Sweet Oxygen - Chapter 59

Chapter 59 – Slowly

He sometimes marveled at his own restraint

——

“What did you say during our morning call? That you think I wouldn’t be good enough?”

Zhang Yuqing stood at the entrance of the second-floor bedroom. The second floor had neither a living room nor windows, being a simple attic with all windows and light sources located within the three rooms. The corridor appeared slightly dim.

One room was Zhang Yuqing’s bedroom, another was Dandan’s bedroom, and the last was a storage room.

His bedroom door had just been opened, and the bright light from the window illuminated half of his profile.

When he turned to look at Qin Han, one of his eyes was sunlit into a tea-brown hue.

Qin Han gazed into Zhang Yuqing’s eyes, her mind buzzing with thoughts.

Is he… is he going to pound me so hard I’ll be embedded into the bed?

Perhaps sensing her conflicted expression, Zhang Yuqing raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled as he pinched Qin Han’s cheek. “What’s with that look, little girl?”

Qin Han didn’t know what to say, only shaking her head stiffly.

Zhang Yuqing stepped into the bedroom first. When he turned back to see Qin Han still hesitating at the doorway, he beckoned her over. “Come here.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said you’re not good enough.”

The little girl’s face was flushed pink, her thoughts unreadable.

Her expression was quite adorable, with her eyebrows slightly furrowed and eyes more round than usual, as if she were worried about something.

Zhang Yuqing suddenly smiled. “Here’s something for you.”

As he spoke, he took out a large gift box from the cabinet.

The base color of the box was pure white, with faint pink iridescent patterns visible where it caught the light, reminiscent of ornate carvings from ancient foreign architecture.

The ribbon was also white, adorned with a pink sheen. A large, stiff bow lay perched in the upper right corner of the box.

Qin Han stood frozen for a moment, uncertain. “What’s this?”

“A present for you.”

But there hadn’t been any recent holidays worth celebrating. Qin Han mentally flipped through her calendar—the nearest holiday seemed to be…

Dragon Boat Festival?

Standing bewildered in the bedroom doorway, Qin Han asked, “Is this a Dragon Boat Festival gift?”

Zhang Yuqing smiled. “It’s a gift for our relationship. Go on—open it and see if you like it.”

Throughout her life, Qin Han had received countless gifts from family and friends. But this was the first time a boyfriend had presented her with a present.

The large, beautiful box drew her closer. She glanced at Zhang Yuqing, who smiled encouragingly. “Go ahead,” he said. “Open it.”

“I want to take a photo first.”

Qin Han was excited; this unexpected gift had caught her completely off guard.

After taking the photo, she carefully untied the bow. The box was too large, so when Qin Han opened the lid, Zhang Yuqing gave her a hand.

Inside the box were three dresses.

One was pearl white, another light blue, and the last black.

Each one was beautiful.

Qin Han recognized the brand. She’d even seen one of the dresses in a store recently. But she’d been in a hurry to get back to school, so she’d only glanced at the price and thought it was too expensive to try on.

This brand wasn’t cheap. Three dresses would definitely cost over ten thousand yuan.

She looked at Zhang Yuqing, feeling a bit uneasy. “Is this too expensive?”

Zhang Yuqing was still smiling. “Young lady, we’ve known each other for a long time, but we’ve also been apart for a long time. We haven’t spent much time together, so there are many things I’ll tell you gradually. What I want to tell you now is that your boyfriend isn’t someone who spends money recklessly. If I’m buying you these, it means I can afford it. When you’re with me, you don’t need to worry about money.”

In his bedroom stood that old electric fan—a testament to his refusal to waste money for appearances’ sake.

Qin Han’s fingers brushed the dress fabric. “Should I be more frugal then?”

Zhang Yuqing tousled her hair. “My girlfriend wearing a few beautiful dresses makes her frugal? That’s nonsense.”

His words carried conviction. Qin Han finally relaxed.

She held up each dress against herself, eyes sparkling. “They’re all stunning.”

“Which one do you like?”

“I love them all! Every single one!”

“Want to try one on?”

June’s warmth had long since melted winter’s chill.

Qin Han preferred jeans for work but adored dresses on days off—a fact Zhang Yuqing knew well.

She wanted to change but couldn’t choose—a dilemma born of genuine affection for every garment.

After careful consideration, she settled on the pale blue dress.

Zhang Yuqing went to the door. The young girl closed the bedroom door and fussed with something inside for a moment before opening it a crack.

“Zhang Yuqing,” Qin Han said in a small, embarrassed voice, “the back of this dress has buttons. I can’t reach them myself.”

Flushing crimson, she pulled the door open wider to let him in.

She kept one arm behind her back, shielding the skin on her spine.

“Turn around. Let me do it,” Zhang Yuqing said.

The girl’s shoulder blades were strikingly prominent. When she stood tense and upright, her delicate bones protruded, pushing against the fine skin of her back.

Her usually pale complexion now held a faint blush, perhaps from her thin skin’s sensitivity.

Her head hung low, strands of hair cascading like willow branches around her slender neck.

Zhang Yuqing approached and began fastening the buttons at her back.

The girl’s dress buttons were small and pearl-white.

