P1
One summer afternoon in her second year of high school, Cen Rou was sprawled over her desk, wrestling with a baffling physics problem.
Chen Shu came back just then.
With a basketball in his arms, he sat beside her. His voice, brimming with youthful energy and carefree confidence, suddenly drew close.
"Cen Rou, you know what?"
"Someone just confessed to me."
She straightened her back, clutched her mechanical pencil, and turned her face away, trying to hide the ache of her unrequited love by focusing on her work. Her voice was cool.
"Really? Then you'd better think it over carefully."
She knew she and Chen Shu lived in different worlds.
He was a carefree boy, adored by everyone. The luckiest thing that could ever happen to her was getting to sit beside the boy she'd secretly loved for so long, after making a birthday wish for them to be desk mates for half a semester.
In her second year of high school, her dream came true, but that was all it was.
Fortunately, Chen Shu had never known she liked him.
P2
Years later, the two had long since lost touch.
Every now and then, Cen Rou couldn't resist opening his social media feed, watching him win award after award overseas, with plenty of talented, beautiful women among his collaborators.
Later, Chen Shu returned to China.
That same year, she finally decided to give blind dates a try.
At midnight on New Year's Eve, dazzling fireworks lit up the city sky.
Amid the celebration, Cen Rou finally worked up the courage to send Chen Shu a greeting for the first time in years: "Happy New Year."
He replied, "Happy New Year."
She thought her eleven years of unrequited love would come to an end there.
Then, just after midnight, Cen Rou noticed Chen Shu had posted: "The person I like wished me a happy new year. I hope she'll like me too in the coming year."
Lots of girls liked him. Cen Rou wasn't foolish enough to think he meant her.
She wiped away her tears and, eyes red, pretended not to care. "Congratulations! I hope the person you like realizes it soon!"
But soon, Chen Shu sent her a message. "Cen Rou, you know what?"
"That post just now was visible to you alone."
Algorithm engineer x city newspaper reporter
Mutual unrequited love, SC, HE
Blurb archived on 2024/1/05. Backups exist, so please don't steal the premise.
Theme: Live life with optimism
