The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal a.s.sistant
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
Chapter Seventy-eight
"Xiao Miao, I love you."
The words completely occupied Ling Miao"s mind and heart. The person who had spoken them was Su Yuyang, the person he secretly loved.
Ling Miao gazed at Su Yuyang in disbelief. He couldn"t find mockery in Su Yuyang"s face—instead, he saw sorrow in the depths of Su Yuyang"s eyes. Was it sorrow at his disbelief? Ling Miao"s lips trembled; he wasn"t sure how to respond. Su Yuyang threw an arm around Ling Miao and pulled him into a hug, as if worried someone might s.n.a.t.c.h him away. Several minutes later, Su Yuyang slowly let go of Ling Miao.
Su Yuyang forced a smile as he caressed Ling Miao"s hair. He did his best to tamp down on his disappointment as he laughed: "Like I thought, I shouldn"t have said anything."
"You love me?" Ling Miao"s tone betrayed his self-doubt. "Su Yuyang, I…"
"Do you love me?" Su Yuyang asked the question back. Facing Su Yuyang"s hopeful eyes, Ling Miao couldn"t say no. Besides, he did love Su Yuyang. Ling Miao buried his face in Su Yuyang"s chest and nodded.
"Xiao Miao." Su Yuyang said his name pa.s.sionately. Ling Miao wrapped an arm around Su Yuyang"s waist, pressing his body more firmly against Su Yuyang"s. In response, Su Yuyang put his own arm around Ling Miao"s waist. A low sobbing came from his chest and Su Yuyang asked worriedly, "Xiao Miao, what"s the matter?"
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d, do you know that when I figured out I loved you, I was afraid I"d lose you forever," Ling Miao said with a laugh. "When you fainted in front of me and Feng Ji said you were running away from something, I was so scared and so unhappy and so upset. I thought that if you never wake up, then I"ll have to stay by your side forever. That sucks!"
Su Yuyang caressed Ling Miao"s waist and said apologetically, "Sorry for worrying you. I"m also sorry I didn"t see your feelings earlier. But, you didn"t see that I liked you either, did you?"
"You didn"t show it!" Ling Miao said self-righteously.
Su Yuyang patted Ling Miao and said ill-temperedly, "You were thinking about Ji Linxi the whole time. How would you see my feelings? Also, since you like me, why did you get so close to Ji Linxi and be so intimate with him?" Su Yuyang was making Ling Miao account for his actions after the fact—he would settle the score with Ling Miao on each and every count! Mm, he was definitely jealous.
Listening to Su Yuyang"s childish words, Ling Miao laughed through his tears. He wiped his tears on Su Yuyang"s s.h.i.+rt and said pitifully, "I thought you hated me. Also, don"t tell me that what you wrote in your novel was, "Xiao Miao, I love you.""
"What I wrote in my novel—go see for yourself. I"ll go shower." Su Yuyang bent down, kissed Ling Miao on the forehead, affectionately patted him on the head, then picked up his pajamas and left the room.
Ling Miao clicked into Su Yuyang"s newest chapter. The first line: I"m going to confess to the person I love. Additional update for karma!
Additional update for karma? Ling Miao stared at the words and started laughing. Ah, Su Yuyang, if the person you"re confessing to doesn"t like you back, no matter how many extra updates you make, it won"t change that!
Ling Miao kept reading. By the end of the main text, he still hadn"t seen anything unusual.
Ling Miao saw a dividing line and inhaled sharply. The text below the dividing line was probably what Su Yuyang wanted to say to him.
To the person whom I"ve known for three months and who is living in my house:
There are many things I can"t say to your face. Probably because I"m afraid of failure.
I know you"re reading my book, so I"m trying this out. I"m writing my words here because I believe you"ll definitely see it.
I love you. Let"s be together.
If you have no feelings for me, then pretend you haven"t seen this. We can continue as we are.
Ling Miao finished reading Su Yuyang"s words to "a certain person" and his nose began to hurt. He breathed in and tilted his head back so that the tears wouldn"t fall, but why did he want to cry at all?
Ling Miao sat in front of the laptop. He wanted to respond somehow, but the moment his fingers touched the keyboard his mind short-circuited. Besides, he"d already told Su Yuyang the words he"d kept in his heart. Would he also need to turn those words into text so that hundreds of thousands of people could see?
Ling Miao frustratedly rumpled his hair as he thought back and forth. Suddenly, he saw the word "read" on the screen. He typed Read in the comment box and was about to click send when he remembered that he was logged into his own writing account.
Ling Miao registered a new account with the name, "The person living in Shu Yang"s house," and posted the comment: Read.
Then Ling Miao finished reading Su Yuyang"s updates for the last few days and went on QQ. The group chat had exploded.
Human nature is gossipy and Su Yuyang was a secretive person, so now that he"d confessed publicly in his novel, the discussion group talked about nothing else. Someone said that doing it this way would cause misunderstandings. Others said it was brilliant, and someone else said it wasn"t romantic enough—if she"d been the one Su Yuyang confessed to, she certainly wouldn"t accept.
Ling Miao finished reading the group messages, then the QQ icon flashed again. Ling Miao opened it.
