Unbridled Feelings

Second chance at love | Reunited after years apart

Chen Ruolan never believed there could be anything between her and Shixu.

Their feverish embrace and kiss five years ago had been nothing more than a storm of desire she'd unleashed.

Feverish, intense, and utterly destructive.

Shixu had no idea how dangerous she was. He followed her around, grinning so brightly it dazzled her.

When her classmates bullied her, he shielded her from the sudden downpour. He led her through thorns and into a wilderness of blooming flowers.

He shared a small bowl of sweet porridge with her in the early morning, as the sun rose.

He bared his scars and confessed his feelings, sharing his secrets with her.

He gave her his boundless trust.

And on a midsummer night, Chen Ruolan smiled and gave him only one thing in return: "It was just for fun."

Chen Ruolan didn't know it then.

After that humiliation, the young man didn't leave. He watched her silently from the darkness.

-- His nails dug into his flesh as his obsession grew, unseen.

-

When they met again, Chen Ruolan was a wreck, battered by the storm. Facing the jeers of a crowd who all condemned her, she put on her usual show of composure, but no amount of vivid makeup could hide her exhaustion and hurt.

The hallway was dimly lit. She felt her way around the landing and froze, her key still in her hand.

Shixu stood silently in the darkness, his expression cold and stern.

His cool, strong fingers pressed down over Chen Ruolan's hand and turned the key for her. His voice was low and brooding. "Won't you invite me in for some fun?"

He was taller than before, and his steady, powerful fingers felt like a cage she couldn't escape.

Chen Ruolan felt inexplicably flustered. "F-for what?"

Shixu chuckled softly. "For another game of pretending to care. Aren't you best at that?"

Chen Ruolan thought Shixu had become a man in power and had come to take revenge on her, to get even for the humiliation.

But when she raised her hand, she felt the damp tear tracks on his face.

Through the haze, she heard him say in a trembling voice, "Lanlan, now... I can afford to play."

-

You can deceive me, toy with me, and trample me.

But you must never leave me.

-- Shixu

#Getting close to the storm's eye risks being torn apart, but if it means reaching you, I'm willing.#

Blurb written on 2024.8.29, revised on 9.22. Screenshot saved.

Reader's guide:

1. A flirtatious, scheming black lotus heroine x a devoted, emotionally clueless man

2. Both are each other's one and only, in body and heart.

3. The school storyline is told in flashbacks.

4. The heroine's name is inspired by Cao Zhi's "The Fair Maiden": "Her glances leave a radiant afterglow; her long sighs carry the fragrance of orchids."

----------------Please add the next book, Spring Rain Suddenly Stops, to your reading list----------------

Before she officially met Xie Huaiyi, Mai Li thought he was just a rich second-generation playboy who gathered a crowd of hangers-on and was always getting duped into paying for everything.

He was also someone she, born into a poor family, could never get close to.

Then, after the college entrance exams, a female classmate deliberately splashed a cup of coffee on Xie Huaiyi at a karaoke bar.

Right in front of her, he took off his designer shirt, worth tens of thousands, and tossed it into the trash.

A few guys laughed and joked that rich kids sure knew how to spend.

Mai Li had come in to clean and happened to witness the scene. She put down her rag and asked thoughtfully, "Do you have so much money you can just throw it away?"

Xie Huaiyi stared at her in surprise. "...Huh?"

She looked at his handsome, bewildered face in the dim light and stepped forward.

"Could you buy me a cup of coffee?"

"I've never had coffee before."

Xie Huaiyi was baffled and was just about to refuse, but Mai Li's eyes were unusually earnest.

The garish rotating lights in the private room swept across her fair face. His heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he replied without thinking, "Sure."

After they finished their coffee, Mai Li turned to him and asked, "Then do you know how to check into a hotel?"

"What?" Xie Huaiyi frowned.

"I've never been to a hotel either." Mai Li unfastened her collar, revealing her snowy-white skin, and looked straight at him. "Will you take me?"

Xie Huaiyi understood her hint.

*

Even before they met, Xie Huaiyi had heard about Mai Li. They said she was a boring top student who looked down on everyone, with pretty looks but a strange personality.

But only after he got to know Mai Li did Xie Huaiyi discover she wasn't boring at all. In some ways, she was downright fiery.

She just loved money so much that everything else came second.

But that was fine. Xie Huaiyi had plenty of money.

He showered Mai Li with cash, bought her luxury goods, and got her the finest musical instruments, all so he could take her out on weekends and spend the night with her in a hotel suite until dawn.

His friends teased him for falling for her looks, and even Xie Huaiyi thought their relationship was purely physical.

Until, after one performance, Mai Li came offstage and slapped away his reaching hand. "Let's break up."

Xie Huaiyi froze. "...Why?"

"I don't need money anymore," Mai Li said coldly. "You're no longer useful to me."

Something inside Xie Huaiyi suddenly and rapidly collapsed.

*

After saving up some money, Mai Li thought she'd be able to live the life she'd dreamed of as a girl.

But she always felt like something was missing.

Irritated, she returned to her old city to take some time off and teach children, hoping to unwind.

When she looked up, she saw that the person picking up the children was her ex-boyfriend, whom she hadn't seen in years.

Guiding principle: She is her faith.