It wasn’t as if he’d never entertained thoughts before. Facing the girl he liked, primitive impulses sometimes surfaced.

Zhang Yuqing admitted to having his moments of crudeness. Even before the girl returned to China, he’d dreamt of her.

That day had been peculiar. After reading about certain acts in a book, Qin Han had appeared in his dreams that very night, as if the book’s contents were being reenacted upon him and her.

On that cold winter night, Zhang Yuqing jolted awake and went to the bathroom.

The shower water poured down as he leaned against the white porcelain wall, washing his hands in the steamy mist.

Everyone gets haunted by unsavory thoughts now and then, but romance is different. Zhang Yuqing always believed he should be more considerate toward Qin Han in this matter.

This was the girl’s first relationship. Since she’d chosen him, he felt responsible for managing her anxiety and respecting her feelings.

Even if she later said, “Zhang Yuqing, I don’t like you anymore,” he wanted her to understand that any disappointment came from him, not from love itself.

A good relationship shouldn’t make girls lose faith in love, even after a breakup.

That’s why he wasn’t in a hurry with physical intimacy. He wanted to take care of his little girl properly.

Zhang Yuqing’s fingers fumbled as he fastened the buttons into their holes.

This was an intimate dress, so his hands would inevitably brush against her back. Qin Han’s entire body was tense, like a paper tiger about to disintegrate from soaking.

Zhang Yuqing smiled. “Don’t be nervous, little girl. I won’t take advantage of you.”

Qin Han made a barely audible sound of acknowledgment, her back remaining rigid as a board.

“I looked through what you sent me yesterday. Let’s skip the movies—they’re too long. I don’t have time to watch them now. We’ll wait until later when you’re ready. Then we can watch them together.”

Noticing Qin Han’s tension, he continued, “Do you understand what I mean by ‘later’? I can’t predict when things will develop that far. It definitely won’t be now. Let’s take things slow.”

Zhang Yuqing fastened the last button for her, his fingertips gently touching her shoulder. “There.”

The pale blue fabric wrapped around Qin Han’s slender waist as she slowly turned to look at Zhang Yuqing.

That glance contained a sense of “relief.”

She asked, “What do you mean by ‘take things slow’?”

“Little girl, I haven’t been in a relationship before either. I’m definitely lacking in experience.”

Zhang Yuqing’s face held a gentle smile. “But I’m a few years older than you, so I do know a bit more about some things. Like those things you sent me—longing for intimacy is natural. But if we go too fast, you’ll get overwhelmed. That’s why I said we should take things slow.”

As Zhang Yuqing spoke, Qin Han was actually touched.

She had indeed experienced those intimate dreams. Just as he said, she craved closeness, but she wasn’t ready to accept everything so quickly.

When Xie Ying said, “Just wait until Zhang Yuqing pound you into the bed,” Qin Han felt more nervous than excited.

She knew she could accept any intimacy with Zhang Yuqing, but if this intimacy were to happen today, tomorrow, or the day after, she couldn’t explain why, but she still felt nervous.

She wanted to postpone it while feeling this nervousness.

Zhang Yuqing understood Qin Han well enough.

He knew that if he really made any request, Qin Han would definitely comply.

If she felt nervous or resistant because she had to comply, this obedient girl wouldn’t even throw a tantrum. She would only keep her feelings to herself and even ask him if he didn’t like her enough.

She was innocent and pure.

But he couldn’t take advantage of her because she was innocent and pure.

Zhang Yuqing brought Qin Han to the mirror in the bathroom. Standing behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders and said with a smile, “You look beautiful.”

Qin Han was also looking at herself in the mirror.

The dress Zhang Yuqing had chosen was really beautiful, with a color and style that suited her perfectly.

“Let’s start ‘taking it slow’ today.”

Zhang Yuqing met Qin Han’s eyes in the mirror, then lowered his head slightly and whispered in her ear, “Little girl, I like you.”

In the mirror, Qin Han’s eyelashes fluttered for a moment.

The rims of her eyes were slightly red.

Zhang Yuqing asked gently, “How does it feel to start with ‘I like you’?”

Qin Han turned and threw herself into Zhang Yuqing’s arms, her vision blurring with tears.

She buried her face in his chest. “Zhang Yuqing, you’re so good. I was actually really nervous earlier, but I didn’t dare to say it. This morning I knew I said something wrong. Can you please not be mad?”

“When have I ever been mad at you?” Zhang Yuqing asked, amused. How could a single “no” make me angry?

Qin Han’s voice trembled with hesitation. “But I said you couldn’t do it. Xie Ying told me saying that about a man could have serious consequences.”

The girls’ logic is quite adorable, Zhang Yuqing thought. What consequences could there possibly be from those words?

“What kind of consequences?” he asked casually.

Like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on, Qin Han tightened her grip around his arm. She looked up, cheeks flushed crimson, and said with mock seriousness, “You’d get pounded into the mattress so deep you’d be embedded in it.”

Zhang Yuqing sometimes marveled at his own restraint. Being hugged tightly by the girl he liked, listening to her flirtatious words—it only made his abdomen tense for a moment.

The oblivious girl continued, her small face lifted in his arms. “So deeply embedded you couldn’t pry me out even if you tried.”

Zhang Yuqing, “…”