Chapter Ninety: I Want to Be Your Boyfriend

— “The knight forever follows, protects, and silently loves the princess.”
— “Yet he never imagined that one day, that princess who had always been timid would lift her skirts herself and, brave and resolute, take the first step toward him.”

Qin Yichi lowered his head slightly and held the girl in his arms as if he had already been given the whole world.

His gaze burned hot, flecks of shattered light glimmering in his dark phoenix eyes.

At that moment, he could not even name what he was feeling.

He only felt as though all the blood in his body were surging backward, as though his heart had exploded into brilliant color. Any attempt to describe it with words seemed pale and powerless, incapable of expressing even a fraction of what he felt now.

He hardly dared believe this was real.

Qiao Zhen was still buried in his embrace, crying. After hearing those words, she rubbed her eyes hard, and her clear, limpid gaze looked like newly melted snow.

Qin Yichi had said he liked her. He liked her too.

He had really agreed!

Qiao Zhen lifted her head blankly, sniffed, and asked in a choked voice, “Were you planning to confess to me today too?”

How could it be such a coincidence?

Smiling, Qin Yichi pinched her cheek gently, then took a tissue and carefully wiped away her tears, coaxing her softly.

“Because our hearts understand each other.”

A very, very long time ago, little Qiao Zhen had loved those gold medals and wanted them desperately. Pointing at a picture, she had said to him, “Brother Chi, if you win a medal one day, you have to let me wear it, all right?”

After all these years, he still remembered.

He had always remembered.

So he had long since decided that when he finally won the gold medal, he would confess to Qiao Zhen...

At the mountaintop, the afterglow of sunset stained the whole sky. A shy pink spread outward without end, as though the clouds had been strewn with romantic cherry blossoms.

It was a pink evening glow.

Qiao Zhen looked up at the sky, and the eyes that had only just been crying immediately began to sparkle.

This was simply the scene from her dreams.

Holding Qin Yichi’s hand, she walked with him step by step onto the gentle crest of the mountain.

Across the boundless wilderness, the breeze swept through, stirring the sea of flowers blanketing the slopes into rolling waves.

A cluster of elegant golden balloons before her instantly drew her attention.

They were beautiful heart-shaped balloons, even with a pair of pure white little wings.

Beneath them lay an exquisite gift box and a bouquet of flowers.

“This is the first confession gift.”

Qin Yichi had already changed into black casual clothes. Standing in the tender wind atop the mountain, the loose strands of hair over his forehead were lifted softly.

Qiao Zhen raised her head. Not far away, more lovely balloons floated in the distance, stretching all the way to where the eye could no longer see.

She pointed at them in surprise. “Those... are those all confession gifts too?”

Qin Yichi gave a quiet hum and squeezed her hand. “Qiao Zhen, open the gifts.”

Along with them, slowly unwrap his heart as well.

Qiao Zhen crouched down, her eyes filled with anticipation and delight, and eagerly opened the golden gift box.

On top of it lay a bouquet of Golden Coast roses. Their inner petals were a brilliant, dazzling gold, while the edges glowed orange-red, as though kissed by fire.

Their meaning was that there was no need to chase the sun, for one was already the brightest and most radiant light.

Qiao Zhen’s fingertips paused. She picked up a black envelope from beneath the flowers and, at Qin Yichi’s prompting, slowly opened it.

The golden fountain-pen script was forceful and unrestrained:

Qiao Zhen, you always seem a little lacking in confidence, always feeling that you are ordinary and plain.

But in my eyes, you have always been a one-of-a-kind, shining princess, more dazzling than sunlight.

In that instant, Qiao Zhen’s breathing caught, and her whole being seemed to freeze.

Every word struck with overwhelming force, pounding again and again upon the tip of her heart.

Inside the gift box was a golden princess gown. The satin of the skirt shimmered brilliantly, its patterns intricate and exquisite, every piece of lace seeming as though it had been cut with the utmost care.

