Ties That Bind

[Cheerful, stubborn top student × gentle, tsundere childhood-friend boy] [Childhood friends + secret crush + mutual devotion + youthful days]

For over a decade, Jinyue and Zhong Liang had been classmates, deskmates, neighbors, and best friends, never apart. Just as she thought their relationship would stay the same forever...

At some point, the boy had quietly taken up residence in the girl's heart. Every little thing he did filled her thoughts.

The pages in her notebook, crammed with his name, the traces of her writing and erasing it again and again, the two names carefully placed side by side on the exam rankings, the inexplicable flutter she felt when she stood in front of him during laps on the sports field, the furtive glances she stole at him in class, and the comfort of discussing problems or simply walking together after school... All were proof of how secretly she'd loved him in the carefree days of her youth.

How could the boy not know about the girl's secret affection? What she thought were subtle little hints were perfectly obvious to him. The only reason he'd kept their relationship so close was that he had deliberately indulged her.

But Jinyue was sensitive by nature and lacked a sense of security, so she was afraid to face her feelings and never crossed the line. Zhong Liang understood her concerns. Though he seemed aloof toward everyone else, he always approached Yang Jinyue first and treated her with tenderness.

Ever since the promise they made as children, he had decided that she alone would receive his affection, favoritism, first choice, exceptions, special treatment, and possessiveness.