The main story is complete. My upcoming historical romance, The Wicked Girl (Fake Incest), features a haughty young lady × a seemingly gentle but dark older brother. It opens in May. Please add it to your reading list!
Love or hate, freedom or survival?
“Hello.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I love you.”
The only four phrases he knew in Lashan, yet they encompassed everything between us.
Chen Wan first met Qi Xing on Flores Island, beneath the moon.
The sea shimmered with a blue glow, its waves rolling gently onto the beach and smoothing the golden sand.
There were a few tourists here and there, but she was all alone, gazing into the distant sea.
With a click, he suddenly entered her world.
A handsome young man walked over, scratching his head with an embarrassed smile as he handed her his camera.
“Sorry, Miss Chen. I wanted to take a candid shot, but I forgot to turn on the flash, so it came out a little dark.”
The moonlight shone in his yellow-green eyes, filling them with tenderness. They were like the golden-green cat’s-eye stones Flores Island was famous for.
Only later did she learn that this was his clumsy way of hitting on her.
Just as he insisted on following her back to Lashan.
Chen Wan saw Qi Xing again at a banquet hosted by a wealthy Bidan merchant.
She had entered this world of luxury and excess as her employer’s interpreter, only to run into him without warning.
He was surrounded by admirers. He saw her, but looked away.
Then, when someone bent down to invite her to dance, he grabbed her hand.
“People with thin lips are said to be cold-hearted, but I can’t even pretend as well as you can.”
Caught in the heart of the conflict between the Lashan people and the Bidan people, Chen Wan could only remain silent.
She understood the Lashan people’s hatred of Bidan, and she knew that most Bidan people were innocent.
But she had no right to separate the guilty from the rest and speak on their behalf.
She was guilty too.
She had grown up among the Lashan people, but she also had Bidan blood.
Years later, Qi Xing followed the wish of that girl and climbed the Nikpos Mountains, chasing the sunset in the west.
Warm yellow light washed over the mountain peaks, turning their dark slopes a deep purple. They looked like a glowing orange being squeezed for its juice, tinting a chocolate dream.
He thought again of her orange-yellow face.
“I hear that at the summer solstice, Nikpos is the closest place to the sunset.”
“And on Flores Island, protected by the god of love, you’ll meet someone you’ll never forget for the rest of your life.”
A sunny young master who doesn’t want to inherit the family business & a reserved girl who yearns for love and freedom
Reading Guide:
1. The main story is told in third person.
2. A nontraditional reunion after a breakup.
3. All place names and ethnic groups in the story are fictional.
Theme: Love and freedom
