Light a Cigarette

[Reunion after years apart | Older man, both each other's first | Sweet romance | 11-year age gap]

[Sensitive, gentle, and sweet × Warm and restrained]

After being rejected by a man her family had set her up with, Zuo Qing walked along the school grounds and lit a cigarette. Just as she was questioning herself, she happened to run into Shen Yi, a friend of her older brother.

Their first words after reuniting weren't “Long time no see.”

Instead, he said, “You shouldn't smoke in public.”

Eleven years ago, when she was eleven, she said those words to him when he was twenty-two.

Eleven years later, when he was thirty-three, he said them to her when she was twenty-two.

As time passed, the two began seeing more of each other.

After dinner one evening, Shen Yi walked her back to school. Beneath the girls' dormitory, he asked softly:

“Can I light your cigarette for you?”

(Can I love you?)

Zuo Qing looked up with a smile and replied:

“Sure. Let's light one together.”

(Yes. Let's be together.)

At last, the falling leaves fulfilled their longing.

That leaf had drifted for eleven years, and at last landed in her palm.

Only later did Zuo Qing learn

that their reunion after so long had never been a coincidence.

He had crossed eleven years to come to her.