Hearts Beating in Sync in the Qinghe Season

When transfer student Jian Qiao's first part-time job flyer was torn to shreds, she glared at the aloof top student beside her, who was always poring over competition problem sets, and gritted her teeth, swallowing her hurt. Until one foggy night, she passed the locked music room and glimpsed Alpei through a crack in the window, holding a guitar. The melody flowing from his fingertips matched, beat for beat, the rhythm of the heart monitor on the "notice of Mom's condition" hidden in her schoolbag.

At the desks of their prestigious high school, she hid her part-time work schedule while he kept a concert ticket stub from his band. Her uniform had been washed until it faded white; his guitar case held the sheet music his father had torn to pieces. When Jian Qiao sorted stock at a used bookstore to scrape together money for medical bills, Alpei was secretly singing "An Untitled Summer" in an underground bar. It wasn't until they were forced to team up for the class play that she realized his eyes lit up when he played guitar, and he clenched his fists when he saw her being bullied by classmates. The person who understood the wounds you kept hidden had been sitting in the third row to your left all along.