Negative Space

This story was originally titled White Dew from This Night On

[Dewdrop butterfly x butterfly hunter]

Cheng Lu and Shen Shibai enter a marriage of convenience, each seeking something from the other.

Before agreeing to the marriage, she had just ended a three-year relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

Shen Shibai is a rising star in business, young, capable, steady, and composed.

The man has refined, scholarly features. He favors tailored suits, is always immaculate, and carries himself with an air of aristocratic restraint.

At the wedding, he follows tradition and kisses the bride, the gesture as courteous and fleeting as a dragonfly skimming the water.

After the wedding, just before they part, Cheng Lu lifts the neatly pressed tie on his chest and leaves a vivid lipstick mark on it, whether intentionally or not.

Her eyes shimmer with laughter. "Mr. Shen, I look forward to working with you."

Two years before the wedding, Shen Shibai began building a rose estate on the outskirts of the city.

It was completed in time for their wedding, and the media naturally described it as a love nest he had lovingly built for Cheng Lu.

In reality, Cheng Lu never went back after the wedding day.

If she hadn't suddenly felt like visiting one day, she might never have seen it before their contract ended: the tie with her lipstick mark was now kept in Shen Shibai's bedroom. Who knew how many secret nights it had witnessed his desire surging and crying out?

By now, nobody remembers that in high school Shen Shibai was poor, quiet, and always alone. In the eyes of Cheng Lu, the heiress who was adored by everyone, he didn't even have a name. He was just "the top student."

[Every seeming coincidence is part of his carefully laid plans]

Theme: Love is a gift