Private Love, Year After Year

In high school, when Shang Yuan liked Chang Qin most, he pretended not to know.

Ten years later, they meet again at work. He is a parachuted-in CEO who keeps business and personal matters strictly separate; she is a rank-and-file employee focused on getting a promotion and a raise.

This time, it's her turn to pretend not to know he loves her.

After everyone has left, in the empty office where the lights flicker between bright and dim, Shang Yuan reminds Chang Qin to behave himself.

Beneath the neon lights, Chang Qin is as handsome as an evil god. His voice is laced with poison: "Labor law says that if you don't renew a contract when it expires, you have to pay compensation."

Shang Yuan goes pale. "What compensation?!"

"You!"

It has always been you, and only you.

He leans in, trapping her between the wall and his arms.

Lowering his head, he finally tastes her lips.

Just like the ice cream she offered him when they were six,

it's the only sweetness he's ever known.

I love you,

is something deeply personal.

Year after year,

without end.

Reader's guide: Office romance; mutual first loves; the heroine is focused on making money and has no interest in romance; the hero has emotional baggage and has lived a celibate life for half of his life.

Theme: Love makes people brave.