My Childhood Friend Is Also a Puppy

Xia Dongyi had always believed that her marriage to Fu Tingsi was a game they both understood, a charade to fool their parents.

She wasn't that fond of Fu Tingsi, and there was no way he could have feelings for her either. After they married, Xia Dongyi regretted it and racked her brains trying to get a divorce. She couldn't understand why Fu Tingsi refused to leave her.

Until one day after the wedding, they attended a middle school alumni reunion together.

Everyone was having a great time when someone suggested a game of Truth or Dare.

Amid the cheering, the bottle pointed toward Fu Tingsi.

Since Xia Dongyi was there too, everyone deliberately stirred things up. The question was: Who was his first love?

Fu Tingsi casually rested one hand on the back of the sofa, while holding a half-full glass of whiskey in the other. The amber liquid swirled slowly around the ice. As the light played across his features, he glanced around the room, then fixed his gaze on Xia Dongyi.

Xia Dongyi's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Now I've married her, and my secret crush has come true." He looked at her and spoke each word distinctly.

The room erupted, everyone shouting for them to kiss.

Fu Tingsi braced a hand on the table, leaned over, and held the back of Xia Dongyi's head.

In the haze of the moment, his lips were already on hers.

As their lips met, Xia Dongyi suddenly remembered something from years ago.

On the day of their middle school graduation ceremony, everyone had gone to karaoke. It was a similar scene, the same game, and someone had asked him a similar question.

In the dim room, his gaze had cut through the shifting lights overhead and the gaps in the crowd, landing directly on her.

That look held the weight of all those years, along with the secret feelings he couldn't bring himself to say aloud.

She had been looking down, fiddling with her phone, completely unaware of him.

He lowered his eyes, hiding every turbulent emotion within them and returning to his usual calm.

Fu Tingsi picked up the glass beside him and, in the dead silence, tipped back three drinks.

Then his low voice rang out: "No."

"There's no one I like."

Male secret crush/married life/slow burn and emotional push-and-pull

A boastful, narcissistic, arrogant, tsundere, secretly sensual puppy x a daily dose of wild antics, a hydrogen-light brain, an erratic, neurotic little troublemaker

Flashbacks interspersed/mostly urban life

Warnings: First, it's a lighthearted, everyday, silly, sweet romance, a fluffy snack of a story written just for fun, with no logic to speak of. The prose in the main story may not even be as good as the blurb (though you'll have to read it to know, and I could be wrong).

Second, the heroine has an unusual way of thinking and often does things that drive the hero mad. If that's a deal-breaker, then consider yourself warned. I think my girl is adorable, though. Also, the author is very protective of the heroine and can't bear to see her suffer, so the hero gets put through a lot more angst.

Third, they're childhood sweethearts who bicker all the time. Unless stated otherwise, they're each other's first love.

Guaranteed sweet.

Theme: Positive energy