Never Forget

[The blurb is from the top's point of view. The story itself is mainly from the bottom's.]

At a birthday party, Zhou Yizhe saw his former lover, Luo Yuming.

Luo Yuming was no longer as clear-eyed and carefree as before. He looked at Zhou Yizhe with hesitation and confusion, his voice trembling as he said, "A-Zhe."

After a brief stunned pause, Zhou Yizhe wrapped his arms tightly around Luo Yuming, whom he'd broken up with three years ago, and refused to let go.

Three years earlier, Luo Yuming had gotten into an accident after Zhou Yizhe broke up with him. By the time Zhou Yizhe rushed to his side, Luo Yuming had completely forgotten him.

Watching Luo Yuming smile freely beside someone else, Zhou Yizhe could only leave in silence.

Now Luo Yuming's memories had gone awry again.

He remembered all the happiness he'd shared with Zhou Yizhe, but had forgotten the ugly way their relationship ended.

Their passion rekindled. In borrowed space and stolen time, Zhou Yizhe cautiously began dreaming of putting their broken relationship back together.

His friend was worried. "He could regain his memories at any time. When he does, you'll lose him for the second time. You got him back, only to lose him again. Can you bear that?"

Zhou Yizhe knew he couldn't.

If he lost Luo Yuming again, he might go mad.

But for this beautiful illusion of getting him back, he was willing to go mad.

○ An insecure, somewhat willful bottom x a top who's cold on the outside and warm within.

● Luo Yuming. Zhou Yizhe calls him Mingming, his friends call him Luoluo, his older brother calls him little brother, and his dad calls him sweetheart.

○ Related novel: Don't Come Looking for Me After We Break Up, complete. Luo Yuming does not appear in it. It follows Zhou Yizhe during the three years after their breakup.

==Coming next: I Really Didn't Mean to Play Hard to Get with My Male God. Please add it to your reading list.==

When Ye Chuheng ran into Lin Jiyi, the male god he'd had a crush on in college, he hid his pounding heart, greeted him, and planned to keep his distance.

But Lin Jiyi refused to take no for an answer. He moved into Ye Chuheng's tiny, thirty-square-meter rental apartment and wanted to stay for good.

Ye Chuheng tried every excuse he could think of to refuse, but Lin Jiyi shut him down with a raised brow and a calm, "Ye Xiaoheng, are you afraid to live with me because you like me?"

The apartment really was tiny.

Once the small table held two laptops, there wasn't room for two cups. The 1.2-meter single bed was so narrow that they would fall off if they didn't sleep pressed together.

The first night, Ye Chuheng stayed close to the wall and didn't dare move.

But when he woke up, Lin Jiyi's arm was around his waist, his warm, heavy breath falling against the back of Ye Chuheng's neck.

From then on, night after night, their breaths mingled and their body heat passed between them. Some things couldn't be hidden.

Lin Jiyi saw right through the desire that had surfaced, and Ye Chuheng's reason vanished in the face of Lin Jiyi's intensifying passion.

Ye Chuheng's days had been cold, desolate, and ash-gray, but Lin Jiyi's arrival made them far too wonderful.

But Ye Chuheng knew all too well that the more wonderful things were, the more dangerous they were.

So even after his excuse that he already had a boyfriend was easily seen through,

even though Lin Jiyi never stopped confessing his feelings and they kept ending up in bed,

Ye Chuheng was still the same as before: soft everywhere except for his stubborn mouth.

When Lin Jiyi pressed his lips to Ye Chuheng's for the Nth time and pleaded, "Ye Xiaoheng, say you'll be with me,"

Ye Chuheng still turned his head away and said,

"No."

"Your mouth says no, but your hands are gripping tight." Lin Jiyi held down Ye Chuheng's hand, clenched around the bedsheet, his voice low. "It's not that you don't know how to make someone stay. You're just too good at it."

Later, Lin Jiyi stopped asking.

He silently packed his things.

Ye Chuheng gathered the charging cables scattered at the corner of the table and put them in Lin Jiyi's suitcase. "I'll call you a car."

The click of the suitcase latch closing sounded unnaturally clear.

Lin Jiyi stopped at the door and turned back, his voice trembling. "Baby, hurry up and tell me I can't leave."

Ye Chuheng lowered his eyes and said,

"No."

The door closed softly.

The loneliness Ye Chuheng refused to admit filled the little apartment, now empty except for him.

When they met again, Lin Jiyi's gaze was cold and distant. Their former closeness and all those moments spent cheek to cheek seemed never to have happened.

Ye Chuheng swallowed his hurt and tried to pretend everything was fine, but the moment Lin Jiyi's presence drew near, his eyes reddened.

He turned to leave.

A hand with long, distinct knuckles gripped the back of his neck. Lin Jiyi's burning breath brushed his ear, his cool voice edged with danger.

"Say 'no' one more time and see what happens."

○ A sensitive, reserved bottom who habitually runs away x a domineering, doting, high-powered top.

Theme: Pursue a happy life one step at a time.