The text was from Mu Yu.
Mu Yu: You"re sure?
Ling Miao thought it odd that Mu Yu would suddenly send a text like this. He entered a question mark in the text box, then found that the font and color of the text weren"t his own.
Ling Miao was at a crossroads. He wasn"t sure if he should close out of the window and pretend he hadn"t seen anything, or wait for Su Yuyang to come back.
Something pressed against his back. Two slender fingers tapped on the keyboard and a sentence appeared on the screen: Find a time. I"m coming out of the closet.
Ling Miao turned to look at Su Yuyang in surprise. Su Yuyang bent down and kissed Ling Miao on the lips, and Ling Miao turned his head back with a huff.
"I"ll go." Su Yuyang was chatting with Mu Yu and Ling Miao felt awkward being here, so he decided to leave the room and write. As he got up, Su Yuyang pressed him back down and said, "It"s to do with you anyway. Stay."
"But…" Ling Miao still thought it inappropriate but since the owner of the QQ had said so, Ling Miao would be pus.h.i.+ng his luck to refuse.
Su Yuyang stood behind Ling Miao, arms encircling Ling Miao as he rapidly typed.
Mu Yu: You"ve thought it through?
3000WPH: I hid it for so many years because I was worried that people knowing I was h.o.m.os.e.xual would bring me trouble. But since someone"s willing to bear that burden with me, I"m not afraid of anything.
Looking at Su Yuyang"s words, Ling Miao murmured, "Who"s willing to bear it with you?"
Su Yuyang rested his chin on Ling Miao"s head and sighed, "Ah, the person at home said he"s not willing to bear it with me. Yu-ge, I"m sad."
Su Yuyang typed as he spoke. Ling Miao said angrily, "Hey, do you need to tell your editor all this?"
"Then are you okay with announcing it or not?" Su Yuyang asked slyly.
"Whatever you want." Ling Miao didn"t bother salvaging the situation.
Mu Yu: Looks like he"s not prepared!
3000WPH: He hasn"t prepared to come out of the closet. I have.
Mu Yu: In that case, I wish you happiness.
Ling Miao looked at Mu Yu"s words and suddenly pouted. He asked Su Yuyang as if interrogating him: "Why do I feel like you and Mu Yu are unusually close?"
"Oh, do I detect jealousy in the air?" Su Yuyang laughed open-mouthed.
Ling Miao caught Su Yuyang at the waist and pinched. A cry broke the night sky, and the infants who had gone to sleep were once again awakened. Ling Miao turned to glare at Su Yuyang, blame in his eyes. Su Yuyang rubbed the sore spot and said aggrievedly, "If you hadn"t pinched me, would this have happened?"
"You deserve it, but the kids are innocent." Ling Miao rubbed his temple. Now he knew how painful it was to hear five or six infants crying all at once.
"Xiao Miao." Su Yuyang hugged Ling Miao from behind, his chin tucked into Ling Miao"s shoulder. He whispered, "What I said today—I wasn"t joking."
"Mm, I know."
"So, you"re really ready to face the pressure from the outside world?" Su Yuyang asked worriedly.
Ling Miao took Su Yuyang"s hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed it. He whispered, "It"s you who"s coming out of the closet, not me. Why would I be pressured?"
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Su Yuyang said with a grin. "I"ll mention you. Relax."
Su Yuyang"s hand was still near Ling Miao"s lips, and the moment Ling Miao heard these words he unceremoniously bit down.
Of course, Ling Miao hadn"t used any force and there wasn"t a single tooth-mark left on the skin.
"Hurts." Su Yuyang pretended to have been wounded and made a crying face.
"If you"re physically hurt, my heart hurts." Ling Miao kissed the back of Su Yuyang"s hands where he had bitten down. "Su Yuyang, when are you announcing it?"
"Mm?"
"I"ll make another handle so you can mention that one," Ling Miao said slyly.
Su Yuyang"s eyes were blanketed by a layer of gray. He pulled his hand out of Ling Miao"s and turned Ling Miao"s chair to face him.
Su Yuyang squatted on the floor and placed his hand over Ling Miao"s. "If you aren"t ready, then you don"t have to bear it with me. I hid myself away because I didn"t want my h.o.m.os.e.xuality to be made public, but what"s the point of hiding it? Besides, now I have you. I want to love you openly, and I want everyone to know that you, the dumb cat, are mine. Su Yuyang"s."
"Su Yuyang, I…"
"Call me Yu," Su Yuyang corrected.
"Xiao Yu?" Ling Miao felt awkward calling him by a one-word name, so he added "Xiao" in front of it.
Su Yuyang"s face darkened and he said coldly, "You"re not my parents."
"Yuyang?"
"That"s what my friends call me."
"Old Su?"
"Yan Li will kill you."
"…" Ling Miao fell silent."
Su Yuyang knew that his and Ling Miao"s relations.h.i.+p wasn"t official yet, so making Ling Miao change his form of address was rather demanding.
"If it"s hard, then don"t try. I think you"ll call me that in future."
"Su Yuyang, let"s come out of the closet!" Ling Miao suddenly changed the subject. "I want everyone to know that you, the Great Author, are mine!"