside.
Yan Zhuohua listened closely and found the sound somewhat familiar. His eyes instantly widened.
"Qinghe?" Yan Zhuohua pushed the door open and entered. "Why are you here?"
The person in the room was indeed Yan Qinghe, whom he hadn't seen for three days.
"I came to spend Valentine's Day with you," Yan Qinghe began with a gentle smile, but his expression quickly turned dangerous. "And incidentally, to ask why my wife hit me, and just how hard he had to hit me to get himself three months of solitary confinement."
"A temporary measure, just a temporary measure!" Yan Zhuohua smiled ingratiatingly and decisively changed the subject. "Well, I needed a reason, so I just made something up on the spot."
"Made something up?" Yan Qinghe gradually approached, trapping the retreating Yan Zhuohua between himself and the door. "But what if I took it seriously? I'm very dissatisfied with this verdict. Not only do I want to lock you up, but I also want to personally teach a lesson to this audacious little wife who dares to commit domestic violence against his husband. What do you think?"
"That... that won't be necessary. Being in confinement is enough for me to know I was wrong." Yan Zhuohua immediately pleaded for mercy, afraid that one wrong word would make Yan Qinghe want to do him right then and there.
Yan Qinghe pinched his chin and savored Yan Zhuohua's pleading look for a long while before reluctantly stepping back a few paces and letting him go.
"Alright, I won't touch you today. I'll put it on your tab."
Hearing this, Yan Zhuohua finally breathed a sigh of relief. Putting it on the tab was fine, as long as he wasn't being tormented right now.
"Did you come today just to scare me?" Yan Zhuohua left the door behind him and sat down by the edge of the bed.
"I can't scare you? I was happily preparing a gift for you this morning, only to suddenly hear from Eldest Brother that I had been beaten by you and you were punished with confinement. Shouldn't I be shocked and bewildered?" Yan Qinghe ruffled Yan Zhuohua's hair.
"You can, you can. I just couldn't think of another reason at the time and it just slipped out." Yan Zhuohua grabbed the hand that had ruffled his hair and was still trying to cause mischief. "Don't move around. If you can't hold back in a bit, let's see how you'll end things."
Yan Qinghe smiled brightly. "End things? I won't. I'll just indulge myself. Let's see which of us is the unlucky one tomorrow."
"I'm begging you, hubby, let's change to a safer topic." Yan Zhuohua was truly afraid of him. "Didn't you say you were here to spend Valentine's Day with me and even prepared a gift? Where is it? Let me see!"
"You're asking for the gift just like that?"
"Well, it's not like I can prepare anything for you here, right?"
"If you can't prepare a gift, a little sweetness should be fine, right?"
Yan Qinghe's meaning was clear. Having no choice, Yan Zhuohua looked up and gave him a kiss on the lips.
However, he didn't expect that just as he finished the kiss and was about to pull back, a strong force from behind pushed him back onto Yan Qinghe. Then, the owner of that force held the back of his head and kissed him deeply.
Faint wet sounds and Yan Zhuohua's muffled whimpers immediately filled the room.
It wasn't until Yan Zhuohua was almost out of breath that he was finally slowly released.
The distance between them was still close enough to hear each other's breathing. Yan Qinghe stroked the crimson corners of Yan Zhuohua's eyes, looking at his watery, slightly dazed eyes, and couldn't help but plant another kiss on them.
"This is what you call sweetness."
Having received his 'sweetness', Yan Qinghe finally let go of him with satisfaction and pulled out the bag he had brought from behind him.
"Your gifts." He took out a bouquet of roses and two boxes, one large and one small, from the bag. "Happy Valentine's Day, my dear wife."
Yan Zhuohua still hadn't recovered from the deep kiss. He looked flushed, with wet lips and heavy breathing, appearing thoroughly bullied.
"Snap out of it, you poor thing."
Yan Qinghe held the roses in front of Yan Zhuohua's eyes, watching him slowly come to his senses and reach out to take the bouquet.
Crystal-clear water droplets still clung to the flowers, and a hint of fragrance drifted from the stamens. Yan Zhuohua leaned in to smell the delicate scent, and a smile gradually touched his eyes.
"Do you like them?"
"Yes, I do."
The two looked at each other, their eyes full of tenderness.
It was worth the half-day Yan Qinghe spent picking out the nine most pleasantly scented roses, knowing that Yan Zhuohua, who knew how to blend perfumes, would surely like them.
"Don't just focus on this; there are other gifts." Yan Qinghe handed over the two boxes.
Yan Zhuohua reluctantly set the bouquet down beside him and opened the larger box first.
"Cake!" Yan Zhuohua's eyes lit up.
"There are also a few candies in the gap under the cake." Yan Qinghe took the cake from him and placed it on a nearby table. "Eat it in a bit; unwrap the rest of the gifts first."
Yan Zhuohua pulled his gaze away from the cake with even more reluctance and opened the final box.
Inside the box was a pair of dark red gemstone studs, exquisite and small.
"I like these studs; they're beautiful. But I don't have ear piercings," Yan Zhuohua said with some surprise. "I can't wear them right now."
"No rush. It's a pair. After your training is over, we'll go get our ears pierced together, one for each of us." Yan Qinghe put the studs away. "I'll take them back for now, and we'll wear them together then."
Yan Zhuohua nodded. "Then let's hurry and eat the cake before it melts."
Yan Qinghe smiled helplessly and unwrapped it. "A grown man like you, yet you love sweets."
"It's not that I like sweets; I just like fruit-flavored things. It just so happens that cakes and candies have more fruit flavors."
This was the truth. Yan Zhuohua kept his distance from overly sweet foods. He simply liked fruit but hated getting juice all over his hands, so he settled for candies and cakes instead.
Yan Qinghe thought back carefully, and it seemed that was indeed the case. The candies his mother and cousin prepared were all fruit-flavored. He hadn't paid much attention at the time, but so that was the real reason.
"No wonder you seem to love candy, yet your teeth are fine."
"Of course. I like candies with a pure fruit flavor. It's hard to buy the ones I'm used to when I'm out, so I rarely eat them." Yan Zhuohua said with a bit of pride. "Didn't you say you knew me well? You didn't guess this one, did you?"
"I guessed wrong."
"I'll forgive you this once." Yan Zhuohua scooped up a spoonful of cake with jam and ate it. "But I don't blame you; it really is hard to tell. Even Mom only found out when I was seven."
Yan Zhuohua scooped another spoonful of cake and fed it to Yan Qinghe. "But now that you know the real me is different from the me you learned about from the files, will you still continue to like me?"
"A person's true self is bound to be different from what is learned elsewhere; I've known that from the start." Yan Qinghe wiped the cream from the corner of his mouth with a tissue. "I was also prepared for this in regards to you."
"But even if there are discrepancies from what I knew, one can see the whole through the parts; it won't be far off. Besides, a person can't be defined by a few labels. No matter how much data I have on you, it's still incomplete. The truly complete you is something I discover every day we spend together. I fill in those details from our life, building a more vivid image of you in my heart, just like... digging for treasure."
Yan Qinghe's voice was soothing, and within his steady narration lay the brightest of affections.