Also known as: After Running into My Ex of Three Years on a Plane
"I'm not dating anyone while I'm in college."
With those words, Guan Zhimo shut the door on every young woman at Chongyuan University.
Everyone believed him and kept their distance. Only Qin Wanyue didn't.
Fueled by sheer courage and armed with a sharp shovel, Qin Wanyue dug Guan Zhimo, the law school's untouchable heartthrob, right out of the ground. She didn't pluck him, she uprooted him, roots and all.
That one move made her famous overnight. For a while, countless versions of the story circulated around Chongyuan University, encouraging people to take the initiative and pursue love.
But... the campus couple who should have stayed together long after graduation met a tragic end. Qin Wanyue had burst into Guan Zhimo's world with all the force of a whirlwind, and she could leave just as cleanly and decisively.
Years later, they met again, not on a crowded street or at a noisy party...
But... on a long-haul flight from Budapest to Lincheng.
She watched Guan Zhimo board and take the seat in her row, just across the aisle from her, barely an arm's length away.
Qin Wanyue wanted to dig a hole deep enough to bury herself in, then put up a gravestone for good measure.
Could anything in the world be more coincidental?
Usually, she loved striking up conversations with strangers. But she spent the entire flight in unusual silence, wrapping her face in her scarf and sleeping with her head turned away, giving Guan Zhimo the back of her head.
When the meal was served, Qin Wanyue seriously considered how to uncover just half her face so she could eat.
A familiar voice sounded beside her. "This flight is eleven hours long. Aren't you feeling stifled?"
She silently poked her head out of her scarf. "A little."
She slept especially restlessly along the way, probably because she felt guilty, but even more because Guan Zhimo's presence beside her was impossible to ignore.
She rolled her stiff neck and glanced at the empty seat beside him. "No one's sitting next to you. I'll move over."
Guan Zhimo's gaze froze. Before he could refuse, she had already stood up, crossed the aisle without asking, and sat down beside him.
Just as years ago, she had forced her way into his world without a second thought, tearing open a path for herself.
"How have you been all these years?" she asked, turning her head toward him. She sounded like an old friend, but with an awkward air of unfamiliarity.
"...Pretty well."
"Are you still single?" she asked, breaking through Guan Zhimo's cold reserve once again.
He was silent for a long time. It was as if the question had suddenly brought countless things to mind.
After he confirmed that he was, he felt a weight settle on his shoulder.
"Let me lean on you for a bit. My neck really hurts..."
"Qin Wanyue, do you think you still get special treatment from me? Do you realize we broke up...?"
There was no answer. By his ear, he heard only her exhausted breathing.
He had imagined countless ways they might meet again, and prepared what to say to coldly reject her. But he had completely forgotten that Qin Wanyue never did anything by the book.
The words of refusal caught in his throat, drowned out by the roar of the plane's engines. Like a puppet, he neither agreed nor refused.
Only after Qin Wanyue had slept enough did she lift her head and say nonchalantly,
"Of course I know we broke up. But if I have to find a shoulder to lean on while I sleep on a plane, aren't you the person I'm most familiar with?"
"If you don't want to, then just say no." She looked him in the eye.
After they got off the plane, she said, "The hotel I booked is nearby. Want to come? We can go to your place instead."
Guan Zhimo's gaze sharpened. "What on earth are you thinking...?"
She shrugged. "It's a simple question: are you coming or not? If not, I'll find someone else..."
Suddenly, pain flared at her waist as he gave it a punitive squeeze.
"...Don't you dare."
If he couldn't bring himself to refuse... then he would just have to keep putting up with her for the rest of his life.
Theme: A fated cycle
