A Letter from the Swan

[Gentle, proper, restrained fatherly type x pure, alluring younger girl who makes the first move for love]

[Dance academy's belle x former campus heartthrob from the aerospace academy next door | First love | Mutual attraction | Faux sugar daddy arrangement]

Yu Yu thought he first met Lin Yuanlan at a bar.

A young woman dancing ballet in a world of glitter and glamour, as beautiful as a swan lost in the mist.

The night they met, she dared to get into his car without asking where he was taking her.

-

It wasn't until they were at the hotel that Yu Yu gently made it clear he didn't want her clinging to him.

He looked up and met Lin Yuanlan's tear-filled eyes. "You want me to have some self-respect?"

"No, I want you to love yourself."

He chose words that would hurt more, drawing a clear line between them.

The tears clouding Lin Yuanlan's eyes finally fell.

She insisted that once they left the room, she wouldn't seek him out again.

At the time, their relationship was indeed innocent.

But later, at that same hotel, he wiped away her tears and spoke softly to her.

"You cry a lot."

"Did you know I'd go soft on you?"

-

It was a long time before Yu Yu found out.

Their very first meeting had actually happened five years earlier.

Their flight hit turbulence and jolted violently.

The little girl in the next seat took his tightly clenched hands and gently smoothed out each of his fingers.

Her eyes, visible above her mask, were clear and bright as she comforted him. "Don't be scared, big brother."

That same year, disaster struck his family, and Yu Yu gave up on becoming a pilot.

From then on, he moved through the world of fame and fortune. He was gentle in his dealings with others, yet so solitary that he was hard to approach, a truly coldhearted businessman.

--- Upcoming: "A Soft Kiss on Velvet" ---

[Cold, aloof, high-status capital-city power player x coy, obedient, flirtatious young woman]

[Fostered in his home | The powerful one gets seduced | Eight-year age gap]

After her father died, the Yun family fell into ruin and chaos.

Just as Yun Rong was preparing to leave for Pingjing to attend university, she was sent to live with Chen Suiyan, whom she hadn't seen in ten years.

Before she left, an older relative close to her repeatedly reminded her, "Be good."

Chen Suiyan was Yun Rong's uncle in name only, with no blood relation. Rumor had it he was cold and difficult to approach, with ruthless methods.

A man in such a powerful position had no obligation to raise her, let alone spoil her.

Yet on Yun Rong's eighteenth birthday, soon after she arrived, Chen Suiyan personally arranged a banquet for her at the old family home, with the place packed with prominent guests.

He stayed by her side the whole time, quietly telling everyone: Yun Rong would have him to protect her from now on.

Later, after the banquet ended and the guests had left beneath the cool moon, Chen Suiyan went to the back courtyard to smoke.

He flicked ash from his fingers. As white smoke curled through the air, an intruder broke the stillness.

Yun Rong had deliberately sought him out, but acted flustered and helpless, lowering her eyes as she apologized.

Chen Suiyan gazed at her coolly. Her acting was a little unconvincing, and it wasn't hard to see through.

Still, he stubbed out his cigarette and stepped closer, ruffling her hair as he had when she was a child.

He willingly played along. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Rongrong."

-

Over four years, Chen Suiyan taught Yun Rong many things. The one thing he refused to teach her was love.

Yet he was also so clear-headed and composed, indulging her clumsy attempts to flirt with him again and again. The contradiction was maddening.

Until the night Yun Rong returned from a date with the He family's son, whom she was expected to marry.

Standing on the second floor, Chen Suiyan watched through the floor-to-ceiling window as the man spoke to her, then leaned down as if to kiss her.

Yun Rong simply closed her eyes and didn't refuse, gripping the hem of her skirt so tightly from embarrassment.

In that moment, the helpless girl looked like a fragile butterfly.

The string in Chen Suiyan's heart, already stretched to its limit, suddenly snapped.

He remembered how, not long before, Yun Rong had asked him with red-rimmed eyes, "Chen Suiyan, if I have to marry for the family's sake, why can't it be you?"

Chen Suiyan pulled his loosened tie from her hand and drew a restrained line between them. "I'm your uncle."

He was the one who wanted to send her into a marriage alliance. Now he was the one who couldn't bear to let her go.

But once Chen Suiyan couldn't bear to give her up, there was no way he would hand her over to someone else.

Theme: Love and dreams