Faded Records

Back in my senior year of high school, my ex-boyfriend willingly became a begging puppy wagging his tail in front of me.

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After being infuriated by her ex-boyfriend and passing out, Ruan Xiang woke up to find herself back at seventeen. At this point, her cold and aloof "cheating" ex-boyfriend was still a loyal puppy, desperately in love with her and unable to win her heart.

Ruan Xiang: Thanks for asking. What kind of reborn wish-fulfillment story is this?

She decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. Not only would she kick her ex-boyfriend off his position as the school's number one student, she would also humiliate the scumbag and make him experience a hundred times over the pain she had once suffered.

Lin Yanshu, the heartthrob of No. 1 High School, had always been the favored child in everyone's eyes. He was aloof, came from a wealthy family, and seemed able to solve every problem with ease.

But recently, one question had been troubling him.

Why had the pretty girl in his class suddenly started being so mean to him when he woke up one day?

Lin Yanshu was baffled. Day after day, he chased after that slender figure, only to be met each time with cold looks and mocking words.

She said, "Lin Yanshu, when I look at you now, I just feel sick."

An overwhelming sense of defeat and embarrassment swept over him, ruthlessly trampling the self-esteem of this favored child. Lin Yanshu's breath caught. His fingertips dug into his palm, the pain so sharp he could barely speak.

In the end, all he asked was, "Can't we even be friends anymore?"

"No." The girl in front of him remained as impassive and cold as ever, delivering her heart-piercing words with utter disgust.

"Because I hate you."

After this, the guy clenched his teeth and swore to his friends, "If I ever talk to Ruan Xiang again, I'll be a dog!"

Three days later, his friends quickly received a message from a dog wagging its tail furiously: "I can tell Ruan Xiang still has feelings for me."

What feelings? Your ass? His friend, who had watched the whole thing, cursed him out. "Last time she kicked you ten meters away, and this time she didn't have the strength to kick you more than eight meters, so that means she has feelings for you?"

In response, Lin Yanshu wagged his tail and ran toward Ruan Xiang again, declaring that he was happy to do it, and that no one should interfere. He'd gladly suffer every bit of it.

Heh. Some people are born to be women's dogs.

Looking back on those years, I am always filled with gratitude. Amid the ruins of a life collapsing around me, I did my utmost to rebuild a bright world within myself., Hermann Hesse

Please note:

1. Both leads are each other's only love and first love. Their romance begins after they reach adulthood. There are many foreshadowed clues and twists. At its heart, this is a story about love and the female lead's personal growth.

2. The male lead does not cheat. The female lead thinks he cheated because of a nightmare. This setup is purely for creating conflict early on and a later twist, so please don't read too much into it. The male lead loves only the female lead with all his heart and is so deeply attached to her that he would die physically and mentally without her.

3. The female lead's supposed "sightings" of the male lead cheating in the first two chapters are hallucinations in a nightmare. There are no melodramatic misunderstandings between them. Everything will be explained later in the story, without any forced explanations.

4. No typo: this is a modern romance, with a bad ending.

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Coming soon: Gray-Blue Sparrow

The first half of my life was spent caught between loving you and hating you, over and over.

Xie Cheny ao had someone she loved when she was sixteen, but at seventeen she left him behind and chose to go abroad alone, vanishing into the vast sea of humanity.

What she didn't know was that after she left, Zhou Zheng'an searched for her for three whole years.

Years after their parting, fate brought them together again. Xie Chenyao never imagined she would run into Zhou Zheng'an at a friend's engagement party.

By then, she had a fiance and had adopted an adorable little girl together with him. He was a hot new business tycoon in Luocheng, someone everyone longed to surpass, and even more wanted to replace and become.

The moment their eyes met by chance, Xie Chenyao's fingers paused, and she knocked over her glass. She ran outside the banquet hall by herself, but the man closed in on her and cornered her all the same.

To her surprise, he simply stood in the wind, alone against the night, his expression cold and desolate, as though she were no more than a passerby he had forgotten the moment they crossed paths.

But amid that long, wordless silence, he surrendered to her once again.

He knelt on one knee to wipe the wine stains from her skirt. As he did, Zhou Zheng'an's fingertips tensed and turned blue. His dark eyes gradually filled with a shadow that would not fade as he said sarcastically, "Xie Chenyao, being able to attend an engagement party like this means you've had a pretty happy life these past few years."

The night was as dark as ink. The stained tissue was clenched into a ball and crushed underfoot.

Xie Chenyao bit her lip without saying a word and turned to leave, but Zhou Zheng'an suddenly grabbed her arm and trapped her against the cold wall.

The next second, their breaths mingled. His familiar, icy scent swept over her, blotting out the sky. The man leaned close, his burning palm gripping her cold wrist tightly.

In an instant, a storm was brewing.

Zhou Zheng'an's gaze was almost obsessive, yet he loosened his hold when she trembled. With a cold smile, he said, "But Xie Chenyao, tell me, how can a liar possibly deserve to be happy?"

His plainly mocking words rang in her ears, but Xie Chenyao couldn't stop her eyes from falling on his left hand.

She should hate him, shouldn't she?

Then why was Zhou Zheng'an still wearing the bracelet she had made for him with her own hands when she was seventeen?

Theme: Love embraces every imperfection.