“You have He Yue. You wouldn’t understand!”
“What do you mean, I have He Yue?” Xia Yan asked, bewildered. She turned to He Yue beside her. “See? We need to keep our distance.”
He Yue smiled. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Xia Yan: “...”
“Senior, it’s not right to keep He Yue waiting like this!”
Hearing that, Xia Yan thought back over everything that had happened: the casual touches neither of them even noticed, the unspoken understanding of how the other felt, their friends’ hints... There had been so much.
How could she have been so clueless and made him wait so long?
“He Yue, I like you!” Xia Yan was the first to say how she felt.
He Yue had waited and waited. Now he pulled her into his arms, and they would remember this moment forever.
“He Yue, you acted so well. I actually believed you.” Xia Yan tugged at his sleeve.
“I wasn’t acting...” he said softly, speaking words that broke her heart.
“...What?”
“The breakup wasn’t an act.”
He would rather die than break up with her.
There’s no melodramatic chase to win her back. They only part for a while, until she stops treating love as the most important thing in life, until she gets into her dream school, until he outgrows his youthful pride and truly matures, until he’s able to love her as she deserves...
“He Yue!” Xia Yan ran into his arms, and they held each other tightly.
Now, they could hold on to each other’s hands.
College life was new and wonderful, but it was hard, too.
Xia Yan and He Yue were separated by a great distance: an entire Atlantic Ocean and a six-hour time difference.
He was always crossing half the world to see her, cooking her a meal, taking her shopping... They shared quiet embraces and lingering kisses.
They got married when Xia Yan graduated with her master’s degree. There was no grand ceremony, just flowers covering the mountainside.
