"The moment I saw you..."

"....I flipped"

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✿

The first time you saw Zhao Yufan, he was standing on the freshly cut lawn across the street, squinting into the afternoon sun as his family unpacked their boxes. It was either those dazzling, deep-set eyes or the rare, brilliant smile that briefly lit up his face, whatever it was, you were instantly flipped.

You were only in second grade, but your heart had made up its mind. When he ducked behind his mother’s car every time you waved, you assumed he was just shy. “Boys are like that at first,” your mom had laughed, so you gave him grace. You gave him space, and then you gave him endless chances to come out of his shell. But he never did.

As the years blurred into high school, your thoughts still revolved endlessly around him. Around James, as you often called him in the quiet sanctuary of your own head. You memorized everything: the sweet, summer scent of watermelon shampoo that drifted off his hair whenever he passed you in the school hallway, and the precise, nervous way he would avert his gaze the exact second your eyes met. You were completely, hopelessly smitten.