* Intense push and pull
SC / 9-year age gap / faux uncle and niece / romance only begins after the heroine comes of age / no blood relation
Low morals x high morals
Bright, passionate girl x self-disciplined, proper uncle
1.
Seventeen-year-old Pu Yan had a favorite pen. On the occasional lucky night, Meng Mingze would sit at her desk and use it to explain her homework.
At times like that, she could let her thoughts wander as she gazed at his gentle, composed features.
When Pu Yan turned eighteen, she left that pen at Meng Mingze's home and moved out of the house where she had lived for nearly three years.
The coming-of-age gift Meng Mingze gave her was a veiled, cruel reminder: anyone could stand by her side, except him.
2.
Four years later, Pu Yan had forgotten the pen. She followed her parents' advice and started dating her childhood friend, the boy who had grown up alongside her.
On the night their families met to discuss an engagement, Meng Mingze was there too.
He was refined and warm, every gesture impeccable, and seemed genuinely happy for her.
The only unexpected thing happened midway through dinner. Two pairs of serving chopsticks reached for her food at the same time, one from either side, each holding a dish she loved.
She pushed her bowl toward her childhood friend, then turned to Meng Mingze and said politely, with a hint of distance, "Thank you, Uncle. Please eat it yourself."
Meng Mingze's chopsticks hovered in midair for two seconds before he put the food in her bowl anyway.
3.
Later, in the bedroom Meng Mingze had prepared for her, at that same desk.
Meng Mingze used that pen to steal her breath away.
"You were the one who said we had to keep our distance, Uncle. So what is this now?" Pu Yan gazed at the wet fountain pen in his hand, smiling sweetly. "Are we keeping negative distance?"
Meng Mingze held both her hands in his and pressed his lips together without answering.
In Pu Yan's memory, Meng Mingze was gentle, refined, and unflappable. She had seen him wear this intensely oppressive expression only twice.
The first time was when she told him she liked him.
The second time was now.
"Break up with him."
No one knew that on the day their families discussed the engagement, after dinner was over and everyone had left, Meng Mingze quietly finished a cigarette. Just as he was about to start his car, he looked up and froze.
The streetlights cast a glaringly clear glow across the roadside. Pu Yan had her back to him, nestled in a young man's arms, holding him tightly.
In that moment, Meng Mingze's resolve, which he had held onto for years, suddenly wavered.
"Little Bonus Scene"
Pu Yan reminded herself that some feelings, born in a girl's heart and destined to go unanswered, perhaps belonged buried in that damp, sweltering summer, along with the night she crossed the line and secretly kissed him.
But much later, she learned the truth.
That kiss had not been her secret alone.
First version written on 2025.2.18, updated on 2025.4.10
* The male lead is determined to guide the heroine through the proper development of her adolescent feelings. He fails, fails again, and fails yet again.
* The heroine will not cheat while in a relationship, though she may be intimate with the second male lead.
* There is a pursuit-to-win-her-back arc, but it may not qualify as a full-on groveling arc. Later on, there is mild coercion: uncle x niece who enjoys it.
* Written for personal tastes, with a bittersweet tone. Unless something unexpected happens, both uncle and niece will be left aching.
Core theme: Love what you love.
