A chase-your-girl-then-regret-it story. A woman who loves boldly and hates boldly x a man who holds himself above everyone. Happy ending.
In the late summer of 2006, the cicadas were so noisy they seemed ready to split the sky open.
When Xu Yuan fell from the stairway landing, Lin Zhengying happened to be passing by. She toppled right into his arms, her cheeks flushed and her heart pounding as if it might fly out of her chest.
“How can you be so careless?”
He steadied her and smiled as he tapped her on the nose.
In her eighth year living at the Lin family's home, Xu Yuan blocked him on every platform and flew alone to Edinburgh without leaving so much as a word.
The cabin lights were dim, but her eyes shone like someone who'd finally pulled out a tooth that had been loose for ages. It hurt, but it felt good.
At the same moment, Lin Zhengying leaned against the window and looked toward a thin strip of white on the horizon. Incense smoke curled around him as he crushed his cigarette between his fingers.
Hah, that little lunatic.
What kind of romance could there be between brother and sister?
Go, then. It's better that she's gone.
At the time, Lin Zhengying was twenty-six, his company had just gone public, and success was going to his head. He still had no idea what it meant to suffer from separation.
They met again three years later.
On Victoria Street in late autumn, the wind sent fallen leaves skittering past their feet. Xu Yuan came around the corner, holding the arm of the man beside her as she smiled and lowered her head to straighten her scarf.
Lin Zhengying stood waiting for someone beneath a streetlamp, his hands in his pockets.
Through the shifting shadows,
Their eyes met.
Xu Yuan's lashes trembled. Instinctively, she turned her face away, clutched the man's sleeve, and hurried to walk around him. But a hand blocked her path.
The howling wind blew down her collar, cold to the bone. Lin Zhengying managed a strained smile. “You heartless little thing. After all this time, you can't even call me brother?”
--I will warm your heart, the one you thought had died, and bring it back to life.
A few things to know:
1. Seven-year age gap; she was fostered by his family.
2. Angsty romance. The heroine has a romantic history abroad.
Theme: I want us to be together.
