An Unofficial Romance

"Cross-cultural Romance" "Size Difference" "Off-the-Charts Chemistry"

During Tang Yao's first month on assignment in Moscow, the company held a team-building event at a live-fire shooting range.

At the range, a colleague excitedly gossiped with him. “Did you see that instructor? My god, his body is incredible. It looks like his abs are about to burst through his shirt.”

Tang Yao glanced over, then awkwardly looked away, stammering, “I-it's all right, I guess.”

Still, maybe his shirt shouldn't burst…

After all, the man had been so rough with him last night that Tang Yao couldn't help biting him several times. The marks were scattered all over, every one of them a clear imprint of his teeth.

How embarrassing.

=A=!

After an unexpected encounter with Kirill, Tang Yao decided they were very compatible in bed. Their sizes weren't quite a match, but the man was gentle and patient, and had never once hurt him.

It was nearly noon by the time Tang Yao crawled out from under the covers. Before he was fully awake, he felt the man holding him, an arm around his waist, feeding him water one sip at a time.

After a couple of sips, Tang Yao slid down and pressed right against the man's chest, his face squished against those warm, firm pecs.

He mumbled a couple of incoherent words and tried to go back to sleep, but the man scooped him up and told him he had to eat.

Kirill frowned. “You're still so thin. Once we're married and you move in with me, I'll make sure you put on some weight.”

Tang Yao had just woken up, and only caught a few words through his haze. “Who's getting married? Kirill, are you dating someone?”

That wasn't good. There had to be rules for a friends-with-benefits arrangement. If Kirill really was dating someone, then Tang Yao would have to…

Suddenly, someone gripped his chin. Tang Yao was forced fully awake, meeting the man's eyes. Those usually gentle blue eyes had darkened, as though a storm were gathering in them.

“Baby, you'd better be joking.”

*The bottom thinks it's just a friends-with-benefits arrangement, while the top thinks they're dating

*Sleepy little sweetheart and her hunky husband

*Both are virgins, happy ending

*Sweet, sweet, sweet

*An alternate modern setting, with extensive fictional worldbuilding. Please don't relate it to real-world elements. No politics or war.

Recommending my friend's lovely novel!

"The Elder Brother Takes His Younger Brother's Wife" by Rong Que

Yu Shuzhen x Nie Chuntang

Shuzhen's father died in battle.

His father had served under Uncle Nie, and after his death, Shuzhen was raised in Uncle Nie's home. Their families had arranged a marriage, and the Nie family had two sons.

Nie Xiangwen was the same age as Shuzhen. They met and became close when they were three.

Shuzhen studied alongside him and went overseas with him. Uncle Nie said that when they returned from their studies, they would marry, and Shuzhen would become his wife. That would fulfill the promise Shuzhen's father had entrusted to him.

Shuzhen blushed at those words. Xiangwen took his hand and leaned close to his ear. “Is Little Shu blushing again?”

But after the two had been overseas for just a year, Uncle Nie died unexpectedly. Nie Xiangwen returned to China and met an untimely death. Shuzhen was both Xiangwen's surviving partner and his bride-to-be.

At the funeral, Shuzhen clutched a photograph of Xiangwen, his eyes red. When the Nie family called him a bringer of bad luck, eldest brother Nie Chuntang stroked his hair. “Don't be afraid. Big Brother is here.”

Nie Chuntang was ten years older than Shuzhen. He had carried Shuzhen when he was little, and they had grown up under the same roof. As heir to the family, Nie Chuntang became its patriarch after Uncle Nie's death, ruling with absolute authority.

Nie Chuntang said, “Shuzhen, Father wanted you to marry into the family, and before Xiangwen died, he hoped you'd become one of the Nie family too. The engagement was arranged long ago. You'll have to put up with a sham marriage to me, so they can rest easy in the afterlife.”

Shuzhen's lashes trembled faintly. After his fiance died, he married into the family as the eldest brother's wife.

Shuzhen's friend asked if Big Brother treated him well.

Shuzhen said he treated him extremely well.

Nie Chuntang had often carried him and soothed him to sleep when he was a child. They had spent less time together as adults, but Big Brother was a gentle, courteous elder who kept to the old rules. He had been good to Shuzhen after their marriage, too.

They were only pretending to be married.

Of course, Shuzhen was the only one who thought so.

After the wedding, Nie Chuntang often sat alone in the ancestral hall.

The servants said the brothers had been close, and that the eldest young master missed his younger brother.

Nie Chuntang sat in a wooden chair in the ancestral hall, savoring white tea as incense smoke and steam curled through the air. The man curved his lips into a smile. “Little brother, if you can hear me from the afterlife, bless Shuzhen with a child soon. Otherwise, he'll never forget you.”

“Consider it repayment for letting you die quickly.”

Nie Chuntang had raised Shuzhen from childhood and watched him and Xiangwen fall deeply in love. They had loved each other in a world full of people, while Nie Chuntang could only watch helplessly as the head of the family.

But now, Shuzhen was his wife.

A year later, Nie Xiangwen miraculously survived and finally returned to the home he had longed for.

But all he saw was Shuzhen with a swollen belly, and his elder brother glaring at him darkly.

-

An elder brother takes his younger brother's wife, ten-year age gap.

An innocent kitten, pure as fresh paper, in every way x a fake gentleman who's rotten to the core

The top really is awful, and the bottom really is innocent.

A little raising-as-he-grows-up, one-on-one, pregnancy and childbirth, no intersex characters.

(The blurb is still rough; details may be revised.)

Theme: Love can overcome anything.