Stop Pretending We Don't Know Each Other [Rekindled Love]

My completed novel, Restrain Your Heart: an older-man romance, bittersweet and faux-forbidden, featuring a rebellious, unruly young woman and a kind, gentle older man.

Now updating: She Is a Bird, an older-man romance featuring a sunny young woman and a stuffy older man.

The blurb is below.

Blurb

Cool, elegant illustrator * green-tea celebrity

Zhao Jingzhi first saw Xiang Fan when they were children, at an orphanage.

Sitting in a luxury car, Zhao Jingzhi spotted Xiang Fan in the corner, wearing shabby clothes.

Zhao Jingzhi was lonely and wanted company, so she chose Xiang Fan.

Her father wanted a charitable image, not to help anyone, so he brought Xiang Fan home.

Xiang Fan was clever and wanted to survive, so he went to the Zhao household.

And so the wheels of fate began to turn.

Over the next decade, they spent every day together, and affection quietly blossomed.

Zhao Jingzhi's feelings were genuine, but Xiang Fan's might not have been.

The Zhao family's business was on the brink of collapse. No amount of feigned kindness could change the fact that bankruptcy was inevitable.

On the eve of the storm, Zhao Jingzhi held two plane tickets to the United States.

She had taken him away from the orphanage once, and now she wanted to take him far from the turmoil.

On a stormy night, against the cold walls, Zhao Jingzhi stood behind a door and heard a familiar voice.

“To survive in the Zhao family, Zhao Jingzhi is my only option.”

So the promises of forever beneath all that beauty had been nothing but filthy, rotten lies.

In the end, she never gave him the plane ticket. It was torn to pieces along with Zhao Jingzhi's tears and thrown into a street-side trash can.

Out of sight. Out of the light.

2

Years after they parted, Zhao Jingzhi returned to China, determined to have nothing more to do with Xiang Fan.

But Xiang Fan had reinvented himself as a top-tier star, while she was broke, in debt, and failing to promote her children's illustration program.

By chance, they ended up on the same variety show, where adorable kids were the main attraction.

It was the perfect opportunity to promote her program.

When Zhao Jingzhi went to sign the contract, he cornered her in a dead end in the stairwell.

The light was dim. Xiang Fan wouldn't let go. He had missed her for so, so long.

But she looked at him coldly, even with disgust.

His heart shattered. Unable to bear the look in her eyes, Xiang Fan lost control. Only when he kissed her did he feel his blood rushing through his veins.

But the payback came swiftly. Zhao Jingzhi slapped him, bit his lip until it bled, and warned him:

“Pretend you don't know me. It'll save us both trouble.”

He leaned against the wall, looking lazy and carefree.

“Can't do that.”

3

Because of work, Zhao Jingzhi spent the whole night discussing things at home with her senior colleague. She deliberately ignored the knocks at the door and put her phone on silent.

The next day, when she opened the door, she found Xiang Fan crouched in the corner.

He looked dejected and defeated, his eyes bloodshot when he looked up.

His words were full of pleading and self-deception.

“Big Sis, you just didn't hear me. You weren't ignoring me on purpose, right?”

For a moment, Zhao Jingzhi seemed to see the boy she'd first met at the orphanage.

But she felt no sympathy for him anymore.

Calm and indifferent, she spoke one word at a time.

“I did it on purpose.”

Reader's guide:

Younger man, both leads have no prior sexual experience, angsty male lead.

Arousing Trouble After Marriage

When Tan Mun'en chose to marry Shen Zeli, she gave herself three reasons to feel better about it.

1. Handsome and wealthy, a good match for her family.

2. Courteous and considerate, with a good sense of boundaries.

3. Busy with work, hardly ever around.

But not long after the wedding, Tan Mun'en realized that aside from the first point, the others weren't quite true.

1.

The first time she met Shen Zeli, her grandfather had dragged her by the neck to a blind date. Tan Mun'en was still wearing half of her outrageous stage makeup.

Shen Zeli wore a linen shirt tucked into dark brown casual slacks. He looked relaxed, polished, and effortlessly elegant.

He tilted his head slightly. His hand stopped turning the menu, and his calm, indifferent eyes swept over her, thoughtful.

A few seconds later, Tan Mun'en caught a flash of amusement in his eyes.

She named it: mockery.

2.

After they agreed to get married, they got along fairly well.

That is, they got along well without seeing each other.

As a result, Tan Mun'en often forgot she was married.

After the cast party, Tan Mun'en and her dance troupe colleagues went to a bar for another round. They egged her and her partner on to perform their award-winning number on the dance floor.

“Look at that couple! They dance so well together. Are they professionals?”

From a booth on the second floor, Shen Zeli glanced over at the sound of their voices. There was a pretty, fair face, beaming with a bold, radiant smile.

He took a sip of his drink, set it down unhurriedly, and got up to head downstairs.

“That's my wife.”

3.

Shen Zeli started spending more time at home, and Tan Mun'en worried that something might be wrong with his company.

He even began picking her up after work without fail.

One day, sitting in the car, Tan Mun'en took out the black card he'd given her on their wedding day and handed it back.

“If you're having trouble, just tell me. Our families joined through marriage, and the Tan family won't sit by and do nothing.”

Shen Zeli's brows twitched twice. He said nothing, but smiled instead.

To cheer him up, Tan Mun'en invited him to the premiere of her show.

After they got home, Tan Mun'en was still riding the high of a successful performance. She brought out a bottle of red wine to celebrate with him and, while she was at it, try to cheer him up.

After a few rounds, she somehow ended up sitting on Shen Zeli's lap.

The crystal tassels of the chandelier swayed overhead, scattering a dizzying light. When he tilted his head back, their breaths mingled.

“Shen Zeli, do you want to kiss me?”

Tan Mun'en traced the shape of his brows and eyes with her fingers, then suddenly asked. She shook her head. “No, we got married for our families.”

As she started to get up, he gripped her shoulder and pulled her back down, then firmly tipped up her chin.

“Who says people who married for their families can't kiss?”

Theme: Love yourself before loving someone else