Fresh roses had been laid out in a path, beginning at the doorway and ending at her.
Colorful balloons hung sweetly throughout the room. Some had been tied into hearts, some floated in midair, and others had been piled together in twos and threes on the floor.
The dining table held wineglasses, red wine, fragrant candles, pink roses, and steaks fried until tender and deliciously browned.
But the most dazzling sight of all was her—
She wore a champagne-colored, high-waisted, fishtail camisole gown, paired with a lightweight cover-up in the same shade. Its irregular hem fell in waves on either side of her body. The satin fabric and exquisite tailoring gave off a lustrous glow. With every movement she made, the cover-up and skirt swayed gently together, creating an ethereal, graceful air. She looked refined, elegant, and warm.
White pearl earrings adorned her petite earlobes, while her soft, smooth, long hair was tied into a loose, gentle low ponytail.
Holding a cake topped with a lit candle in both hands, she smiled with red lips and curved eyes. Her bright gaze, brimming with warmth, rested tenderly on him.
Qin Yuhe stared at her in a daze, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Was this a hallucination?
In a voice as sweet as honey, Song Xinya called out to him, “Honey, it’s been so long. Aren’t you going to come over and give me a hug?”
Not a hallucination!
Qin Yuhe came abruptly to his senses.
Just a moment ago, his heart had been leaping restlessly, suspended without a place to land, as though it had been repeatedly tossed into a frying pan.
But now, the word happiness felt like opening a bottle of ice-cold cola on a sweltering summer day, when the temperature had climbed to forty degrees Celsius. Tiny bubbles rushed eagerly out in a fizzing cascade.
Qin Yuhe stepped onto the path of rose petals and strode toward her. At first he walked; then he broke into a run.
His tall figure stirred up a sharp gust of wind, sending rose petals fluttering through the air one after another.
Song Xinya felt a powerful rush of wind coming at her. A moment later, Qin Yuhe’s tall, strong body was in front of her, and he pulled her tightly into his arms.
It was an embrace she had missed for so long.
Once again, she felt his straight posture, sturdy build, and flexing muscles.
His body was tall, solid, powerful—a man’s body brimming with strength and tension.
Song Xinya opened her arms to welcome Qin Yuhe’s embrace, still holding the cake in one hand.
Fortunately, she had not made the cake very large. Otherwise, she would not have been able to support it with one hand, and it would have fallen to the floor.
But holding it with one hand for so long was exhausting.
Her arm was getting sore.
Should she grit her teeth and hold on a little longer?
Suddenly, the weight disappeared from her hand, and the ache in her wrist vanished. Qin Yuhe had taken the cake from her.
With a soft sound, he placed it on the table.
His low, deep voice sounded beside her ear. “Mrs. Qin, now that your hands are free, use them to hold me tight.”
Song Xinya wrapped her slender, delicate arms firmly around his back.
The two of them held each other, their breaths and warmth entwining as they seeped into one another’s bodies.
Song Xinya’s slender frame was completely enveloped in Qin Yuhe’s embrace. She buried her face against his neck, greedily breathing in his scent and feeling his unusually high body temperature and vigorously beating heart.
His heartbeat was faster than usual.
Qin Yuhe seemed extremely excited.
She asked him, “Qin Yuhe, you didn’t expect me to be here.”
Qin Yuhe asked, “Why didn’t you reply to my messages? Didn’t you see them?”
Song Xinya said, “I saw them. I deliberately didn’t reply because I wanted to surprise you.”
Qin Yuhe said, “You succeeded in giving me a fright.”
“What?” Song Xinya asked.
“I thought you’d gone to see another man.”
“Why would I go see another man? Why would I leave my own husband at home and go looking for someone else?”
Qin Yuhe smiled. “That’s true.”
The soft, fragrant body of the woman in his arms, her delicate feminine scent, and the intimate warmth of her arms wrapped tightly around his back stirred something within him.
Qin Yuhe’s hands, which rested against her back, slid down along her graceful curves and settled on her full, rounded hips.
The scorching heat of his palms made Song Xinya’s body tremble.
“Maybe we should eat first.”
The food on the table was clearly prepared with great care. He naturally had no intention of disappointing her efforts.
“All right. Let’s eat first.”
The two of them sat facing each other, gazing across the flickering candlelight.
Song Xinya looked at Qin Yuhe’s formal, dignified three-piece suit and asked, “Were you attending a business banquet just now?”
