Rule One: Turn the Contract into a Permanent Position

[Contract romance, entertainment industry setting, happy ending, drafting in progress]

It was only a contractual relationship.

He was gentle, refined, and considerate, everything anyone could want in a man.

She was born humble and knew that earning even the slightest bit of his favor was a blessing beyond measure.

He doted on her and treated her tenderly, as if he cherished her.

She knew it was nothing more than the instinctive courtesy of a well-bred man.

Rule number one of the contract: Never fall for your employer.

She shouldn’t be greedy.

She could only carefully hide her feelings, play the role she was meant to, and keep her head down. All she wanted was to find her footing in a dog-eat-dog world and survive.

A relationship hidden from the light couldn’t last long, but she hadn’t expected it to end so soon.

On the night news broke of the Cheng family’s arranged marriage, Fu Yu drank until she was tipsy. For the first time, she took the initiative, bold and shameless, too embarrassed to look herself in the eye.

Three years was neither a long nor a short time. It was enough to build many habits, but not enough to win someone’s heart, let alone help her find her footing in that world.

At dawn the next day, she got up early, took the luggage she’d packed in advance, abandoned the gilded cage that had never been locked, and fled.

The wind was bone-cold, and the sky was a lifeless white, exactly as it had been the day they first met.

Dragging her suitcase and shuffling along in loose slippers, she glanced back with her chin raised, her gaunt face wry. "He’s always the one in control. I suppose I came out ahead this time."

But when she looked up...

At the familiar window, between the billowing indigo curtains, stood a man loosely wrapped in a bathrobe, arms folded, watching her from above, far away.

After ten seconds of eye contact, she instinctively tightened her grip on the handle and wanted to retreat.

He reached out and held back the fluttering curtain. Beneath his open robe were the marks she had left in anger.

His expression was calm. He lazily crooked a finger and mouthed two familiar words: "Come here."

A little game at the wedding reception finally brought some untold stories to light.

Cheng Kaiyang listened to his older sister’s complaints, lowering his head in embarrassment. Then he turned and put an arm around his wife, who was listening in curiously with her ears perked up.

"It was my fault."

"But, darling, should I say you’re too timid or too bold?"

"Timid enough to run off just because of a few words, but you still wouldn’t believe me."

"And bold enough to..."

Cheng Kaiyang chuckled under his breath, pinched her earlobe, and murmured, "You actually dared to take what you wanted and then throw me away."

Note left on 2024.01.02

Theme: Keep your feet on the ground.