Burning Desire

At a gathering, a friend asked Gu Ningyao what the letters tattooed on her arm meant.

Gu Ningyao glanced at them and smiled. "Adoretheall. Reverence for all things."

That friend noticed the letters in Liu Yuzhou's palm and asked, "What about yours?"

Liu Yuzhou chuckled, answering lazily, "Psyche. It means butterfly."

The room fell silent. Everyone knew that at a psychology lecture in college, a professor had once asked Gu Ningyao what animal she was most like.

What had she said back then?

She'd said, "A blue morpho butterfly."

Thinking she meant it was beautiful, the professor had smiled and reminded her, "That butterfly is quite poisonous."

Gu Ningyao raised an eyebrow. "Beautiful and not to be messed with. Just like me."

Everyone remembered that exchange, so Liu Yuzhou's intentions were obvious now.

A girl who had a crush on him couldn't stand it. "A tattoo on your palm fades easily. Even if you like someone, it won't last."

Liu Yuzhou glanced at her. "I got it on my palm because it gives me the illusion that I can hold on to her. If it fades, I'll get it touched up. If she runs away, I'll chase her. Instead of questioning whether my feelings will last, why don't you ask Gu Ningyao how many years I've spent following her?"

Only Gu Ningyao acted as if nothing had happened. She lowered her head and fiddled with her phone, half her face hidden in the shadows, her features captivating.

Gu Ningyao was wild, bold, and free. Plenty of people were infatuated with her, but she didn't care about anything. Her heart belonged to the open sky.

Liu Yuzhou fell in love with someone like her anyway. When he was eighteen, he ran into the twenty-year-old Gu Ningyao on a street corner. He copied her and lit his first cigarette, and from then on, he set himself alight too.

1. The author's profile has a completed companion novel, Burnt and Bitter.

Theme: Love at first sight lasts a lifetime.