Burning Daylight

[Sweet-and-Sour Push and Pull | Clear-Headed Surrender | Broken Things Made Whole]

[Tsundere, Rational Cat Girl x Love-Brained, Tail-Wagging Dog Boy]

In her first year on the job, Lin Jin still couldn't get used to wearing high heels.

The night she met a business partner, she'd had a little to drink and was unsteady on her feet. The thin heel of her shoe got stuck in a crack between the paving stones.

A handsome man bent down and crouched in front of her, reaching out to hold her shoe.

Lin Jin froze as if she'd been hit with a spell.

After a while, Young Master Gu looked up and smiled. "Are you playing Red Light, Green Light with me?"

One, two, three...

Whoever fell first would lose everything.

-

Lin Jin had always been fiercely competitive. That drive had carried her out of the mountains and all the way to the big city.

But she stumbled only when it came to Gu Chengzhou.

He teased her like this time and again, yet somehow she could never bring herself to hate him. She blamed it on how effortlessly he handled everything, which made his sincerity seem lacking.

On a night of torrential rain, his gaze fell on the tip of her nose. She looked down, then up, and found herself meeting his kiss.

Their breathing and swallowing mingled. Her reason burned away to nothing, and even the heavy rain couldn't put it out.

Then, on the day they broke up, Lin Jin calmly wiped away his tears.

She suddenly realized that in this game of "Red Light, Green Light," she'd been the winner all along.

-

A year later, she was walking the streets of Manhattan when his call came through.

It was the middle of the night back home. Beneath the heavy darkness, his voice was hoarse:

"Are you doing okay?"

"I miss you so much."

*Both are each other's first and only love.

*Happy ending! They'll break up and get back together, but they love each other so much. ❤️

-----Next book: Cold Flame Reaction-----

At sixteen, Ji Lingzhou was adopted by the Ji family and inherited everything left behind by their daughter, who had died unexpectedly.

Including her "childhood betrothed."

Chen Zhiwang was courteous and attentive to Ji Lingzhou.

He stayed by her side and did everything a real couple would do.

Ji Lingzhou knew she had no reason to be dissatisfied. But in trying so hard to play someone else's part, she lost herself.

In the tenth year, she decided to leave it all behind.

Chen Zhiwang wouldn't care.

To him, this was nothing but a performance in self-deception.

-

Ji Lingzhou traveled far and wide with an archaeological team. Even when they reached an area without signal, someone still managed to find her.

Chen Zhiwang stuck to her like glue, covered in dust and sand, no longer his usual composed self. In the end, he fell ill and was hospitalized.

She didn't go to see his deathly pale face. "What are you doing here? We have nothing to do with each other anymore."

"Breaking up is something two people decide. I haven't agreed to it."

"Then agree to it."

"I came here to tell you I don't agree."

"Why can't you be reasonable?" She was exasperated. Breaking up was harder than getting a divorce.

"You're the one who's unreasonable!" He glared back at her, puffing up with anger. "She is her, and you are you. I've always known the difference. What gives you the right to condemn me without a hearing?"

If we're going to talk about reason...

That summer when you were eighteen, standing by the pool and washing each other's scent away, you said nothing and wouldn't even look at me. Did you really not have another man on your mind?

*Both are virgins | Happy ending

Theme: Grow like a tree