Pretending Not to Love You [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

“Don’t you think she looks like your ex-girlfriend, Zeng Xinyi?” Zuo Qiu asked Xiao Baijun.

Xiao Baijun tossed the towel in his hand aside, took Zuo Qiu’s phone, and pretended to study the photo for a while. Then he said, “After looking at it a few times, it does seem a little similar.”

He handed the phone back to Zuo Qiu.

Zuo Qiu said, “I knew she looked familiar! When you compare us, she looks like my long-lost sister.” He then joked, “When I get back to B-City, I’ll call my mom and ask if we have any other long-lost distant relatives.”

Seeing Zuo Qiu toss his phone aside and no longer dwell on the similarity between him and Zeng Xinyi, Xiao Baijun slowly relaxed.

More than half a year ago, ever since Xiao Baijun started having dreams every night about the time he secretly watched Zuo Qiu’s secret, and experienced involuntary physical reactions, he was dumbfounded. As a child, he had thought girls were cute and had the idea of marrying a cute girl later on. Although he hadn’t fantasized about any girls in recent years, he hadn’t paid excessive attention to any boys either!

Why was he dreaming about Zuo Qiu at night, and why were his eyes involuntarily following him during the day?

After much thought, Xiao Baijun concluded it was because he was at his most restless age, and he probably needed to date! In desperation, Xiao Baijun found a girlfriend who was considered a perfect goddess by all men, but this did not improve his situation. They broke up peacefully a month later.

Later, by chance, he met Zeng Xinyi. Xiao Baijun noticed that her facial features were about 60–70% similar to Zuo Qiu’s. Out of the selfish reason that he might just be attracted to that kind of look, he started dating Zeng Xinyi.

But a week later, he was proven wrong again. Xiao Baijun finally admitted something that completely overturned his 21 years of belief—he was gay, or perhaps he always had been and just hadn’t realized it, or maybe Zuo Qiu had turned him gay… Either way, he was now hopelessly in love with Zuo Qiu.

After admitting and accepting his sexual orientation, Xiao Baijun felt a sense of relief. He sought to break up with Zeng Xinyi, but she refused, pleading for them to spend more time together, saying he might grow to like her later.

Xiao Baijun felt guilty toward Zeng Xinyi, so he didn’t force her. He just barely contacted her, hoping she would slowly get used to it. But later, Zeng Xinyi somehow found out about his true feelings and did too many things he couldn’t tolerate, leading to an unhappy breakup.

Facing Zuo Qiu now, Xiao Baijun felt guilty about the past. If he hadn’t spent months confirming his sexuality, selfishly trying out two girlfriends, and if he had confessed to Zuo Qiu immediately upon discovering his special feelings, then Zuo Qiu wouldn’t think he was straight and wouldn’t have any improper thoughts about him. If he hadn’t done those things, they would probably be sleeping cuddled together right now instead of in separate beds and rooms.

However, that period of validation was also precious. It allowed Xiao Baijun to clearly see his feelings for Zuo Qiu and solidified two beliefs:

1. He must make Zuo Qiu fall in love with him!
2. He must be with Zuo Qiu regardless of any obstacles!

When Zuo Qiu saw himself dressed as a woman, he just thought he looked somewhat like Zeng Xinyi, assuming it was a coincidence, and didn’t think too deeply about it. After a good night’s sleep, he woke up to find Xiao Baijun had turned into a “panda” (meaning he had dark circles).

“Didn’t you sleep well yesterday?” Zuo Qiu asked in surprise.

Xiao Baijun wanted to say he spent the whole night thinking about Zuo Qiu, going to the bathroom several times, almost “dying from ejaculation,” but he held back and found an excuse: “The person who promised to cook me seafood wontons last night slept like a pig. I was hungry all night.”

Zuo Qiu scratched his head, feeling very embarrassed. Xiao Baijun hadn’t mentioned the wontons after showering the night before, so Zuo Qiu had forgotten and immediately fell asleep after lying down.

“I forgot. I’ll make you wontons in a moment,” Zuo Qiu said, getting up and heading to the bathroom. After getting ready, he went straight out.

Xiao Baijun hadn’t slept all night and was now deadly tired. Just as he was about to drift off, he felt something cool on his eyes.

“What did you put on my eyes now?” Xiao Baijun asked with his eyes closed. Even without opening them, he could tell it was Zuo Qiu from the gentle movements.

“I just got eye masks from Sister Min. She said half an hour will improve your dark circles,” Zuo Qiu replied.

“Mmhmm,” Xiao Baijun casually responded.

Seeing how tired he was, Zuo Qiu didn’t bother him further. He just said, “I’ll take them off for you later,” quietly closed the door, and went back to the kitchen.

Xiao Baijun woke up again when Zuo Qiu called him.

“Little Xiao, wake up now.”

Xiao Baijun rubbed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Filming is over. We’re going back,” Zuo Qiu replied.

Xiao Baijun was grumpy from lack of sleep. He sat up, took off his pajamas, and started putting on the clothes Zuo Qiu had prepared for him.

While packing, Zuo Qiu reminded Xiao Baijun, “When we go out later, just tell everyone that there were mosquitoes in the room yesterday that kept you up.”

