A gloomy, possessive, nurturing older woman x an insecure younger woman who flirts and then runs away
*
Ning Dan was born into an eminent family and was well-behaved from childhood. The only outrageous thing she ever did was fall in love at first sight with a woman who was already engaged.
Li Shumo was ten years older than her, refined and austere, with mature, aloof elegance in every gesture.
When they first met, bodyguards cleared the way on both sides. Li Shumo looked down from on high, while the usually arrogant socialites of Xicheng had to watch her expression and speak to her with utmost care.
Ning Dan realized then that the connections her family had repeatedly told her to cherish and cultivate meant nothing to Li Shumo.
Ning Dan admired strength, and shamefully, her heart was stolen.
Li Shumo had returned from overseas primarily to marry her fiancée.
The Li family was far more powerful and established than the Ning family, so Ning Dan didn't dare approach her openly. Instead, she asked a friend to fake her credentials and became the woman's Chinese teacher.
Li Shumo had been born overseas and, it was said, had specifically learned Chinese for her fiancée.
Knowing Li Shumo couldn't understand Chinese, Ning Dan often slipped in her own little additions after the lessons.
Li Shumo would merely look at her coolly, showing little reaction.
Ning Dan grew bolder, progressing from compliments to murmuring softly to Li Shumo, “I really want to sleep with you. I really want to kiss Mommy.”
The woman's lashes trembled. She raised her cool, noble eyes and watched Ning Dan for a moment, her gaze deep and unreadable.
Ning Dan was startled. For an instant, she almost thought Li Shumo had understood what she said.
Persistence paid off, and Ning Dan finally lured her into bed.
Having gotten what she wanted, Ning Dan decisively ended the forbidden relationship once the honeymoon phase passed.
Before leaving, Ning Dan sent her just one text, saying she was tired and sick of their relationship being kept in the shadows. She was going home to meet someone through her family and get married, settling down to an ordinary life.
After returning home, she accepted her family's matchmaking arrangements.
On the day of the blind date, Ning Dan never met her intended match. Instead, she saw the woman she knew so intimately, inside and out.
Li Shumo, who ruled the business world, now had a faint weariness in her eyes and the calm before a storm about her. Her voice was cool and possessive, her accent precise:
“Ning, who are you planning to marry?”
*
A business marriage, with no actual romantic entanglements
They switch roles
The protagonists aren't perfect and have flaws of their own
Theme: Independence and self-reliance