[Blurb]
Lin Yan has two wishes.
First, she hopes her dad will hurry back from his rural teaching post.
Second, she wishes she could keep a bird, though it's only a daydream.
On the eve of the new school year in her second year of high school, her dad came home. He also brought back a clean-cut, handsome boy.
Lin Yan took a closer look and realized he was Chi Yuan, her childhood playmate. He'd gone to the big city, so why was he back?
Her dad said, "From now on, you two should get along like siblings."
Lin Yan didn't think much of it. He could live his life, and she'd live hers. The two of them didn't seem to have anything to talk about unless they had to.
As time went by, she noticed something strange.
The way he looked at her reminded her of a thrush she'd kept as a child, tender and reluctant to let go.
Lin Yan seemed to like him quite a bit, too. In the end, she couldn't hold back and confessed.
But he didn't respond, so she just turned around and left.
After the college entrance exams, he disappeared without a word again, just as he had seven years ago. He never contacted her, treating her like a stranger.
Lin Yan was furious, but she didn't dwell on it for long. Who needs him, anyway?
*
The woods Lin Yan planted later attracted a whole flock of birds. One of them was named "Chi Yuan."
Until he said those words:
"I like you. I've always liked you."
*He, slow burn. Small-town youth x childhood friends. The heroine is outgoing; the hero's unrequited love leaves him wounded. The heroine has been in a relationship before; this is not a girl-chases-boy story. Bittersweetness marks the journey, while healing is the story's foundation and ending.
Theme: Love is giving you a forest where you can fly free.
