Old Grievances Are Hard to Settle

[This story was written as practice]

At a banquet, Chu Yue ran into his scumbag first love again.

That man manipulated him psychologically and abused him physically.

But Chu Yue still loved him.

Until one day, he saw Bo Yan kissing someone else in the apartment they shared.

Chu Yue took out his phone and recorded the whole thing.

He sent a letter of complaint to the school's academic affairs office, and the photos to Bo Yan's always-busy father.

His revenge had come full circle.

When they met again, they were at each other's throats.

Chu Yue hurled insults at him, while Bo Yan set a trap to draw him in.

They had agreed never to speak again, but in the end, neither had let go.

One secretly felt his heart flutter; the other had kept his ex's coat.

At the cliffside bar of a private resort, Chu Yue was dragged into Bo Yan's welcome-home party.

Under the lights, the faces around him were hard to make out. Outnumbered, Chu Yue got drunk on the spot.

When he woke up, Bo Yan was lying beside him.

Then Chu Yue personally sent his ex-boyfriend to the police station.

He lit a cigarette and denied still having feelings for his ex while a friend berated him.

"It's not that I can't forget our old love. It's that I can't let go of the hurt."

Bo Yan's perspective: After returning home, it seems my unforgettable ex still loves me. I want to forgive him, but I'm afraid he'll get in the way of my ambition and drive.

Chu Yue: "Who do you think you are?! You have the nerve to talk about forgiving someone else?"

Reader's guide:

1. A sharp-tongued, vindictive bottom (Chu Yue) * an ambitious, domineering top (Bo Yan)

2. Neither of them is easy to push around, and both take revenge for every slight.

3. The early chapters are mostly from the bottom's perspective, so the top may seem like a scumbag. But the two perspectives don't quite match.

4. They've both dated other people since the breakup. Neither is sexually inexperienced.

5. The top is of mixed Chinese and European descent; the bottom is a local.

More details to come.

Blurb drafted on July 9, 2024.

Theme: You must love yourself before you can love someone else.