Unrequited Love
“Qi Ke’s movement was half a beat slow, let’s do it again.”
“Chengzhi was off-beat, again.”
“Sorry, I forgot the move, let’s do it one last time!”
A light and sweet melody filled the practice room. The youthful girls followed the music, their sweat flying freely, soaking their thin short-sleeved shirts.
Changing formations, moving positions, perfectly synchronized movements.
As they brushed past each other, Qi Ke smelled the fresh scent on her Captain—orange-scented shower gel, mixed with the sweetness of the cherries she had just eaten, paired with the Captain’s expressionless, cool, and abstinent face.
It smelled even better.
It was simply fatal.
Qi Ke thought, if this continued, her and Song Yushi’s comradely friendship would sooner or later be in jeopardy.
Qi Ke liked Song Yushi.
To be precise, it was an unrequited love.
After all, before she joined the group, the vice president who had put her in the group had threatened her: “Do your girl group activities properly, no in-group dating, or I’ll pack you up and send you back to your family’s company.”
This threat wasn’t very effective, but love had to be mutual. It wasn’t something she could just start if she wanted to.
As Qi Ke’s thoughts wandered, she surprisingly made no mistakes. After a perfect ending, Song Yushi clapped her hands and said, “That’s all for today. Thank you for your hard work, everyone. Don’t be late for rehearsal tomorrow.”
The way she said it, it was as if she didn’t live in the dorms.
All the members breathed a sigh of relief, especially Meng Ying. She collapsed onto the floor and shouted, “Dancing is so hard! Is it too late for me to quit the group now?”
“If you sit up and walk a few steps now, it won’t affect your blood circulation,” Song Yushi said coolly.
Meng Ying quickly extended a hand. “Someone, anyone, pull me up.”
Song Yushi was the closest and was about to reach out, but she saw Qi Ke rush over in three big steps and grab Meng Ying’s hand first. Song Yushi glanced at Qi Ke and stepped aside.
Over there, Zhong Yi and Chengzhi were supporting each other. “Captain, let’s go, shall we go eat?”
“You guys go ahead,” Song Yushi shook her head. “I’ll practice a little longer.”
Qi Ke frowned. “Let’s eat first.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, and Song Yushi didn’t hear clearly. She turned her head to look at her. “Hmm?”
“…” This gaze was too innocent. Qi Ke’s mind went blank for a second, and she completely forgot what she was going to say. She opened her mouth and it came out as, “Okay.”
Zhong Yi: “…”
Chengzhi: “…”
Hey! Can’t you be a little more firm in your own stance!
The two looked at each other and shook their heads. Beauty befuddles the mind, oh, beauty befuddles the mind.
The Captain of Sweet Day was famous for her diligence. She voluntarily added extra training every day, forgetting to eat and sleep as she perfected each move, which resulted in a slightly weak stomach. Sister Ming couldn’t persuade her and could only ask the members of Sweet Day to keep an eye on her if they didn’t want their Captain to die.
The members of Sweet Day: Heh, you think if you can’t do it, we can?
And look, even the most fearless Qi Ke had been defeated.
The members of Sweet Day left the practice room dejectedly. Hearing the music start up behind them, the fear of being dominated by Song Yushi instantly arose, and they sprinted towards the cafeteria.
Only Qi Ke dawdled behind, then turned and left the company.
The summer wind blew lazily, carrying a hint of scorching heat. The stars in the sky shone brightly. Qi Ke sat on a bench downstairs, licking a popsicle on and off, looking up and counting the lights on the floors, counting down in her head.
Practicing one dance takes three minutes and forty-two seconds. Rest for thirty seconds, then do it again.
There were still ten minutes until the best time to eat dinner.
About the time of one song.
Unrequited love is a strange thing. A glance is ambiguous, a touch is a flutter of the heart. Even just sitting here, looking at the window where Song Yushi was, made her heart race.
Qi Ke finished her popsicle, threw the stick into the trash can, walked into the building, and pressed the button for the floor.
It was the same practice room as before.
