Chapter 1

I had avoided He Fang for exactly three years.

I remembered so clearly because the night I pushed him into bed was New Year’s Eve, during winter break of freshman year.

Firecrackers had been going off everywhere outside.

Today was New Year’s Eve again, now during winter break of senior year.

I was dragging my suitcase along, planning to buy some fruit before heading upstairs.

And that was how I ran straight into He Fang.

He had hardly changed. With his hood up and both hands in his pockets, he still radiated that languid boyish charm.

You would never guess he was a bastard.

A beautiful bastard.

The instant he entered the shop, I turned away on instinct and tugged my cap lower.

“Fang, here for fruit again?”

The shop owner was young, and her eyes lit up the moment she saw him.

“The pomelos just came in and they’re excellent. Take two home for your parents.”

He Fang said, “I don’t eat sour things.”

“Then cherries. I promise they’re sweet.”

“I hate sweet things even more.”

I wanted to slap him. Eat them or don’t, just get lost.

But the owner remained enthusiastic.

At checkout, she even insisted on stuffing several apples into his bag.

He Fang always received special treatment.

With that handsome face, he had been a little tyrant wherever he went.

At ten, he could leave home empty-handed and come back from a walk with his pockets full of snacks.

I had once cried from envy.

Now he was twenty. The people handing him treats had changed again and again.

The little tyrant had not.

The owner asked, “Coming home alone this year, Fang?”

“Yeah.”

“I heard from the neighbors that you were planning to bring your girlfriend home.”

He Fang had a girlfriend?

My ears pricked up before I could stop them.

He Fang gave a soft laugh.

There was a faint nasal edge to his laugh that tickled the ear.

I had heard it from very close by on New Year’s Eve three years ago.

It had not only tickled my ears. Hear enough of it, and it made the heart itch too.

“Not true,” he said.

The owner said, “I knew it. Your standards are too high, so finding someone is hard. What kind of girl do you like? I have a younger sister, and she’s adorable…”

“I hate sweet, innocent girls.”

Yes, I could almost picture his expression as he said it.

For my sixteenth birthday, I had received a lace dress.

I wore it to show He Fang.

In that same disdainful tone, he had said, “Wen Zhi, I hate sweet girls.”

The owner laughed awkwardly. “You should hurry and find a girlfriend, Fang, so your parents can stop worrying.”

“Don’t worry. I have one.”

He Fang drawled,

“I just haven’t decided which girlfriend to bring home.”

The owner fell silent.

Such an outrageous line somehow sounded perfectly plausible coming from this bastard.

After a while, the shop grew quiet.

I figured He Fang must have left.

I reached for the last melon.

A long, slender hand shot out and intercepted it halfway.

“Sorry. I got it first.”

The lazy voice sounded above my head.

He said sorry without a trace of remorse.

“But I might consider letting you have it.”

He Fang’s clear voice struck my eardrums.

“Will you turn around for me?”