Unwavering

[Rekindled love after a breakup / cocky, handsome criminal investigation captain x gentle female doctor]

Blurb:

Chen Xi thought the most outrageous thing that could happen to a doctor was being threatened with a knife by a patient's family member. She never imagined that one day she'd be summoned to the Public Security Bureau.

She gave the police everything, from her name to her work history.

When asked about her romantic history, Chen Xi instinctively glanced at the taciturn young man seated diagonally in front of her.

He hadn't looked at her once. His cool gaze rested on the cigarette pack in his fingers.

Chen Xi turned to the officer taking her statement and spoke quietly. "I've only been in love once."

"When was that? How long did it last?"

"After high school graduation. Fifteen days."

"Who was the other person?"

"..." Chen Xi pressed her lips together and silently looked diagonally in front of her.

The man turned the cigarette pack around with his long fingers and picked up where his colleague had left off. "Isn't the suspect, Gao Yang, your boyfriend?"

Chen Xi was caught off guard by the deep eyes she met. Her voice trembled. "No."

"All right." He curled his lip and looked at her thoughtfully. "Tell me about your relationship."

*

Chen Xi heard that Gu Fangchi had joined the army after they broke up. A few years later, she heard that he had died on a mission.

Chen Xi was very busy then, but still made time to visit a temple and offer incense for him.

May he be born into a good family next time, and have a life free of misfortune.

And may he not fall in love with someone he has no future with.

After leaving the Public Security Bureau that day, Chen Xi felt completely dazed.

Then, late at night, she saw that man again at a barbecue stall, in his police uniform and buying supper for his colleagues.

At last, she couldn't keep the question in. "Weren't you... dead?"

The streetlights shifted across his rugged, unchanged face. His smile was difficult to read. "Well, I thought I'd come see you before I died."

"..."

*

When Gu Fangchi was seventeen, his family's company went bankrupt and both his parents died. The young heir fell from grace overnight.

Chen Xi held him and told him, "It's okay. This will all pass."

Later, at twenty-seven, Gu Fangchi returned to her, weathered by the years.

"You were right. Everything passes."

"But Chen Xi, you can't get past me."

Theme: Love endures beyond death.