The summer she was seventeen was scorching and stifling, with the cicadas chirping without end.
At the end of an alley in South City, Yin Mo turned a corner and bumped into someone.
The tall, slender boy had a cool, distant air. His distinct features were bathed in the gilded glow of the sunset, making Yin Mo's heart skip a beat.
His clothes were splattered with blood and mud, and his face was stained with blood, like a streak of red mist seeping through lustrous white jade when seen up close.
Yin Mo instinctively apologized, then looked up and met his deep, shadowy eyes.
The boy said nothing. He coolly looked away and walked past her, heading deeper into the alley.
The next time she saw him was at school. The boy she had once thought was a delinquent had become the school's most popular top student: Chen Jinye.
She couldn't say when her secret crush began, but it seemed as if it had been foretold in that deserted alley.
One evening, after her feelings had begun to blossom, Yin Mo happened to hear someone confessing to Chen Jinye on the path behind the school auditorium.
Chen Jinye's rejection of that girl made Yin Mo bury her own feelings deep inside. No matter how close she got to him, she never spoke of them, recording every little moment they shared in her diary instead.
A year after graduating high school, the diary in which she had recorded all her thoughts reached its final page. The name Chen Jinye was the last one she wrote, her final entry.
They didn't attend the same school or live in the same city, and for a long time, they weren't even in the same country.
He attended the best university in China, while she went abroad to pursue her dream.
In the seven years that followed, Yin Mo rarely heard anyone mention the name Chen Jinye.
Just when she thought that the boy who had filled the pages of her diary would one day be forgotten, he appeared before her again.
He walked up to her and told her:
He liked her. He had always liked her, and for these nine years, he had been doing everything he could to reach her.
*
At the age of twenty-seven, Chen Jinye gave an interview.
The reporter listed some of the stories circulating online about how hard he had worked since starting his business, then asked, "What drove you to work so hard, rising from a poor kid to someone who crossed class barriers and made it this far?"
Chen Jinye smiled. "Actually, my family was pretty well-off when I was a kid, but we fell on hard times and went bankrupt, leaving us with a huge pile of debt. Maybe being hounded by debt collectors left me with a lasting fear. I never planned to take the risk of starting a business and becoming a wealthy member of the upper class. The reason I later worked so hard to cross those class barriers was simply that, in the summer when I was seventeen, I met a girl."
"She was high above me, so I had to climb the stairs to reach her."
The moon should remain forever in the sky. He wouldn't try to pluck it down. He would cross mountains and seas of clouds, and meet her once again in the Milky Way.
Screenshot dated May 8, 2023
P.S.
1. They have a mutual secret crush.
2. Neither the male nor female lead is insecure. They love each other well, and they also love themselves well.
Theme: Run toward the light, and become the light.