A Love Out of Step

[The male lead's POV of Secretly in Love, Love Across Time [Marriage Before Love] is complete. Recommended reading, mwah~]

Pei Jin is a hot new name in Beijing's elite circles: cold, abstinent, and famous as an untouchable beauty.

No one knows he's hiding someone in his heart. He studies with her and answers her questions.

He's just waiting for her to graduate from college so he can bring her home.

Then she asks him for advice on how to pursue her crush.

--

Song Xing'an is the cherished heiress of the Song family in Shangjing. She's perfect in every way, except for her stubborn temper.

Until one day, she falls in love with a man at first sight.

She asks the whole world for tips on how to win someone over, even tamping down her prickly side and playing the sweet, obedient girl.

But the man doesn't budge.

The day she decides to give up,

Song Xing'an drops the sweet-girl act and sits by the bar in a spaghetti-strap mini dress.

She knocks back strong drinks, her gaze bold and unrestrained.

She even accepts an invitation from someone hitting on her and dances with him, drawing countless eyes.

Just as she's dancing up a storm in the middle of the floor, a coat smelling of cedar lands over her head.

The next moment, someone grabs her wrist and drags her out.

In the dim, suggestive light, Pei Jin lifts her chin, making her meet his eyes.

The man's gaze is unreadable. "Weren't you trying to pursue someone? Here?"

--

"Meeting you was like a dazzling star lighting up a desolate little universe." -- The Little Prince

[Bonus Scene]

Behind the door.

Song Xing'an explains again and again that he's always been the one she likes, and that he's the crush she's trying to pursue.

Pei Jin pulls off his tie with one hand, neither confirming nor denying that he believes her.

Her friend calls through the door: "An'an, when will you be ready?"

Song Xing'an answers shakily: "In a minute..."

The man behind her chuckles. His thumb strokes her chin, his warm breath brushes her earlobe, and his voice turns husky. "You won't be ready in a minute."

--

Also known as Helping My Secret Crush Pursue a Jerk and The Jerk Turns Out to Be Me

Suave scoundrel, powerful Beijing big shot x showy heiress pretending to be a sweet, obedient girl

He's been secretly in love with her for years. Misunderstandings + secret identity

--My new novel, Love Across Time [Marriage Before Love], is now available! Please add it to your favorites!

Wen Ning is the fake heiress mistakenly switched at birth with the Wen family's real daughter. She was kicked out of the Wen family at fifteen, then found again at twenty-five and made to take the real heiress's place in a marriage alliance with the Chen family.

The Chen family is a century-old elite family in Rongcheng, powerful across three spheres. But its heir is a notorious playboy, with a reputation for womanizing that makes everyone avoid him.

The day before they register their marriage, Wen Ning discovers her intended husband is Chen Yuzhou.

He was the boy who once rescued her from a desperate situation, but by the time they parted, he had become an enemy she never wanted to see again.

Living under the same roof, Wen Ning goes along with what he wants, forgets the past, and conscientiously plays the perfect roommate, waiting for the time to come so they can divorce.

Until one night, when she gets drunk.

Wen Ning climbs out of bed in a disheveled state, aching all over. When she meets the man's shining black eyes, she realizes...

It seems she won't be able to get divorced after all.

--

When Chen Yuzhou finds the divorce agreement, he's unexpectedly calm. Without a change in expression, he feeds the few thin sheets of paper into the shredder.

As if nothing had happened.

That night, Wen Ning is held in his arms, tears in her eyes.

She senses something is wrong with him, but the comforting words she begins to say fall apart before they leave her lips.

When she finally manages to ask, Chen Yuzhou calmly says he's fine.

But his movements are rough.

As her consciousness fades, she feels a kiss land gently on her forehead, and hears a voice full of humble pleading:

"Wife, don't leave me again."

--

Only the moonlight that night knows.

The man, usually so proud and wild, shed all his arrogance and broke his pride. He spent his entire fortune and knelt through a night of torrential rain just to win this marriage, one nobody else believed in.

"Between us, I'm the one who wagered everything."

[Bonus Scene]

After the joint entrance exam, Chen Yuzhou's failing-student desk mate confidently asks to borrow his test paper to check the answers.

He glances at him, then impatiently tosses it over.

Half an hour later.

The failing student gives him an indescribable look. "Brother Zhou, Wen Ning probably likes someone with good grades, like the class president. At the very least, someone in the top ten..."

What he means is:

Have some damn self-awareness.

Chen Yuzhou's ears turn bright red. He turns away and stubbornly argues, "Am I that bad? Are they as handsome as me? Besides, who Wen Ning likes is none of my business!"

The failing student secretly rolls his eyes and taps the test paper firmly.

Beneath the essay prompt, the page is filled with one name, written again and again:

Wen Ning's name, over and over.

"Chen Yuzhou likes Wen Ning."

"Does Wen Ning even know?"

Theme: Love can cross mountains and seas and bring forth endless life