She drew an entire book of love letters, but he thought she was playing hard to get.
Xu Yue is a talkative illustrator. Around Huai Yi, she talks even more: cracking bad jokes, complaining about clients, and rambling about what she ate that day. It feels as though, as long as she keeps talking, she'll stay vivid in his eyes for a little while longer.
Huai Yi is a partner at a top venture capital firm, accustomed to weighing and valuing everything, including her.
During their two-year secret relationship, she drew three hundred fridge magnets for him, remembered that he took his Americano without sugar, and stayed up all night by his side when he was ill. She thought it was love.
Until she brought him her published original picture book, Holly the Hedgehog, as if presenting him with a heartfelt gift. Her eyes were red, but her back was straight. "Huai Yi, this book is for you. You can refuse it, but don't say I was putting on an act for you."
He frowned and spoke in the tone he used to evaluate a failed project. "Xu Yue, don't you think it's childish to test my limits with this kind of playing-hard-to-get act?"
She didn't cry. She only smiled. "I'm sorry, Mr. Huai. I overstepped."
Then she tore up all her drawings, cut her hair short, and vanished without a trace.
Three years later, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Xu Yue stood at her solo retrospective, short-haired and dressed in a black suit, explaining her artistic vision in French, radiant with brilliance. Huai Yi stood in the back row, watching her with red-rimmed eyes.
He cornered her in the restroom. "Yueyue, I was wrong."
She was as calm as if he were a stranger. "Mr. Huai, my love had a shelf life. Yours has expired."
Theme: Love is equality, not valuation
