The Best of Us Back Then

Loving you is a lonely secret. Two people with mutual crushes keep testing each other’s feelings in every way they can, but neither is willing to say “I like you” first. Yet love means more than simply having a crush. From the best version of you to the best version of us, the boy who enters our lives teaches us to be confident and self-reliant. Because of him, an otherwise monotonous high school life takes on a gentle, warm glow.

The story follows Xia An, a small-town girl who enrolls at the affiliated high school of a teachers’ university and meets Chu Ran, a kind and sunny academic star. A sensitive girl blossoms and grows.

She experiences the ache of an unrequited crush. For the few seconds they might pass each other, she memorizes his class schedule, goes hungry as she walks the long way to his teaching building, then times it so they can leave together…

She experiences unexpected happiness. After a teacher mocks her, he comforts her and offers to tutor her in math. He tells her, “Perhaps the gods don’t care whether you’re happy, but I definitely do…”

She experiences the anxiety of not knowing where she stands. His excellence magnifies her insecurities, yet he leads her on and encourages her until she finds the courage and strength to fight her way through the hardship threatening to swallow her…

She experiences misunderstanding. His words, “I’ve always believed that you and I understand each other,” mean more than a thousand explanations. When she misses him too much to hold back any longer, she flies to him without a second thought…

His gentle, sunny smile, his clear and bright eyes, the fresh scent of laundry detergent on his school uniform, the breeze brushing her hair as she rides on the back of his bike, all mingling with the chalk dust in the classroom to compose ordinary yet unforgettable school days…

From the best version of you at the beginning to the best version of us later, thank you for coming into my life, and thank you for never giving up.