At the ten-year high school reunion, Zhong Qin arrived late. Still dressed in her work suit, she smiled and nodded apologetically to everyone. Soft strands of hair slipped over her shoulder, hiding half of her lightly made-up, beautiful face.
Her former classmates were stunned into silence. If not for the signature mole on her eyelid, who would have recognized the infamous “school lunatic” from back in the day?
After eating and drinking their fill, Zhong Qin was the last to arrive, but the first to leave. The others teased her: “Going home to see your boyfriend?”
She smiled and nodded.
“Do we know him?”
She was still smiling. “You do. Ren Ran.”
The air froze for a moment. Zhong Qin acted as if she hadn't noticed, stepped out into the cold, breathed into her hands, and hailed a taxi to the hospital.
Ren Ran was their classmate, too.
Five years ago, an accident left him in a vegetative state.
.
Zhong Qin and Ren Ran were a classic pair of frenemies. They'd spent years making each other's lives chaotic through middle and high school, then, when they went abroad to study, somehow ended up at the same university.
Ren Ran used to tug on her pigtails during class, steal food off her plate at mealtimes, and block her shots eighteen times in a row on the basketball court.
But he was also the one who trudged through two feet of snow on a freezing night abroad to bring her brown sugar water. When she told him she'd been mugged, he was the first to rush over and hold her tight. And whenever she got her heart broken, he'd call her “a stupid, shallow idiot who only cares about looks” while slapping a tissue against her face.
When they graduated, she laughed and thanked him for their brotherly friendship. Ren Ran tried to smile, then squeezed out through gritted teeth: “Who wants to be your brother?”
“I've liked an idiot like you for years. That makes me the biggest idiot of all.”
He wiped his face, which was covered in tears.
.
In the winter in Shancheng, Ren Ran felt as if he'd been having a very long dream. When he opened his eyes, he saw an older woman who looked a lot like his girlfriend sitting beside his bed. He blinked and asked cautiously, “Who are you?”
The woman burst into tears. She stood up and raised the handbag in her hand to hit him, but at the last moment, she managed a tearful, awkward laugh and said, “I'm your wife, you idiot.”
If, among all my bad temper and imperfections, you choose to see only the star-like glimmers of goodness,
then now, when everyone else has given up on you, I'll choose to stay by your side, every day from here on.
[Sharp-tongued but soft-hearted, fiery male mom x Reckless-as-hell tomboy]
Both are each other's one true love. The early story focuses more on their university days, while the later part focuses more on their lives as working adults. A heartwarming, healing novella.
The blurb might be long, but there's plenty more to enjoy in the story itself. You won't regret adding it to your collection. Muah!
[Blurb posted and screenshot on March 17, 2023]
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