Crossing the Line [Love Next Door]

Blurb:

At fifteen, Nan Yu arrived at the Xie family home for the first time. At a glance, she saw him sitting in the living room, talking with Old Master Xie. He was strikingly handsome, his eyes crinkling with a smile. Beneath that warm appearance, what drew her in even more was the fleeting coolness and distance in his gaze.

Aunt Xie told him, "This is Nan Yu, your younger sister."

He merely nodded, then stood up and left.

When Nan Yu confessed her feelings to him at twenty-five, Xie Zhiyi stayed silent for a long time. At last, he replied in a hoarse voice, "Our relationship makes this inappropriate."

Later, in a Xie family where everyone opposed them, Nan Yu dodged the hand he reached out to her.

Just like the day they first met, except this time she was the one smiling. "Brother, I crossed the line before."

Those words, "I crossed the line," denied every feeling she'd ever had and enraged the madman Xie Zhiyi had kept repressed all along.

For three dreamlike months, he confined Nan Yu in a small courtyard, kissing and embracing her, doing all the things outsiders called utterly outrageous.

■ Pseudo-siblings × age gap × secret love turned real × somewhat melodramatic, sweet and indulgent rich-family romance

■ Both are virgins, happy ending.

■ The leads are not related by blood, and their romance begins openly after their familial relationship ends.

Theme: Learn to be brave