Tales from the Garden

In early summer of his second year of high school, Su Zhenian met a young man. The young man's name was Xia He, and he owned a flower shop called Encounter. Every morning, Su Zhenian watched him trim and arrange the flowers still beaded with dew. His lowered lashes, drooping in concentration, seemed to carry the fragrance of flowers and the freshness of dew. As for Su Zhenian, he was merely a server at a barbecue shop, steeped in greasy smoke and grime, utterly at odds with the shop's clean, fragrant atmosphere. He was like a traveler carrying secrets through the night, hiding the thoughts no one knew about deep in his heart. He didn't know that the other man had noticed his daily pauses outside the shop, his quiet concern, and his tentative attempts to draw closer. * Xia He first noticed Su Zhenian late one night. The flower shop was about to close. The helpless young man looked disheveled, his clothes soaked by the downpour, shivering and alone. He reminded Xia He of a stray cat he'd once helped on a rainy day. "Could you... take me in?" The young man raised his bright, glistening eyes, his gaze full of hope and longing. Xia He agreed. That night, he took him home. Later, they came to understand and cherish each other. Xia He never knew. He had been every morning Su Zhenian had treasured so deeply. - "I met you in my youth. You were like the warm sun, so close I could reach out and touch you." "Only later did I learn that, through the long years, we were destined to meet." - ● Mutual healing ● One of the Small-Town Boys series ● Always learning and trying to improve. Thank you for sticking with me. Theme: Face the future and pursue it bravely.