[Icy CEO × Gentle, Quiet Secretary]
* Secret male crush / intense push and pull / steamy office romance * Also known as: Day and Night
1. Seven years together, all undone by her boyfriend's casual words: "I'm tired of this."
Su Wan sank into the depths of heartbreak and tried to drown her sorrows in alcohol.
Through her drunken haze, she stumbled into someone's arms: her aloof, distinguished, woman-averse boss, Chen Lu.
One reckless night began with alcohol, but it didn't end with the dawn.
Once sober, the embarrassment nearly swallowed her whole.
But the man chuckled and lifted her up from beneath him, letting her sit astride him.
The bedside lamp was turned brighter. Red marks stood out on her pale, tender skin.
His deep, cool voice turned husky with desire: "Since we both need this, why don't we make it this date every month?"
Su Wan, breathless, replied, "No. Make it every week."
Nothing romantic, just fulfilling a need.
But the body was only the entrance. Their souls were waging a war of conquest.
In his unfathomable eyes, she saw her shattered reflection quietly piecing itself back together.
The hard shell around him silently fell away at her unguarded whispers, revealing the burning passion and devotion hidden within.
Just as Su Wan thought their arrangement was about to turn into something else, and she began to foolishly hope for what she shouldn't, she heard an old friend whisper mysteriously at a gathering:
"Have you heard? Chen Lu's unattainable first love is back."
So all that intimacy and excitement, the tenderness in the middle of the night, and the focus in his eyes had never been meant for her.
It was time to end this.
Before her heart fell completely, before she got sick with love all over again.
2.
On the twelfth night, as he was lost in desire, Su Wan pushed him away with tear-filled eyes. Her voice broke. "Chen Lu, let's stop here. This is enough."
"How can it be enough?" The man gripped her wrist, insistent, and kissed her more deeply and urgently. "Embracing, kissing, getting into 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 sorted through his old things and found a dusty high school yearbook.
The youthful face of Chen Lu, still boyish but already carrying an unmistakable air of distinction, caught her eye.
Beneath his photo was a line of tiny writing, its ink faded with time but its strokes still forceful:
"To Su Wan: The light in the hallway, your hair in the wind, the twelve seconds you passed by my classroom: that was my entire youth in turmoil."
There was also an old record, Eason's "Black Night Never Comes" (the theme song from the film Twelve Nights), with a new card tucked inside:
"Love is like a serious illness, cycling endlessly from the first night to the twelfth. On this track, there's nowhere to stop and rest. Once you recover, another 'twelve nights' begins. But my illness has only grown worse."
So the name that had occupied his heart for years had been hers all along.
That twelve-night affair, born of recklessness, was the long-awaited reunion he'd been plotting for half his life.
Reader Tips:
* Both leads are virgins. The heroine held hands and kissed her ex-boyfriend, but nothing further happened.
* There's a size difference. The male lead is powerful and influential, at the top of the pyramid, and suffers from severe mysophobia. The heroine is the only one he lets touch him. He's a hopeless romantic.
Blurb created on July 1, 2025
Theme: Leave the darkness behind and welcome the light.
