One in the Morning

Radio host x singer-songwriter

At midnight, Nan Zhu answered the final call of the day on her show.

The girl on the other end spent half an hour ranting about her online boyfriend, who had just dumped her. She repeatedly brought up keywords like "convenience store," "cup of iced cola," and "over-ear headphones," warning all the girls out there to beware of scumbags.

Perhaps the message had rubbed off on her. As soon as her shift ended, Nan Zhu detoured to the nearest convenience store to find something to eat.

At one in the morning, the bell above the convenience store door jingled.

The freezer beside her opened, and the clerk restocking it spoke to someone.

"They're saying there's a blizzard tonight. You're still drinking iced cola?"

The "scumbag" keywords were so specific that Nan Zhu couldn't help turning around as she tried to figure out who he meant.

The man took off his silver-gray headphones with one hand, peeled back the lid of a cup of ice with the other, and sat down beside her.

"I'm used to it."

His headphones were turned up loud, but Nan Zhu could just make out the tune she'd had on repeat last night.

A "scumbag" with pretty good taste.

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A short, sweet bedtime read

The male lead isn't a scumbag. He's a hapless victim whose photo was stolen and used to catfish someone online.

Theme: An ambiguous relationship sparked by a call to a radio show