Late Spring

The wind in late spring always carries warmth, along with the melancholy of an ending.

The love between Lin Zhiyou and Shen Yanci began in late spring when they were young. Blossoms drifted through the air, and plane-tree fluff covered the whole street. Their young hearts stirred, pure and ardent. They thought they would make it through their awkward years and head together toward all the springs still to come, turning the romance of late spring into a lifetime spent side by side.

But the adult world is about more than love. Family pressure, the strain of reality, and misunderstandings left unspoken brought their relationship to an abrupt end in another late spring. There were no bitter arguments, only a silent farewell. In the season when the flowers were in full bloom, they went their separate ways. Five years passed before they met again.

In the years since, spring came and went in the city.

When they met again, it was once more late spring.

Lin Zhiyou had left behind the recklessness of youth and tucked away her tender heart. She was gentle with others, but had built up a thick wall around herself. Shen Yanci had made a name for himself in his career. Cool and taciturn, he still carried years of unresolved regret in his eyes.

When old lovers reunited, their buried feelings rekindled. They still cared for each other, but the scars of the past remained vivid. The reasons behind what had happened began to emerge, yet the time they'd wasted and the pain they'd suffered had already carved deep grooves in their hearts.

Late spring came around each year, and the flowers bloomed right on time.

But the two people who had once stood side by side to admire them could never return to where they'd started. Spring was beautiful in every way, but it could never fill the years they'd lost. Some love blossoms in late spring, only to wither there in the end.

They met in late spring, and their love bloomed fiercely.

They parted in late spring, and from then on they watched each other from afar in a sea of people.

Five years flew by. Another spring drew to a close.

After years apart, their hearts still raced, but the scars would not fade.

The truth came far too late, and time could not be turned back.

The flowers bloom on time year after year, but the old lovers can no longer share the spring.