Love According to a Happiness Seeker

[Marriage before love | sweet romance | love grows with time | slow-burn tension | possessive love | both virgins]

A rational, restrained, outwardly practical but secretly dark and obsessive lover VS a freedom-loving optimist who believes in happiness

1

For Qiao Mingyu, a woman who is financially independent and mentally self-reliant, marriage is not a necessity, just a choice.

Unfortunately, her mother’s constant pressure to get married pushes her to the brink of a mental breakdown.

She decides to enter a sham marriage.

The perfect candidate is her high school classmate, Shao Jingyun: handsome, accomplished, and guaranteed not to fall for her.

As it happens, Shao Jingyun also needs a marriage, so they hit it off and become marriage partners.

When Mingyu wants a divorce

Shao Jingyun: “Is your reason for divorcing me that you’ve fallen in love with me?”

Qiao Mingyu: “Can’t I divorce you just because I’ve fallen in love with you?”

Shao Jingyun: “No. Qiao Mingyu, if you’re going to play with me, then see it through to the end.”

Qiao Mingyu: “Sorry, marriage isn’t part of my life plan.”

Shao Jingyun: “Dream on. I’d rather die than get divorced. You’ll never leave me.”

2

On an uncharted private island:

Qiao Mingyu: “Let me go, and I can pretend none of this ever happened.”

Shao Jingyun: “If I let you go, what does that make me?”

Qiao Mingyu: “A person.”

Shao Jingyun: “You’re wrong. Without you, I’m less than a dog.”

In a word: a love story like a home invasion.

This story follows the entire process of the male lead being driven from cool, restrained, and secretly in love to a deranged obsessive by the female lead.

Reading tips:

1. Both leads are virgins; set in a fictional world.

2. A somewhat awkward marriage-before-love romance.

3. Romance-focused, with angsty tension.

4. The characters’ values do not represent the author’s.