Five Years Are Up, and My Sweetheart Is Back

Xu Zhaohe first met Jiang Yanlin at a basketball game at her brother’s school. The spirited young man sank a three-pointer that set the whole gym alight, and with it, her entire youth. She burst into his world like a little sun, staying by his side through the toughest stretch of training. She thought she could keep being there for him forever. Until the rumored “Su Qingqiao” returned from abroad. Misunderstandings swept in like a rising tide and drowned her completely. She didn’t cry or make a scene. She simply looked at her brother with red-rimmed eyes and begged, “Send me abroad to study.” She deliberately chose the day he left the country for a competition. Without saying goodbye or leaving a message, she vanished from his world like a gust of wind. When Jiang Yanlin got the news, he abandoned the competition and searched for her like a madman. She didn’t know that the man who never shed a tear had cried again and again during the days he missed her. Nor did she know that she, Xu Zhaohe, was the one person Jiang Yanlin held so deep in his heart that he didn’t even dare touch her. Five years later Jiang Yanlin had retired four years ago and taken over the vast Jiang Group. After graduating, Xu Zhaohe became an agent for a club and led the team back to China. Before their first game was over, a shadow in black blocked her in the players’ lounge. Jiang Yanlin wrapped one arm around her waist and cupped her face with the other, his eyes red and his voice hoarse. “You secretly ran off while I was abroad for a competition, Xu Zhaohe. You’ve got some nerve.” He lowered his head until his lips were almost touching hers. “Now that you’re back, don’t even think about leaving again. I’d break your legs before I let you go.” She thought she was the one who’d fled from an unrequited love, never knowing he had long since built a cage around his heart for her.