Holding a Lantern, Gazing at My Lovely Bride

[Blurb] A tender romance spanning high school, college, and working life.

CP: The gloomy, taciturn Jing Xuetang x the quiet, reserved Su Zhanxiang. One-on-one, both chaste, switch, happy ending.

Jing Xuetang is bad at expressing herself and always gets misunderstood. She has had almost no friends her whole life, and has never been in a relationship.

But she has kissed someone.

The person she kissed was a classmate she wasn't close to.

In their senior year of high school, Su Zhanxiang walked up to Jing Xuetang as if nothing were amiss and asked a strange question:

"Could you give me a kiss?"

Beautiful and top of her class, Su Zhanxiang was the popular class monitor and a quiet, well-behaved girl.

That was the shallow extent of Jing Xuetang's impression of her.

If she had to dig a little deeper, she found Su Zhanxiang somewhat irritating. They were both quiet, yet Su Zhanxiang was far more popular than she was.

"Is that not okay? You can just kiss me here."

Su Zhanxiang pointed to her cheek.

Why?

That was what Jing Xuetang had meant to ask, but it seemed pointless.

Their similar personalities and utterly opposite fates were already a laughable contrast. Add that ridiculous request, and it made Jing Xuetang burn with anger.

Overcome by a wicked impulse, Jing Xuetang inexplicably grabbed Su Zhanxiang by the shoulders and forcefully kissed her on the lips.

"That's what you get for making fun of me."

She wanted to leave Su Zhanxiang with a psychological scar.

Who could blame her, when Su Zhanxiang had made an outsider like her the butt of a joke?

She saw Su Zhanxiang blush and softly utter a few words:

"I wasn't making fun of you..."

"Then what was it?"

Jing Xuetang asked.

"I think I've fallen for you. I wanted to check if it was real."

Her words sent shock waves through their world.

Starting with Su Zhanxiang's inexplicable confession, Jing Xuetang's life changed dramatically.

She avoided Su Zhanxiang and turned her down, but Su Zhanxiang accepted her flaws like gentle water and gradually seeped into her everyday life.

Note: This contemporary romance will start after The Tower of Paradise. Expected next year.

Theme: The best kind of love is growing together hand in hand