Xu Can first saw Shen Ke at the entrance to her residential complex. Sunlight fell across his profile, his eyelashes casting a small patch of shadow. She suddenly thought he was as quiet as a plant.
After they became friends over that game, the young lady from the calligraphy department began pursuing him in her own haphazard, secretive way.
Then Shen Ke's old injury flared up, costing him his chance to join the national team. Unable to control his emotions, he said something cruel to Xu Can.
"I am attracted to good-looking people, sure. But I'm my own person first, and my feelings aren't cheap. I won't bother you again."
Shen Ke wanted to explain, but thinking of the gloom hidden beneath his obedient, sunny facade, he was consumed by self-doubt. He thought: How could someone like me ever deserve a ray of sunshine like her?
Then Xu Can caught him venting his anger on the court. "What's one setback? Your real failure is not being able to accept it. Shen Ke, don't be a coward in your own mind."
The openness in Xu Can's eyes was a light shining into his frozen heart. This time, he wouldn't run away.
Besides, his feelings for her had taken root years ago, in late autumn, when he saw her burying a kitten that had frozen to death, her eyes red with tears.
Xu Can, my stubborn feelings took root and began to grow long before you ever knew me.
Theme: A sunny girl saves a gloomy boy. They encourage each other, pursue their dreams, and find themselves
