Love Me, Hate Me, Do You Know?

Writing a book is hard. If you really like this novel and its leads, please support the official version. Seeing people read pirated copies and then come back to leave comments can honestly make me have a heart attack and faint [already flat on the floor, sprawled out]. A powerful young man who seems gentle but is actually a lunatic vs. a beautiful, poor college girl Eight-year age gap, face-slapping, possessive pursuit, love and hate tangled together Blurb: When Wen Yining was eighteen, she left her remote, underdeveloped hometown for the wealthy and dazzling northern capital to attend college. Most of her classmates came from powerful, well-connected families. A girl like Wen Yining, from an ordinary family in a remote little town, naturally kept her head down and stayed cautious at every turn. But her looks attracted the attention of a notorious young heir at the school, who wouldn't leave her alone. She was forced to go with several classmates to a theater performance at his invitation. During the show, Wen Yining made an excuse to use the restroom and slipped away to the back of the building for some air. Suddenly, a long, unwavering gaze fell from above. She felt like prey in its sights. Her scalp prickling, Wen Yining instinctively looked up. In an upstairs private room stood two bodyguards in black, their hands clasped behind their backs. The winding melodies of the opera floated faintly from the front of the building. A huge bronze incense burner stood before the carved wooden railing, smoke curling from it. Heavy layers of curtains hung beside it, concealing whoever was behind them. She could only feel that gaze fixed on her face. Wen Yining's scalp prickled, and she fled in a panic. She thought the gaze that day had been nothing more than a passing incident. Then, not long afterward, she was notified that she would be attending an event she hadn't been qualified to attend. The moment she stepped into the main hall, the exact same gaze from that day fell upon her from the seat of honor. Wen Yining looked up. The refined, aristocratic-looking man in the seat of honor smiled, staring straight at her without the slightest attempt to hide it. The intense interest and undisguised possessiveness in his eyes made her heart pound. Only then did she realize that the event was just an excuse. He had really wanted to see her. * Li Changjing was gentle and considerate, yet relentlessly persistent. Wen Yining was only a girl who had just turned eighteen, and she still couldn't help falling for him. She knew he was only playing around, so she let herself go wild, too. When the holidays came, she broke up with him and returned to her humble, remote hometown, leaving behind the capital's glittering excess. But she still loved Li Changjing. Until Li Changjing chased her all the way from the northern capital to the rundown apartment building where she lived. He pinned her down in the back of his car and used her parents to threaten her, keeping her at his side against her will. Wen Yining closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, she began to hate him. * Li Changjing loved power more than anything. He refused an arranged marriage and kept Wen Yining at his side despite everyone's objections, prompting his grandfather to threaten to strip him of his authority. All his friends came to talk him out of it, saying that ruining his bright future for a woman wasn't worth it. Even Wen Yining, who hadn't spoken to him of her own accord in a long time, urged Li Changjing to let her go. Li Changjing gave a laugh. “Let you go? I wish I could. If I were able to let you go, I would have done it long ago.” Wen Yining was kept at Li Changjing's side for many years. In the year she hated him most, bodyguards sent by Li Changjing's grandfather escorted her abroad. Just as she was about to escape, Li Changjing caught up with her. His bloodshot eyes wild with madness, he pinned Wen Yining against the hood of a car. “You hate me? Wen Yining, do you think I'm not the one who hates you? I might as well kill you first, then kill myself. That way, I'd finally be able to let go!” “I know settling is no good, but there's no other way. When you appear, nobody else even comes close.”, Don't Settle Content warnings: The story is about exactly what its title says: love and hate tangled together. The later plot sticks to this theme and gets intense. The leads' behavior may be controversial. If it's not your thing, feel free to stop reading. Please proceed with caution. *This story includes many fictional elements, and plenty of things may seem unrealistic in real life. *Happy ending / both leads' first relationships *The male lead is not a good person. He is not a good person. *The male lead goes from coveting the heroine to truly loving her, until he loves her as if under a spell. After all, love has no logic. *This story does not aim for logic or realism. *The content warnings are clearly marked in the blurb. If you don't like it, you can click away, but please don't curse me. I'll delete abusive comments. Theme: Live well