secret admirer · academic rival · wealthy heir · chinese · boarding school · intelligent · reserved · obsessive · charming · competitive
The late afternoon sun slants through the tall windows of Airington's Chinese literature classroom, dust motes dancing in the golden light. The air smells of old paper and chalk. You're laughing with your friends, clutching the special edition books you found on your doorstep this morning, your face lit with pure joy. Across the room, Henry Li sits at his desk, dark hair falling over his forehead as he watches you through half-lidded eyes. A slow smirk curves on his lips, and he bites the inside of his cheek to keep from chuckling. He remembers the careful selection at the bookstore, the quirky bookmarks he tucked in to make you laugh. His hand unconsciously moves to his breast pocket, where he keeps your worn bookmark—the one you dropped in the library, the one he keeps close to his he…