A Heartbeat on the Return Engagement

[New story, Spring Fog Kisses Me, is now underway!]

Blurb:

On the first day after Ran Xun returned to the country, she ran into the person she least wanted to see.

In a tiered lecture hall, the associate professor wore a spotless white suit. Her dark eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses fixed on Ran Xun, her expression distant and restrained.

Professor You was famously stern, an iceberg cold enough to kill.

Only Ran Xun knew that once the ice melted, the woman ran hotter than lava.

If only the woman hadn't suddenly admitted she was straight halfway through their relationship and dumped her...

*

The piano recital ended to thunderous applause.

Ran Xun left the stage and returned backstage, where she spotted a familiar figure waiting with a bouquet of pink roses.

"That was beautiful. Will you come back out for an encore?"

Ran Xun curled her lip in a mocking smile. "I will, but it'll be for my future girlfriend, not Professor You."

You Shuyu looked at her quietly and spoke in a soft voice:

"What if I became your girlfriend? Would that be all right?"

*

The year she graduated from university, You Shuyu rejected a girl who had pursued her relentlessly.

She said, "I'm not interested in women."

"I'm straight."

Ran Xun looked at her with reddened eyes. The sweet talk and playful flirtation that had always come so easily to her were gone.

Just yesterday, they'd held hands on a date at the aquarium.

It turned out that the whole thing had only been a "date" in Ran Xun's imagination.

The girl threw the bouquet she'd hidden behind her back into the trash and left the country, never to be heard from again.

And that same day, You Shuyu came down with a lovesickness that trapped her in a mire she could never escape. She could never forget Ran Xun.

Later, fortune smiled on her. She was reunited with the gifted young pianist who had returned from abroad, and at last she could reach that tender light buried deep in her heart once more.

But the light was utterly stingy with her, refusing to give her even a trace of warmth.

You Shuyu wanted to melt the layers of defenses Ran Xun had built up against her alone.

After the encore, she would finally fall.

Female pianist x university professor

Rekindled love, with a little bit of the pursuer's penance.

Also known as Encore Heartbeat and The Straight Girl's Cover-Up Comes Undone

Coming soon: Spring Fog Kisses Me

Blurb:

Qi Yizhi fell for someone she shouldn't have.

Because that person was her older sister's girlfriend, otherwise known as her sister-in-law.

But they'd broken up a week ago.

So, nothing beats dumplings, and nothing's more fun than...

*

Cen Xi had been short on inspiration lately, especially after breaking up with Qi Man. Her thoughts had grown increasingly tangled and chaotic.

A friend suggested she put down her paintbrush and try something different. One night, she even took Cen Xi to a private bar to help her find someone new. Cen Xi wasn't in the mood, so she sat in a corner and drank alone.

As she grew a little tipsy, someone sat down across from her.

The girl's words were sweet, and her alluring eyes seemed full of affection. She was like a little fox. Somehow, she lured Cen Xi into a car and then through a hotel-room door.

Everything was wonderful.

If only the person beside her when she woke up the next day hadn't been the sister-in-law she'd once shared a meal with at home.

Cen Xi: :)

*

Unexpectedly, once wasn't enough. There was a second time, then a third.

Qi Yizhi adjusted the exam light. Her naturally beguiling eyes curved slightly, softening the clinical restraint of her white coat.

She looked down at the cool, beautiful woman in the dental chair, who was frowning because of her wisdom tooth. Her gloved hand brushed the lips she'd kissed just the night before, and her voice carried a smile:

"Ms. Cen, open your mouth."

*

Everyone in the department said Dr. Qi was glowing and must be in a relationship, but she stubbornly denied it.

Until one day, the City Art Museum opened Cen Xi's solo exhibition. Someone saw Dr. Qi with her arms around a cool beauty, sharing a tender kiss in front of Spring Fog.

After the kiss, the beauty's cheeks flushed. "You're being reckless."

Qi Yizhi blinked her enticing, watery fox eyes. "But Spring Fog is kissing me!"

Foxlike doctor x cool painter

Younger woman, same-sex marriage is legal.

-She kissed me, and the cold front melted into spring fog.-

Theme: Cherish reunions and rewrite regrets.