Avoiding Ambiguity

After six months of no contact, they meet again in a foreign country. Xu Zhiyan loses her passport at the airport, so flustered that even breathing feels painful. Then her ex-girlfriend appears like a miracle, speaking French for her, finding someone to help, and piecing her world back together for her Except when those gentle eyes turn her way, they look as unfamiliar as if they were meeting for the first time. And standing beside her is a flamboyant, fiery “companion.” So Xu Zhiyan wraps herself up in English, a fake name, and one “I don’t know you” after another. The Seine, the Louvre, a café on the corner, She refuses to mention home, their breakup, or the name on the page that was torn out. But as Jiang Nianhe spends more and more time with her, she finds herself falling for her again and again, feeling that familiar tug So familiar that she starts to wonder if she’s treating the woman in front of her as a stand-in for her ex. In the little notebook where she records people’s faces and preferences, the only missing page is the one for “Xu Zhiyan.” From campus to Paris, from breaking up to meeting again, You once pushed me back into the friend zone, so let’s “get to know each other again.” This time, you can chase me, and I’ll calmly watch you lose control. Reader’s guide: · Warm, sunny older woman with social anxiety and a notebook for remembering faces x cool, aloof younger woman who holds back but knows how to flirt · Reunion abroad / hidden identity / the push and pull of familiarity / a long road to winning her back