Qin Yuhe held a knife and fork in his hands. He looked down at the steak on his plate, cutting it into neat little pieces. He only cut; he did not eat.
“I attended a meeting. There was a banquet afterward, but I didn’t go.”
Song Xinya knew that business banquets were not held merely to enjoy a meal. Their true purpose was to expand connections, coordinate resources, secure partnerships, move projects forward, gather industry information, and observe competitors and potential collaborators.
Business banquets had always been important venues for facilitating commercial cooperation.
“How could you not go?” Song Xinya asked. “It was such an important event.”
Qin Yuhe pushed the neatly cut steak toward her. Then he lifted his eyes and looked straight at her.
“Nothing is more important than having a proper meal with you.”
The swaying candlelight gently illuminated Song Xinya’s flushed, radiant cheeks.
She asked him, “Why have you lost weight again?”
He replied, “I’ve been missing you so much that I’ve had no appetite and couldn’t think about anything but you.”
She asked him, “What did you do in New York?”
He replied, “I worked every day to make money for my wife to spend.”
She asked him, “What did you do in your free time?”
He replied, “I spent every spare moment thinking about my wife.”
By the end of the meal, Song Xinya felt that even the steak tasted sweet.
Afterward, Song Xinya moved the plates aside and placed the birthday cake in the center of the table.
“Mr. Qin, happy birthday.”
“This is the first birthday I’ve spent with you. I made you a cake and prepared a birthday present. I hope you’ll like them. And I hope that, in every year to come, we’ll remain forever fresh, passionate, and in love as we move into each new chapter of our lives.”
She said these words with a blush, shy yet sweetly happy.
“Make a wish, Mr. Qin.”
Qin Yuhe’s face was bathed in the warm golden candlelight. His deep, handsome eyes gazed at her flushed cheeks and her shy, luminous eyes, as clear and lovely as water lilies.
He had not celebrated his birthday in a very long time.
Ever since his parents had divorced on his birthday, the occasion had come to represent darkness and gloom to him.
When he was young, on the very day other children were surrounded by their parents’ love, he had to relive the memory of his parents’ divorce again and again.
A day that should have been meaningful had become a painful thorn.
Since it brought him so much pain, he might as well stop celebrating it altogether.
As he grew older, his dependence on and attachment to his parents gradually faded, and so did the pain.
But he still stopped celebrating his birthday.
He simply felt there was nothing worth celebrating.
Nor did he have any happiness to sustain the occasion.
But this birthday made him happy.
As he looked at the woman across from him, as radiant as a flower—his wife—he felt that the hollow, broken place in his heart had finally been filled.
If, in every year to come, he could spend his birthday with her amid flowers and candlelight, sharing a proper meal together, then the occasion would have real meaning.
Celebrating his birthday would become something that made him happy.
Qin Yuhe closed his eyes, his long lashes lowering as he began to make a wish. “I hope that every year from now on, I’ll be able to celebrate my birthday with Ms. Song Xinya and enjoy a candlelit dinner together.”
He blew out the candles. The first slice of cake he cut, he handed to her.
Song Xinya said, “The birthday person is supposed to eat the first slice.”
Qin Yuhe insisted, placing the cake in her hands. “The birthday person grants you permission to eat it first.”
After they finished the birthday cake, Song Xinya handed him a perfectly preserved red maple leaf specimen.
“Your birthday present.”
Qin Yuhe examined the carefully crafted red maple leaf. “You made this yourself?”
Song Xinya nodded. “Mm. Do you like it?”
“I love it. I’ll take good care of it and keep it in the safe with the gold bars.”
Song Xinya burst out laughing. “Do you really have to take it that seriously?”
“Of course I do. This is a birthday present from my wife.”
“Then…”
Song Xinya stood up. With her slender waist, shapely hips, and graceful figure, she walked over to him. When she reached his side, she gently bent at the waist and settled onto his lap, wrapping both arms around his neck.
“I have one more present for you…”
Qin Yuhe placed one hand around her waist and rested the other on her fair, delicate thigh.
“What kind of present?”
Song Xinya leaned close to his ear, her breath warm and fragrant as it teased his skin.
“I’m wearing that purple lingerie underneath. Tear off my clothes, and you’ll be able to see it…”
………
There are two more chapters today.
I’ll keep working hard on the writing. Please come visit every day.
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Thank you to all my beautiful, kind-hearted little princesses～～～