Earlier, when Liu Min asked why Xiao Baijun wasn’t at breakfast with the others, Zuo Qiu had made up this excuse. Although it was a poor excuse, it was better than saying he overslept or couldn’t sleep because he didn’t get his wontons. Besides, Sister Lan had also mentioned mosquitoes in her room, and having someone else who felt the same would make the excuse more convincing.

Xiao Baijun smiled. “Didn’t they ask why you weren’t bitten by mosquitoes?”

Zuo Qiu replied, “Because you’re blood type O.”

Xiao Baijun glanced at Zuo Qiu’s fair, clear face and thought, If I were a mosquito, I wouldn’t care what your blood type is, I’d bite only you.

The eye mask provided by Liu Min had been quite effective. Zuo Qiu carefully examined Xiao Baijun’s lower eyelids. They looked much better than when he first woke up.

“I think this eye mask works well. When we get back to B-City, we should buy some more. You’ll be completely fine after two more days of use.”

Xiao Baijun felt weary. First the face masks, now the eye masks. He could almost see a massive pile of skincare products rushing toward him.

After a final breakfast, the group held a brief summary and farewell ceremony in the living room. The four pairs of residents picked up their luggage and left the hotel.

Liu Min looked at their departing backs and sadly said to Zheng Yang, “I really hate to see them go.”

Zheng Yang snorted. “You just hate to see Zuo Qiu go, don’t you!”

Liu Min rolled her eyes dramatically. “Ugh, why did you have to expose me!” Zuo Qiu was handsome, had a great personality, and was a wonderful chef. It was completely normal to hate seeing him leave!

Zheng Yang shook his head, refusing to argue with Liu Min. What can you do? Women are unreasonable visual creatures!

Zuo Qiu and Xiao Baijun met Zhao Zhixian, who had come to pick them up, at the airport.

“How was the last two days?” Zhao Zhixian asked.

Xiao Baijun was exhausted and didn’t feel like talking, so Zhao Zhixian turned his attention to Zuo Qiu.

“It was very good, Brother Zhao, don’t worry.”

Zhao Zhixian nodded. He had called the program director today, and the director was very satisfied with the two of them, but he refused to give specific details, teasing that they would find out when the episode aired next Friday.

When the three went to check in, Zhao Zhixian asked if the two wanted to change their tickets. Their flight tickets had been booked by the production team, and the class of service was determined by the artist’s stature, so both newcomers were in economy class.

Xiao Baijun was extremely tired and wanted to sleep on the plane. Just as he was about to suggest upgrading to business class, Zuo Qiu quickly said it wasn’t necessary. They had flown economy coming over, and since the flight was only two hours, Zuo Qiu felt there was no need to waste the extra money.

Zhao Zhixian had only asked because he noticed Xiao Baijun wasn’t looking well and knew economy class was crowded and noisy. He observed that Xiao Baijun was originally going to suggest an upgrade, but when Zuo Qiu refused, he didn’t insist. This strengthened Zhao Zhixian’s resolve to use Zuo Qiu to handle Xiao Baijun’s affairs in the future if he couldn’t manage him himself.

While waiting for the flight in the lounge, Zhao Zhixian said, “You two rest up these two days. We’ll go to the Fledgling Eagle set next Monday.”

Zuo Qiu said okay and started looking at Weibo on his phone.

“Brother Zhao, why do we have so many fans?” Zuo Qiu exclaimed in surprise, looking at the 1.02 million followers. Before the reality show, they had less than 500,000. How did Brother Zhao do it?

Hearing this, Zhao Zhixian gave a reserved smile. “It’s nothing, I just bought you a trending topic yesterday.”

Xiao Baijun lifted an eyelid. Is buying a trending topic something to be proud of? And he says it so openly!

Zuo Qiu looked distressed. “Did it cost a lot of money?”

Zhao Zhixian found Zuo Qiu’s reaction amusing. “It was okay. Later, when you two become popular and trending is a common occurrence, I won’t buy it for you anymore.”

Yesterday, a netizen posted a few pictures online of an encounter with the Z.X duo in H-City, highly praising them, calling Zuo Qiu’s gentle personality like a little lamb and Xiao Baijun’s serious demeanor particularly cute, and also showed their autographed photo. The pictures and descriptions clearly came from the perspective of an ordinary fan. Zhao Zhixian thought this post could be amplified, so he bought them the fifth spot on the trending list.

Zuo Qiu said, “Okay, Xiao and I will work hard!”

Mu Yin

Once on the plane, Zuo Qiu and Zhao Zhixian sat together discussing the upcoming schedule, while Xiao Baijun leaned back and fell asleep. Zuo Qiu took a moment to look at Xiao Baijun, who was curled up in the narrow seat, and regretted not upgrading the class. Zuo Qiu signaled Zhao Zhixian to pause the discussion, sat up straight, and gently placed Xiao Baijun’s restlessly moving head onto his shoulder. Seeing Xiao Baijun finally settle down and sleep soundly, he continued his discussion with Zhao Zhixian.

Zhao Zhixian watched the two silently. After a while, when he looked down to find some documents he was about to show Zuo Qiu, he found that Zuo Qiu’s head was resting next to Xiao Baijun’s, and he had fallen asleep too. Zhao Zhixian quietly took out his phone and snapped a few pictures of the sleeping pair.