Toward the Stars

[Complete. The print edition is now available. For details, see @Yi Shui Shisan]

The day before Xie Xunxing was released from the medical pod, Jiang Ling stood outside it, working up the courage to sign to him, stumbling over her words:

"Brother Xunxing, you have to stay healthy and live to be a hundred."

The young man had cool, distant eyes and features. He sat beside the hospital bed, quiet as a painting.

The moment their eyes met, Jiang Ling fled.

-

Eight years later, the young man who had just won the highest award in astronomy stepped down from the stage amid a sea of admiring gazes, then disappeared from the venue.

Leaning against the doorway of the medical team's waiting room, he casually hooked a finger into the back of the young woman's collar and leaned close to her ear with a muffled laugh. "You don't know me, hmm?"

"Nan Nan, how could your brother live to be a hundred without you?"

-

No one knew that after Jiang Ling left that day, Xie Xunxing had slowly walked up to the glass window and reverently kissed the spot where the girl's shadow had fallen.

His eyes lowered halfway. Looking through the transparent glass, he silently mouthed:

"Okay."

-

The galaxy is vast. I only wish for you to shine forever.

-Terminally ill genius boy x sensitive, mute girl

-Mutual pining / Reunited after years apart / Healing each other / Happy ending / One true pairing / Updates at dawn

-Both leads will recover from their illnesses

Theme: Never give up hope, no matter what