Your Partner's Great, but You're Mine

Zeng Qingfeng had spent ten years in investment banking. By the day she resigned, she had eight figures in her bank account.

When a colleague asked where she was going, she said, "To wander."

If you can't find me.

She added the words silently, then bought a ticket to Rome.

The last message Ye Shuyu had posted was two years ago.

A post on her social media feed.

A church dome, scaffolding, a hand holding a very fine brush, touching up a fleck of gold leaf on an angel's wing.

One line beneath it: Today, I restored a little light.

After two years, was she still surrounded by light?

She hoped not.

Ye Shuyu was the person Zeng Qingfeng had been most afraid to touch throughout high school and college. They were best friends, or so everyone else thought.

Zeng Qingfeng knew that wasn't true. It had just taken her ten years to admit it. Admitting it took strength. She was getting older, she thought, and didn't have much strength left.

But she also hoped Ye Shuyu was still there.

In Rome, everything was a relic, everything was a ruin. It seemed as if Ye Shuyu was everywhere, and yet nowhere.

Ten years ago, Ye Shuyu had said Rome was a city built on ruins.

Ten years later, Zeng Qingfeng stood amid the ruins she had created herself.

Then she found her.

Ariccia, a little Baroque church. Inside the cordon, someone stood on the scaffolding, wearing white work clothes, a mask, and protective goggles. A single shaft of light slipped through the dome's only window and fell on her. She was restoring a fold in the robe of one of the Twelve Apostles.

Zeng Qingfeng gazed up at her for a long time. A worker beside her assumed she was a devout tourist.

She wasn't. She had simply recognized those hands, that profile, and that voice.

She hadn't known her memory had been honed so well by investment banking. Even after ten years, even through a crowd, she could recognize Ye Shuyu at a glance. The woman on the scaffolding put down her brush, took off her mask, and climbed down.

Sunlight cut through the space. Dust motes danced in the light.

She turned around.

Ten years.

I'm here to steal you away.

Reader's Guide

Investment banker: high-IQ, brooding, and dominant x aloof beauty: art conservator

The bottom's current partner is a problem. The top is going to win her back. Please don't read if that's not for you.

Theme: You only live once, so be happy.