Just as she reached the door, the music inside stopped. Qi Ke pushed the door open and gave a big smile to Song Yushi, who looked up at her. “Captain, are you hungry?”
Song Yushi stared at her blankly.
Qi Ke felt a little embarrassed being stared at like that and couldn’t help but touch her nose, explaining, “I just went out for a snack and ordered too much. I passed by the company and remembered you were still training, so I thought I’d come up and ask—”
Her voice trailed off.
Song Yushi had already walked up to her, taken the bag from her hand, looked inside, and smiled at her. “Thank you. What a coincidence, these are all my favorites.”
Qi Ke’s face turned red.
Her smile was so beautiful.
Qi Ke thought, it’s orange-flavored, like a comfortable summer breeze, and her heart went thump, thump, thump.
Giving Out Sweets
After Sweet Day debuted, the company immediately capitalized on their popularity, collaborating with a video platform to launch a group variety show that aired every Saturday at noon. Qi Ke, as the younger “little wolf dog,” coupled with deliberate editing, was shipped with countless members.
Except for Song Yushi.
Qi Ke found it strange and went straight to ask Sister Ming, “I just scanned the Super Topic rankings, it’s practically a free-for-all of Sweet Day internal CPs. But why isn’t there one with the Captain?”
Sister Ming had been following them since their trainee days and was especially close to Qi Ke, so she said bluntly, “Yushi’s persona is to be beautiful on her own.”
Qi Ke: “?”
Sister Ming explained, “Yushi is the most popular in the group right now, and she has a lot of solo stans.”
Qi Ke said, “Then shouldn’t we be shipping her with someone even more to attract more CP fans? Then the solo stans and CP fans will fight, which will generate plenty of buzz, and it will both solidify her fanbase and create topics for discussion.”
“Our great main vocalist Qi is quite the marketer. So who should we ship her with?”
“Meng Ying’s skills are too far behind the Captain’s, she’ll get a lot of hate. Zhong Yi and Chengzhi are the official pairing, so they’re not suitable for the Captain either. After thinking it over,” Qi Ke sighed, looking like she was sacrificing herself for the greater good, “who else but me?”
Sister Ming: “…”
I really want to hit her, but I still have to rely on this pretty little face to make money. Forget it! Forget it!
Sister Ming gave her a white-eyed glare. “Don’t even think about it. This is the company’s decision. We’re relying on this to solidify the group’s fanbase. You just focus on managing your own CPs.”
Qi Ke: “…”
Sooner or later, I’ll acquire this damn company!
Song Yushi didn’t have a CP within the group, but she was nice to everyone, and in the eyes of the group fans, she was a gentle and sweet big sister. Although there were CP Super Topics for her, they weren’t very popular, and they were occasionally raided by solo stans: Song Yushi is our little baby, don’t use her as a tool to hype up your group spirit.
CP Fans: We dare not provoke them, we dare not provoke them.
So they slowly retreated, and not a single one of her dual-member Super Topics exceeded five hundred followers.
Qi Ke thought, if the officials want to break up CPs, so be it. Do they think I can’t create opportunities? Anyway, Song Yushi’s fans look down on everyone. If they curse at her, she’ll just use a side account to curse back.
So the next day, during the filming of the group variety show, Qi Ke “mistakenly” took Song Yushi’s hat, and “accidentially” wore a matching outfit with Song Yushi. Even their earrings were a pair of cherries and a pair of strawberries.
They matched perfectly.
Song Yushi wanted to eat tanghulu, and Qi Ke took out her wallet. “Get the deluxe version with hawthorn and strawberry. I’ll pay.”
Song Yushi wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. The others complained that it wasn’t romantic during the day, but Qi Ke immediately said, “I want to ride it too!” And when they reached the highest point, she said to Song Yushi, “Captain, did you know, they say that people who kiss at the highest point of a Ferris wheel will be together forever.”
Song Yushi glanced at her.
Qi Ke instantly deciphered the meaning: You’ve been reading too many angsty teen romance novels, haven’t you?
