🐶 Cold-faced cutie manservant x flirtatious girl
#GirlChasesBoy / Second-Chance Romance / Height Difference / Dog-Training Romance
#School-to-City
Huo Ranzhou was born a favorite of the heavens. Everything had gone his way from childhood onward, and he'd never known what it was like to want something he couldn't have.
In his second year of high school, a buddy told him a girl he was close with wanted to meet him, and asked him to do him a favor and say yes.
That evening, Huo Ranzhou lounged on the sofa. Outside the window, the summer sky was fading into dusk, and the breeze billowed the sheer curtains. Everything was perfectly ordinary.
Then his phone buzzed. He glanced down and opened it, finding two messages from an unfamiliar profile:
-- You're really cute.
-- You'd make a good little dog of mine.
Huo Ranzhou stared at the screen for three seconds, scoffed, and tossed his phone aside.
His buddy gave an apologetic smile, but Huo Ranzhou didn't think much of it.
Until one ordinary day later on, when, for the first time, she didn't contact him all day.
That night, Huo Ranzhou stood alone by the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside was a pitch-black sky, and his reflection in the glass looked completely lost. He stared at their chat for a long time, typing and deleting for just as long, until he finally sent:
-- Busy today?
To his surprise, she replied instantly. His head buzzed, even though she had only sent two short messages.
-- Why?
-- Mad I didn't miss you?
The night outside was quiet. He could hear his heart pounding like a drum, racing as if it might burst. In a daze, he recalled his buddy saying she'd treated her past relationships like games and never taken them seriously.
The strange thing was, every guy she'd dumped still couldn't get over her, as if they'd been bewitched and hooked.
Back then, Huo Ranzhou had merely raised his eyelids lazily, thinking it had nothing to do with him.
But now, as he thought about it, his throat suddenly felt a little dry.
What could he do?
He closed his eyes, and all he could see was her face.
He missed her so much it hurt.
*
Years later, one night after a performance, Xiao Qing was heading home. As she came out from backstage after the show, a man grabbed her hand and pinned her against the door of the equipment room.
He had a pair of eyes that looked cold and unfeeling, but when he looked at her, his gaze was full of tenderness. He said nothing, only glared at her with red-rimmed eyes. In the next moment, their lips met in a desperate kiss.
Xiao Qing slapped him with her free hand.
Before she could say anything, Huo Ranzhou tucked the hand she'd slapped him with against his chest, rubbing and warming it as he rasped,
"Does it hurt? Why are your hands so cold?"
(2026.2.26)
●This story is also known as "A Tsundere Young Master's Guide to Taming"
[The powerful man lowering his head for love, going from "She's so annoying" to "Why isn't she talking to me?", is old news. Now we have a powerful man willingly becoming her dog.]
Reader's guide:
1. The ex-boyfriends are all minor characters and misunderstandings. The leads are each other's one and only.
2. The title comes from the English word "Balled," and the one-line blurb is from JJ's "Exchanging the Rest of My Life."
3. No real-life inspiration, entirely fictional. Some place names are based on real locations. No fact-checking, please.
4. Please don't accuse me of plagiarism without evidence. Let's discuss things civilly. I don't accept writing advice. Thanks for reading!
Theme: Growing up with purpose
