Tender Longing

1.

When Zhang Xuedi was eighteen, her father brought home a refined gentleman.

His strikingly handsome face alone was enough to easily win the hearts of countless women. And that was before he even began his deliberate, painstaking seduction.

His gentleness, the flirtation, everything was a scheme: a plan to make her fall for him, then abandon her.

It wasn't long before she fell for his feigned tenderness. She gave him everything, without holding back, body and soul.

Then the world turned upside down. He showed her his true face: a sharp tongue, bared fangs, dangerous and cold. Only then did she realize that the rose everyone had pursued, the one she'd spent two years picking at, had ultimately proven impossible to win.

The day she left him, a torrential rainstorm swept through.

He stood in the distance beneath an umbrella, silently watching her walk into the airport, his eyes bloodshot.

He'd once thought he was the biggest winner in their game. He never imagined he'd be the one who fell the deepest.

2.

They met again two years later, when she reappeared before him. She was young and beautiful, seemingly unchanged, except that her eyes no longer held any love for him.

The graceful young woman had grown into someone poised and polished, the center of attention at the banquet. Her pale shoulders were bare in the air until a stranger draped his coat over them. She looked up into his eyes and smiled, tender and affectionate.

At the sight, Song Zhihao's gaze darkened. After a brief silence, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the banquet. He didn't want to admit that jealousy was driving him nearly mad.

Because in his memories, every one of her smiles and frowns had belonged to him alone.

In the stairwell, the man turned and stared at her. His voice was icy. "You've gotten pretty bold, haven't you?"

She pulled free and gave a cold laugh, refusing even to look him in the eye. "I have Mr. Song to thank for that."

Then the man's tightly furrowed brow relaxed. He didn't dare keep pushing her away, and his voice softened. "It was my fault. I'll change."

"Will you come back to me?"

* The ex begs for her back / 8-year age gap / A scheming sweetheart who's an expert at acting cute x A refined scoundrel who's always even more cunning than she is

* Blurb revised and screenshotted on 2020.08.07

Theme: Move on from the shadows and look to the future.