Since childhood, Su Zhiyan and Lu Shiyan have been worlds apart. The girl was doted on by everyone, spoiled into a willful princess. The boy was often beaten until he was covered in bruises, stripped naked, and made to kneel among the gravel as punishment.
One was sweet and innocent, the center of everyone's attention; the other was cruel and unruly, hated by people and dogs alike.
But Su Zhiyan never knew that the boy had climbed over high walls time and again, watching through gaps in the fences as she made birthday wishes surrounded by the blessings of family and friends. Nor did she know how he had silently escorted the mischievous girl home from school, his fists striking again and again at anyone who harbored ill intentions toward her.
In the places Su Zhiyan couldn't see, Lu Shiyan had been by her side for many years.
Some called Lu Shiyan a stray dog, but he was more like a silent lone wolf, devotedly and stubbornly protecting the woman he loved.
*
He saw her again in a foreign land. The girl he had once cherished and protected had become his nominal sister-in-law. He had planned to honor the last scraps of morality and restraint in his heart, hide his dark and shameful thoughts, and continue protecting her from afar.
But she kept closing in. The moment their noses touched, Lu Shiyan had nowhere to run. He knew it was like drinking poison to quench his thirst, but he was willing to savor every drop.
Until Su Zhiyan coolly said they should end their relationship.
The rain was coming down hard that day. Su Zhiyan looked at the man's dark, silent eyes and thought he hated her. She turned and stepped out from under the umbrella, trying to run away.
But the man simply walked silently beside her and escorted her back to her apartment building. Su Zhiyan glanced awkwardly at his soaked shoulder. When their eyes met, she saw that his eyes had already turned red.
After a long silence,
his voice came out hoarse and restrained, but the tremble in it revealed the turmoil in his heart.
"Could you... think it over one more time?"
*
I stood beneath her window many times, gazing up at her through the thorny flowers.
When I saw her through the narrow gaps in the wire, gentle and lovely, like a rose in full bloom, I wanted to pluck her at any cost. I would give her the most magnificent vase or the perfect greenhouse, whatever I could manage. But the whip marks still aching on my body seemed to mock all my dark, filthy thoughts.
A story about a world-weary, solitary boy who falls in love with the little sun in everyone's heart and quietly protects her for many years.
Theme: Be the master of your own life
