Faking an Illness [Rekindling an Old Flame]

# A duplicitous, dark, lovesick and obsessive man x a steadfast, sunny woman with a strong core

# Rekindled love

# The husband chases his wife to win her back

# Over-the-top melodrama

In the second year of Xu Nixia and Cui Wenyi's marriage, she found a lipstick that wasn't hers in his car.

They had gone from school uniforms to wedding clothes, overcoming countless rumors and gossip, only to lose each other to the petty grind of everyday life.

It took Xu Nixia decades to stand by Cui Wenyi as he went from a pitiful boy anyone could bully to the young, famous Mr. Cui, feared and respected by all.

Holding the lipstick, Xu Nixia suddenly remembered the boy, full of youthful confidence in high school, resting his head against her neck and saying, "I wish it were just you and me in the whole world. Then I'd be the first, and the only one, connected to you."

But in reality, even at the height of their fights, they pressed their foreheads together just as they did when they were most in love, eyes red as they said, "I wish I'd never met you."

I hate that fate tied us together.

If this story goes on, all that's left is humiliation.

That day, Xu Nixia threw her wedding ring into the sea and calmly asked Cui Wenyi for a divorce over the phone.

*

Cui Wenyi didn't like his wife. If she hadn't happened to witness his lowest point and made a deliberate effort to help him, the two of them would never have ended up married.

Yet Xu Nixia loved him to the point of madness, as if the world could end that very day and her life would still have been worth living as long as she was with him.

She would never know how long he had to prepare himself mentally every time he held and kissed her.

He had never felt the slightest love for her. All he did was put on an act out of gratitude and pity.

So when Xu Nixia said, "I really regret meeting you," all he did was kiss her hard, forcefully shoving her words back into her mouth.

He wasn't trembling. Absolutely not.

He didn't care at all.

Even when she asked him for a divorce, he never believed that a woman who loved him to the point of madness would really leave him.

Maybe she was just upset because he'd been putting on a less convincing act lately. She was always getting mad and making a fuss. This was normal.

It was fine. He could pretend to love her a little more, more than he ever had before. He'd soothe her, and she'd be fine.

That is, until he found a diary in the deepest part of a cabinet in their marital home.

"Why hasn't Cui Wenyi recovered from his illness yet? Pretending to like him is so exhausting. I don't like him at all. The person I like is..."

His wife's handwriting hadn't changed since high school. He recognized it at a glance.

The most recent page clearly said, "Cui Wenyi has recovered. I can finally be free. Pretending to love someone I don't love at all is so exhausting. And the person I like has finally come back for me..."

Cui Wenyi crushed the diary in his fist. His eyes were red, and his body was trembling.

So she'd been cold to him lately because she'd found the love she truly wanted.

He put the diary away, shut the door, and finally went mad.

He was going to drag his wife back.

"Our love is a lie we deliberately fabricated and desperately kept alive." From The Faked Illness

*The lipstick is a misunderstanding. Both leads are sexually and romantically inexperienced.

*The male lead is crazy, extremely dark and obsessive, and extremely duplicitous. The female lead has always been sunny at heart. They will have a happy ending.

Theme: Sincerity is the ultimate weapon