It looked like Belle’s gown.

Qiao Zhen’s nose stung, and her eyes turned red at once.

Qin Yichi took her hand and led her to the next gift, saying as they walked, “There’s no rush to carry these. I’ll have someone send them all to your house.”

He had thought of everything. He was so attentive, so meticulous.

Qiao Zhen stopped before a pale pink rabbit balloon. There lay a bouquet of cappuccino roses, their soft creamy pink muted and elegant, circled by a gentle coffee-brown.

The meaning of cappuccino roses was romance, an unexpected love.

Qiao Zhen opened the beige love letter beside the flowers. The moment she saw that familiar handwriting, her eyes reddened further.

I’ve always thought you were like a little rabbit. Sometimes you’re so happy you bounce around, and sometimes you’re so sad your rabbit ears droop while you secretly cry. That’s why I always love rubbing your head.

Oh, right. I have lots and lots of carrots. Good little rabbit, come with me.

The gift was a gold bracelet with a tiny carrot charm, especially adorable.

For the third confession gift, the space around it was filled with sea-blue balloons, clear and luminous.

A bouquet of glacier-blue roses lay quietly atop the gift box, mysterious and elegant. Their layered gradient-blue petals resembled the romantic waves of the sea.

The meaning of glacier-blue roses was: “The hope I offer you is a universe of stars and ocean.”

The gift was a white shell-shaped backpack, delicately modeled after the form and texture of a seaside shell, adorned with smooth, full pearls.

In the envelope, Qin Yichi praised her beauty and sweetness, praised her gentleness and kindness, praised her lovely singing voice, praised how bright and sunny her smile was...

Though it was a love letter, he never once spoke of his own feelings. Instead, he praised her from head to toe, like some unstoppable creature made only to give compliments.

When Qiao Zhen reached the final lines of that letter, her fingertips tightened unconsciously.

You are the most brilliant, most luminous pearl.

These were the very words that had appeared in her dream in her previous life. So it had been him who said them...

Qiao Zhen’s hands trembled lightly as she opened the gifts. She lowered her head, struggling with all her might to hold herself together.

Then came a bouquet of Ecuadorian black roses, symbolizing that even a demon would be willing to belong to you.

The gift was a bottle of paper stars.

Compared with the exquisite, beautiful letters before, this envelope was old and worn, nothing more than a rough scrap of draft paper.

The handwriting was childish and clumsy too, yet each stroke had been written with painstaking seriousness:

Zhenzhen, thank you for giving me the paper stars.

Actually... in the paper star I gave you yesterday, I hid a secret. It said, “I like you.” But you never discovered it, and I never dared tell you either. (＞_＜)

It was something Qin Yichi had written to her as a child.

Qiao Zhen’s nose stung even more. It felt as though a hand had seized her heart and was squeezing it hard, leaving her unable to breathe.

So he had liked her from so long ago?

But the taste of secret love was truly, truly bitter...

The pink evening glow was tender and lingering, the sea of flowers surged with fragrance, and the different balloons and bouquets of roses wove together a romantic atmosphere.

Qiao Zhen fought back her tears. Her hands were shaking so badly she could scarcely walk.

She had already lost count of how many bouquets of roses and how many gifts she had received. She felt as though she were about to be drowned in sweetness, sweetened into tears.

She was clearly happy, yet what she felt even more was heartache.

Heartache for him.

On the final gift lay a bouquet of vivid, unrestrained red roses, expressing to her a deep love with nothing held back.

The love letter contained only three words:

I love you.

And yet it felt as though he had written them thousands upon thousands of times before ever setting pen to paper.

When she opened the gift box, it was empty inside.

In the next second, a low, husky voice sounded beside her.

“This gift is me.”

Qin Yichi cupped her face and bent slightly toward her.

“Qiao Zhen, I want to be your boyfriend.”

He asked with solemn sincerity, “Will you be with me?”