Fake Sapiosexual

[Loyal, outgoing catlike guitarist × gentle, scheming, love-struck veteran]

[Lighthearted story. The male lead's progression: boss → friend → guy best friend → boyfriend. The female lead is a classic case of "I didn't like him at first, but now I'm sold."]

[Completed. Please add my upcoming book to your favorites [flower in mouth]]

Blurb

As Remedy's trendy guitarist and award-winning arranger, Cheng Mengzhen considers herself a bit of an airhead. She never imagined that one day an "academic, love-struck romantic," who occasionally gets carried away by intellectual attraction, would pull her into the Blue Star Cup research team. From then on, she spends her days revising papers and currying favor with the boss.

In Cheng Mengzhen's eyes, her grad student senior is devastatingly handsome, gentle and responsible at work, and knows the names of obscure bands she's never heard of. It's just that his old-school air is too strong, and his favorite emojis are a fist bump and a cup of coffee. She can't help teasing him about it.

In Jiang Xuan's eyes, his talented junior is already adorable in both looks and personality. Her cool-faced solo performances onstage have a captivating contrast, and she's also a loyal little firecracker who would make a great friend. The only downside is that she has a boyfriend.

She's so wonderful, yet her friends and lover don't treat her well.

-

"Junior, I never thought he would treat you like this."

"Are we friends now?"

"Those who abandon you so easily aren't worth your tears."

"I want to help you."

At the time, Cheng Mengzhen was staring dazedly at photos on her phone of her boyfriend getting intimate with a strange woman, pouring her heart out to her guy best friend, who was three years older.

Rigged competitions, band members quitting, cold wars with her boyfriend... Ever since she became friends with Jiang Xuan, she'd thought her luck had finally turned, only to witness her partner cheating at the celebratory banquet.

Just the next day, she would still go to his party whenever he called, as if their cold war had never happened.

To make it easier to bear, Cheng Mengzhen even told herself: at least, as her boyfriend, he had never crossed any fundamental line. From now on, she could stop talking about her band career and just ask for sincerity.

Even though Jiang Xuan had been biding his time for ages, and had even hoped Cheng Mengzhen would find out and break things off with her boyfriend, he still couldn't bear to see her sad.

"Raye, he doesn't treat you right."

"He shouldn't have let you down."

-

In a private room filled with crisscrossing lights, Cheng Mengzhen egged Jiang Xuan on to sing a song. To her surprise, the moment her good friend opened his mouth, he sang in the alluring, affectionate dialect of H City.

She was still stunned on the leather sofa after the song ended, while their group of troublemaking friends hurried to tease this central figure for his love of talent: Raye should get Jiang Xuan to sing for the band!

He only smiled helplessly, handed over the microphone, and went straight to sit beside Cheng Mengzhen, leaning down to quietly tell her about things he'd never shared with anyone else.

That night, the room's sound system was deafening, but his whisper was especially clear.

She seemed to understand him a little better.

And he seemed... a little too close to her.

_

Reading notes:

1. He has a secret crush on her; the guy-best-friend-rises-to-boyfriend trope.

2. Both are sexually inexperienced, one-on-one, and the female lead is the male lead's first love. The male lead has mastered all kinds of ways to keep his distance, so he's pure and devoted.

3. The band and research parts are made up; don't take them as realistic.

Next book, My ID Is B City's Most Devoted Lover. Full draft in progress, please add it to your favorites

[Violent, sister-obsessed, dark-skinned student athlete × snarky, proud young master who keeps getting humbled]

[Enemies to lovers | Says one thing, means another | He has a secret crush]

After a trip to the ICU, Pu Huaiyu was supposed to be reborn as a villainess, diligently fawning over the male lead, making life difficult for the female lead, and eventually meeting a tragic end. But due to a System matching error, she was forced to take on the role of the devoted second male lead.

[Keywords] Younger love interest, loyal dog, sister complex, dark-skinned student athlete.

Pu Huaiyu: (putting on sunglasses) I can work with that. Please change my ID to B City's Most Devoted Lover. Thanks.

*

"Sir, protecting my sister is your responsibility."

"Your only advantage is that my sister likes you. My advantage is that she's my sister."

Certain that Pu Huaiyu had more than a few issues with him, the male lead was on high alert and trying to come up with a plan, but couldn't resist the girl's tears.

"Sis, Uncle doesn't really like me, does he...? I'm scared you'll leave me."

The female lead immediately scrambled to wipe her sister's tears. Forget men, they were all irrelevant: "No, I'll always stay by your side."

Pu Huaiyu looked over their embracing shoulders at the male lead's utterly grim expression. What can you possibly compare to me?

*

Question: She took the devoted second male lead's role, so who gets the villainess role?

The System, which had messed up at work: (pretending to whistle) Good question.

At an upscale restaurant, the head of the Wei family cast a casual glance, like a dragonfly skimming low over the water and tracing a smooth, glistening ripple with the tip of its wing. A faint smile crossed his face.

"Yanzhou, is this the counter girl you've had your eye on lately?" Wei Zhen glanced over, the faint smile at his lips making his words sound like praise at first. "And you've brought along a wild girl."

Pu Huaiyu, in her dark-skinned student-athlete era: I think you're asking for a beating.

*

The Wei and Fan families were old friends, and Wei Zhen and Fan Yanzhou had naturally been close since childhood. So he knew perfectly well that his friend getting serious with a counter girl would only ruin his reputation.

His words might have been harsh, but they were well-meant advice.

His friend joked, "Looks like you and Manman's little sister have a spark. Why not go win her over for your buddy's happiness?"

"...You're quite the friend."

Wei Zhen nearly laughed in disbelief.

He and that tough little wild girl had a spark? What a joke.

What Wei Zhen didn't know was that before long, the girl's reddened eyes would burn a mark into his heart. Like a fire, they would make his longing burn brighter and brighter.

Theme: Look beyond appearances to see the truth