What She Doesn't Know

An avoidant upperclasswoman who always retreats into her shell x a bold underclassman who seizes his chance and moves forward. Click to read the warmest older-sister-and-puppy romance :) (Revising the story :D)

"A secret crush comes true not by miracle, but because he slowly digs her out of the fate that trapped her."

One day, Ji Miao came across a popular post online: #Tell us about your craziest high school crush moments#

The top comment was from an account named cjy:

"I climbed over the school wall in the middle of the night to steal a photo of the upperclasswoman I had a crush on from the honor roll. The security guard chased me for two blocks."

"And I deliberately made her catch her boyfriend cheating, so she could splash the jerk and I could edge out her childhood friend and take his place."

The comments poured in with exclamations:

"A younger guy beats the childhood friend! Are they still together?"

"Does she know?"

Ji Miao glanced at the person in the kitchen, making her soup by following a recipe, and giggled as she replied with a photo she'd just taken of the bedside table.

Their wedding rings and watches lay side by side, with part of their wedding photo visible in the background.

"She knows now :)"

Ji Miao had spent her whole life meeting other people's expectations.

From being a good daughter and student to a good big sister and girlfriend,

no matter what happened, she always said, "Anything's fine."

That was until she met Chen Jingyuan,

a younger student who was always saying, "I want to make myself happy."

He kept patiently helping Ji Miao replace "Anything's fine" with "I don't want that."

Only he would say to her, "It's not that you have no choice. You're just too polite, so even when you say 'no,' it's barely a whisper."

That's when Ji Miao realized

the most important lesson she needed to learn

was how to become herself.

The embarrassing secret Chen Jingyi kept in her memories of Chen Jingyuan

was from the summer between his second and third years of high school.

He said he was hiring a tutor for his older sister,

but in truth, he stood guard at the door every day like a little puppy.

He was great at math, but pretended to be completely hopeless.

He would gaze at his upperclasswoman with sparkling eyes, his voice soft and pitiful:

"I did a page of math today, but there are still so many questions I can't do…

But, senpai, could I have a candy as a reward first?"

One day, Chen Jingyi told Ji Miao the story as a joke.

When she got home, she twisted someone's ear and laughed, "You little liar! How many other things don't I know? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Chen Jingyuan just smiled, tilted his head, and kissed her palm.

"It's enough that I know."

How much I love you.

After all, back then,

she was always walking too fast,

and he hadn't dared call out to her yet.

Please give my new story a click and add it to your favorites! My next book is The Road to a Beautiful Future.

A stubborn young master who went bankrupt, now a down-to-earth pharmaceutical company heir x a small-town test-taker who used to overthink everything, now a hospital worker who drives the whole world crazy

"I hope things go well for you, but not too well."

Chen Jiaqi had imagined countless times how she would run into her ex-boyfriend again.

She should be wearing a huge fur coat and holding a prestigious Louis Vuitton bag.

At the very least, her hair should be sleek and glossy.

She never expected to see him with two days' worth of greasy hair, wearing holey clogs,

with some unidentified stain on her white coat.

Her mask and surgical cap were the last defenses protecting her dignity.

What annoyed her most wasn't even that.

It was the fact that her ex was still so damn handsome.

In a full Prada suit, he looked like a chaebol heir from a Korean drama.

Just one diamond from his watch could cover the pay for ten of her night shifts.

But somehow,

he still smiled just like he had when he tutored her in high school.

He said exactly what he'd said back then: "Chen Jiaqi, what would you do without me?"

What would she do? Get a doctorate, earn her certifications, treat illnesses, and save lives.

She answered stubbornly, "I haven't thought about you once in seven years. I've been doing great."

But Lu You looked at the sweat on her face from giving a patient CPR,

and the dark circles beneath her eyes after another long night shift.

Her eyes were still bright and shining.

Suddenly, his eyes reddened. "But I've thought about you so many times."

At last, he understood Chen Jiaqi's silence back then

and what she meant when she said, "We're from two different worlds."

This time, Lu You said, "Chen Jiaqi, what am I going to do without you?"

A second chance romance, not a playboy's redemption; they broke up for reasons that weren't a matter of principle; they were each other's first love, and neither dated anyone else after the breakup.

Thesis: Love means helping someone find themselves.