Let’s Not Be Friends

Bai Muxi had been in love with Shen Tong, who was three years older than her, since she was a teenager. They were very close back then, close enough to make it easy to mistake their relationship for mutual love. It was hard to hide a young person's feelings, and Bai Muxi struggled to keep hers under wraps, until almost everyone knew. At last, on the night before Shen Tong graduated from college, she summoned all her courage and confessed to the woman she loved: "I really like you." Then the beautiful face Bai Muxi had admired for so many years filled with unmistakable confusion. She heard Shen Tong answer evasively, "...If you mean as a friend, I like you too." No more needed to be said. They were both adults. For the first time in her life, Bai Muxi fled from Shen Tong, escaping the humiliating wreckage of her first love. Fine, then. They'll be friends. That's what Bai Muxi thought after running away for years. She'd find a way to move on. They'd known each other for so long, after all. Being friends had to be better than never speaking again. Years later, the idol singer, back from studying abroad, was cornered in a backstage lounge by a nationally acclaimed actress. Bai Muxi's heart was nearly dead, and she spoke politely. "...Miss Shen, we can talk things out as friends..." Then she saw Shen Tong, who had always been as gentle and cool as the moon in her memories, looking pale, her voice trembling as she stubbornly repeated, "You said you liked me. Does that not count anymore?" *Showbiz setting, actress x singer (only background, no career plot), younger gong, happy ending *You could probably call it a second-chance romance *Note: This is pure romance, and the leads don't get together until very late. In matters of the heart, one is self-deceiving and impulsive, while the other is possessive and socially clueless. The story is mostly full of the awkward push-and-pull the author likes, so read with care. See my completed novels, How I Turned a Romance Novel into a Girls' Love Story and My Junior Sister and I Don't Talk Romance, on my profile. ----Coming Soon: After Reincarnating into My Own Cringey ABO Novel---- Zhuang Chi transmigrates into an ABO world. That's not much of a problem; wherever you are, you have to get on with life. But when she steps onto a university campus again, Zhuang Chi stares at the five glittering gold characters above the gate: "Saint Blaiston." Memories from long ago surge back all at once. This isn't an ordinary ABO world at all. It's the setting of the very first novel she wrote back when she was young and clueless! The female lead, who will arrive at the school the same year as her, is an Omega loved by everyone: beautiful, rich, and intelligent. Her hair isn't rainbow-colored, and her tears don't turn into pearls, but her pheromones have no fixed scent. Everyone smells their own favorite scent when they catch a whiff of her. Zhuang Chi: ...If I have to live in this embarrassing relic of my past, just hurry up and stab me already. But she can't bring herself to do it, so, not yet having presented, Zhuang Chi can only struggle to avoid the plot full of holes and keep her distance from the heroine as much as possible. The whole world thinks her heroine is the most perfect person alive. Only Zhuang Chi knows that she gave her heroine the most popular character trait of the time: sweet on the outside, sinister within. The heroine looks pure and harmless, but since every Alpha's pheromones smell absolutely disgusting to her, she hates Alphas. By the end of the story, she will become the one in power and drastically lower the social status of Alphas. Zhuang Chi was thrilled while writing her character back then, but in real life, the heroine is a dangerous person who hides her true nature. For the sake of her future, Zhuang Chi prays day and night that she won't present as an Alpha. Her greatest wish is to become a Beta and live a quiet, peaceful life. But fate has other plans. Zhuang Chi already thinks she's unlucky enough to present as an Alpha, but things get even worse when she's cornered in a room right after her presentation. Her heroine, Yun Danfengqing, calmly tells her, "You might not believe this, but this world is a novel, and we're all characters in it." Zhuang Chi gasps in shock. Gu Ximian looks at her with eyes so stunning they take your breath away, and smiles gently. "I think you might be the Alpha the author made my destined partner." Zhuang Chi: ... Huh? Theme: Your fate is in your own hands.