Name: Thirst
Author: August of the Earth

Synopsis

OCD, unhinged, devoted perfumer x composed, scheming doctor with big-sister vibes

[Like a drop of water, no different from any other, without a taste. It slips past lips and teeth, falls into the fire, and rises as white smoke.]

Chen Yun, soon to be unemployed, found a rich second-generation doctor in a restroom on a rainy night.

She was beautiful, homeless, and elegant.

Sitting on the broken bed of a cheap inn, she looked up and smiled at Chen Yun.

“How about...”

“How about you come with me?”

She thought that if she worked hard and lived her life with all her strength, she might one day cross paths with her world.

She thought of her as an unattainable dream.

For that dream, she gave everything.

But in the end, she was left with nothing.

On the coldest day of the year, Chen Yun lay in her little bed with a fever that wouldn’t break, thinking this was all her life would ever amount to, when that person climbed through her window and appeared before her

“This time...

You’ll come with me, right?”

“I wanted her to love me, but she really does love me.”

“...The truth is, this is all just about survival. Peel away the surface, and everyone is the same.”

“If you really have to look for someone, you can come to me. Don’t go looking for anyone else.”

You are wooden and cold, like a stone.

You are hypocritical and arrogant, and you love to lecture people.

You can’t see the way others linger on you with their eyes, but I can. I can see it.

I can see your scent, your voice, your eyes, forever warm and ordinary...

Stones can’t speak, but you can.

Happy ending

1. A type of OCD.

There are various causes, and the course of the condition is complicated. I searched through psychiatry books and found very little relevant information, so I made things up as I went along.

2. All the perfume formulas mentioned in the story have real sources. I didn’t just make them up, though where I couldn’t find exact proportions, I did my best to invent them according to the golden ratio. Please forgive any inaccuracies.

3. I’m so glad our paths crossed.

So are they.

Next book: The Dog of My Wealthy Ex After We Broke Up

Blurb:

Zhong Buyu hates Yu Wangyi.

Zhong Buyu hates her ambition, her beauty, and the dreams she couldn’t contain, even after rushing from one gig to the next day after day until her throat bled.

Zhong Buyu hates the tears she couldn’t shed in their rented apartment.

Zhong Buyu hates her poverty, and every second they spent entwined on that broken bed, night after night.

Yu Wangyi hates Zhong Buyu.

Yu Wangyi hates her talent, her gifts, and how she worked day after day, selling things at stalls until she was desperate, yet still did everything she could to support Yu Wangyi’s dreams.

Yu Wangyi hates her trembling shoulders curled up on the back of an electric scooter.

Yu Wangyi hates her illness, her comfort, and every second she backed away during all those days and nights that followed.

Later, they hated themselves, too.

They hated themselves for not giving each other a better life back then. But then they thought, hadn’t the other person also failed to give them the life they wanted?

So they hated themselves for once being human, and now being a dog.

II.

Much later, Zhong Buyu would often say, “Being your wife is worse than being your dog.”

Yu Wangyi usually didn’t hear her say it, and even when she did, she pretended not to understand.

She couldn’t help it. The mansion was too big, the bed too wide, and rich second-generation celebrity ears were just like that.

But the more you say, the more likely you are to let something slip.

One night, after a passionate encounter, their bodies were marked with red.

Zhong Buyu leaned over the edge of the bed and brought up the past again, starting from the beginning.

This time, Yu Wangyi didn’t pretend to be deaf.

Yu Wangyi bent down, gently lifted the chain around her neck, stroked her face, and beckoned her closer, waiting for her to look up.

Then she smiled and said:

“Fine. Go ahead and lick.”