When the second year of high school began, Xu Zhixia was moved to the seat behind Shen Yan, the top student in their grade.
She had been in love with him for a long time, ever since he handed her a dark blue umbrella in the rain during their first year. Every time she lingered in front of the rankings, every scrap of paper covered in his drafts that she tucked into her books, she thought no one knew about her feelings.
Until one evening during self-study, Shen Yan slid over a sheet of paper filled with problem-solving steps.
It held just one sentence:
“You do know how. You just started with the wrong first step.”
Later, they faced the college entrance exams together, went through a long-distance relationship at university, searched for jobs after graduation, endured career lows, misunderstandings, cold wars, and a brief separation. Xu Zhixia finally learned not to hide her feelings behind her insecurities, and Shen Yan learned that silence was not a way to protect someone.
From sitting across a desk to walking side by side into the rest of their lives.
It turned out that even the slowest echo of youth could reach them in the height of summer.
