The Sea Breeze Can Be Forsaken

[Ill-Tempered Girl vs. Science Whiz]

[Sweet Romance + School Life + Secret Crush + Unspoken Understanding]

[Realistic + Low-Key + Fast-Paced Short Story]

A secret crush is like the wind blowing through the trees: the wind stops, but the trees keep swaying.

A secret crush is like being a believer whose heart holds a single god, bowing again and again before the altar and waiting for salvation through faith, with no end in sight.

Chu Wen is the class representative for student life in Class 15 of Liancheng No. 1 High School. She has endless things to worry about, yet is always precisely targeted by Jiang Lai, the science whiz.

He solves difficult math problems with ease, but always squats beside her to "humbly" ask for help with his English homework. When she's so afraid of having blood drawn that her legs go weak, he grips her arm and presses a cotton ball firmly in place with his fingertip: "Don't move. I'm right here." When she sprains herself sleeping face-down, he says, "Don't move," and applies just the right pressure with his fist to drive away the soreness... He's like a quiet dictionary of little details, always turning to exactly the right page when she needs him.

Chu Wen clumsily draws close to this mountain covered in thin ice, hoping all her warmth can melt the loneliness deep in his eyes.

She thinks all that stands between them is one promise: to go see the sea they've long dreamed of.

"I always believed we had a long future ahead of us, but on the beach that day, you told me the sea has an end, and the sea breeze can be cast aside."

Content warning: a realistic, short high school story about an unrequited crush. No academic geniuses, no universally adored heroine, and no fast-paced wish fulfillment.