Crushing the Spring Tide

[Cool, reserved, secretly passionate heir to a wealthy family x gentle, demure ballerina]

* Male lead has a secret crush / rekindled romance / thrilling love-rival drama

1. Song Zhiyi first met Qi Zhi'ang on the day her boyfriend stood her up to accompany his "little cousin."

In the endless rain, a Bentley sat quietly in the downpour.

She fell awkwardly onto the road, broken like a white rose snapped by the wind and rain.

The window slowly lowered, revealing the sharp, pale profile of a young man. His dark eyes turned to her with a hint of schadenfreude. "Jiang Chiyan didn't come with you?"

Jiang Chiyan was her boyfriend's name.

And he and Qi Zhi'ang were best friends.

Not long afterward,

In the deep darkness of a spring night, rain poured outside the glass windows, and the air inside the car was just as damp and heavy.

A pair of large hands held the young woman's slender waist in place. The man leaned over and kissed and nipped at one of her shoulders, his warm breath mingling with hers.

Again and again, he coaxed her softly:

"Dump him and be with me, okay?"

2. The heir to the Qi Group, Young Master Qi, was a man even the powerful addressed respectfully as Young Master Qi. He had money, power, and a face handsome enough to be at the very top.

No one would ever connect him with his best friend's ex-girlfriend.

Until one day, someone posted a photo on a forum:

The usually aloof and proud Young Master Qi stood in the rain beneath the same umbrella as a beautiful ballerina. She wore his coat, while half his body was soaked by the rain.

3. When they met again three years later, his eyes were unfamiliar and indifferent, without a hint of emotion at their reunion. He remained unruffled.

But the instant he turned away, his eyes quietly reddened.

No one knew that the proud man was already so overjoyed inside he was going mad.

Song Zhiyi had always thought she was the first to fall for him.

It wasn't until their wedding, when he brought out a photo of her from ten years ago, that she understood.

His love had begun long before they met. The untouchable star in the sky had been engraved with her name from the very start.

"Others may pluck stars for you. I'll be there to swing the sun with you."

Blurb created December 23, 2024 (revised April 6, 2025)

... Up next: The Twelfth Night ...

[High-and-mighty CEO x gentle, demure secretary]

* Male lead has a secret crush / intense push and pull / steamy office romance. Also known as Day After Day, Night After Night.

1. Seven years together could not withstand her boyfriend's offhand remark: "I'm bored."

Su Wan drowned in the pain of heartbreak and drank to numb herself.

Through her drunken haze, she stumbled into someone's arms: her cold, distinguished boss who never showed interest in women, Chen Lu.

A wild night began with alcohol, but it did not end with the dawn.

The awkwardness after they sobered up nearly swallowed her whole.

The man merely chuckled, lifting her up from beneath him and settling her astride him.

The bedside lamp brightened, revealing red marks on her tender, pale skin.

His deep, resonant voice was husky with unmistakable relish. "Since we both need this, how about we set this date every month?"

Su Wan's breathing was unsteady. "No. Every week."

Nothing but physical desire, no romance.

But the body was only the entrance. Their souls were waging a battle for conquest.

In the depths of his eyes, she saw her own shattered reflection quietly pieced back together.

His hard exterior silently fell away at her unintentional whispers, revealing the burning desire and devotion buried within.

Just as Su Wan thought their arrangement of mutual convenience was about to change, and she began to develop feelings she shouldn't have, a friend at a gathering said mysteriously:

"Have you heard? Chen Lu's unattainable first love has come back."

So all their compatibility and heartbeats, those tender moments in the dead of night and the focus in his eyes, had never been for her.

It was time to end things.

Before her heart fell completely, before she made herself sick with it again.

2.

On the twelfth night, as he held her in a passionate embrace, Su Wan pushed him away, tears filling her eyes. Her voice broke. "Chen Lu, let's stop here. This is enough."

"How is it enough?" The man clasped her wrist with force and kissed her more deeply, more urgently. "Hugging, kissing, going to bed... and falling in love with me."

"Not one step can be skipped."

3.

After they were married, Chen Lu went on a business trip one day. Bored, Su Wan tidied his old things and found a dusty high school yearbook.

The youthful Chen Lu gazed back at her from the photo, his features still boyish but unmistakably distinguished.

Beneath the photo was a line of small writing, its ink faded by time but its strokes forceful:

"For Su Wan: The light in the hallway, the ends of your hair in the wind, the twelfth second you passed by my classroom. You were the chaos of my entire youth."

There was also an old record by Eason, "The Night Is No Longer Dark" (the theme song for the film Twelve Nights), with a new card tucked inside:

"Love is like a serious illness. From the first night to the twelfth, it keeps repeating in a loop, with no place to stop along the way. Once you recover, you move on to the next 'twelve nights.' But my illness has only grown worse."

The name that had occupied his heart for years had always been hers.

That twelfth night, which began in absurdity, had been a reunion he had schemed for half his life and waited for all this time.

Reading Tips:

* Both leads are each other's one and only. The female lead held hands and kissed her ex-boyfriend, but nothing further.

* A significant height difference. The male lead is powerful and influential, at the top of the pyramid, and has severe mysophobia. He lets only the female lead touch him. He's utterly devoted to her.

Blurb created July 1, 2025

Theme: Cherish what you once lost all the more.