Stand by Me

- Winners of the signed-copy giveaway, please check the author's announcement below! [From campus to the city | Deliberate approach | One-on-one, rekindled love] Chen Yu has turned down every girl's confession since middle and high school, never stopping for anyone. After getting confessed to so many times, he found it tiresome, so he came up with a simple solution: he made up a childhood friend with long, straight black hair and a beauty mark beneath her eye. That way, the girls would give up on him. Until he realized that Lin Yuan, a first-year student, looked exactly like the childhood friend he'd invented, from her long hair to the little beauty mark at the corner of her eye. The coincidence was so bizarre that whenever Chen Yu saw her, he would pause to take another look. In everyone else's eyes, things quietly took on a different meaning. The untouchable Chen Yu seemed to really like his childhood friend, Lin Yuan. · Having been bullied at school, Lin Yuan was used to finding someone powerful to protect her. Before enrolling in university, she gathered all the information she could about the school. After sorting through it, she came up with two useful points: First, Chen Yu, known as the cold-faced King of Hell, was the likely choice for the new student council president at Huaijing University. Second, Chen Yu was arrogant and aloof. Rumor had it he had a childhood friend with a beauty mark whom nobody had ever seen. Lin Yuan made her decision: He would be her protector at her new school! Not long after Huaijing University began its semester, people suddenly noticed a pretty girl named Lin Yuan. Most notably, she had a little beauty mark at the corner of her eye, and even the red cord bracelet on her wrist matched the one Chen Yu had wrapped around his keychain. People also noticed that Chen Yu would gaze at her intently for a long time, even while eating, whenever she passed by. This has to be true childhood-sweetheart love, right? · To get close to Chen Yu, her new protector, she locked the music room door from the inside in an empty classroom on the top floor. Half-covering her top, she crossed her arms to show off her beautiful shoulder blades and asked, "Could you use my back for the single cover?" Chen Yu acted as if he hadn't heard her. His expression remained calm as he worked on a demo, but he suddenly grew irritable, and the piano keys gave off a dull, low note. If the most powerful person on the student council weren't him, but another guy, would she go this far to win his favor too? The thought made him inexplicably angry. She blinked her clear eyes, showing no sign of being startled, only confusion. "Lin Yuan, are you stupid? You even locked the door. Aren't you afraid I'll take advantage of you?" He looked over again, his gaze icy. His deep-set eyelid twitched twice. "Put your clothes on and go." *To Chen Yu, Lin Yuan was the moon of his life, his one and only moon. In the dead of night, beyond the reach of worldly distractions, pure and radiant. - Lin Yuan was the kind of girl who, once she'd made a choice, would stubbornly see it through and never turn back until she hit a wall. She was like that when she pursued him, full of reckless courage. Later, convinced she'd committed a terrible sin, she was just as resolute when she broke up with him. When they met again, the man who once protected her and stood up for her had become a smiling tiger, ruthless and merciless. Lin Yuan was an entertainer signed to his newly acquired company, temporarily assigned to look after her boss. She couldn't help reaching out to touch his brows and eyes. He suddenly grabbed her wrist. Chen Yu opened his eyes and looked at her, his lips curling in a half-smile. "What, now that you've seen there's no scar on my face, do you regret it?" "Miss Lin Yuan, it seems you really like this face of mine." · Everyone thought Chen Yu hated Lin Yuan with all his heart. Only he knew that he both hated her and loved her desperately. When he learned she was going to appear on a dating show with a male idol who looked thirty percent like him, Chen Yu nearly went mad and smashed everything in his office. That night, the lights suddenly went out in the recording venue's main hall. In the pitch darkness, Lin Yuan was still bewildered when a familiar presence enveloped her and pulled her into the stairwell beside them. He gripped her chin, his breath falling heavily against her. She kept her eyes and lips tightly shut, afraid someone would discover them. The man didn't care at all. His voice was low and hoarse. "Be good." Theme: Protecting yourself, being protected, and protecting him.