A Calculated Zero [Second Chance at Love]

[Due to an important exam in the second half of the year, I'm taking a break from updates to ensure the quality of the writing. I'll resume after my exams at the end of December. I won't abandon the story. Thank you for understanding and waiting.]

Rekindled love | Unrequited love becomes real | Angsty push and pull

Top-tier star and singer x stage designer

In high school, Yun Ti was unremarkable, while Ji Xuli was adored by everyone.

No one would ever have connected the two of them.

Knowing they were worlds apart, Yun Ti kept her crush buried in her heart.

On graduation day, she worked up the courage to say goodbye to him, but the noisy crowd pushed her farther and farther away.

Even their last meeting was nothing more than her gazing up at him in silence.

Later, in a cramped stairwell,

Ji Xuli gripped her wrist and lowered his proud head.

Again and again, he lingered longingly at the corner of her lips, calling her hoarsely:

"Come closer. Kiss me again."

His usual carefree composure was nowhere to be seen.

-

Years later,

they ran into each other in an elevator, while a colleague enthusiastically tried to set her up.

"Xiao Li is interested in you too. You're a perfect match. Why not give it a try?"

Yun Ti was about to politely refuse when she unexpectedly met Ji Xuli's cool gaze.

As if possessed, she swallowed her refusal and softly replied,

"Then let's meet tonight."

-

That night,

heavy rain poured outside the window. Yun Ti thought she heard a knock at the door.

The moment she opened it, the world spun. Someone clamped an arm around her shoulders and pinned her against the wall, punishing her with a cold, desperate kiss.

She tasted the night's rain on Ji Xuli's lips.

The young man who once stood in the light was now swallowed by shadow.

Ji Xuli was soaked through, his disheveled hair falling over the turbulent light in his eyes.

His voice was hoarse, like a trapped beast, as he demanded again and again:

"So calm. Have you forgotten that you were the one who dumped me?"

"Yun Ti, it won't be that easy."

"If you can, then lie to me for the rest of your life."

[*I didn't really have a choice. The moment I met you, fate came crashing down. It didn't give me even a second to choose.]

[Reading Guide]

1. Both are virgins, each other's first love, 1v1. This is my take on the entertainment industry, so please don't compare it to real life.

2. *From Qiu Miaojin's Notes of a Crocodile.

3. Screenshots have been taken of every version of the blurb. The first version was screenshotted on May 7, 2024.

Theme: Love makes people better together.