The Seventh Year of Being Forcefully Taken

In the seventh year of Du Ruoheng’s ruthless pursuit, Shunhua’s ideals have been shattered, her family and friends have scattered, and she is exhausted by a life spent constantly hiding. She gives up. She stays quietly by Du Ruoheng’s side, like a flower arranged in a porcelain vase, blooming, wilting, and finally withering away. She thinks that will make Du Ruoheng grow tired of her and set her free. But she’s wrong. * After seven years of forcing her hand and resorting to every underhanded trick, Du Ruoheng finally gets what she wants and keeps Shunhua by her side. It should be a perfect, happy ending, but she still isn’t satisfied. Shunhua never smiles at her, never reaches out to kiss or hold her, and never whispers sweet words to her. She doesn’t love her, and never intended to be with her sincerely. She is like a hibiscus, blooming at dawn and falling by dusk, forever vibrant and full of life, yet never belonging to her. But it doesn’t matter. As long as she can keep Shunhua by her side, she has all the time and tricks in the world. * At their seventh anniversary celebration, friends gather, but Shunhua, one of the two women being celebrated, arrives late. After a few rounds of drinks, with the atmosphere lively, Du Ruoheng pulls out a diamond ring and gets down on one knee, all devotion and tenderness. Amid a chorus of cheers, Shunhua looks coldly at the woman kneeling before her and says nothing. The party ends badly, as expected. Du Ruoheng goes mad with rage and wraps her arms around Shunhua, crushing her against her chest. Shunhua’s fragile neck bends backward in an impossibly sharp curve. As the world turns upside down, an unfamiliar woman enters her field of vision. The look in her eyes is exactly like the one Du Ruoheng gave Shunhua when they first met. Fierce and deep, determined to have her. * “Hello, I’m Du Ruoheng’s aunt.” “Leave her and be with me. I’ll take care of everything for you.” The woman says this the second time they meet. Shunhua smiles, hesitates for only a moment, then leans close to her ear and says yes. Bonus Scene: A vintage castle, solemn and romantic. A pure white wedding dress trails across the floor, sweeping over a cream-colored satin aisle runner. A pastor in black robes stands between them and asks solemnly, “Do you promise to love and respect each other, in wealth or poverty, in sickness or in health, and never to leave or forsake one another?” Du Ruoheng looks at the woman beside her and nods gravely. “I do.” Shunhua looks at her too but doesn’t say a word. Only after the pastor asks for the third time does she slowly part her lips: “I don’t.” Reader’s Guide: 1. Written to my own tastes, with old-school melodramatic angst. Forced love in the early and middle sections, then a groveling redemption arc in the later part. 2. There’s a childbirth arc much later. A baby girl, conceived through medical technology using combined eggs. Theme: Love is restraint