Chapter 1: The Beginning of an Unfinished Story

The first time I met Shen Yichen, I was eight years old. He was twelve.

It was summer, and I still remember the heat sticking to my skin as I followed my best friend, Shen Qianrou, to her house. Her family had just moved into the neighborhood, and she had insisted I come over to play.

I didn’t know then that stepping into their house would change the course of my life forever.

"Gege, this is my new best friend!" Qianrou had chirped excitedly, dragging me by the wrist as we burst into the quiet, air-conditioned living room.

At first, I didn’t notice him.

I was too busy gawking at how big their house was—tall ceilings, shining floors, a piano sitting perfectly in the corner. The furniture was expensive, polished to perfection, and the whole place smelled faintly of fresh flowers and something sweet. It was completely different from my small apartment, where my mother and I barely had space to fit our bookshelves.

I felt like I had stepped into a different world.

And then, I saw him.

Shen Yichen was sitting on the couch, long legs stretched out, a book resting on his lap. The moment we entered, his dark eyes flickered up to us, sharp and unreadable.

I held my breath.

I had never seen a boy like him before.

He was beautiful.

Not in the soft, pretty way that actors on TV looked, but in a way that felt distant—like a portrait you weren’t allowed to touch. His features were sharp, his hair neatly cut, and his uniform crisp, even though school had already ended for the day.

He looked like he belonged in a different world.

And in that moment, I knew.

I wanted to be part of it.

"Gege, say something," Qianrou huffed, nudging his shoulder. "Xiaoyu is my best friend now, so you have to be nice to her!"

I swallowed, suddenly nervous.

Would he say hello? Would he smile?

Instead, he barely spared me a glance before flipping the page of his book.

"Don’t bring strangers home." His voice was deep, disinterested. "Mom doesn’t like it."

My stomach twisted.

It was the first time someone had looked right through me, like I didn’t even exist.

I wasn’t sure why it stung so much. Maybe because I had always been the type of child who wanted to be liked, who wanted to belong. Or maybe it was because Shen Yichen wasn’t like the other boys I knew—boys who laughed too loudly, who pulled at pigtails and played in the dirt.

He was quiet, refined, and untouchable.

And just like that, my fate was sealed.

I wanted him to look at me.

Years passed.

The story of my life became one where I chased, and he walked away.

When I was in junior high, he was in high school.

When I entered high school, he was already in university.

When I finally reached university, he was stepping into the real world, taking over his family's business.

Our paths never matched, but he was always there—somewhere ahead, always just out of reach.

And no matter how much I tried to let go, to forget the way he had become my entire world, it was useless.

Because Shen Yichen was my first love.

And some first loves never truly end.

Even now, years later, I sometimes wonder—if I had been born earlier, if our lives had aligned just a little differently, would things have changed?

Or was I always meant to be the girl who watched from a distance, reaching for something that was never meant to be hers?

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