I Heard We're Not Close

[The next novel, A Trap [Marriage First, Love Later], is now available. Visit my author page to find it. Thanks for adding it to your collection!]

[Coming soon: Please Don't Run Away from Home, a marriage-first, love-later romance about two mature adults. The blurb is below.]

Sweet childhood friend, sunny girl x cold, double-standard childhood friend

Ji Chujing never expected that the person she had been searching for was right by her side.

She misses her friend’s wedding, only to be told that she already sent a wedding gift.

Her friend excitedly asks, “What’s going on between you and Yu Xiao?!”

Yu Xiao, CEO of Zhuoyi and the famously godlike figure at her husband’s school.

The man who disappeared for several days shows up in front of her again.

Ji Chujing tells her friend, “We’re not close. We’re just colleagues. He’s my boss.”

Later, on a business trip, Ji Chujing angrily straightens her tie and challenges Yu Xiao: “Mr. Yu, I don’t think I’m in charge of your personal schedule, am I?”

The next second, Yu Xiao pins her in front of a full-length mirror. She watches his Adam’s apple bob as the cool mirror presses against her back.

Yu Xiao gives a low laugh. “I heard we’re not close?”

Afterward, her beautiful Windsor knot is back to how it was before.

-

Recently, a ring has appeared on Mr. Yu’s left ring finger, and he’s acting differently too.

At the company’s annual party, someone finally dares to ask, “Mr. Yu, is that a wedding ring?”

Yu Xiao looks across the room. Someone is hiding behind the crowd, stuffing their face with fruit.

“It is.”

The room erupts.

Then, during Truth or Dare, Ji Chujing gets picked.

“Either let Mr. Yu give you a princess carry, or drink!”

Remembering their argument the night before, Ji Chujing grits her teeth and picks up a “Depth Charge,” ready to down it in one go.

The next second, someone presses down on her glass. Before she can react, she’s already in Yu Xiao’s arms.

She hears Yu Xiao sigh softly by her ear:

“Don’t be mad anymore. I was wrong.”

◎ Childhood friends, choosing each other

◎ Updates every night at nine

----------Blurb for Please Don't Run Away from Home----------

1. Wen Pan, a newcomer in the entertainment industry, hits her peak as soon as she debuts, winning multiple awards.

Aside from acting, Wen Pan turns down every job, whether it puts her in front of a camera or not.

She says she’s not interested and doesn’t need the money. She won’t even bother making excuses.

Beautiful, talented, and gifted, she becomes a thorn in many people’s sides.

Some people privately curse her for acting like a diva, lacking professional ethics, and promoting all kinds of bad influences.

No matter how vicious their insults get, Wen Pan never responds.

Everyone in the industry tries to dig up the powerful backer behind Wen Pan, until photos from a private banquet surface.

In the photos, Wen Pan gets into an unfamiliar car.

Rumors say the car belongs to Mr. Chen of Beicheng Entertainment.

When someone actually asks Wen Pan if the rumor is true, she answers frankly, “It is. But I was the one who approached him first.”

Everyone understands. No wonder she gets such good roles: she’s got a powerful company like Beicheng Entertainment backing her.

At that banquet, Wen Pan stands gracefully in front of Chen Zhou. “Mr. Chen, may I ask your wife for a dance?”

The dance is tender, and they’re so close it makes everyone jealous.

But as they whisper intimately, Wen Pan smiles seductively and murmurs a threat: “Chen Zhou, that role is mine.”

The music ends. A large hand slides down to her waist, and warm breath brushes her ear.

Chen Zhou laughs softly. “Wen Pan, if it weren’t for that, would you have gone on ignoring me forever?”

And so Wen Pan ends her longest “runaway from home” that night, and goes home with Chen Zhou.

2. Before Wen Pan became an award-winning actress, she was an award-winning glass artist.

When she wanted to fulfill her childhood dream, her father stopped her.

“Our family has been a family of scholars for generations. If you want to enter the entertainment industry, you have to agree to two conditions.”

So Wen Pan became Mrs. Chen and changed her name.

Luckily, she still has her studio. Every time she and Chen Zhou argue, she runs off to the mountains to blow glass.

*

Everyone is still gossiping about the wealthy Chen family of Beicheng and their family drama, assuming Chen Zhou has fallen out of love with Wen Pan, when an interviewer asks Chen Zhou about his New Year’s wish.

Chen Zhou adjusts his gold-rimmed glasses and smiles helplessly. “I hope that the next time my wife and I argue, she won’t run off to her studio to blow glass again. The mountain roads are hard to travel, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to catch up with her when I’m old.”

The reporter is stunned and blurts out, “You have a wife?”

“Yuan Shan Liu Li. Your magazine used her work on its last cover.”

Everyone is astonished, then suddenly realizes that Wen Pan is the real winner in life!

○ A tough woman starved for love x a calculating childhood friend

○ They’re both stubborn to the core, but of course Chen Zhou is the first to give in

Theme: Be sincere with one another