Ke Yiyin x Wu Zhounan
Superstitious finance guy x materialist architect
[You can't escape the fact that we're destined to be together. Being entangled with you is simply science.]
Short blurb:
Wu Zhounan and Ke Yiyin spent exactly twenty-one days together in Tokyo.
People say it takes twenty-one days to form a habit. Wu Zhounan wondered whether love counted as one.
Full blurb:
1 - First meeting
Wu Zhounan developed a crush on a man who said his name was Ke Yiyin, that he lived in Hong Kong, and that he worked in finance.
Wu Zhounan sized him up. Weren't finance guys all supposed to wear Patagonia, Rolexes, and talk about deals worth hundreds of millions? So why was this artsy guy here, looking stylish in a simple white shirt and wearing strings of beads and rings all over his hands?
In a quiet corner of a party packed with people, the two chatted animatedly, moving from Fitzgerald to Dazai Osamu. Wu Zhounan was so swept up in the dopamine rush that she could hardly bear to go home.
She thought he felt the same.
When the party ended, Ke Yiyin casually hailed a taxi and drove off.
"Taxis in Japan are so expensive..."
Her friend's wistful comment was all that remained in the evening breeze.
2 - Making the journey
Never mind. Thinking it over, they weren't suited for each other anyway.
They came from two different worlds. Wu Zhounan worked in Tokyo and lived a steady, predictable life. Ke Yiyin was just visiting Tokyo, free to come and go as he pleased. Wu Zhounan believed in science; Ke Yiyin was deeply superstitious. Wu Zhounan came from an ordinary family, while one of Ke Yiyin's friends could casually lend him a place to stay, a luxury apartment in Azabudai.
Ke Yiyin returned to Hong Kong, but the two kept chatting. One night, Wu Zhounan hugged her phone and talked with him until late, then fell asleep with a vague hope in her heart. To her surprise, she received a message from him first thing the next morning.
Ke Yiyin: "Hey, guess where I am?"
Wu Zhounan: "?"
Ke Yiyin: "I'm in Tokyo."
Wu Zhounan admitted that her heart skipped a beat the moment she saw the message.
But he wouldn't move to Tokyo, because a fortune-teller had told him Japan was where his luck would turn sour. Really, really sour.
3 - Lies
Still, it was only a brief summer fling. Why worry about forever?
When the time came to say goodbye, Wu Zhounan thought their relationship would end quietly, without either of them needing to say a word.
But Ke Yiyin said, "I'm planning to move to Tokyo."
Wu Zhounan was surprised. "You like Tokyo that much? You're not listening to the fortune-teller anymore?"
Ke Yiyin: "It's not Tokyo I like. It's you."
His unremarkable confession sent an earthquake through Wu Zhounan's heart and drew her into a beautiful dream.
Until the day her lie was exposed, and it all vanished into thin air.
Ke Yiyin remained uncannily calm, the corner of his mouth twisting into a self-mocking smile. "I moved to Tokyo for you, and you treated me like a friend with benefits?"
"Well, not exactly..." Before she could finish, Ke Yiyin cut her off:
"Wu Zhounan, you're a love con artist."
The blurb may be revised later.
Theme: Follow your heart
