The Sickly Young Master’s Unexpected Desk Mate

On the first day of school, the lively Lin Zhiyi rode her beat-up bicycle straight into a boy named Gu Yuchen, knocking him down on the plane-tree-lined road. Pills scattered everywhere. The boy was as pale as paper, coughing so violently it seemed to tear him apart. His student ID bore the unmistakable mark of the Special Care Class.

He was like glass: untouchable, liable to shatter. Every girl at school warned her to stay away from Gu Yuchen.

But Lin Zhiyi scoffed defiantly. “Glass? Looks more like crystal to me.”

Then fate pushed her to his side, making her the Special Care Class’s only “study partner.”

In that unusual place, heavy with disinfectant and the bitter smell of medicine, Lin Zhiyi saw the truth of Gu Yuchen’s life with her own eyes. Violent coughing could bring him down at any moment. Dark brown medicine sloshing in a white porcelain cup was part of his daily routine, and even breathing seemed to weigh him down with exhaustion. His question, laced with self-mockery and pain, struck her to the heart: “Do you still think I’m crystal?”

The illusion of crystal shattered, revealing a nature as fragile as glass.

This is a story about healing and redemption. Suggestions are welcome!