In the late autumn of her first year of high school, Lin Yue met Lu Fengchuan. He was steeped in the lingering smell of cheap cologne, his desk covered in strange doodles, and as silent as a block of ice that refused to melt. He was her worst deskmate, flicking her eraser and silently declaring war with his smell.
Dislike came naturally. Then, during a classroom cleanup, he instinctively and awkwardly shielded her from the wind. The fleeting smile at the corner of his mouth stirred unfamiliar ripples in Lin Yue's heart. Her curious gaze began following him of its own accord, until she saw him desperately spraying an entire bottle of pungent cologne onto the sketchbook his mother had left behind, the scent of his only remaining, untouchable memory.
Her defenses crumbled. Understanding replaced dislike, and a cautious closeness began to grow in their silence. The brief warmth of late autumn deepened as they shared melodies through a pair of earphones. But the stirrings of youth are often fragile. When final exams ended and the crowds dispersed, Lu Fengchuan vanished without a trace, along with that powerful scent. On the empty desk, all that remained was a carefully penciled profile of Lin Yue.
On the back, a line of handwriting had blurred:
Cologne may evaporate, but this moment won't.
The innocent affection that began in late autumn ended in a rush before winter could arrive. All that remained was the moment forever captured on the drawing paper, telling of a youth marked by scent, soaked in sorrow, and finally swept away on the wind.
Theme: A fleeting moment can last forever; what remains unfinished is beautiful.
