Restraint

[Clear-Eyed Heroine x Heaven's Favorite]

[The heroine has a secret crush, but that's all it is. She loves herself most of all.]

[Half school life, half urban life, two top students]

#My secret crush lives in the shadows. That's how I keep my dignity#

Qu Qiao, the new special assistant at Zhou Group, has a pure, harmless first-love kind of face, but she's highly capable at work and has earned President Zhou's favor.

But that's all it is: favor.

Everyone can see that President Zhou is most distant with Special Assistant Qu. They only ever talk about work.

But no one knows...

One stormy night, Zhou Huaixu grabs Qu Qiao by the wrist and asks in a low voice, “Planning to have your fun and run off like last time?”

-

Zhou Huaixu and Qu Qiao were classmates for three years in high school.

Back then, they were worlds apart. You could count the words they'd exchanged on one hand.

Zhou Huaixu was handsome and wild, a famous figure at No. 4 High from the moment he started his first year.

Qu Qiao was calculating, selfish, and cold-blooded. Everyone else thought she was kind, but Zhou Huaixu saw through the innocent facade and knew what she was really like.

Qu Qiao knew Zhou Huaixu had seen through her, so she never provoked him. They each kept to themselves.

In the summer she turned eighteen, Qu Qiao was about to go abroad as an exchange student when she met Zhou Huaixu, who had come to vacation at the estate of her benefactor, Liang Yingtang.

One evening, Zhou Huaixu stood before Qu Qiao, drenched from head to toe, and said casually, “My brother is very innocent. Don't mess with him.”

Qu Qiao fell silent. After a long moment, she looked at him and smiled softly. “What can I do? I'm bored this summer.”

-

In the summer of his sophomore year of college, Zhou Huaixu planned to spend a week at his cousin's estate before leaving. In the end, he stayed for the entire summer.

He thought his entanglement with Qu Qiao had begun that summer.

Then, at No. 4 High's centennial celebration, he found a French novel in its original edition, one he had donated to the school library.

On the back of the library card, someone had written in clear French: I met you. I remember you.

It was Qu Qiao's handwriting.

-

After the college entrance exams, Qu Qiao rewarded herself by borrowing that library book one last time and leaving Zhou Huaixu a message on the library card.

Many years later, when Qu Qiao opened the book again, another message had appeared on the card: This city was made for falling in love, and your soul was made for mine.

The words on the library card are from Marguerite Duras's Hiroshima Mon Amour.

Synopsis drafted on 2023/7/15

Theme: Grow wild and free like buckwheat