[1]
The summer they first met, the boy stood with his back to the light, free-spirited and flamboyant. She looked at him just once more, stunned by his burning intensity.
In the summers that followed, amid the crowds coming and going, he sang a song just for her. She listened for just one more line, and her heart fell for him without a fight.
Back then, she never imagined that one day the proud boy would wear a pink apron completely at odds with his style, bend down to kiss her tenderly and lingeringly, and ask, "Can I kiss you before we eat?"
[2]
The one who falls first is often the best at holding back, while the one who has been plotting for a long time is often more patient.
So Xu Qi played his part as the quarry to perfection. When she tried to get him drunk, he granted her wish without hesitation.
He was only waiting for a chance, a chance to win her over and be with her in one fell swoop.
He never imagined that she wanted to get him drunk just so she could propose to him.
"I want to marry you. When are you going to propose?"
"How about I propose to you instead?"
After saying that on a whim, she belatedly felt embarrassed and drifted off to sleep, carried away by the alcohol. So she didn't know that later, the boy, sober and overcome with desire, pulled her into his arms and kissed her between the brows again and again, his voice earnest and reverent: "Can you wait a little longer for me?"
[Bonus scene]
Snow fell in soft, steady flurries that year, but Xu Qi distinctly felt that winter was the least wintry of them all.
As she soothed their daughter, she lifted her face and smiled at him:
"I bought a bag of tangerines, and there was an orange mixed in. That must be today's little bit of luck."
Xu Qi peeled a tangerine and fed it to her. He watched her shiver at its sourness and glare at him, then looked at their daughter in her arms, giggling happily.
He thought that perhaps his good fortune was having two moons.
To have two moons in his ordinary life was already the greatest of blessings.
#My roses are for one person alone. There are only two reasons a rose would be in my hands: either it's for you, or you gave it to me.#
Xu Qi
Theme: "Dare to pursue your dreams and embrace life with passion"
