A Mint-Scented Midsummer

Writing is hard, so please support the official release. Update notices are posted when I'm fixing typos and editing.

My other novel, Transgressive Obsession, is now available.

☆ Two top students / mutual pining / rekindled love / secret crush becomes reality

☆ Sensitive and resilient & scheming and devoted

1.

A brutally difficult entrance exam made transfer student Su Yue the talk of the school overnight. Everyone watched for the drama, betting on who would win next time, with wagers of a yuan here and fifty cents there.

Only Su Yue was furious that Xu Yi had scored one point higher.

Until she overtook him and claimed the top spot.

Someone joked that Xu Yi, who had held first place for years, would become enemies with the transfer student.

Then one day, as the sun sank outside the teaching building, two young hearts pounded wildly in an empty hallway alcove. Their shadows pressed together against the wall, with no space between them.

Su Yue tugged at the drawstrings of the boy's hoodie with both hands. Her face was red, but her tone was assertive as she pressed him for an answer. “I want to know, Teacher Xu, do you want me to sign up for the training course because you simply want us to improve together, or is there another reason?”

2.

When they met again, a few people from their old Class Six got together.

To liven things up, everyone started playing Truth or Dare.

Xu Yi drew Truth: What do you call your girlfriend in private?

Everyone perked up their ears, eager to hear a sweet pet name. But Xu Yi, a little tipsy, only looked at Su Yue, rested his hand on the back of her chair, and gently said three words.

“Teacher Su.”

The others waved their hands, unimpressed that they hadn't gotten the answer they wanted. Only Su Yue's ears turned red as she filled in the rest in her mind, remembering what he had whispered while gently pinning her against the mirror

“Teacher Su, this way.”

“People often say you shouldn't meet someone dazzling when you're young. But I don't regret it, because he showed me so many breathtaking sights. Even if our paths never cross again, I still believe that the boy I love will one day find the tailwind meant for him.”

Su Yue

“For my seventeenth birthday, I wished that my deskmate would be happy every day. Today, two years later, I'm feeling a little greedy. I want to spend the rest of my life with the girl standing beside me. From now on, no winter will ever feel long again.”

Xu Yi

PS: I'm terrible at writing blurbs, so please bear with me. For details about the setting, see the author's note in Chapter One.

Blurb for my upcoming novel, Transgressive Obsession:

◎ Six-year age gap / mutual healing / rekindled love / foster family trope

1.

The year before she was due to start primary school, Shen Qingjia was sent to stay with a family friend of her father's.

A childhood friend came to visit and accidentally saw the boy on the second floor. Terrified, she clung to Shen Qingjia and said his skin was pale and cold, and he walked without a sound, like a ghost.

Shen Qingjia looked at the closed bedroom door, shivered from head to toe, and resolved to stay as far away from Chen Huaizhi as possible.

But she never imagined that one stormy night, those hands would cover her trembling eyelashes.

Lightning illuminated the dark corner of the room. He lowered his eyes and leaned close, whispering gently in her ear, “Don't be afraid.”

2.

Years later, Shen Qingjia still had nightmares about thunderstorms, but the person who used to comfort her was no longer by her side. She had gradually grown used to curling up alone to face her fear.

They met again on a bleak, rainy night six years later.

Chen Huaizhi wore a trench coat, dignified and composed. He walked through the mist and met her gaze, then turned and left without hesitation.

But when Shen Qingjia was told she had to go on a blind date, she looked through the peephole and opened the door to the person outside, only for Chen Huaizhi to pin her against the wall, their fingers intertwined. The man's voice by her ear was almost pleading

“Qingjia, do you not want your big brother anymore?”

-

“What do you think she is?”

“A dream I sink into and never want to wake from.”

Note: The protagonists are not related by blood and are not registered in the same household. There is no inappropriate intimacy between them before they become adults.

Theme: We will all reach the other shore of our dreams.