Xie Shoumo had few family ties and little luck in love throughout his life. Then he met Chen Jianqing, and she made everything fall into place.
They once sat embracing at the peak of Mount Taiping for an entire night.
They also kissed 33 times on the Central waterfront Ferris wheel.
They were like any ordinary couple, doing all the most romantic things in the world.
And like every couple in love, they parted at the very moment they loved each other most.
*
The day Chen Jianqing left Harbor City, a magnificent fireworks display lit up Victoria Harbour in broad daylight.
She never knew that a man stood by the harbor for an entire day and night.
Too afraid to ask which flight she was on, he watched every plane leave the city.
Rekindled romance, both leads are virgins and have never been with anyone else.
The setting is inspired by Hong Kong, but please don't compare it to reality. Some details are purely fictional.
The author's other novel, Mr. Huo, What Now?, will be starting soon. Add it to your library if you're interested.
Synopsis:
Everyone in their circle knew that Huo Yanting had a little princess he cherished above all else.
When Li Qining fell ill at sixteen, Huo Yanting canceled an international meeting and stayed by her bedside for three days and nights. When she casually said she wanted chestnut cake from Nan City, he drove there himself at four in the morning to buy it. She was afraid of the dark, so every night he told her stories until she fell asleep. He did that for almost ten years.
Even when she was drunk and coyly asked him for the stars, he set off fireworks across the sky in the suburbs that very night. Holding her on a rooftop, he said in his deep voice, "I can't pluck the stars, so make do with this."
His friends privately asked him, "Huo Yanting, you spoil her like this. Do you really think of her as your little sister?"
He lit a cigarette and lowered his eyes. "Her mother asked me to look after her. I've watched her grow up. If I don't spoil her, who will?"
Everyone believed him, and even he was almost convinced.
Only Li Qining treasured each of his kindnesses, saving them up until her twentieth birthday, when she prepared a gift: a confession she'd kept hidden for ten years.
Wearing the princess dress he'd chosen for her, she stood outside his room holding a bouquet of blue roses. Then she heard his casual voice from inside: "Ningning? No way. She's only suited to be my little sister, not my lover."
The light spilling through the crack in the door suddenly seemed blinding.
From that day on, Huo Yanting noticed that his little princess seemed to have changed.
She started refusing to let him into her room, stopped letting him hold her hand, and began posting photos with other men on her social media...
That night, he smashed his phone and called her familiar number with red-rimmed eyes. "Li Qining, getting a little too bold, aren't you?"
"Brother Yanting, he's just a friend."
His knuckles turned white, and his voice trembled. "...Who the hell wants to be your brother?"
Thematic message: Face setbacks with courage.
