Sorry to Keep You Waiting

Fang Tong, an obstetrician at the Third Municipal Hospital, had been dating his boyfriend for ten years when the man cheated on him.

The other woman showed up at his clinic with a baby bump.

Ha! So much for his supposed skin aversion and lifelong devotion to a platonic relationship. Turns out it was only with Fang Tong?

Fang Tong packed up and left without hesitation. Just downstairs, he ran into his scumbag ex's older half-brother, Pei Xuyan, a neurosurgery prodigy who had just been parachuted into their hospital.

He raised an eyebrow. "Here to plead your brother's case?"

The other man shook his head. "I'm here to help you move."

Everyone at the hospital said the new head of neurosurgery was meticulous and considerate, but Fang Tong hadn't expected him to be this thoughtful. They barely knew each other, and Fang Tong had even suspected he disliked him because he was homophobic.

As the sky began to lighten, Fang Tong caught the lingering smell of disinfectant on Pei Xuyan. He must have come straight over after a night shift. His heart softened, and he decided not to blame the family for the brother's sins. He smiled politely. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Pei Xuyan took the luggage and nodded. "It wasn't long."

From spring to winter, a mere ten years.

-

Pei Zhaohua regretted breaking up with his boyfriend.

There was no shortage of pretty young things he could beckon over, but Fang Tong was the only one who was attentive, shared his interests, and asked for nothing in return.

On yet another late night, dead drunk and in agony from a stomachache, he finally couldn't stop himself from showing up at Fang Tong's door, hoping to beg for a little mercy.

But the person who opened the door in a bathrobe was his older brother, Pei Xuyan. Deep red marks streaked across his broad chest... Had a stray cat scratched him?!

The man he'd looked up to ever since childhood said nothing. He just gave Pei Zhaohua a cold look, then slammed the door right into the tip of his nose...

The next day, footage of the washed-up top-tier star Pei Zhaohua being hauled away by paramedics in floods of tears hit the trending searches.

Everyone was saying he had a terminal illness and probably didn't have long to live.

-

(The pretending-to-be) earnest bottom x (the genuinely) nurturing top

~ Two doctors, a short romance-focused writing exercise, around 200,000 words

~ The ex-boyfriend was in a platonic relationship; both are virgins; one-on-one romance, happy ending

~ The cover features a character design of Fang Tong, illustrated by the artist Xiaohongshu account @ThinkingAboutWhatToEat

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Have a look at my upcoming novel, "The Chubby Beauty's Cha Chaan Teng [The 1980s]"

[Potential-star, explosive beauty bottom x possessive, obsessive, aloof top student top]

Song Can, a glutton who was stuffing himself on livestream, collapsed amid a flood of comments saying, "Have another bowl!"

When he opened his eyes again, the sky was a brilliant blue, and the booming disco music from the record shop on the corner filled his ears.

He had returned to the late 1980s, the darkest period of his life.

His father had passed away, he had failed the college entrance exam, he weighed nearly 180 kilos, and even the little snack shop his family depended on was being driven out of business by the competition.

In his previous life, he had fallen apart. He had even returned that burning love letter, and when the unexpected came, Shen Che had closed his eyes forever with all his unspoken love still inside him.

Staring at the face in the mirror, so swollen with fat that it was hard to look at, Song Can slapped himself hard.

Given a second life, he could go to hell with his inferiority complex! He never wanted to be that coward hiding in the shadows again.

He saved his dad, kicked his rotten relatives to the curb, and shed all that weight. Song Can was completely transformed.

Taking the apron from his mom, he turned their inconspicuous roadside stall into the hottest cha chaan teng in the city.

Their pineapple buns with butter were in short supply, their pantyhose milk tea brought in a fortune every day, and even the city's richest man had to queue for a taste.

As life got better and better, Song Can stood in the sunshine and stopped Shen Che's bicycle.

"Um, I've been thinking, and being gay is pretty trendy... Can I have my love letter back?"

-

Shen Che was famous at school as an untouchable beauty: rational and aloof, as if he had been born to solve those difficult math problems.

Nobody knew what darkness and obsession lurked beneath that flawless exterior.

Song Can was his only connection to this noisy, everyday world.

He remembered every word Song Can had ever said, and every cold detail of the way Song Can had rejected his confession.

But it didn't matter. He had bought plane tickets and brought a can of cola laced with sleeping pills. He planned to trick this timid little pig onto the plane and take him to a foreign country, where he would keep him locked by his side forever.

Who could have guessed that the stunning beauty, now thin as a lightning bolt, would reach out to stop him just to ask for his love letter?

~ Mutual doting, childhood friends, mutual secret crushes, both virgins, happy ending

-

Try these completed novels from my profile:

"Plans Have Changed, Prepare to Ascend the Throne"

"After Three Hundred Years of Cultivation, I Was Struck by Lightning Back to Earth to Open a Gourmet B&B"

"Captain Yan's Canary Has Gained Sentience"

"Dear Anatomy Instructor"

"What's Not to Love About a Delicate Beauty?"

"The Cat-Eyed Little Omega and His Sharp-Tongued Big Shot"

Theme: Perseverance is the most precious quality.