A Heart Against the Southern Wall

[Please add my upcoming story, He Was Just Passing By, to your reading list. Blurb below.]

"I guess Peter Pan was right, growing up is a waste of time."

--Peter Pan Was Right

--Growing up is a waste of time.

--Before meeting Shen Xing Ye, Lin Xi thought so too.

Shen Xing Ye is perfect-looking and recognized by both teachers and students as the school's top academic genius. The teachers adore him, and his classmates admire him. Lin Xi was lucky enough to become his friend during high school.

Everyone else wrote wishes for a bright future in Shen Xing Ye's graduation book. Lin Xi was the only one who sincerely wrote, "I wish you good health." Shen Xing Ye had a terrible cold at the time and looked listless.

If she could, Lin Xi wished the young man could always remain vibrant and spirited, like the blazing sun overhead, the vast desert, or the untamed wind.

A girl chose to confess her feelings to Shen Xing Ye, but he politely and calmly turned her down. Lin Xi felt a little pleased, then thought herself despicable for feeling that way.

When Shen Xing Ye jokingly asked, "Lin Xi, do you like me?"

The wind brushed through their hair. Lin Xi smiled and replied, "Shen Xing Ye, your hair's a mess."

"Is it?"

Lin Xi fell silent, so Shen Xing Ye took it as confirmation that she didn't like him.

But he didn't know that Lin Xi was simply timid and cowardly. In her eyes, friends lasted far longer than lovers.

"I'm the one who's a mess." That was what she never said.

*World-weary sweetheart vs. cool, earnest guy

Things to Know Before Reading:

1. Both leads are each other's first and only partner; happy ending.

2. The leads aren't perfect, and they have feelings for each other.

3. From school to the city. No intimacy before adulthood. A slow-burn, everyday story in the early chapters, set under the old college entrance exam system.

Note: The line about messy hair is from Haruki Murakami. The first line comes from the English song Peter Pan Was Right.

Blurb for the upcoming story He Was Just Passing By:

☆ Both leads are each other's first and only partner / unconventional mutual pining / reunion after a long separation / intense romantic tension

☆ Tsundere actress vs. heir to a wealthy family

At yet another year-end event she couldn't turn down, Cheng Fanxin watched the show onstage, somewhat distracted.

A tall, long-legged man suddenly appeared in her line of sight. Cheng Fanxin immediately lowered her head nervously and looked at the floor.

A moment later, the man's long legs disappeared from her view.

Only then did Cheng Fanxin breathe a sigh of relief and raise her head.

But the moment she looked up, he was sitting across from her.

Their eyes met. Cheng Fanxin hurriedly forced a smile, and the man coolly turned his gaze away.

In the shifting lights, another smiling actress sat beside him, and the two seemed to be chatting happily.

Theme: What you need to do is keep working steadily toward one goal.