Slow Burn

[Completed! My new novel, "Stop Picking on Me," is now open for follows. The blurb is below!]

Quick-witted, gentle beauty * laid-back, cool, aloof guy

Art restorer * owner of a martial arts club

A healing story

Ruan Nan rarely went out. One drawback of staying home too long was that she and other people seemed to speak on different wavelengths.

For example, on her way to get a massage, she ran into someone handing out flyers.

The man smiled and asked, "Interested in learning about kickboxing?"

Ruan Nan: "What three big bowls of chicken? Spicy chicken in a bowl or hot pot chicken?"

Flyer guy: "..."

Later, when the owner of the martial arts club heard about it, his usually cool face broke into a smile. He gave her his approval with two words: "Pretty hip."

Ruan Nan: "It is pretty humid around here. Winters are colder than in the north."

Zhou Cunan: "..."

*

At ten, Ruan Nan ran through the streets and alleys to escape getting beaten. Zhou Cunan's after-school activities were so varied that their cost equaled her family's annual expenses.

At fifteen, she studied day and night, thrilled to make it into the top ten in her class. Zhou Cunan excelled in academics, character, sports, and the arts, and his name had been at the top of the honor roll for years.

At seventeen, Ruan Nan worried herself sick over family matters. Zhou Cunan was dependable and sincere, and everyone liked him.

Ruan Nan knew her life was ordinary. She muddled through and never coveted people or things beyond her reach.

Until someone told her, "Ruan Nan, all you have to do is take one step toward me. I'll take the rest."

My new novel, "Stop Picking on Me," please follow it!

[Fake playboy x genuinely heartless]

1.

After the college entrance exam, Song Yi'an packed her bags and headed north to the capital, where she planned to stay with her obscenely wealthy stepfather.

Her stepfather's son had a friend with a similarly powerful background. He was unbelievably handsome and had no scruples. Even when rumors painted him as the male lead in an erotica story who could go seven rounds in one night, he only laughed it off. "I've always been a real piece of trash when it comes to relationships."

Everyone said his girlfriends were as numerous as fish crossing a river.

When Song Yi'an was later asked for her first impression, she answered sincerely: "He looks and acts like a playboy. Being his girlfriend might be fun for a while, but overall, it'd bring me eight generations of bad luck."

2.

No one knew that Song Yi'an had seen him at an outdoor basketball court in the capital during her second year of high school.

In the warm sunset, his honey-colored hair shimmered. His white shirt lifted as he played, and people crowded around him as he laughed without a care. He had made her entire summer unforgettable.

It was incredible that someone could fit her taste so perfectly.

Song Yi'an admitted that his looks had caught her attention, and that she had been bewitched by them countless times. But in the end, his utterly uninhibited lifestyle brought her back to her senses.

She swore that as long as she hadn't lost her mind, she would never get together with Qin Qiao and become another statistic among his army of ex-girlfriends.

But plans never keep up with changes. One day, Song Yi'an couldn't hold back and slept with him.

At dawn, she carefully slid his arm from around her waist and quietly climbed out of bed, ready to sneak away. When she reached the door, she hadn't expected Qin Qiao to be awake already.

His tall figure loomed behind her. Leaning against the wall, he gave a self-mocking smile. "If you liked it, remember to come back next time."

Song Yi'an lowered her eyes. "Sorry. I won't come back next time, or ever again."

3.

Qin Qiao grew up in the heart of the capital, with a background too deep to fathom. He lived however he pleased.

His only regret was that during the years when rumors said he was promiscuous, he had stood by and let them spread without setting the record straight.

As a result, when he faced her, helplessness hit him again and again, making his insides ache.

Theme: Live a healthy, positive life