The Summer of Our Twelfth Year

Thanks, everyone, for all your encouragement and company along the way. My other story, Bordeaux Red, is now underway. It's a marriage-first, love-later romance, so come check it out~

[Story blurb]

Campus and city life

Campus: A cold-hearted young master x a sensitive, strong-willed top student

City: A documentary photographer x a documentary director

What years, exactly, make up a girl's youth?

Qin Man defines them as the six years she spent knowing Xu Qingshu.

She carries six years of unrequited love into a summer confession, and suddenly finds herself living out everything she'd dreamed of. That year, she is young and passionate, and believes without a doubt that a brilliant future lies ahead for them.

She thinks that what she longs for will eventually answer her, that after waiting out the clouds she'll see the moon. But one day she suddenly wakes from her dream and realizes that in all that drunken fantasy, she was the only one who fell in love.

-

At the end of summer, Xu Qingshu gives Qin Man eight words:

"A passing whim, going with the flow."

Qin Man's girlhood dies that year.

Later, while Xu Qingshu is far away in England, he happens to hear how she described their past at a class reunion. It is eight words too:

"The moon I once adored was nothing special."

In that short video, she stands tall and graceful, her skin fair and luminous. Her expression is cool, her beauty striking, and the shaky footage captures how little she seems to care.

-

Later still, rumors circulate that the young master of the Xu family has made a mess of his life.

Qin Man's expression is icy. "What does that have to do with me?"

They unexpectedly meet again in a glittering world of sensual pleasures and fame.

He catches her wrist in a corner and softly calls her "Manman."

Qin Man simply pulls away, her expression indifferent.

-

During that period, she is struggling to make a name for herself in a cutthroat market, facing all kinds of difficulties and looking utterly miserable. Meanwhile, she watches Photographer Xu make his mark, become a hot commodity, and rise to the very top. He extends an offer to Qin Man's team. After considering it for a few seconds... she agrees.

After all, everyone knows that documentary filmmakers are broke. This is such a great subject, and it comes with built-in buzz. Qin Man thinks coolly: Only an idiot turns down money.

-

Before they work together, she examines her heart carefully and strictly, making sure that this time she can walk away from him unscathed.

But not long afterward, the warm wind from the Caribbean stirs her heart... Has she somehow fallen into someone's carefully laid trap again?

[Bonus scene]

Everyone knows that Xu Qingshu, the internationally renowned photographer, is aloof and cold, upright and self-possessed. But after his personal documentary airs, the eyes gazing into the camera are filled with tenderness and affection, and a whole wave of fans falls in love.

Amid a flood of frantic praise...

Xu Qingshu posts: "@Director Qin Man, I promise you countless summers."

Qin Man: "Well... I guess this means I've gone public with my subject."

"The moon from years ago shines once more on the one who left."

Also known as:

#MyFirstLoveTransformedOvernight#

#MyCareerKeepsGettingBetterAfterMakingUpWithMyEx#

#ProudToTheEndAndNeverAdmittingIStillLoveHim#

*Happy ending, both leads are each other's first and only, campus and city life.

*Unrequited love, rekindled romance, and mutual healing.

*Professional details are sourced from the internet.

*The characters are not based on real people, and their views do not represent the author's.

*This is a slow-burn story. Thank you for being willing to keep reading.

Theme: Love makes us better people.