For a Rainy Day

School Life - Urban / Unrequited Love

It was a day of passing showers, with raindrops as big as beans hurtling down from the sky.

To help the new class bond, someone suggested a game where you had to recognize people by their faces and say their names. When it was Jiang Runzhi's turn, her quiet, reserved nature left everyone struggling to remember her name. Just as she grew awkward, a loud, confident voice rang out:

"You don't even know her? Jiang Runzhi, whose beauty lights up the world."

That boy was Chen Yuewei.

He was good-natured, popular, spirited, and passionate. It was all too easy to fall for him.

While the school building was being renovated, their class moved to the first floor of the building across from theirs. Jiang Runzhi opened a fourth-floor window and spotted Chen Yuewei in the first-floor corridor. Before she could even feel happy, she saw him rushing around, taking care of a girl in his class.

Whenever he wanted, he could be friends with anyone, no matter their gender.

The faint ache in her heart was impossible to pin down.

On graduation day, thinking she would never see him again, Jiang Runzhi cried her eyes out.

Someone appeared and wiped away her tears.

Through her blurred vision, she recognized Zhou Jiyu, the school's golden boy and top student. His usual coolness made her think that love was something he would never get involved in.

He said, "Jiang Runzhi, stop crying. Happy graduation. I hope you'll be happy from now on."

Only then did she remember that on that day of passing showers, he had actually said her name before Chen Yuewei did.

*

A high school classmate invited Jiang Runzhi to a wedding gathering. The groom was Chen Yuewei's close friend, and he had his own agenda: he got everyone there to tease the two of them.

Jiang Runzhi made a call. "It's raining outside. When this is over, could you come pick me up?"

"A friend?" someone asked.

She corrected them. "My boyfriend."

Everyone erupted in surprise. Only Chen Yuewei's gaze remained unreadable.

The one who came to get her was Zhou Jiyu.

Beneath the curtain of rain, his eyes were dark and deep. The moment their eyes met, he was the first to look away. "Was the gathering fun?"

"Not really," Jiang Runzhi answered honestly. "You're more interesting than they are."

Their lingering kiss was steeped in the damp air of the rainy day.

She suddenly recalled that when she first met Zhou Jiyu ten years ago, she had thought he was hard to approach and that their lives would never intersect.

But the opposite was true. He had seen her hide away and cry, seen her careful little crush on Chen Yuewei, seen her work herself to the bone studying, and witnessed almost every major decision she made about the direction of her life.

Like this passing shower, he had been part of her life for a long time.

*

1. Readers can consider this a story where the second male lead wins, but I believe that whoever the heroine chooses in the end is the male lead. By my definition, Zhou Jiyu is the male lead.

2. The heroine has a crush on the second male lead early on, while the male lead has always had a crush on her.

3. The male lead is cool on the outside but warm inside, while the second male lead is warm on the outside but cool inside. There are no melodramatic misunderstandings; the separation and reunion are both true to their characters.

4. High school - college - city life.

Cover by @Snowy Day

Blurb written on 2026.05.24

Theme: Time always weeds out what is not steadfast.