Dating the Heartthrob Superstar
Chapter 80: The Secret Battle Concludes

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: The Secret Battle Concludes

Chapter 80: Wrapping Up the Silent War

Publishing the book was just a plan for now. There were so many details involved that accomplishing everything immediately was impossible.

But with a plan, there came direction.

Lin Qin couldn’t help but feel joyous at the thought of collaborating with Meng Chao to publish the book. Holding his notebook, he looked at it from one side to the other, imagining what kind of comments Meng Chao might leave.

Meng Chao, noticing his excitement, couldn’t resist ruffling Lin Qin’s hair as he said, "No rush, let’s finish filming Silent War first."

Lin Qin, of course, understood priorities. "I know."

Meng Chao reached out and gently took the notebook from Lin Qin’s hands. "Give it to me first. I’ll find some time in the next few days to look through it and think of how to leave comments."

...

Night descended, and Lin Qin slept soundly in Meng Chao’s embrace. Meng Chao kissed Lin Qin lightly on the forehead before quietly getting up and making his way to the living room with his laptop.

In the dark, the faint glow from the laptop screen illuminated Meng Chao’s handsome features. Sitting on the sofa, his long fingers tapped away at the keyboard.

The character notes were handwritten, and to publish them, they had to be digitized. While this task could’ve easily been delegated to someone else or handled through scanning, Meng Chao insisted on personally typing out every word from Lin Qin’s character biographies.

As he typed, Meng Chao added his own thoughts in the form of annotations.

Over the month-long reshoot period for Silent War, Meng Chao utilized every spare moment, especially at night, to finally finish digitizing and annotating the character biographies for Twin Hearts.

Lin Qin and Meng Chao then adopted the director’s suggestion to integrate the character biographies for Silent War as well.

The day after secretly finishing Twin Hearts’ biographies, Meng Chao sought out Lin Qin’s character notes for Silent War.

"Qinqin, give me Silent War’s character biographies," Meng Chao said, his gaze falling on the desk nearby. Two notebooks lay there, and Meng Chao recalled that one was Lin Qin’s diary, and the other contained the protagonist’s biography for Silent War.

Lin Qin’s notebooks seemed to be bought in bulk as they all looked nearly identical.

Without hesitation, Lin Qin agreed. He walked to the desk, randomly grabbed one notebook, and handed it over to Meng Chao.

Meng Chao accepted the notebook without a second thought.

That night, after Lin Qin fell asleep, Meng Chao woke up again and returned to the living room to digitize the biographies.

Opening what was supposed to be Silent War’s character biographies, Meng Chao’s expression softened as the content became clear. His long fingers gently ran along the notebook’s cover, and he couldn’t help but smile.

This little fool had mistakenly handed him his diary instead of the character notes.

Meng Chao knew he should return the notebook immediately, but it seemed to hold a magic that compelled him to keep flipping through its pages.

The more he read, the brighter the smile on his face. The tenderness in his eyes grew so deep it seemed as if it could spill over. His heart felt like a playful kitten’s paw was tickling it, growing fuller and fuller until he was overwhelmed with happiness.

——Today at the red carpet, I saw Meng Chao. He walked toward me from afar, and I really wanted to go up to him and say something. To tell him, "Hello, I’m Lin Qin."

——An incredibly shy day. I can’t believe I got to film a romantic reality show with Meng Chao!!!

This time, I must bravely stand in front of Meng Chao and say, "I’m Lin Qin."

——Meeting you, approaching you—it’s the bravest and luckiest thing I’ve done in this life.

Goodnight, Meng Chao.

——Brother Chao, I’ll keep working hard.

——Yes, I like you too. I want to be with you.

——Brother Chao, I’m so happy, so happy!

——Brother Chao, I know you’ll always be here, so I won’t be afraid anymore. Brother Chao, am I brave now?

...

The thick diary was filled with Lin Qin’s emotions, the trivialities of his life, and an overwhelming amount of Meng Chao.

His fingers traced over the words, each character seeming to radiate heat, burning through his fingertips and deep into his heart.

Meng Chao sat in the living room for a long time before finally returning to the bedroom.

Lin Qin was fast asleep, curled up into a little bundle on the bed. Meng Chao walked closer, lifted the blanket, and naturally lay down, gathering Lin Qin into his arms.

Sensing the familiar warmth, Lin Qin burrowed deeper into Meng Chao’s embrace. Groggy, he half-opened his eyes and murmured, "Brother Chao?"

Having just come in from the cold, his clothes still carried a chill. Lin Qin wrapped his arms around Meng Chao and gently rubbed against him, trying to warm him up with his own body heat.

Meng Chao was indeed warmed by Lin Qin’s touches—in every sense of the word. But looking at Lin Qin’s sleepy, barely-open eyes, he suppressed his surging emotions, kissed Lin Qin softly on the forehead, and whispered, "Go to sleep. Let me hold you while you rest."

Lin Qin hummed in agreement before drifting back into his dreams.

Meng Chao tightly embraced Lin Qin, his body filled with intense emotions that had drowned him the moment he opened the diary. Only by holding Lin Qin could these feelings find a small outlet for release.

He realized that he loved Lin Qin deeply, madly.

The next morning, sunlight poured in, the skies were clear, and the weather was exceptionally fine.

The Silent War crew finally wrapped shooting that day. It was already late December, with the Lunar New Year just a few weeks away.

Due to time constraints, the director didn’t arrange a wrap party, planning to celebrate it together with the post-production completion party instead.

Thus, by noon, Meng Chao and Lin Qin boarded a plane back to the capital.

Lin Qin suddenly realized he’d forgotten to write in his diary the day before. He glanced around and saw Meng Chao engrossed in typing on his laptop, likely too busy to notice him for the moment. He quickly grabbed his diary and opened it to jot down his emotions from the previous day.

The first page of Lin Qin’s diary had a line written on it:

——To all the bitter and sweet days, I will pierce through layers of clouds and welcome my own rays of sunshine.

The line was adapted from Meng Chao’s speech at an awards ceremony years ago—the very words that had pulled Lin Qin out of despair.

Now, Lin Qin noticed an additional line below his original words:

——Have you found your sunshine now? If not, I’m willing to be your exclusive sunshine, illuminating your world.

The handwriting was bold and familiar to Lin Qin.

He stared at that line for a long time, his cheeks growing pink as he blushed.

Turning his head to face Meng Chao, Lin Qin pouted and complained, "You peeked at my diary."

Meng Chao looked up from his computer and replied innocently, "You handed it to me yourself."

Lin Qin suddenly remembered he likely mixed up the notebooks. "But you still shouldn’t have peeked!"

Meng Chao unexpectedly asked, "Do you agree?"

Lin Qin: "Huh?"

Meng Chao: "Do you agree to let me be your sunshine, illuminating your world?"

Lin Qin was stunned for a moment before his gaze met Meng Chao’s, his eyes shining like stars. "I agree."

Actually, you’ve already been my sunshine all along.