Just friends?! Synopsis + Snippet

This is originally a Taiwanese novel so you read it up to down, right to left in traditional Chinese. I borrowed this book from a friend, it's in simplified Chinese cuz I can't read traditional Chinese hohoho, but the book retained its vertical sentence structure. It's about two childhood friends, both named Ting Yu. The female Ting Yu is tall and often mistaken for a handsome boy while the male is a flower boy. the story shows how they grow, how they both broke up with their partners and fell in love etc. This story is honestly not my cup of tea but I did find some of the character's interactions cute and funny.

Synopsis:

"From friends to lovers, there is a benefit. Because the two people already have a certain degree of closeness so they can pass the awkwardness of people who have just started dating."

"What about lovers who became friends?"

"That will be even more precious. Because we have loved before, lost before, so we will understand each other even better and know how to treasure this friendship which is not easily obtained."

"Then what if we were friends and became lovers and then became friends again?"

"Then I will hope that you will become happier than I am." Ting Yu said, " Because being friends is something precious, being mutually in love is also something precious, in this world, out of the hundreds of millions of people, we were able to meet, able to become friends, and then our hearts were moved, we were brave, we fell in love and in the end we became friends again. I hope that the other person will be happier than I am. Because we were able to have two precious chances together."

"So if we still failed, from lovers to becoming friends, you will hope that I will be happier than you?"

"Of course. But I will work hard, to let both of us be happy."

"Do we need to work hard to be happy?"

"If we don't work hard, how can we be happy?"

Snippet: [Very loosely translated] The snippet where she meets the second male lead, they kind of dated for a while.

That day, I was sitting alone in a cafe and someone tapped my back. I originally thought that I would hear..

"Um... Mister, is the seat beside you unoccupied?"

Because for all 23 years of my life, it would be young girls who concluded that I was a handsome boy from my back view... However, this time round it was different, it was a man, a young man.

"Are you alone?"

Who would guess that it was a normal young man, I was so happy I could cry. The problem was, I was in a very bad mood that day. Rather than answering his question, I threw another question to this idiotic man.

"Do you see anyone else?"

"Well, it could be that you are waiting for someone or your partner has gone to the washroom. There are many possibilities in this world."

"What is your reason for telling so much?"

"Asking you if I could sit on the seat next to you."

This idiot then proceeded to sit down without waiting for my reply.

"Didn't you just sit down?"

"Yes, because you did not reject me."

This guy.

"Why must you insist on sitting next to me? Can't you see that there are other - umm." I looked around and realised that there were no empty seats.

"Can I get to know you?"

"Did you think my mum gave birth to me to let people get to know me?"

"Don't tell me that you have so many friends that they are uncountable and thus cannot even spare one person a place?"

"Which eye saw that I was a woman?"

"Both my eyes saw that you are a woman."

"Impressive."

"How?"

"Usually it's the young women who approach me, thinking that I'm a handsome young man."

"You are tall, have a handsome back view, but one look and I could tell you are a woman. Is there a problem?" This was a problem. I was tall and had a handsome back view, wore a T-shirt and jeans, looking just like a handsome boy. This was a big problem.

"I'm starting to like you more."

"Like my foot, do we know each other?"

"Good question, I'm called Shu Hao, does this count as knowing each other now?"

"That's your own thinking."

"Actually I really like this cafe."

"I originally did too, but because of you, I'm growing to hate it more."

"Yes, I'm starting to like you more."

This fellow is definitely has a screw loose!

"Has anyone told you that you're weird?"

"This sentence shows that you are starting to show interest in me."

"Idiot."

I threw him the sentence and quickly left.

"Hey! You still haven't given me your number!"

"521." (Joke that was skipped)

"You are really interesting."

"You are really mentally ill."