At Low Tide

A conflicted girl x a gentle older man / age gap

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After finishing her college entrance exams, Xu Xiling left for a university in another province without a moment's hesitation.

To avoid Uncle Zhou.

Zhou Wenqing was her grandfather's most prized student. Gentle, refined, and dignified, he had propriety and a sense of boundaries ingrained in his very bones.

He easily saw through the girl's secret feelings.

One day, in the pouring rain, the girl opened a black umbrella with a long handle and looked him in the eye.

He took it from her. They stood a normal social distance apart. Not a hair on her was wet, but he was soaked from the waist up.

She wanted to inch closer in secret, greedily breathing in his scent.

Then Zhou Wenqing suddenly said he was going abroad for further studies.

Her step faltered, and she nearly tripped over her own feet. Her reason pulled her back to a proper distance.

Xu Xiling understood that his sudden decision was a tactful rejection.

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That night, a heavy snowfall blanketed Beicheng, and flights were delayed.

Xu Xiling walked out of the airport and saw a tall man standing beside a black car, his expression gentle beneath the falling snow.

"Xu Xiling, you left something here."

"...What?"

He walked closer, opened his coat, and pulled her into his arms without giving her a choice. The scent of fruit and wood from the girl filled his nose. Restraining himself, the man gently touched the top of her head.

"Me."

In his apartment, the stuffed toys in the living room, the hair ties in the bathroom, the sticky notes on the desk: every trace she'd left behind that year had grown wildly, piece by piece.

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Love waits where the tide ebbs, in the clamor of an eternal exchange.

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#12-year age gap

#Both are virgins | Slow-burn everyday romance | Slightly bittersweet

#No romantic relationship before adulthood

#Synopsis written on 20250415 and screenshot as proof

Theme: Love makes people lower their guard