Bringing Down the Swimming World's Ice Queen [Swimming]

"Tough, reserved, and warm-hearted woman x Avoidant swimming heartthrob with a broad build"

Lighthearted and witty | Mutual pining comes true | Second chance romance | The untouchable beauty comes down from her pedestal

That summer, Jiang Yukuo pulled Ying Qingci's drowning younger brother from the water. Droplets slid down his shoulders and fell into her heart.

He was a rising star in swimming, a moon she could never reach.

She awkwardly pursued him, and he gently turned her down. Until one drunken night, she pounced on him in his sleep, only to pull back at the last moment and watch him lose control.

She had pulled the moon down from the sky.

Then his family suffered a sudden upheaval, and during a ski trip she'd planned, an accident ended his career. When the doctor said he would never swim again, he looked at her coldly. "Let's break up. This is all your fault."

She left for Country M and became a rookie at Wade's company. She grew rapidly through sheer stubbornness, but resented how he favored another intern. On Christmas Eve, she made a sarcastic jab at him and gave him a balance-scale ornament.

Wade held the ornament and laughed in exasperation.

Years later, they met again at a celebration banquet. Jiang Yukuo was now a rising business star. Seeing her standing beside her former star teammate, he cornered her. "I knew it. You still only like champions."

She smiled brilliantly. "That's right. Who would still pine for a useless man who gave up on himself?"

He leaned in close. "Is that so? Then who was it back then, pursuing me, a useless man, until the whole department knew?"

She fell out with Wade and returned to her home country, joining Jiang Yukuo's company. As she went head-to-head with her mentor Wade in business, he simply smiled and said, "She's my finest work."

Jiang Yukuo was green with jealousy. "All these years, when you were in the mood, was he the one who took care of you?"

"You're insane." She turned her head. "If all you want is to be regular fuck buddies, I could... Hey!"

He said coldly, "Isn't that how fuck buddies do it, getting straight to the point?"

*

[Bonus Scene]

Jiang Yupan woke up from his nap in a daze and shuffled into the living room in his slippers for a drink of water. Half-asleep, he heard muffled noises coming from his older brother's room.

Rubbing his eyes, he crept up to the half-open door and saw his brother lying flat on the bed, slowly rising and falling, as if doing core exercises.

He was just about to push open the door and ask what he was working out when Jiang Yukuo suddenly turned his head.

His Adam's apple bobbed, his eyes dark yet bright. He held one finger to his lips, signaling for Jiang Yupan to be quiet, close the door, and disappear at once.

Jiang Yupan froze, then took a confused half-step back, only to bump into something with his heel.

He looked down and saw a white sneaker, the kind Ying Qingci often wore, lying at the entrance to his brother's bedroom.

He glanced at the shoe rack by the door. The other one was there.

He understood at once. His ears and neck turned bright red, and he fled in an awkward, stiff-legged scramble.

*

Please Read Before Starting: (Neither lead is based on a real person.)

1. The male lead is warm on the outside and cold on the inside, an air sign. He's sociable but deeply detached inside, a warm breeze to everyone, though in private he wears a sour expression. His family comes before himself, and he's highly responsible. He has always misunderstood the female lead as being attracted to his status rather than genuinely loving him.

2. The female lead is cold on the outside and warm on the inside, an earth sign. She's not sociable, but would go through fire and water for a true friend. A little insecure and shy, she becomes especially brave and willing to risk everything when she finds true love. This is a story of growth, as she gradually becomes an independent, capable woman.

3. The leads are each other's only partners. They're both a little awkward in their own ways and neither is perfect, but they will gradually learn to get along.

[Blurb written on 2025.11.18]

Theme: Love is seeing and being seen