The Law of Refraction

Synopsis: The boldest thing Ruan Nian had ever done in her life was secretly love Jiang Yushen for eight years. One rainy night in high school, she was cornered against a wall, trembling with fear. Jiang Yushen pushed through the crowd, took her cold wrist in his hand, shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, then held an umbrella over her as he walked her home. The umbrella tilted toward her, leaving his own shoulder soaked by the rain. In that moment, Jiang Yushen became the light Ruan Nian never dared speak of in the darkness of her youth. Jiang Yushen: a favored son of heaven, admitted to a prestigious university without taking the entrance exam, the light everyone looked up to. Ruan Nian: an unwanted burden abandoned by her father, a speck of dust hiding in the shadows. They met again five years later, at a hospital. Dressed all in white, Jiang Yushen faced his patient with a cool, solemn expression. He did not look up. “Where does it hurt?” Ruan Nian dug her fingernails into her palm, her voice trembling. “My… head has been hurting a little these past few days…” The tip of his pen paused over the medical chart. Jiang Yushen suddenly lifted his eyes, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment. When he spoke again, a crack appeared in his icy voice, and his tone softened almost unbelievably. “Have you been sleeping well? Have you been eating on time?” After that, she found the courage to step into his consulting room again and again. Jiang Yushen would always dim the lights beforehand if they were too harsh, slow down every question, and turn every sharp-edged examination into the gentlest reassurance. Until one follow-up appointment, when Jiang Yushen handed her medical record back. His fingertips brushed hers, but he did not let go immediately. The man leaned slightly closer. The clean, sharp scent of disinfectant clinging to his white coat surrounded Ruan Nian, enclosing her within a space that seemed to belong to him alone. “If you keep getting headaches,” Jiang Yushen said, looking into her evasive eyes, his low voice touched with a smile and an unmistakable tenderness, “maybe it’s because you keep coming to the hospital without wanting to see me?” “I—I don’t.” Ruan Nian’s breath caught, but she did not dare say another word. Jiang Yushen took another step forward, trapping her between the examination desk and the warmth of his presence. “Medically speaking, I can explain every branch of the coronary arteries, but I can’t explain…” “Why, every time you deliberately avoid me, right here…” Jiang Yushen took her wrist and slowly pressed her palm against the left side of his chest. Through the layers of his white coat and shirt, the vigorous, hurried beat of his heart struck against her fingertips, again and again. “It hurts.” — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: The Law of Refraction — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