How time flew! This day marked their seventh anniversary. During the seven years, He Bai had won his fifth awards on photography, and Di Qiuhe had won Best Actor on all the Film Festivals.

Di Qiuhe entered his thirties this year, and He Bai was turning thirty.

“Not again!” He Bai protested on the bed.

“You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.” said Di Qiuhe, he grabbed He Bai’s hand and showered him with kisses, “You went to a seven-day business trip, you have any idea how much I have missed you?”with that his right hand travelled to He Bai’s thigh.

He Bai tried to explain, panting, “I happen to bump into Zhao Tianhu and we talked about his next exhibition, then we visited a few potential venues, I’ve already mentioned it to you on the phone.”

Di Qiuhe didn’t stop on the kisses or the hands, he said, “Oh yeah, I remember that. What do you feel like for dinner after this?”

“You know what, I’m going to starve myself.. …”

And He Bai was interrupted by Di Qiuhe’s kiss.

He Bai ended up having a large portion of dinner which made Di Qiuhe overjoyed, “Good job puppy, please eat more, the more you have, the happier I am.”

He Bai rolled his eyes and turned sideways.

That night, He Bai tossed and turned on the bed after Di Qiuhe fell asleep, he produced his phone from under the pillow and texted Niu Junjie.

He Bai: Junjie, help, do you know any way to create seven-year inch?

Niu Junjie: Say what now? You are asking for a way to CREATE a seven-year inch?

He Bai took a deep breath, yeah, he asked the wrong one, Junjie and Zheng Ya were probably the happiest straight couple.

“Bai? Why are you still awake?”

There came Di Qiuhe’s voice, then he reached an arm to He Bai, “Just close your eyes, I’m right here for you.”

He Bai rolled to Di Qiuhe, seeing Di Qiuhe’s eyes were still tightly closed, he thought about how busy Di Qiuhe had been, he cuddled Di Qiuhe and whispered, “I am going to sleep now, you too, I know you haven’t got enough rest recently, good night baby.”

“Yeah.” Di Qiuhe replied vaguely then he cuddled He Bai tighter, “Puppy, I love you so much.”

He Bai buried his face in Di Qiuhe’s arms, he listened to Di Qiuhe’s heartbeat for a while and he replied, “I love you too Qiuhe.”

Yup, no way could he find a way to create a seven-year itch with a guy like Di Qiuhe. Even though it meant constant sore lower back 😉 wait! He’d like to take a break from that constant soreness, hmm, even a brief break.

In the tenth year of their marriage life, He Bai became a judge of “International Uni Students Art Festival”, that was a cute overlap with his previous life. And Di Qiuhe slowly faded out from show business to have more time to themselves.

This day, He Bai brought Di Qiuhe to “International Uni Students Art Festival” and he asked Di Qiuhe to wait for him in a square and he went to a meeting.

Di Qiuhe wandered around at the square which was full of artsy stalls, soon a black painting caught his attention.

“You seem to be pretty interested in this one?” asked the stall owner, a big guy with a beard, then he looked at the painting and sighed, “I like it too, black is the most mysterious color in the world, but it’s such a shame that… …”

It was a view of a boy’s back in the painting with a bokeh effect on the background, which highlighted the boy’s shoulder line. The more Di Qiuhe looked at the painting, the more he found the boy in painting bore a striking resemblance to He Bai. He frowned disapprovingly and withdrew his gaze from the painting and he asked the stall owner, “What is such a shame?”

“The boy in the painting is my first love.” the stall owner squinted his eyes and looked away like he was thinking about the past, “this boy is my first love, he was like an elf walking out from the book, his hair was soft and shiny, his smile is warm and charming, he is always so positive, ‘when life gives you lemon, make lemonade’ sums up his life the best. We met each other when I went to university in his country, we got to know each other and fell in love with each other there. However, it didn’t end well for us and I got back to my home country.”

Di Qiuhe felt so touched, he couldn’t imagine what his life would be like without He Bai, he felt sorry for people who couldn’t be together with their loved ones.

“First love seldom works out.” Di Qiuhe tried to comfort him.

“But it’s a perfect imperfection.” the beard guy smiled, no trace of sadness could be seen. He produced a dozen of paintings from the drawer and recommended in high spirits, “It’s a shame that I cannot be with him, but I have been following him over the years, he has a successful life now. he is a famous photographer, see, these are all his works that I painted them, it’s my way of communicating with him.”

Di Qiuhe took a glimpse at the paintings, they were all very eye-catching. But his face darkened!

“See, this one is my favorite, he named it ‘Chirping’, hazy forest in the morning, a little bird was standing on a branch, a drop of dew was falling from the leaf. How brilliant is this! People always find warmth and hope from his works, so do I. I love  him, and I love his works, I came to the festival just for him!”