The finals settled the tone, and the celebration lasted until deep into the night.
Even with Pei Ruye accompanying him, Huo Ren couldn’t help but drink a few extra glasses of alcohol, thankfully none of them too strong.
First, they celebrated the successful debut of the kids one by one, and then thanked all the business partners and collaborators who had supported them along the way.
The snacks and dishes on the table were replaced round after round; it was only missing some fireworks to celebrate.
When most of the guests had left, six kids came over to toast their teacher, their smiles bright and warm.
“Teacher, I’m also embarrassed to ask you to drink,” Fu Mingnian said softly: “A small glass of mango juice can also soothe the stomach.”
Huo Ren took the drink and finished it, leaning on Pei Ruye and laughing: “I was actually sweating for you, but I didn’t expect the voting to end up with such a clear gap.”
He reached out to ruffle the kid’s hair and asked, “Only eighteen this year?”
“Just turned a few months ago,” Fu Mingnian replied: “Even though I’m the leader, I’ll still need my brothers to look after me.”
“I’m different,” Zhu Xizhi exclaimed excitedly: “I’m the youngest!”
“Idiot, what are you happy about…”
Huo Ren, seeing that they were all still kids, instructed them to go to bed early and report to the company headquarters for a meeting the next day.
He, Mei Heng and Feng Jin chatted casually for a while, and seeing that it was nearly three o’clock, he laughed and bid farewell to everyone.
Pei Ruye was very popular at the party.
With a unique identity and an aura around him, and especially with Eshan Venture’s stock price collapsing dramatically, anyone with a bit of connection treated him with a lot more respect.
People knew enough about his background to not dare to joke around and crowd him; they just greeted him from a distance.
When the two returned to their room, it was already three twenty.
Huo Ren had drunk a few glasses of red wine and was slightly tipsy, not enough to be confused, but his true nature was beginning to show.
As soon as he entered the room, he slumped on the sofa, humming twice, not wanting to remove his makeup or take a bath.
Pei Ruye was used to indulging him, fetching makeup remover and a warm towel, helping him manage the fancy hair gel and glitter like a personal assistant.
Huo Ren, drowsy, let him clean him up, muttering with the hot towel on his head: “It’s really nice.”
The man paused for a moment, continuing to pick out the silver dust stuck at his hair ends.
“Why don’t you ask me what’s nice?”
Pei Ruye chuckled: “You tell me.”
“Talking about it makes me feel… a bit embarrassed.” Huo Ren covered his face with the towel, not wanting the other to see his expression at that moment: “This kind of life… I’ve never even imagined it.”
The hard shell he had maintained over the past decade, the numerous self-imposed strictures, were now all gone.
Even if the entertainment reporters had seen him and Pei Ruye enter the same room tonight, his brothers would not be affected, his world would not crumble.
Freedom… it’s really nice.
“Teacher, there are some things… you might not believe.”
The young man slowly lifted the towel, looking at the little sparkles wiped off on the fluffy surface.
“A long time ago, I could cry anytime just by lowering my head.”
“It wasn’t because I was sad, but to avoid being beaten too harshly, after all, I still had to go to school the next day.”
He looked up, feeling as if he were dreaming while recalling the past.
Pei Ruye quieted down, listening silently as he continued.
“If it hadn’t been for that during the initial auditions, I might never have met you.”
“But today, before the finals, I remembered this while washing my face and tried it again.”
The young man started to smile.
“Teacher, that feeling… it’s gone.”
Tears, pain, the long-suppressed gloom.
He couldn’t feel them anymore.
The man gently stroked his face, his eyes reddening.
“Teacher, you always look at me like this,” Huo Ren took his hand, chuckling softly: “This is all good news, why do you look so sad?”
“But… if there was any regret with you,” he said, looking down: “There were indeed many.”
Pei Ruye frowned, “Is it because I was often abroad before, and we didn’t meet enough?”
He didn’t wait for Huo Ren to explain, confessing involuntarily: “I used to… indeed always wanted to keep you at arm’s length.”
“Sometimes, even though we could meet, I would deliberately avoid you for a while, afraid that I couldn’t handle our relationship properly.”
Huo Ren blinked, suddenly sitting up straighter.
“Did you really think that?”
“Yes.” Pei Ruye recalled something and showed him an old photo on his phone.
Although they had been in a relationship for a long time, revisiting the heart-flutters of their youth still made them slightly nervous.
“Actually, on your twentieth birthday, I had prepared a gift for you.”
The man spoke slowly as if admitting a fault, his head bowed.
“It wasn’t the bottle of wine bought by the assistant, it was this black and white checkered scarf in the photo.”
Huo Ren held the phone, suddenly remembering the long-ago irritation.
“You prepared that for me?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t come that day.”
“I did go.”
“You didn’t,” Huo Ren, now much more sober, argued unusually: “Right after the fan birthday party I was looking for you, Uncle Jiang said you had already gone to the USA, I even went up to the sixteenth floor looking for you.”
