The night she accidentally drank strong liquor, she lost her balance and fell into a man's arms. With alcohol emboldening her, she couldn't keep her ten-year crush bottled up any longer and confessed to Cheng Du in a soft, sweet voice.
The man who had protected her since childhood trembled, nearly dropping her.
The riverbank lights fell across his face, making his expression hard to read. His voice was cool as he said, “Stop fooling around! What do you know about love, you brat?”
The winter wind by the river cut to the bone, clearing her hazy, drunken mind a little.
He thought she was too young and hadn't taken her confession seriously? Then she would wait a little longer.
But what was this post announcing his relationship?
She confessed, and he announced his relationship right afterward? And his partner wasn't her!?
She chased after him, pestering him again and again, insisting he prove it was fake.
It wasn't until his graduation ceremony, when she saw him holding hands with his lover, that she swallowed the bitterness in her throat and forced that fluttering feeling back into her heart.
Her years of foolish devotion shattered with the chimes at his graduation ceremony. Six years between them, it turned out, were a gap in time that couldn't be crossed simply by chasing after him.
She put on a smile, returned to her role as the girl next door, and offered her most heartfelt blessing: “I wish you and Sister-in-law a happy life together.”
Later, in winter once again, the man blocked her at her front door in the early hours of the morning, his voice dangerous. “Avoiding me?”
[Reading Guide]
◇ Childhood sweethearts, an age gap, secret love turns mutual
◇ Gentle but cutting older man × precocious young woman | Love is an illness you recognize too late
◇ “She taught me how to fall in love, but I taught her how to lose heart” | A documented case of winning back your wife
◇ Lingering bittersweetness × a sugary-sweet reversal | Every long-laid plan was a belated awakening of love
It's pretty good, but the number of words is a bit short. I'll keep writing more.