Can You Hear That I Like You?

[Complete! Thank you for supporting the official release~]

[My new novel, Her Drowning Sea, is now available. Please add it to your collection ^O^]

Gentle and sweet X refined and abstinent | Legendary voice actor X entertainment mogul

01.

In high school, Tan Jianshen was the school's most sought-after golden boy, with countless admirers.

Shi Tinglu was the least noticeable of the girls who liked him.

She had seen him proud and carefree, full of youthful confidence, and had also seen him reject one girl's sincere feelings after another.

Before graduation, she once worked up the courage to confess while drunk. But she wasn't the exception for him.

And so their song ended, their paths parted, and her secret crush had no miracle ending.

02.

They reunited on a dating show.

He was still dazzling, winning the hearts of several female contestants the moment he appeared.

Shi Tinglu wasn't one of them. She kept her distance and acted as though they'd never met.

But by chance, they ended up going on three dates together.

On the first, she received a bouquet of roses and the words, “Shi Tinglu, I'm pursuing you.”

On the second, he took her for a ride on his bicycle. The camera captured a summer that belonged only to them, and their first kiss beneath the trumpet vines.

In front of the cameras, the usually aloof and self-controlled man held the girl's face. His lowered lashes trembled as he pressed his lips to hers and murmured hoarsely, “Breathe.”

On the third, the show raised the stakes, arranging a two-day, one-night stay at a hot-spring resort, with the contestants who chose each other sharing a bed.

Shi Tinglu's heart raced at the sight of the big bed in their room. While the man showered, she sneaked out, planning to ask the other female contestants for advice, only to discover that the other rooms had sofas too, and the male contestants had already gallantly taken their seats on them.

She walked back in confusion, only to overhear the staff chatting privately...

“Did they remove the sofa from Mr. Tan's room?”

“They did. The director told me to remind Mr. Tan to keep the show's boundaries in mind...”

Shi Tinglu: “...?”

#Shocking! The aloof heartthrob I've had a crush on for years is actually a scheming mogul#

Later, the camera in their room was off all night.

03.

When the show ended, Tan Jianshen and Shi Tinglu's “secret crushes come true” couple went viral online, and their official relationship announcement was reposted across the internet.

Tan Jianshen: [She's the first love I was ten years late to. @LittleDeerNeverRunsIntoThings]

LittleDeerNeverRunsIntoThings: [He's the summer that arrived right on time. @TanJianshen]

From the male lead's perspective:

“Actually, I was the coward in this secret crush. I liked a girl for eleven years, but never dared to tell her. I didn't even dare look into her eyes. What she didn't know was that in all those countless times we passed each other, in all those backward glances that never quite met, I'd told her I liked her thousands upon thousands of times.”

“And this time, she finally heard me.”

Reading guide:

* Each other's unattainable first love, mutual secret crush, pure romance with a slow burn, slightly ensemble cast

* Dating show + urban life + high school memories, three narrative threads, primarily set in the city

* After their reunion, the heroine goes through a period of inner conflict and hesitation, but once she's sure, she makes her feelings clear. She has her own character-growth arc.

* The male lead had a reason for rejecting her back then. No spoilers in the blurb.

Blurb revised on 2024.2.2 / screenshot saved

--- Blurb for the upcoming Her Drowning Sea ---

■ Glamorous, alluring bar owner X younger, wild, roguish playboy

■ Older woman-younger man romance | Everyone is unhinged | Friends-with-benefits to lovers | Mutual prey | Love rivals clash

1.

After ending her nine-year situationship with Fu Sili,

Ying Su got drunk at her own bar and met Xi Ze for the first time.

The young man had the dangerously handsome face of a playboy: long hair, pale skin, a cigarette between his thin lips, and long fingers expertly working the DJ decks. He had just the right mix of jaded and wild madness about him.

Noticing her stare, Xi Ze lazily lifted his eyes to look at her. His naturally flirtatious, passionate eyes made his intentions plain.

As if possessed, Ying Su walked over and asked him outright, “How much for a night with you?”

He flashed a wicked smile. “If that's what you want, sis, it's free.”

After a night of unrestrained passion, Ying Su pulled on her pants and responsibly tossed him the keys to a sports car worth over four million. Little did she know that the boy had gotten a taste for it and was going to cling to her.

2.

What they had started was reckless, and Ying Su had only meant to have fun. She never thought it would lead anywhere.

Until one day he caught her flirting with another man, blocked her in a fit of pique, and went partying at a nightclub with his friends.

Ying Su had no intention of joining them, but someone at the table asked what kind of guys she liked. She glanced at Xi Ze and smiled. “Obedient, sweet, and handsome.”

The young man tightened his grip on his glass and gave a derisive laugh, pretending not to know her.

But after leaving the private room, he dragged her into a lounge, pinned her against the door, and kissed her roughly and urgently, his movements edged with violence.

“You like them obedient and well-behaved? I can pretend.”

After acting tough, Xi Ze suddenly grabbed her wrist and pressed it to his cheek, nuzzling her palm with longing as he whispered, pleading, “But during the time we agreed on, could you...”

“Have only me as your dog?”

Theme: Be yourself, love yourself, and then love someone else.