At seventeen, the reserved and slow-to-react Jiang Yun experienced what it meant to "like someone" for the first time. A loner who quietly grew mushrooms in the corner, she had startlingly bold taste in her first crush: she fell for Qin Yuxiu, the gentle and handsome rich kid who was the school's dream guy.
Jiang Yun told herself that so many people liked him, so what difference would one more make? Comfortably ensconced in her unrequited love, she carried on until one day a new neighbor moved in across the hall.
From that day on, Jiang Yun learned two things.
First, Qin Yuxiu wasn't a rich kid.
Second, Qin Yuxiu wasn't gentle at all.
One day, at twenty-seven, a colleague at a variety-show shoot nudged Jiang Yun and pointed at the male celebrity onstage, eyes shining. "He looks even better in person than he does on screen, and he's so gentle! No wonder he's been your idol for so many years!"
Jiang Yun said nothing, only smiled and nodded.
The show wrapped up, and it was nearly midnight when she got home. She opened the door, and the man on the sofa looked up at her, his handsome face expressionless.
He watched in silence as she packed her things. At last, his cool expression cracked, and a sneer tugged at his lips. "Since you're the one saying we should break up, don't come begging me to get back together later."
After all these years, Jiang Yun still hadn't learned how to argue. Standing in front of Qin Yuxiu with her suitcase in hand, she could only manage, after a long pause, "Take care."
-
During the first week after the breakup, Qin Yuxiu was perfectly at ease. Jiang Yun had clung to his side for ten years, like a piece of gum that could never be scraped off. He calmly waited for the day she'd come crawling back.
During the second week, Qin Yuxiu began to suffer from insomnia. Whenever he'd sulked and given her the silent treatment before, she always came to make up within two days. Why hadn't she contacted him yet?
During the third week, Qin Yuxiu finally ran out of patience. Furious, he went to Jiang Yun and demanded to know if she'd finally had enough of her tantrum.
She simply looked at him quietly, her voice as gentle as ever. "Didn't we already break up?"
Looking into her calm, confused eyes, Qin Yuxiu felt, for the first time, the terror of being about to lose something.
In that moment, he finally realized
This time, things seemed completely different from what he'd imagined.
[Reader's Guide]
* Emotionally steady working woman x beautiful, temperamental male celebrity
* Childhood friends in a way
* A slow, painful pursuit of the ex, and perhaps not a typical wish-fulfillment romance
Theme: Love yourself before loving others.
