In the Name of Friendship

[Draft in progress...]

Back in college, everyone knew Zhou Xuesen and Xu Shifan were the closest of classmates and friends.

Then an accident changed everything overnight, leaving Xu Shifan alone and stripped of his former confidence.

Zhou Xuesen, who had once been all by himself, experienced the opposite fate. His film career soared, and he became a rising star surrounded by admirers.

They thought they would only grow further apart, but, against all expectations, their relationship grew closer.

Xu Shifan got back on his feet and started a business, and Zhou Xuesen became the star of his company.

They became not only business partners but also inseparable companions.

As a result, people were always teasing the Best Actor Zhou, saying he was Boss Xu’s kept pretty boy. He never minded.

Until one day, gossip broke that a famous actress and Boss Xu were preparing to get married. The Best Actor’s face darkened right there on set.

Not long afterward, the Berlin Best Actor, hailed by the media as "the sensation of an era," held a press conference and announced his retirement from the screen, with no word on when he might return.

Everyone whispered nervously: So the Best Actor really was a kept pretty boy.

/

Xu Shifan has two secrets.

The first secret

By chance, he discovered the private Weibo account of his celebrity best friend. It chronicled his friend’s unrequited love. It was nothing out of the ordinary, until

[He drank from my water bottle. Yeah.]

Huh? Why him?

[How am I supposed to give up? I can’t.]

Looks like he’s in love with someone he can’t have...

[Better not think about this scarf. [Picture.jpg]]

Xu Shifan froze when he came across this post. He opened the picture, and there it was: the gray scarf he’d thrown away!

He zoomed in and saw that the scarf was even stained with...

Xu Shifan swore. Damn.

The second secret

Everyone thought Zhou Xuesen was his star, his golden partner.

Only Xu Shifan knew that Zhou Xuesen had once wanted to betray him and get away from him.

With no other choice, Xu Shifan exposed his feelings and "offered himself" to keep Zhou Xuesen by his side.

At first, he thought they would only be a little closer than ordinary friends. But Zhou Xuesen used friendship as an excuse to keep pushing, getting more and more carried away. That most outrageous period was almost too painful to look back on.

But that wasn’t Xu Shifan’s second secret.

His secret was that

Sometimes, after they’d parted, he found himself missing that time.

**

A cold, ruthless, scheming top who becomes a gentle, twisted schemer x a carefree young master bottom who pretends he’s no longer carefree

Zhou Xuesen (top) x Xu Shifan (bottom)

This novel in a nutshell:

My best friend forces me into a relationship, but he gets mistaken for my kept pretty boy. We break up and get back together, muddle through an intimate, messy relationship, and eventually realize we’re each other’s true love...

The first four chapters unfold in flashback. Reconciliation after a breakup. Showbiz.

The top is the dark, scheming type. He seems normal, but he’s actually a pervert.

The reason they split up is very complicated, and it has nothing to do with the rumors about the bottom.

The top and bottom are devoted to each other in body and mind. They are entirely fictional, so please don’t associate them with real people.

The Bai Ye arc takes place at the Beijing Film Academy.

The Snowy Forest arc covers the beginning of the top’s secret crush.

The Quagmire arc is when the top’s secret crush is exposed, the bottom’s family is ruined, and the two of them muddle through together.

The Lighthouse arc and the chapters afterward cover their reunion after six years apart and their reconciliation.

Theme: Perseverance, striving bravely, and keeping your passion alive.