Glass Goldfish

Next up: I'll be writing Let the Wind Blow from East, West, North, or South. The blurb is at the very bottom.

The print edition is now available, with a new bonus chapter: @AppleAppleWantsToKnow

Currently revising. The only authorized version is on Jinjiang. I take no responsibility for any pirated copies.

[Paragraph comments are open. Come join in!]

At sixteen, after her family fell on hard times, Lin Tingyu moved to the unfamiliar city of Fengcheng and went to live with her aunt. It was there that she first met Fu Yuqin.

Fu Yuqin was the son her uncle had with his former wife. On the rainy night they first met, a storm beat against the windows. Dressed in black and soaked through, he seemed indifferent to everything. His gaze was dangerous and direct.

Not only did her aunt avoid her, but many people around her warned Lin Tingyu to stay away from him. All sorts of opinions swirled around, yet Lin Tingyu could never quite see through him.

But when everyone turned against her, Fu Yuqin alone remained disarmingly matter-of-fact. “If you’re not dead, get back on your feet.”

Later, they escaped through the fog, rattling along on a green train. The road out of the prison of youth was long and rough, but he stayed by her side, calm and composed.

For the first eighteen years of his life, Fu Yuqin believed in looking out for himself and survival of the fittest.

Then one day, he met a girl who was a master at acting sweet and obedient, though she couldn't hide the stubbornness in her eyes.

He thought she was rather interesting.

He thought she didn't belong in the swamp.

*The summer of eighteen evaporated everything. You were my one and only glass goldfish.

*Both are each other's first love, and neither character is perfect.

Next up: Let the Wind Blow from East, West, North, or South

Sharp-tongued, flashy, cocky guy ✖️ gentle, soft-spoken girl with a rebellious streak

Second chance romance | Both are each other's first love | Present-day city life, interspersed with high school memories

1.

Throughout their three years of high school, the closest Song Er and Shen Xiqiao ever came to each other in public was on their tacky class T-shirts, where their names were printed side by side.

During PE, a friend teased him, asking what he thought of the class T-shirt layout.

Standing diagonally behind him, Song Er caught a glimpse of Shen Xiqiao lazily raising his arm to warm up. He gave a scoff and said offhandedly, “What's the difference where they put them? It's just a shirt.”

2.

Shen Xiqiao and Song Er were completely wrong for each other. Shen Xiqiao knew it himself.

He refused to take no for an answer and insisted on giving it a try. Then she broke up with him without warning.

Shen Xiqiao couldn't accept it, so he asked a mutual friend to find out why.

Song Er's baffled response was:

“There was never anything between us.”

He could even picture her expression: brows slightly knitted, the corners of her mouth turned down, looking a little helpless.

Shen Xiqiao thought there couldn't be anyone in the world he disliked more than Song Er.

3.

But later, at a class reunion, when asked why she had broken up with her first love,

Song Er answered, “Because I didn't love him enough.”

In a dim corner of the parking lot, the young heir who was always so proud and rarely bowed his head had a sheen of tears in the corners of his eyes, trying hard to hold them back. He looked like a dejected puppy.

“You said we were breaking up. When did I ever agree to that?”

*

How will she prove that, despite taking different paths, they can still reach the same destination?

Theme: Keep moving forward. The future will be better.