Chapter 5: First Love

When I got home, I played it completely cool, waiting for him to “confess” on his own. But Jiang Shuo remained unfazed, casually standing behind me and massaging my shoulders like a total innocent. Fine. Time to drop the nuclear option.

“Zhao Qian is back in the country. She was your first love after all—pretty hard to forget, right?”

His hands froze. His voice dropped low. “She wasn’t my first love.”

He turned away and walked off, returning a moment later with my old high school memory book. He flipped to a page that had been glued shut. Tucked inside was a three-page love letter, the ink on the words “I like you” smudged from the sheer force of his grip when he wrote it.

The stars are the galaxy’s love letter, but you are my moon.

Blood rushed to my face, and I threw a pillow straight at his head. “Then what was all that crap about liking Zhao Qian and dating her?!”

Jiang Shuo took the hit obediently, looking thoroughly guilty. “It was fake. You were ignoring me, so I just wanted an excuse to talk to you every day. Who knew she’d actually like me back? I ended up making things clear with her in less than a week…”

I lunged forward and kicked him. “Are you insane?! Her friend group completely iced me out back then because of you!”

He didn’t dodge. Instead, he used the momentum to pull me into his arms, his voice thick and husky as he coaxed me like a needy puppy. “It was all my fault. Don’t be mad at me, wifey… My first love has only ever been you.”

He leaned down, his warm breath fanning across my neck. “Sweetheart, can you change into a different outfit? The one from last night…”

Before I could even react, I was dragged right back into that familiar whirlpool. In the dim light, his whisper drifted into my ear, utterly sincere yet wildly possessive: “I love you.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, thinking to myself: Well, since he’s being this sincere, I guess I can reluctantly love him back for the rest of my life.

From that day on, Jiang Shuo practically forgot how to say no to me. Whatever I said, he replied with a soft “yes, baby,” appearing the exact second I called his name.

Naturally, my temperament only grew more spoiled by the day.

“I’m thirsty.” -> Three seconds later, a glass of warm water was held right to my lips.
“I’m hungry.” -> A full spread of my favorite snacks materialized out of thin air.
“I want meat!” -> His eyes darkened, and his hand reached out to unbutton my shirt. “Sure thing. Let me feed you…”
“I meant steak!” I slapped his hand away.

Jiang Shuo paused for a split second, then let out a low, suggestive laugh. “Ah… got it. Fuel you up first so you have the energy to ‘keep going.'”

…

Another time, I woke up from an afternoon nap and suddenly remembered something from when we were eighteen. The memory of him throwing up right in front of me at my birthday party sent a surge of fury straight to my head. Without a second thought, I slapped him across the face.

Jiang Shuo looked up, utterly bewildered. “Was I not serving you well enough? Or… do you want another round?”

“Get lost! At my birthday party back then, you took one look at me and threw up out of pure disgust, didn’t you?!” I stomped all over his chest just to vent.

He gently caught my ankle, pressed a tender kiss to the sole of my foot, and let out a sigh. “It wasn’t disgust, baby. It was because you looked so drop-dead gorgeous that day… I was completely overwhelmed. I tried to gulp down some wine to calm my nerves, ended up choking on it, and threw up.”

I froze. So my long-standing psychological trauma was based on something that ridiculously stupid?

Suddenly, Jiang Shuo ran off and came back holding an exquisite backless blue dress. “Wifey, your shoulder blades are stunning. Wear it for me again?”

Ever since that party, I had never worn backless clothes again. But under his sweet-talking coaxing, my heart melted.

The result? After staring his fill, the bastard ripped the dress right down the middle. What a total waste of money! Making me put it on just to tear it off—the man was a total lunatic. But whatever. He was the one making the money anyway.

—

Bonus Chapter: Jiang Shuo’s POV

The girl I love has a beautiful name: Tsu Yi-mo.

We grew up together from the days of wearing diapers. I always thought she understood how I felt—until Xiao Mu showed up. A pretty-boy wimp who she suddenly followed around all day, even threatening to cut ties with me over him. My world completely imploded.

So I caved. Fine, if she liked pretty boys, I could play the part too, as long as she stopped ignoring me. But then, she excitedly offered to play matchmaker between me and Zhao Qian. Seeing that “I just won the lottery” look on her face, I knew I was playing music to a deaf ear.

Just to make her jealous, I agreed to date Zhao Qian. I deliberately handed my milk carton to someone else just to see if she’d react. In the end, before I could win, I surrendered to myself. I broke things off with Zhao Qian, but she offered to help me get closer to Yi-mo instead. That became my one and only excuse to stand by her side every single day.

The day I left the country, she stood at the airport laughing at me, without a single hint of sadness in her eyes. I left behind a three-page love letter. When I received no response, I assumed she was letting me down easy.

For four long years abroad, I kept a packet of hot pot seasoning she had given me, never daring to use it for fear of losing that last bit of her warmth. Until one day, her dad casually mentioned on the phone: “Yi-mo still keeps that childhood picture of you right by her bed.”

My heart exploded. Turns out, my moon had been waiting for me to come home all along.

The marriage went smoother than I ever could have dreamed. On our wedding night, I had to take countless cold showers before I even dared to climb into bed. I had been dreaming of this moment since I was a kid: a peaceful life, spending the rest of my days sleeping next to my moon and waking up beside my sun.

This life… feels almost too lucky to be real.

THE END