A Young Love

He carried an air that made people dislike him, stamped with the mark of someone to be kept at a distance. People gathered in groups of three or five, then joined with other groups to form larger circles. None of those circles included Zhu Fang. He was an island unto himself. She was Zhong Xia, one of the most popular students on campus. They met in the library... Zhong Xia smiled at him. It was four o’clock in the afternoon, closing time. The broad solid-wood tables gave off the warm sheen unique to wood, while beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows lay the most beautiful early spring the city had to offer.