I Heard You're in Seattle

[The 8k-word afterword about the real-life inspiration is out // bittersweet romance // Reading pirated copies brings bad luck!]

The first time Qianzi touched Jin Ting's hand, the man's icy silver bracelet made her fingertips jerk back as if she'd been shocked.

Only much later did she find out.

The bracelet had once been a gift from him to his late lover.

·

One day, long after, she suddenly remembered a day when they'd been tangled up together, shortly after she'd arrived in America to work.

In the living room of a downtown apartment, the man had pulled away from her just to sit down and leisurely take his vitamins. Seattle was rainy, and its residents were prone to calcium deficiency.

Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, rain fell in a pale, endless blur. Standing on the soft carpet, she turned from the bedroom doorway and caught sight of what he was doing.

Back then, she couldn't understand the English on the bottle in his hand. With the mood between them still lingering, she asked softly, "...Are those male birth control pills?"

Jin Ting gazed at the strands of hair he'd kissed into disarray and smiled faintly.

When she asked what he was smiling about, he didn't answer.

"Mid-program female international student x older, highly educated man"

Content warning: The leads are based on real people, so don't read if that bothers you / The old flame has been gone for a long time

Both leads are each other's first and only. Open ending in the main story, happy ending in the extras.

------Here's a preview of my next bittersweet band romance! Red rose x tough-as-nails guy

In 2016, a band burst onto the scene and swept all the major awards.

Their lyrics went viral across everyone's social media feeds, drawing plenty of attention to the lead singer and songwriter.

One sang with incredible feeling, the other wrote with vivid flair. Both were clearly heartbroken, but no one ever connected the two of them.

At the band's studio, people often sighed, "Man Sui, who do you think hurt our Shao Xi so badly? His lyrics are pure genius."

Yang Mansui found it hard to answer. As the lead singer, she'd been secretly involved with Shao Xi for six months without telling anyone in the band.

Shao Xi leaned against the sofa in a turtleneck, watching her, his voice low and husky. "A heartless woman."

·

Six years ago, Yang Mansui had once liked Shao Xi.

One rainy night during her first year of high school, the school held a singing competition.

Shao Xi, a senior, stood onstage with a guitar and sang Eason Chan's "Red Rose," his soft voice tender yet aloof.

The crowd shifted around her, everything dim and indistinct. It wasn't her turn yet. Sitting below the stage, Yang Mansui quietly praised him to her classmate a few times. Her classmate teased her with a laugh, "Your ears are turning red!"

She didn't even notice. She just held the cold bottle of Baisui Mountain water she'd brought to soothe her throat, until she could barely tell which part of the song Shao Xi was singing.

·

This young love finally came full circle far too late, and only the part that was difficult to admit came to fruition.

So, countless times when Yang Mansui was intimate with him, she played the princess-and-the-pea, taking revenge by pretending not to hear his suggestive remarks.

Shao Xi doted on her without a word, but whenever the girl hinted at something, she'd flee in a panic.

On a rainy street at night, he stopped her as she left work, one brow raised, looking irresistibly alluring.

"Yang Mansui, you weren't this quiet when I was taking care of you. Why are you playing mute now?"

"Friends-to-lovers trope~ Happy ending, both leads are each other's first and only"

[It's been raining for so long. Do you dare kiss the rain, and kiss me?]

/Blurb published 2025.9.22

Theme: Head toward the spring mountains; hardship must heal in time