When Meng Ruo was sixteen, she went with her mother to another city to seek help from some distant relatives.
She heard that the family had a son, raised in privilege but wild at heart, arrogant and rebellious. He was a born star, adored by everyone around him.
He had countless admirers, all drawn to his unconventional ways and untamed spirit, yet no one had ever truly gotten close to him.
When they first met, Meng Ruo stood behind her mother and timidly called him "Brother."
At the top of the winding staircase, the boy lazily raised his eyes. His dark lashes cast shadows beneath them, and his tone was thoroughly impatient. "I have no interest in babysitting you."
But then, one late night...
Meng Ruo was cornered and harassed by thugs at the mouth of an alley. Just when she had nowhere left to turn, a warm hand closed around her wrist, and the boy pulled her behind him.
The night wind billowed his black T-shirt. He looked down at the thugs, pinning one beneath his foot. His jawline was sharp as a blade as he glared at them and warned, "Which one of you touched her?"
"Believe me, I'll kill you."
The wind swept up the dead leaves, and the fight came to an end.
Meng Ruo was badly shaken. She crouched in a corner with her knees hugged to her chest, her slender shoulders trembling in the cold.
A shadow suddenly fell over her. The boy asked, "Scared?"
She raised her eyes to meet his dark gaze, his cool presence filling her senses.
Zhou Xiran bent down and held out a hand. The veins along his forearm stood out as he spoke with a hint of helplessness:
"Scaredy-cat."
"I'll take you home."
The love of youth is like wild grass on an open plain: you can't burn it all away, and it grows back with the wind.
At a party, amid clinking glasses, a friend joked, "I hear Young Master Zhou has a little sister hidden away at home."
"Why don't you ever bring her out for us to meet?"
Zhou Xiran furrowed his brow, his gaze turning cold. "Say that again and I'll rip your mouth off."
The others chimed in, "As if Young Master Zhou would ever like that kind of girl."
Outside the door, Meng Ruo pressed her lips together and said nothing, her fingertips digging into her palm.
That same year, Zhou Xiran graduated and went abroad, bringing Meng Ruo's secret, unrequited love to an end.
-
When they met again, Zhou Xiran was still easygoing and carefree, perfectly at home amid a life of indulgence. A pretty girl with rosy lips and pearly teeth smiled as she drew close, while the crowd kept egging them on.
But Meng Ruo couldn't forget the past, and kept her distance from him.
After several rounds of drinks, the alcohol dulled his reason.
The corners of his eyes reddened. The girl's panicked attempt to get away was reflected in his glass. Zhou Xiran gave a self-mocking smile and murmured,
"You ungrateful thing."
"After all the years I spent raising you."
A little extra:
One day, Zhou Xiran's group of buddies realized they hadn't seen him in six months and went straight to his house.
The moment he opened the door, Young Master Zhou gave them a cold look. "Don't come looking for me again."
The next second, they watched their wild and rebellious friend turn around and pull the girl into his arms, his voice soft with apology. "Baby, don't be mad."
"You're the only type I like."
"Forget what they said before, okay?"
Everyone: "???"
[When I was first learning what it meant to fall in love, I met a boy. In the days when my world was dark, he was my moon.
Until one day, the moon came running to me., Meng Ruo's diary]
Cold, aloof bad boy × sweet, gentle girl
Unrelated by blood / Two-year age gap / Mutual pining becomes requited love / Healing each other
Theme: Live well
