Shen Yuan was a bird born in the mountains.
Chen Yu was a fish bound for the sea.
They were never meant to meet.
Until one rain-soaked night, a lost photographer knocked on the door of a mountain guesthouse.
Chen Yu stood beneath the eaves, drenched from head to toe, with night mist clinging to his shoulders.
He stayed for seven days, teaching Shen Yuan to see the mountains from a drone's-eye view. She took Chen Yu into the ancestral hall and told him an ancient, tragic love story.
At the edge of a cliff, he took the only portrait photograph of his life. Later, he exhibited it at his photography show under the title "A Yuan."
After that
The bird fell in love with the traveler who told stories of the sea, and the fish became enchanted by the soul who guarded the mountains.
He gave up the aurora season he'd booked in Norway, while she turned down a lucrative job offer that would have taken her away from the mountains.
They loved each other across time zones, sharing sunrises from opposite ends of a screen, yet never managing to step into the same tomorrow.
He said, "Move to the coast. I'll take care of you."
She only smiled and asked in return, "What about my mountains?"
And so they argued and parted, each taking root, branching out, and growing on opposite sides of the world.
Until five years later
They met again beneath the spotlights at an ecology forum.
His camera captured a coral coast in recovery; in her hands was a now fully established forest conservation plan.
Their two presentations were like two long letters to each other that had never been sent.
It turned out true love never requires anyone to break their wings. The meeting of bird and fish had never been a mistake.
When two souls destined to be different love each other deeply
If their paths are different, they can carve out a third path together.
