In March, kapok flowers blaze red along the school paths, vivid and passionate, like the unspoken flutter in a young heart.
Su Yanzhi's high school years were one long, quiet crush. From several rows away, she watched Lu Chiheng of the basketball team, remembering the way he ran and his bright, hearty laugh. She tucked kapok petals into her notebooks and secretly sealed away all her feelings.
He was a dazzling, flamboyant light. She was the quiet girl watching the flowers beneath the trees. Her feelings were like the kapok: burning brightly, yet never spoken aloud.
Monthly exams, dusk, falling petals, the wind on the basketball court: the clumsiest attempts at getting closer in youth, and the confession that was never made. When the kapok bloomed again and graduation drew near, the girl finally understood that even without an ending, this crush that had blossomed on its own had already become an indelible mark on her youth.
Theme: A true unrequited love isn't a melodramatic regret, but something quiet, profound, and complete in its own way. You feel passionately, tread carefully, fall for them again and again, then rein yourself in, all while the other person remains unaware. Your feelings never intrude on anyone else's life, yet they make your youth all the richer.
