This is a story that happens slowly.
"I" am used to understanding the world as data, probabilities and trend lines, and believe that all relationships have costs and will end. She is restrained and sober, and rarely approaches others proactively, because she is better at retreating in advance than losing.
Until one day, an almost stranger sent her a message: "Are you there?"
That person spoke very softly, his mood was very light, not enthusiastic, and not eager to get close. They started with sporadic conversations, talking about work, the weather, and some seemingly insignificant details. There was no clear beginning, no deliberate ambiguity, but a quiet pull slowly emerged in the gaps of daily life.
This is a story about approaching and withdrawing.
About how two people who are not very good at relying on each other can learn to slow down little by little so that each other can keep up.
There is no dramatic plot, no dramatic twists, but more conversations at night, streets on rainy days, brief moments in the tram, and those spoken and unspoken words.
Some feelings don't happen suddenly.
But one day, you suddenly find that you no longer calculate when to leave.
"Outlier" is a novel about reason and tenderness, distance and intimacy.
It's also a story about "walking slower, maybe we won't get separated".
Intent: In an era where we are used to calculating gains and losses, love is the courage to stop calculating.