A Second Unrequited Love

In high school, Chen Yubai was Yuanzhao's number-one simp.

Because Yuanzhao's name sounded like winter, she loved winter all the more, simply because she loved him.

Winter really was wonderful.

But not because of the name. It was because in winter, she could say the cold wind made her cry instead of admitting she cried after hearing Yuanzhao call her a people pleaser who was nice to everyone, say he really disliked her, and dismiss her as irritating.

Chen Yubai was heartbroken, but if Yuanzhao came to see her, she was still willing to forgive him.

But by the time she transferred schools and left, Yuanzhao, the boy she liked, had never once come to see her.

So she really had been pathetic.

*

Four years after high school, Yuanzhao became the famous lead singer of a band, with millions of fans and no equal in popularity.

By chance, Chen Yubai became the intern assistant her company assigned to him. She was unknown and spent her days doing all kinds of odd jobs.

He never mentioned that they had been classmates, and Chen Yubai, who used to chase after him all through high school, pretended not to know him.

Even when he later swallowed his pride and called her by name, she would only lower her head and address him as Mr. Yuan or Brother Yuanzhao.

She did whatever he asked, but always kept things strictly professional and never said a word more than necessary. She planned to transfer away as soon as she got a permanent position, leaving no connection between them at all.

It wasn't until rumors that they were secretly dating spread one after another and the controversy erupted that Chen Yubai first approached him outside of work.

She handed in her resignation.

"Do you really want to get rid of me that badly? Pretend none of it ever happened?"

Bitter over the unexpected coldness she showed him, Yuanzhao gritted his teeth.

But Chen Yubai only stared at him with a deadpan expression and calmly pleaded,

"Please stop making things hard for a wage worker, Brother Yuanzhao."

*

She was a simp, a people pleaser who treated so many people well because she wanted to be good to him, and a delusional lovesick fool who thought she might end up with him.

She had been happy, too, when she liked Yuanzhao.

But having a secret crush was foolish, and she never wanted to do it again.

*Happy ending

Theme: Learn to speak your mind.