There’s Still Time

[A flamboyant but gentle top × a reserved bottom who never backs down from a fight]

In his second year of high school, Jian Ji's parents' marriage fell apart.

He moved from a big city to a small county in the north, where he met a rebellious boy with blue hair who wore only a thin school uniform even in the dead of winter.

"Good student, how does it feel to be in the mountains?" Li Ming asked, chewing on a blade of foxtail grass.

The wind swept the hair from Jian Ji's forehead. "It's just a different way of life."

"Why should we put one way of life on a pedestal and look down on another?"

Reader's Guide

1. A delicate writing exercise, short story

2. 1v1, both leads are each other's only partners, school life, everyday moments

3. Northeastern flavor, stories of life in a rented room, and yes, they're really poor

A little bit of the original inspiration. Feel free to skip it.

"Li Ming, the truth is, I don't like you at all.

I don't like this backward, dreary little town, where there's not a trace of life.

I admit I've got some inexplicable pride. I came from a big city, and sooner or later I'll go back there. Being in a small place is just something I have to put up with for now.

But you just stuck to me,

like a plaster that wouldn't come off.

At meals,

when answering questions,

when getting water between classes,

whenever I turned around, there you were.

The Second High School was dirt-poor, so poor you could hear the wind whistling through its pockets.

When we finally got some funding, they used it all to buy land.

I knew that on my very first day here, but what I didn't know was this:

we'd already looked over this whole school, this expanse of barren land, together.

It snowed again that day.

It was the first time in my eighteen years of life that I'd been soaked in snow from head to toe. Everyone hunched down, burying their chins in thick scarves.

And I didn't know.

I didn't know that winters here brought heavy snowfall, that I needed to buy a thick scarf, or that I had to dress until I looked like a penguin.

The wind blew, and it was cold.

But I really wanted to stand in the snow, letting white flakes fall over my face and hair, as if that could erase the darkness left by my mother's death.

And that's when you wrapped a scarf around my neck.

The snow fell heavily, and everything around us was quiet. When you saw me staying silent, you leaned in to look into my eyes. Our breath formed a mist in the cold air, fogging our vision.

I couldn't hold back my tears. I told you I didn't have a mother anymore.

You were always slick with words, but on that snowy day you said nothing. You just pulled me tightly into your arms.

Snow fell on us from head to toe, but your embrace was warm, like a deadly whirlpool. Whenever I wanted it, you would give me that warmth.

So how could I ever bring myself to push you away?"

Theme: Long live life!