One Hundred Percent Devotion

My new novel, Flaw, is now underway next door. Come check it out! >o< ◎ Childhood sweethearts / rekindled romance / mutual unrequited love / foster-family trope ◎ Energetic, slightly scatterbrained little ray of sunshine & cold-faced, scheming Doberman 1. Jiang Wansheng first met Qi Chen when she was eight years old. The summer heat was stifling, and cicadas shrilled noisily. His stepmother had thrown him out. Insults and curses rang through the stairwell. The boy stood there without expression. But when he heard the words “jinx,” his hands clenched at his sides, as if he were holding himself back. Jiang Wansheng was too young then to understand the difference between boys and girls. She carefully took his hand. “We’ll live together from now on.” After that, Qi Chen lived with the Jiang family. When their friends found out, they always warned Jiang Wansheng to stay away from him. Anyone could see the possessiveness in his eyes whenever he looked at her. Jiang Wansheng didn’t believe them. Her human-shaped body pillow was clearly so well-behaved. Until that rainy night beneath the parasol trees Holding a white umbrella, Jiang Wansheng glimpses what lies around the corner. Her friend is already lying on the ground, barely clinging to life. Qi Chen stands in the shadows, his eyes dark, the raised veins on the back of his hand streaked with blood. He lifts his eyes and watches Jiang Wansheng tremble and step backward. Slowly, he reaches out and speaks in a hoarse voice, almost pleading. “Keke, please don’t be afraid of me, okay?” 2. They meet again at the airport. On her first day back in the country, Jiang Wansheng catches sight of a familiar figure. Qi Chen has shed the awkwardness of youth. As a rising star in the tech world, he is now untouchable, dressed in a dark suit and exuding an air of aloof refinement. On impulse, Jiang Wansheng stops his car, then freezes, at a loss for words. At that moment, the man turns his head and looks at her coldly, his expression distant and his tone contemptuous. “After all these years, Miss Jiang, are you still planning to treat me like an obedient little puppy?” Jiang Wansheng understands then that they can never go back to how things were. But she never expected what would happen one day later. Jiang Wansheng goes home to humor her parents by attending a blind date. At dinner, she glances casually at Qi Chen, who is sitting nearby. He toys with a lighter, looking relaxed as he occasionally joins in with a chuckle. He seems not to care at all. Jiang Wansheng’s heart aches. Just as she is about to leave, someone suddenly pulls her into an empty corner. “Having fun on your blind date?” The man’s lips brush behind her ear, as if to leave a mark, and she is suddenly reminded of that innocent summer night when she was eighteen. Jiang Wansheng instinctively turns her head away. “Don’t. My parents might see.” “Afraid of being seen?” Qi Chen grips her chin and makes her look up, his thumb tracing her lips. He narrows his eyes and asks, “Why weren’t you afraid of anyone seeing you when you bit me last night?” [When an intense attachment takes hold, the other person gives off a special scent. Familiar, unique, and utterly irreplaceable.] * Both leads’ first time; happy ending; sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, bittersweet (don’t overlook the last word). * No intimate scenes before the leads are adults. * The leads are not blood relatives and are not registered under the same household. * This version of the blurb was revised on January 21 and has been uploaded. *The first part of the blurb contains a misunderstanding: the friend wasn’t “barely clinging to life” because of the male lead. Theme: Our meeting is a journey of healing for us both.