Out of Line

[Complete! I'll polish it later, and only take responsibility for the authorized edition!]

[My next book is Full Marks for Flirting, please add it to your collection]

The day Xiang Wan first met Chen Jingyao, it had just rained in the capital.

The man wore a black, high-collared shirt. His figure was cast beneath a dim yellow wall lamp as he leaned lazily against the window frame.

Someone beside him lit a cigarette for him. He didn't even bend down, simply letting the other person try again and again as the wind blew.

Her boyfriend was all obsequious politeness toward him.

Xiang Wan remembered Chen Jingyao's indifferent expression, his narrow eyes distant and listless. The first thing he said to her was, “Hello, Miss Xiang.”

The night she witnessed her boyfriend cheating on her, Xiang Wan happened to run into Chen Jingyao again.

The lights in the private room were dim that night. Chen Jingyao sat in the seat of honor and didn't look at her.

Though Xiang Wan knew he was dangerous and cold-hearted, she still reached out and caught his sleeve as he passed.

-

At first, Xiang Wan was no more than a fragile dodder flower to Chen Jingyao. In the end, things became so absurd that neither of them knew who had fallen first.

When Xiang Wan prepared to walk away, Chen Jingyao curled his fingers slightly and pressed them against her neck.

He threatened her in a low voice. “Xiang Wan, you won't get a second chance.”

“If I catch you doing it again, I'll kill you.”

Later, when Xiang Wan returned to the capital, she always went out of her way to avoid Chen Jingyao.

One rainy night, at the entrance to a dark stairwell, she saw the man leaning against the peeling wall. He walked toward her, one step at a time.

“Is it really that hard to give in to me?”

The capital's powerful young heir x the cool, reserved reporter

He bows his head for love, despite their difference in status

Reading Guide:

- Both leads are unrelated, mature adults; one-on-one romance, happy ending

- Dramatic, old-school angst

- The characters' values do not represent the author's. If it's not your thing, please stop reading. Be kind to one another, and may everyone find a story they love.

Forthcoming novel Full Marks for Flirting, blurb below

Long-planned pursuit / seven-year age gap / marriage before love

On the night of the Beginning of Summer.

The hallway breeze blew the door shut. The room was dark, with only two sets of breathing to be heard, one deep and one shallow.

Chi Mu lowered her head, a shadow looming over her as she struggled to breathe. She suddenly looked up and met a gaze that was both familiar and strange.

Shen Zeyu leaned against the wall in a relaxed pose, watching her. “Aren't you going to greet me?”

Chi Mu heard a relative calling for him in the hallway.

But he ignored them completely, smiling as he waited for her answer.

Chi Mu glanced at the door. Before the knock came, she called out, “Third Brother.”

Shen Zeyu chuckled without replying, slightly raising his eyelids.

She gave in and softly corrected herself. “Husband.”

Satisfied, he said, “Why are you panicking? The door's locked.”

-

To Chi Mu, Shen Zeyu was an untouchable beauty on a high peak. He took over the family business at a young age, born to stand at the very top of the power ladder.

Chi Mu, meanwhile, was a fallen princess taken in by the Shen family.

To outsiders, Chi Mu and Shen Zeyu seemed distant. They lived under the same roof, yet barely even greeted each other.

No one knew that beneath the apparent distance they showed in public, they shared a bed every night.

Chi Mu still remembered that snowy day when she crouched in a corner of the hospital.

Her reddened eyes gave away the last trace of her feelings. Just as her legs went numb and she could no longer stand, a pair of hands reached out to support her.

Shen Zeyu lowered his gaze and asked her, “Do you hate them?”

Chi Mu's lips twitched, and the redness in her eyes deepened.

But he smiled, his expression gentle and refined, his tone cool and commanding. “Chi Mu, will you come with me?”

Chi Mu had thought he was acting on a whim.

She never expected that he had been waiting for this day for a long time.

*One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's first, sweet love story

*The leads are not related by blood and are not registered in the same household

Theme: Love and redemption