“Sweet, well-behaved good girl” vs. “handsome bad boy pretending to be a playboy”
(Both are virgins, both have secret crushes, school romance, rekindled love, no angst for the female lead)
“They say that if you like someone too much, that person won't like you back.”
Blurb:
June, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.
Everyone is buried in their books, studying for the final exams, when a new student transfers into their class.
The homeroom teacher smiles and ushers her forward. “This is our new classmate, Song Shiyi. Be sure to look after her.”
“Hello, everyone. I'm Song Shiyi. I'm happy to be in Class One.”
She looks up and meets the nonchalant gaze of the boy by the window in the back row.
He spins a pen, his uniform jacket hanging loosely over the back of his chair. For some reason, he looks a little irritated.
“Hey, Yu-ge, this girl's pretty cute. Does that mean you're about to get another girlfriend?”
Chu Yubai curls his lip and sneers. “A good student? Not interested.”
By a twist of fate, they sit with only an aisle between them, but they don't speak for nearly a month. Song Shiyi is naturally socially anxious, while Chu Yubai is... well...
Song Shiyi rubs the edge of her notebook, making a tiny crease. She secretly guesses that... maybe this demon king just hates her.
Chu Yubai likes spinning his pen. His hands are beautiful, the veins on the back of them subtly shifting with each movement, making them look a little sexy.
She has sneaked a glance at him three times this month. The first time, he knocked his eraser onto the floor, and it rolled to her feet. The second time, he was called out by the teacher and criticized for studying nothing but math. The third time... was just now, when Chu Yubai suddenly turned his head and took a sip of water, his Adam's apple bobbing. His profile was striking, all the more so in the morning light.
But Song Shiyi only looks. She knew on her very first day here that he had a girlfriend.
Until one day, everyone starts saying that Chu Yubai has broken up.
*
One day after school, at the mouth of an alley, Chu Yubai hurriedly stubs out his cigarette with his hand when he sees someone approach. His expression is cool as he asks, “What is it?”
Song Shiyi lowers her head and grips her backpack strap, asking softly, “That last big math problem on today's test... could you go over it again tomorrow?”
“Tsk.” He lets out a low laugh and rubs his fingertip against the tip of his nose. “Song Shiyi, another private tutoring session means another tuition payment.”
“Deal.” Song Shiyi's lashes tremble as she nods quickly.
A secret crush is a series of notes tucked between the pages of a workbook, his arm shielding her from roughhousing in the hallway, and the bottle of water she shyly hands him, with “Good luck in the long-distance race” written on it...
In the midsummer that follows, he kisses her outside the track fence. His breath, mint-scented and mixed with sweat, brushes against her hair as he asks in a hoarse voice, “Be my girlfriend, okay?”
*
Their relationship falls into crisis after graduation.
On a stormy night, Song Shiyi visits Chu Yubai, who has been grounded for nearly twenty days, and tremblingly asks to break up.
“I've actually just been playing around with you this whole time. Your mother paid me to do it, and I agreed.”
“So...”
“Don't say it! I won't accept it. Don't you dare!”
“Chu Yubai, let's break up.”
*
They meet again six years later.
Song Shiyi has become a moderately well-known illustrator in City A. At an industry banquet, across the clinking glasses and lively crowd, she sees a familiar yet unfamiliar figure.
Chu Yubai wears a custom-tailored suit and calmly clinks glasses with a client.
When their eyes meet, his hand holding the glass pauses, then the corner of his mouth lifts into a smile.
He strides through the crowd and stops in front of her.
“Miss Song.”
His voice is deep and unmistakably magnetic, the voice of a grown man, so different from the boy he used to be.
“Long time no see.”
Song Shiyi clenches her hands, forcing herself to calm down. “Chu Yubai.”
We meet again. You must hate me, right...
Written on 2025.06.01
Theme: Cherish the person in front of you
