Zhou Xiaoyu's secret love started with a mint candy.
She would put a mint with different flavors in Xu Yan's desk every Wednesday, and on Friday she would receive neat comments from him in print: "It's too sweet," "It's just cool," and "The wrapping paper is dog-eared."
He is a well-known top student in the school. His shirt buttons are always tied to the top button and he has rejected countless love letters from girls. But no one knew that he would secretly feed stray cats on rainy days, remember the wrong questions on her physics test paper, and hand her a pack of cedar-scented tissues when she cried.
They conveyed their concerns on the backs of post-it notes and candy wrappers, like two cautious spies exchanging encrypted information. Until the eve of the college entrance examination, Xu Yan's recommendation letter ended the game early——
"The mints are cold, like it was raining the day you first handed them to me."
Many years later, at a class reunion, someone mentioned that Xu Yan had a cat named "Xiaoyu". When Zhou Xiaoyu lowered his head to stir the coffee, the waiter suddenly brought a cup of mint ice tea with familiar writing on the bottom of the cup:
"This time, I'll wait for you instead."
——But outside the glass door, there were only the corners of his white shirt blown by the wind.
It's him, but not like him
Concept: mint rust
