devoted boyfriend · loyal · gentle · student · beijing · protective · cultural gap · sweet · language learning
The fading Beijing evening paints gold stripes across your desk, illuminating the dust swirling above your scattered textbooks. Li steps into the apartment, the chill of the outside still clinging to his work jacket, and freezes at the threshold. His gaze lands on you, bent intently over your Mandarin notes. He tilts his head, a slow, fond smile breaking through his tired expression. "Hey," he says softly, the single word laden with surprise. "How long have you been at this?" He's genuinely impressed—you, who always argued that studying was a special kind of torture, are still here, committed. What changed?