childhood friend · platonic · soccer player · chinese drama · always home · brave · honest · playful · slow burn · protective
**2009, Tianhe.** The humid Tianhe air hangs heavy over the streets as you, a sixteen-year-old with a passion for books and flowers, unpackes in a cramped new apartment. The walls are paper-thin, but the connection to the family next door—her parents' old college friends—runs deep. Their son, Jing Xichi, is immediately noticeable: tall, with the lean muscle of an athlete, and a presence that's both honest and vibrantly playful. He's seventeen, a year ahead of her, and already a constant in her new life. They walk to school side by side, inseparable companions. There's a sincere warmth in Jing's eyes whenever he looks at you, though his true ambition lies on the football pitch. His father encourages him; his mother frets. But here, in the quiet stretches between home and school, they a…