When the Wind Stops, Don't

[Hot nerdy, lovestruck peacock of a cool guy vs. cheerful, seemingly well-behaved soft girl]

*Extremely long will-they-won't-they phase / pseudo-siblings (not officially related) / urban campus romance / secret crush*

1.

Feng Ting had always felt that her image as a well-behaved girl was already beyond repair.

Back in high school, she dated a delinquent, then forced a kiss on him. Afterward, she pursed her lips, unhappy that she hadn't tasted romance, and promptly broke up with him.

Her delinquent boyfriend covered his face with both hands and ran away, crying.

Later, after graduating from college and starting work, her childhood friend who had always been by her side proposed to her. Looking at her fiance's gentle, easygoing face, Feng Ting suddenly found him a stranger, so she broke up with him.

Her fiance buried his face in his hands and wept after the guests had left.

People in the marriage market had never seen such a morally bankrupt, "scummy" good girl, rotten to the core. They all treated her like a rat crossing the street, shouting for everyone to beat her.

2.

On that rainy night, little mouse Feng Ting had nowhere to go, so she crept into a big house. The man who lived there gave her a soft bed, clean clothes, and a familiar scent.

The scent of that man. Cool fir and a hint of mint.

The man told her this was her home.

Feng Ting nodded.

How could this not be her home? The owner of the big house was her older brother. He had once told her that what was his was hers.

Still, she and the man who had just returned from Germany hadn't seen each other in seven years, so things were bound to feel a little awkward.

Feng Ting decided to explain to him what had happened to the model good girl she used to be.

"I broke up with my delinquent boyfriend because of this and that. I think what we had was purely a friendship kind of love."

"I know."

"I broke up with my childhood-friend fiance because of this and that. I think what we had was purely a familial kind of love."

"I understand."

Feng Ting said gloomily, "Am I never going to meet the person fate has in store for me?"

The man smiled. "Maybe that person fate has in store for you is right in front of you."

Feng Ting nearly spat out her water.

The man before her was smiling in an utterly captivating way, staring straight at her with a gaze that seemed to steal her soul. He looked ready to devour her whole.

Feng Ting had never been a blockhead.

How many times had she fallen for him during those three years of high school? More than once or twice, that was for sure.

But back then, Mo Zhi did nothing but give her the cold shoulder. His tongue was as poisonous as ever, and every day he would bring over a huge stack of exam papers and put them in front of her. "Come to my room tonight. I'll explain the problems."

For a while, Feng Ting suspected that Mo Zhi really hated her.

3.

Mo Zhi really did hate Feng Ting.

He hated how she spent late nights on the phone with her delinquent boyfriend, holding hands and kissing. He hated how she and her childhood friend had such an ambiguous, intimate relationship. He hated how she automatically put on her well-behaved-girl act whenever she saw him, then called him "brother" in front of everyone.

They only lived under the same roof for a certain reason.

That one word, "brother," seemed to raise an invisible wall of forbidden ethics between them, leaving the secret stirrings in his heart to drift helplessly.

Mo Zhi hated that identity.

So he cast himself adrift, so he wandered, so he traveled far overseas, until at last he returned to her side.

He opened his arms and told her, "I'm here. What's mine is yours. Home is wherever you are. This is our home."

She lifted her head in his embrace. "Brother, do you want to date me?"

She looped her arms around his neck. "You know dating means doing that kind of thing. Do you want to do that kind of thing with me?"

Mo Zhi lowered his head. He was hard.

Feng Ting: Well, I guess my good-girl image is completely ruined now.

--

"We must strive to enter through the narrow gate."

#A touch of the bittersweet feelings of a boy's secret crush##What if the girl you like has always liked someone else#

[Happy ending, single-couple romance, slow-burn everyday life, not a strong female lead, little moments of growing up]

Note (content warnings): 1. The heroine will not become dependent on the hero, so there's no need to worry about her agency. 2. There are lots of campus scenes. The story isn't too unrealistic, though it does include some fictional elements. Most of it is about the heroine loving freely without realizing it, while the hero seems carefree but nurses a painfully bittersweet secret crush. It isn't frustrating at all, just very youthful. If that's not your thing, don't start reading. 3. On the normal timeline, the hero makes a direct pursuit of love, and his secret crush comes true.

Theme: Steal half a day's leisure from this fleeting life. Make the most of each happy day while it lasts~