A Beauty Trap

The Wen family's company goes bankrupt and enters liquidation, and their fortunes plummet. Everyone waits to see Wen Ran make a fool of herself, watching her get toyed with and forced to swallow her pride to pay off her debts.

Lin Sheng, heiress to the Jianghai Group, appears in a run-down residential neighborhood and follows Wen Ran all the way back to her rental apartment. She hands her a contract. "Be my girlfriend, and I promise I won't touch you."

Backlit, Wen Ran sees her bright, smiling eyes and agrees.

-

After fobbing off her meddlesome mother, Lin Sheng keeps partying and traveling around the world until one day a photo of her being kissed as part of a dare floods her social media feed. When she gets home, before she can even turn on the lights, someone pins her against the sofa.

Wen Ran grits her teeth. "Girlfriend."

Lin Sheng reminds her, "Clause one of the contract."

"Clause one says you won't touch me. I'm the one touching you right now. That's perfectly reasonable."

After that night, Lin Sheng floods her social media with intimate photos of the two of them, making their relationship public.

-

Then, without warning, everything changes, and Lin Sheng leaves without saying goodbye.

After searching for a long time, Wen Ran finds her in a bar in another city. "Clause two of the contract: no cutting off contact."

Lin Sheng smiles carelessly. "I cut you off. So what? Are you going to control me?"

Wen Ran really does start keeping tabs on her, putting her work aside and following her relentlessly.

When a beautiful woman flirts with Lin Sheng at the bar, Wen Ran will pop up from the booth opposite, using a cold stare to scare off everyone who covets her.

When Lin Sheng goes to karaoke with her friends, Wen Ran will book a room across from theirs, waiting for them and doubling as their driver.

The people around them jokingly call her "Bodyguard Wen," and Lin Sheng goes from getting annoyed to taking it for granted.

One day, Wen Ran doesn't show up for a whole day and night, while high-resolution street photos of her with a famous actress shoot to the top of the trending list. They look intimate, their eyes practically smoldering.

Lin Sheng gets dead drunk, curses Wen Ran for being two-timing, and resolves to cut off their relationship once and for all.

She wakes from her hangover to find that her ex-girlfriend, who should be overseas, is lying in her arms, covered in red marks. The woman greets her naturally: "Morning, girlfriend."

? Lin Sheng is baffled.

Wen Ran plays a recording from the night before on repeat. "You called me over yesterday and promised in your own words that you wouldn't be heartless and dump me."

With both witness and evidence against her, Lin Sheng tearfully (not really) accepts it and pulls her brand-new girlfriend back down beside her, to pick up where they left off the night before.

"The contract is over, but our love isn't."

Reader's guide:

* The pursuer is 70% assertive, the pursued is 30%.

* A partly fictional setting where same-sex couples can marry.

* Updates whenever inspiration strikes, but the story will be completed.

Theme: Sincere, steadfast love is what touches people's hearts most.