“You were not there at that time,” he rushed on, growing inexplicably sad again: “I thought you were hiding somewhere, but you stayed in the USA for many days…”
Pei Ruye immediately embraced him, his breathing slightly erratic as he tried to comfort him: “I was actually waiting backstage for you, but…”
“But what?”
“But then I was moved.”
He held Huo Ren tight, explaining many past moments, his voice growing strained.
It was like unsealing a secret that should not have existed.
Inside were unacknowledged infatuations, likings, desires.
Now it had already fermented into a frothing mead, intoxicating with just one more sip.
Huo Ren was stunned for a long time, slowly saying: “So back when I was twenty, you already…”
Pei Ruye buried his face in his neck, indulging himself by inhaling once more, murmuring: “Back then, you were still my student…”
Huo Ren felt something light up inside him.
He quickly kissed the man’s forehead, then pulled back slightly, his eyes smiling as he looked at him: “So Mr. Pei was such a person.”
The man quietly said: “I was supposed to stay in the USA for six months, but… then you called me.”
Huo Ren remembered everything that had happened before, his arms still wrapped around his neck, still playing coy: “Called to ask about what?”
“The concert, the props, the plans, and when I was coming back.”
So, he canceled most of his engagements and returned to Shidu the next day.
Huo Ren couldn’t stop laughing, turning his head back into the broad and strong embrace.
Having known Pei Ruye for so many years, he was very aware of how much this man valued propriety and boundaries.
Even though it was only today that he clarified these things, it was almost like an indirect admission and compliment of how charming he was in his youth.
Pei Ruye was feeling a bit complicated at the moment, and after hugging for a while, he simply said, “It’s nothing.”
“That’s right.” Huo Ren spoke contentedly: “A lot of people liked me.”
“…I had my boundaries back then.”
“Yes, indeed.”
The man rubbed his forehead, retaliatively biting Huo Ren.
“Ouch—”
The meeting the next day was scheduled for 2:30 PM. The company knew everyone had stayed up late and woken up late, and even said it was fine to be half an hour late.
Huo Ren wrapped his arms around his fiancé and slept until eleven in the morning. After getting up, washing up, changing clothes, and having some food, they went downstairs together and drove to SPF’s company headquarters.
Pei Ruye unusually instructed the driver not to come and drove them to Nancheng himself.
The street scenes along the way were ordinary, and Huo Ren was still a bit sleepy, dozing off while listening to a guitar track.
Half asleep and half awake, the man spoke softly, “Actually, it’s not a pity.”
“Hmm?”
“I used to think you were too reserved with your feelings, but I didn’t expect…”
Huo Ren thought he was referring to the incidents involving the black satin ribbon, leisurely responding, “All thanks to the teacher’s good teaching, no need for compliments.”
“Is that so?” Pei Ruye glanced over leisurely: “Was getting drunk and acting spoilt also taught by me?”
Huo Ren’s mind spun for a moment, suddenly unable to recall: “…Did that happen?”
“In Belgium.” The man smoothly changed lanes to overtake and checked the road situation: “That night you got drunk, Xie Lianyun left you in the studio, and I carried you back to the room.”
The person instantly remembered the embarrassingly forgotten incident, and all traces of sleepiness vanished.
“But that day, nothing happened, right?” The young man’s tone became uneasy: “Don’t tell me that day I—”
“Didn’t do anything.” Pei Ruye drove the car into the underground parking lot, looking for the parking space he hadn’t used in a long time.
“But you just held onto me and wouldn’t let go, kept saying you really liked me, asking how much money you should give for the wedding gift.”
At this moment, Huo Ren was almost developing a headache even without a hangover, forcefully interrupting: “That never happened, you’re completely making it up now.”
“No, not really.” The man sighed, regretfully: “It seems my memory is a bit off.”
Then he cleared his throat and surprisingly mimicked Huo Ren’s soft voice from that time.
“Why can’t I chase him when the teacher is so nice.”
“He has no idea how much I like him.”
“What should I do if he marries someone else in the future…”
Now, Huo Ren’s face was burning hot, and he almost wanted to cover his mouth.
Still believing every word, he asked anxiously, “What else did I say at that time?”
The car had already parked, and Pei Ruye smoothly locked the doors, letting him catch up.
“You also said I was very sexy.”
He said lightly.
“You said that Bo Jue and the others had kissed many times already, and why hadn’t you been kissed even once.”
By the time Huo Ren saw the elevator floor indicator, he had realized that he was about to head into a meeting to preside over matters with those youngsters, continuing with official business.
Yet, here he was, stirred up like this, nowhere near the state of a proper teacher.
“So,” he followed Pei Ruye into the elevator, his heartbeat suspending again for a moment.
“Did you… kiss me then?”
The elevator slowly ascended, Pei Ruye casually pocketed one hand, smiling without a word.
Huo Ren had been kissed by him many times, but it was that one time he particularly dwelt on.
“Did you kiss me or not?”
“Teacher, hurry up—”
Just a second before the elevator doors opened, the man leaned down to kiss his lips, letting the scent of white roses envelop them completely.
“…What do you think?”
MY HEAAAAAAAARTTTTTT