Secret Crush Route

[Weibo: @Chen Ju, Stop Being Lazy]

[Happy ending | Mutual pining comes true | Mutual salvation | An unconventional second chance at love]

[Please bookmark my author page]

The first snow falls on Xiangshan. Chen Jinnian arrives late at the prayer pavilion.

Lin Suizhao, ostracized by their social circle, stands off to the side and watches him, as if he were the center of the universe. Everyone crowds around him, trying to strike up a conversation, but he just leans lazily against the stone railing, shielding a flame to light a cigarette.

Someone points excitedly at the tree covered in red ribbons and suggests, "Third Brother, why don't you hang one up too?"

Chen Jinnian doesn't answer for a long while. He just stares at the tree for a few seconds, stubs out his cigarette, and walks over. Without warning, he takes the blank wish ribbon from Lin Suizhao's hand, glances up to pick a spot, and tosses it onto the tree.

Lin Suizhao stares at him in a daze. Chen Jinnian says casually, "I'll grant you a wish next time."

His black hair stirs in the snowy wind, setting off his striking, cool features. A gust blows past, and the tree's deep-red ribbons sway.

People whisper, speculating about their relationship.

Chen Jinnian acts as if he can't hear them. His lighter keeps flickering with pale blue flames, and he remains as carefree as ever.

Smoke curls around the Buddha altar behind them, and the scene is steeped in a vast, fated feeling.

No one knows that he was the greatest desire and obsession of Lin Suizhao's girlhood.

Lin Suizhao suddenly thinks of high school. So many times, she stood outside the basketball court, watching Chen Jinnian from afar as he sank a beautiful three-pointer.

The crowd roared. The boy was bold and carefree as he lifted his shirt hem to wipe away sweat, revealing a line of black tattoos along his waist. His sharply defined, powerful muscles drew gasps from the girls around him.

Back then, Lin Suizhao and he came from completely different worlds. She had seen him indulge in one reckless romance after another and heard people recount every one of his affairs. She had only ever stayed silent, stuffing her desk compartment with test papers she'd finished, hoping to inch closer to the top of the rankings.

She had never dared hope that her dream might come true one day.

[Both leads are sexually experienced, but they are not each other's first love. For other content warnings, see the author's note in Chapter One.]

[The title was inspired by Gungun Au-Yeung's song