Qi Ke: “…”
Although the process was full of twists and turns, Qi Ke thought there were still many points to ship. You didn’t even need to be a top-tier shipper to get the CP vibes. So when this episode of the group variety show aired, she obediently waited in front of the TV, but—
Huh? Where’s the tanghulu part? How do you explain the Captain saying the strawberries were sweet later on with such an abrupt cut!
Huh? The Ferris wheel part was romantic, but why did they use a long shot when she said that line! They didn’t even capture her gaze at the Captain, full of affection and a fervent desire to create a CP!
Huh? Why was the whole of Sweet Day wearing fruit earrings? Did her little clever idea become proof of their group spirit?
Qi Ke went on Weibo and, after searching for “Qi Yu” and “Qiyu” to no avail, she simply created a Super Topic and uploaded the edited Ferris wheel clip.
Half an hour later, the comments exceeded a hundred.
【Take Song Yushi away.】
【What kind of random CP are you trying to create here? To have a CP brain just because two girls ride a Ferris wheel together is something else. It’s not sweet at all. Song Yushi and her fans are locked in.】
【Speechless. Our Miss Qi Ke has probably never ridden such a commoner’s Ferris wheel before, so how did it become that she rode it for Song Yushi? The OP’s intentions are too obvious. Is it because Song Yushi’s team felt that having no CP made her seem like an orphan, so they’re forcing her with our great beauty? Screenshot sent to the official Sweet Day Weibo.】
【Qi Ke’s fans, watch your words. I’ll see who dares to look at our innocent and independently beautiful great beauty with a foul mouth.】
Qi Ke: “…”
What the hell!
Just before the Super Topic was about to be taken over by fans, Qi Ke finally saw a normal comment: I think it’s pretty sweet too.
Qi Ke: “!!!”
Tears welled up in her eyes! Sister!
Later, Qi Ke found out that the side account that posted this comment belonged to Song Yushi. The little Captain had been Browse Weibo, happened to come across it, and, on a whim, thought it was very sweet and left a comment.
#The only two Qi Yu CP fans on the entire internet are the main characters themselves#
The Morning After
Although Qi Ke always said that after their drunken one-night stand, Song Yushi did not choose to be irresponsible, to be frank, Song Yushi had really considered acting as if nothing had happened.
The morning after a night of heavy drinking, her head was splitting. The blackout curtains were too good, and she couldn’t tell what time it was.
She just felt hot.
Someone’s arms were around her waist, skin against skin, covered in a fine layer of sweat, sticky. It had long surpassed a safe distance. Memories of last night’s drunkenness came flooding back.
A rush of red, a pounding heart.
Song Yushi’s eyes shot open, and she met Qi Ke’s just-awakened gaze. Qi Ke lazily snuggled into Song Yushi’s embrace and muttered, “Morning, Captain.”
Song Yushi: “…”
She seemed to vaguely remember telling Qi Ke to get out after they were done yesterday.
What did Qi Ke say to her again?
Oh, she remembered.
Qi Ke kissed her forehead and said with a small, wronged voice, “This is my room too, I can’t get out. You’re so beautiful and kind, you probably wouldn’t have the heart to make me sleep on that small bed, right?”
Song Yushi couldn’t even lift a finger. She didn’t remember whether she had refuted her or not before falling asleep directly.
And now, it was the present.
A warm, fragrant, and soft feeling, it was unfamiliar.
Song Yushi wanted to push Qi Ke away, but seeing her sleeping so soundly, she could only stay frozen in place, staring at her blankly.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to push her away, it was just that it wasn’t right to disturb someone’s sleep. When Qi Ke woke up, she would make it clear to her. They would just treat last night as a moment of impulse, forget about it together, and still be teammates once they got out of bed.
Yes, that’s what she would do.
Song Yushi secretly made up her mind.
Qi Ke slept for a long time. When she woke up, Song Yushi’s arm was already numb. Qi Ke looked at her, her eyes soft and watery, like a little pity. “Captain, from now on, I’m your girlfriend, right?”
Song Yushi wanted to say that this wasn’t how she had planned it, but then she saw Qi Ke lower her eyelids. “You won’t be irresponsible, right?”
Song Yushi: “…Mm.”
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