[Rekindled romance | Reunion after years apart | Tension and push-pull | The heroine isn’t a virgin; the hero is | Happy ending]
Xi Tong firmly believed in meritocracy.
She competed for the little red flower in kindergarten, fought for the top spot on her report card in middle school, and battled for GPA, credits, and a postgraduate recommendation in college.
She fought tooth and nail to make her way from a small city in the southwest to Victoria Harbour, glittering with neon lights.
Layoffs and a breakup came one after the other. Xi Tong was so dispirited she wanted to end it all.
Standing at the top of Victoria Peak and looking down, at the prosperous, dazzling city lights, she suddenly thought of the orange trees back home.
The hills were blanketed in orange, stretching as far as the eye could see.
The wind at her ear stirred up a memory: a desperate, hoarse question, asked through choked sobs. “Xi Tong, don’t you want me anymore?”
At eighteen, Xi Tong had been adamant. All she wanted was to climb higher.
At twenty-five, looking back on the unremarkable first half of her life, Xi Tong felt a little regret, far too late.
-
Shen Jieqing had told many lies.
Spontaneous ones, reluctant ones, well-intentioned ones, and self-deceptions.
They all had one thing in common: Xi Tong.
Xi Tong, whom he’d loved in secret for two years, dated for two months, and lost for seven years.
At twenty, Shen Jieqing was young and headstrong. He thought forgetting and moving on were easy. It took countless nights when he needed medication to fall asleep for him to realize how different she was.
Shen Jieqing thought he ought to hate her. Only with that feeling in his heart could he keep from praying over and over whenever he thought of her, begging Heaven to bring her back to his side, no matter the cost.
