DMPSA CH 6

Chapter 6: Valentine’s Day

Although Qin Yang had promised in front of Yue Qi that he would spend Valentine’s Day with Su Qing, his schedule was packed. On the 14th, he had a full day of competitions at the TV station, with no guarantee when filming would end. Su Qing didn’t take the promise too seriously—he had long passed the age of eagerly anticipating holidays.

However, the café that evening was bustling with couples coming and going. Many of them exchanged flowers and chocolates, celebrating the occasion with sweet affection. Seeing this, Su Qing couldn’t help but feel a slight yearning for Qin Yang. He didn’t care much about celebrating the holiday itself, but he did hope Qin Yang would come home early, even if just to chat for a while and get some rest.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as hoped. When Qin Yang finally returned, it was already the early hours of the 15th, nearly 3 a.m.

Qin Yang came in carrying an enormous bouquet of flowers, almost entirely blocking his upper body. Before Su Qing could feel any delight about the flowers, Qin Yang loudly exclaimed, “Qing-ge, look at my flowers! Aren’t they beautiful? My fans gave them to me. They wished me good luck advancing in the competition and also—hic—wished me a happy Valentine’s Day…” His words were slurred, and the smell of alcohol wafted from him. “Of course I’m happy! I had a blast. Ah, Cha-Cha, get out of the way…” Qin Yang stumbled, nearly kicking the cat, Cha-Cha.

Su Qing gently nudged Cha-Cha aside, worried the cat might get stepped on by Qin Yang’s unsteady feet. At the same time, a customer in the café, who was typing on a laptop, frowned at the disturbance. To prevent further chaos, Su Qing quickly called out to Da Wang to handle the front of the shop. Then he helped Qin Yang upstairs to his own room.

After placing the large bouquet in the corner of the room, Su Qing turned his attention to the sprawled-out Qin Yang. He removed his shoes and socks, then his jeans. The cotton T-shirt Qin Yang wore was left on—it seemed fine to leave him dressed in that. Su Qing fetched a basin of warm water and carefully wiped Qin Yang’s face, hands, and feet. Only when Qin Yang seemed comfortable did Su Qing tuck him in and let him rest.

Qin Yang hugged a pillow and rolled onto his side, mumbling something under his breath. Su Qing leaned closer. “Hmm? What did you say?” As he got near Qin Yang’s neck, a faint, powdery fragrance caught his nose. Looking closer, Su Qing noticed the neckline of Qin Yang’s white T-shirt was stained with traces of foundation and… a faint lipstick mark.

“Ling-jie…” ^[1]Qin Yang muttered, clutching the pillow tighter. At such close range, the familiar scent of women’s perfume filled Su Qing’s senses. It didn’t take long for him to piece together who Qin Yang had spent the night with.

I should’ve wiped his feet before his face, Su Qing thought bitterly.

His eyes landed on the gift he had placed on Qin Yang’s bedside table earlier that afternoon. After much deliberation, he still couldn’t bring himself to take it back.

On Valentine’s Day, Su Qing waited for Qin Yang the entire day. Qin Yang didn’t make it back in time and even forgot to say a simple “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

The next day, when Qin Yang woke up, his head was pounding. He had drunk too much the night before and had no memory of how he made it home. Sitting up in bed and holding his head, he noticed the large bouquet of red roses standing in the corner of the room. Remembering the enthusiasm of his fans last night, he couldn’t help but smile.

Later, Ling-jie took him out for a meal. Joining them was a man named Chairman Wang, who was a sponsor and seemed very optimistic about Qin Yang’s potential, coming specifically to meet him. The three of them had drinks and an enjoyable conversation. Ling-jie and Chairman Wang spoke about all sorts of plans for the future, painting a vision of Qin Yang, a contestant who had just made it to the top 16 of the TV talent show, performing a sold-out concert in a massive arena.

It felt amazing.

Despite the splitting headache, Qin Yang’s mood was great. Seeing how clean and comfortable his room was, and noticing the thermos on his bedside table, he knew all of it was thanks to his meticulous and caring “housekeeper” boyfriend, Su Qing.

Parched from the hangover, Qin Yang picked up the thermos and drank half a cup of warm honey water. That was when he noticed a small, rectangular gift box on the bedside table.

Setting down the thermos, Qin Yang picked up the gift box, belatedly realizing that he had completely forgotten about his Valentine’s Day plans with Su Qing.

They had been together for over a year, during which time many holidays had come and gone—Western Valentine’s Day, the Qixi Festival, Christmas. Su Qing didn’t celebrate any of them, dismissing them as commercial gimmicks to exploit people’s wallets.

A few days ago, Qin Yang had suggested spending Valentine’s Day together, mostly as a way to assert his “territory” in front of Yue Qi. He forgot about it afterward, not expecting Su Qing to take it seriously enough to prepare a gift.

Qin Yang felt a twinge of guilt and a small flicker of warmth. Opening the gift box, he found the watch he had been eyeing a year ago.

“…” A faint disappointment replaced the warmth. Qin Yang studied the watch with mixed feelings. On the back of the dial, he noticed his initials, “Q.Y.,” delicately engraved.^[2]

The watch was from a sub-brand of a well-known international label. While not as expensive as the main brand, it was still considered luxurious among young people.

At the time, neither he nor Su Qing could afford it.

