&1
By a twist of fate, Duan Moyao accidentally rents a room to Xing Jinzhou, the ex-boyfriend she'd once dumped without asking him, and begins collecting rent from him.
The two of them maintain a tacit, safe distance, neither bothering the other nor mentioning the past.
The three-month lease is up. She watches him step into the house, change his shoes as casually as ever, take off his coat, loosen his tie, and walk inside.
In the end, she can't help asking.
"Xing Jinzhou, do you still like me?"
The man pauses. His dark eyes grow even deeper as he gives her a cold glance. "If you want to raise the rent, there's no need to slander me like that."
Duan Moyao: "..."
After saying this, he turns toward the bedroom, his figure tall and graceful. Glancing toward the balcony, he adds,
"We've broken up. Miss Duan, please keep your personal belongings in order and don't leave them in a shared space."
Duan Moyao: "?"
Following the man's gaze, she turns her head. Her underwear, washed earlier that afternoon and forgotten on the balcony, is hanging there in plain sight.
&2
The strange, superficial peace is shattered one night when she comes home after a blind date.
At the entrance to the dilapidated old stairwell, Duan Moyao lowers her head to search her bag for her keys. A beautiful hand pulls her into the darkness and pins her against the wall.
The air in the stairwell turns hot and humid. Strange sensations surge through her body, threatening to shatter her reason. She struggles, and he holds her tighter.
His burning breath, carrying the scent of alcohol, buries itself in her neck, yet doesn't disgust her.
She looks up through a haze and meets his gaze. Beneath the stairwell light, flickering between bright and dim, his dark, cold eyes are now tinged with unmistakable desire.
His thin lips draw close, stopping just short.
Duan Moyao's heart pounds with fearful anticipation. She turns her face away on instinct.
Xing Jinzhou lets out a self-mocking laugh and leans close to her ear.
"Why are you dodging? Is there anywhere on you I haven't kissed?"
Reading guide*
- A traditional Chinese medicine practitioner x an aerospace designer
- Happy ending, both leads are each other's first, a low-key yet melodramatic romance!
- They reunite after breaking up, with a rental-room setup. Their reunion in the city is interspersed with flashbacks to campus.
- The campus section features a small ensemble cast and may be slow to warm up.
- Professional details about the characters' city jobs are based on online research, with plenty of fictional liberties.
Theme: I've struggled with myself for a long time, and would rather be myself.
