The closest she'd ever been to him was when their test rankings were one place apart, when the teacher read their names together.
Qi Yu, Chen Peiyue.
It was the sight of the two of them leaning together in the staff room.
The farthest she'd ever been from him was walking one after the other beneath a row of pagoda trees.
He gave her the umbrella in his hand, and the girl beside him asked, "If you give it to her, what will you use?"
The boy smiled casually. "I'll share yours."
"Who is she?"
"A classmate. I don't know her well."
Old, discarded books, filled with drawings of him.
A secret discovered by her classmates and exposed in front of everyone.
Her desperate denial: "It's... an anime character."
The evasive, sidelong glances he gave her.
A secret she would forever hide in her heart afterward.
A friend asked, "What's it like to be with the person you have a crush on?"
Qi Yu looked at the message on her phone and smiled, her eyes curving. "It feels amazing."
Set in school at first, then in the city.
Both leads are inexperienced; the male lead has no ambiguous relationships and isn't interested in anyone else.
Unrequited love is hard. He deserves to be loved, too.
Theme: We deserve better