He knew Su Qing must have saved for at least half a year to buy this watch for him.

Now, Qin Yang could only convince himself that the thought behind the gift was still precious.

As for the desire he had once felt for the watch, it had long since faded.

In the past six months, Qin Yang had been busy filming for television, frequently rubbing shoulders with celebrities, both big and small. The extravagant and glamorous world of showbiz had already begun to reshape his values, steering them in a direction unlike that of ordinary people.

Adding to this, his manager, Jiang Manling, continually fanned the flames, praising the allure of fame and fortune in her words. It left Qin Yang, a mere novice with a touch of fame, utterly dazzled and losing sight of his footing.

After seeing genuine luxury items, who would still want a secondary brand? Especially since this one was already out of season—even the makeup artists at the station wouldn’t wear it anymore.

Without having prepared any gift himself, Qin Yang tossed the watch back onto the bed and got up to freshen up. Knowing he hadn’t showered the night before, he grabbed some clean clothes and headed for the communal bathroom. Though called “communal,” he was the only one who used it. Su Qing’s room had its own en-suite bathroom, so he never needed to use the shared facilities.

Before stepping out of his room, Qin Yang stopped to admire himself in the full-length mirror. He pulled out a platinum necklace from under his shirt—a gift he had received just last night as a welcome present from Chairman Wang. It had come in a sleek black-and-white gift box from Brand A’s signature collection.

The necklace had a pendant shaped like an incomplete circular arc, resembling an inverted Ω. The arc was adorned with three tiny sparkling diamonds, with its ends seamlessly connecting to a platinum chain. It was simple yet stylishly designed. Ling-jie had quietly told him that Chairman Wang had chosen this necklace especially for him. It symbolized the sun, representing his name. Qin Yang loved it. Forget the sun symbolism—this was his very first luxury-brand item.

Qin Yang scrutinized himself in the mirror for a long time. Noticing some smudged makeup stains on the collar of his white T-shirt, he recalled how Ling-jie had drunkenly leaned against him before they parted ways last night, softly reminding him to seize this opportunity. Someone like Chairman Wang was rare and hard to come by.

Qin Yang licked his lips. Chairman Wang… He seemed sincere and dependable, and most importantly, he was wealthy and generous. On their very first meeting, he had already gifted him such a lavish present. Besides the necklace, it was already agreed with Ling-jie that Chairman Wang would fund the production of his debut single. The producer would be none other than Lin Dajun, the highly sought-after maestro who only worked with top-tier artists.

Basking in his own daydreams, Qin Yang struck various poses in front of the mirror, pretending to shoot a music video. He held an imaginary microphone with one hand and silently mimed singing, thoroughly enjoying himself. His gaze dropped, noticing that he was only wearing boxer briefs. He had no intention of putting on pants before stepping out—after all, the second floor was just him and Su Qing. Even if Su Qing saw him in his underwear, he wouldn’t react.

Hmph! He almost wished Su Qing would react!

Floating between self-satisfaction and irritation, Qin Yang left his room. To his surprise, Su Qing, who was usually asleep at this hour, was sitting in the living room watching the morning news.

“Morning, Qing-ge.” Although he had just been humming smugly, Qin Yang still felt a bit self-conscious about his bare legs when he suddenly saw someone. He tugged at the hem of his T-shirt to cover himself a little. “Qing-ge, you’re not asleep yet?”

“Mm, heading to bed now.” Su Qing picked up the remote, turned off the television, and stood up to head back to his room.

“I saw the gift. I really like it. Thank you, Qing-ge,” Qin Yang quickly said in a fawning tone as he saw Su Qing heading back to his room.

“Mm, as long as you like it,” Su Qing replied.

Qin Yang scratched his head and gave a deliberately silly smile. “Sorry, Qing-ge. I forgot yesterday…”

“Do you have a headache? Did you drink honey water?” Su Qing interrupted Qin Yang’s apology and said, “I heard honey water can help with hangover headaches.”

“I did, I did. Thanks, Qing-ge.” For some reason, Qin Yang felt that Su Qing was acting a bit strange today. Although his words seemed caring, his tone was somewhat cold.

“Um, Qing-ge, I’ll make it up to you for your gift later…” Qin Yang tried to steer the conversation back to his apology, thinking Su Qing was upset, but Su Qing interrupted him again.

“Don’t drink so much next time,” Su Qing said as he walked to his room. He let out a big yawn. “I’m going to bed now.”

Su Qing entered his room, leaning against the door with a hint of weariness.

He had been sitting in the small living room for hours, originally with so many things he wanted to ask him. But when he saw the necklace on Qin Yang’s chest, he no longer felt like saying anything.

The boy who never wore any accessories aside from his watch had now started wearing necklaces.

The boy who claimed to always put him first and never forget anything that involved him had forgotten their agreed-upon plans.

Forgotten was forgotten. Su Qing didn’t want to hear any more excuses.

Outside the door, Qin Yang’s forced smile finally faltered. It was rare for Su Qing to treat him so coldly. Compared to the praise and adoration he had received last night, Su Qing’s expression now stoked Qin Yang’s rebelliousness even further. The small pang of guilt he felt was quickly extinguished by his irritation and embarrassment.

(To Be Continued…)

T/L: Bro… I’m starting to dislike this Qin Yang ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)💢

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