Summer's Healing

[Currently writing ahead. Please add it to your reading list!]

[Mutual pining, school life in the first half, working life in the second half]

[Sunny but depressed male lead x cool female lead] [Second half: devoted dog x queen]

1.

Yu Ning first realized she liked Xia Lan on a sunny afternoon.

In the art room, where white statues stood on display.

The boy was lying on the windowsill, waiting for her to come back. With nothing else to do, he chattered away to her from the window until he was so sleepy he fell asleep.

The afternoon sun shone down. The boy napped like a cat beside the pot of white marguerites on the windowsill.

Her heart skipped a beat in that instant.

By the time she came to her senses, Xia Lan had already stepped into her painting, right there beneath her brush.

2.

Yu Ning had forgotten the day she fell in love with Xia Lan.

But she never forgot

The day she began to hate him.

That day,

when she defended her love at all costs, when she was willing to be shattered to pieces, Xia Lan chose to give up.

“Even if we part, I'll love you forever.”

“Even if we can't be together, I'll love you forever.”

“Even if you hate me, I'll still... love you forever.”

On the day they broke up, Xia Lan held her hand and said those words. Looking at the red-eyed boy before her, Yu Ning coldly pulled her hand away.

Years later, when they met again, he was still keeping his promise, loving her as steadfastly as ever, even though they had parted, even though they weren't together, even though he had buried this love with his own hands back then.

“But I don't love you anymore, Xia Lan,” Yu Ning said calmly.

The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the gauze curtains.

Xia Lan silently held her from behind, saying nothing for a long time.

“I love you,” he murmured.

“After you left me alone that day, I stopped loving you,” Yu Ning said coolly.

“I love you.”

“Let go, Xia Lan.”

Xia Lan held her tightly from behind. His arms never loosened, but his voice was hoarse and bitter. “I love you, Yu Ning.”

3.

Yu Ning had grown tired of the Yu family's gilded cage.

Unlike Xia Lan, who smiled at everyone every day, Yu Ning had only ever smiled for him.

Once, in the warmth of his healing smile,

just looking at him was enough to make her smile along with him.

What Yu Ning didn't know, however, was that this sunny boy, who seemed to smile every day as if he had no worries, had given her every tear he would ever shed in his life.

Xia Lan had only ever cried for one person.

1. Two timelines run in parallel: school days and the present.

2. Happy ending.

Theme: To be added later