Dr. Lu's given name is Lu Lin. He's a top student from a medical college in the capital city.
He's always been the exemplary child in the neighborhood.
With a smooth academic and career path, he landed a job at the best hospital in the capital.
Working in the ICU is tough, but it's what Lu Lin loves. He's so busy that he doesn't even have time for blind dates. By the age of 30, he's never been in a relationship.
His elders at home have urged him many times, but Lu Lin always makes excuses about being too busy.
Because there's a little white moonlight in his heart.
In high school, Lu Lin was still studying in his hometown's town. In his sophomore year, a transfer student came to the class. She was a pale - skinned and somewhat thin girl.
Perhaps due to her personality, she didn't like to socialize with her classmates.
Every day, she'd curl up in the corner of the classroom like a little snail, going to and from school on her own, reading and sleeping by herself.
Lu Lin was a good student who didn't like those classmates who wasted their time.
What caught his attention about the girl was during a Chinese class.
The girl, who was dozing off in the corner, was called up by the teacher. Her sleepy look made the classmates burst into laughter. The teacher was very angry, thinking she was deliberately disrupting the class, so he punished her to recite "On the Six States" by Su Xun.
You know, the original text of "On the Six States" has more than 500 characters. Even Lu Lin found it a bit difficult to recite. Everyone knew the teacher just wanted to make the girl look bad, and they were all waiting to watch her humiliation.
Unexpectedly, the girl rubbed her eyes and recited the whole text extremely easily, clearly pronouncing even the alternative characters.
The teacher didn't expect this girl who slept all day to have such a good memory. He could only say some perfunctory words like "you should listen carefully in the future" and "you can't break the class discipline" before letting her sit back down.
Lu Lin was sitting diagonally in front of the girl. He wasn't interested in watching someone make a fool of themselves originally, but when he heard the girl's smooth and melodious voice, he almost froze. When he looked back, just as the girl sat back in her seat with her head down.
Lu Lin clearly saw this girl, who was defined as "aloof" by everyone, quietly stick out her tongue and make a cute face while lowering her head.
It was this cute action that made Lu Lin start to notice this girl.
She was an outcast, but she would quietly do many things for everyone.
No one knew that there was an elf helping them with some trivial and unnoticeable things...
Lu Lin thought she was very cute. A young man's feelings always sprout from some small details.
He started to approach the girl on purpose, doing her duty in the classroom, fetching water for her... and even waiting until very late just to go home from school with her.
But the girl didn't appreciate it at all. She always rejected him coldly.
Lu Lin was a good student! The greatest virtue of a good student was perseverance.
Just like solving a math problem or memorizing an article... Lu Lin regarded this strange girl as a life - long puzzle.
However, just when he was confidently trying to move her.
The girl disappeared!
Just as she suddenly appeared at the classroom door with her schoolbag on her back, after school one day, she walked out of the classroom with her schoolbag and never came back.
Lu Lin only knew that her surname was Du, and her name on the roll - call list was Du Li.
...
This was a secret that Lu Lin couldn't tell. Even after so many years, he still regretted not having the courage to confess his love back then!
As a result, he had no interest in the girls around him.
He could meet many girls in the hospital every day, and there were also his peers who showed their affection for him.
But he just couldn't find that feeling of being heart - stirred... That girl with big eyes and the cute action of sticking out her tongue when sitting down, he would never forget it in his life!!
After his night shift, Lu Lin didn't feel like going out for dinner. So he went to the convenience store outside the hospital.
The unattended 24 - hour convenience store was very quiet at a little past one in the morning. The white fluorescent tubes in the cold - fresh food storage cabinets were shining dimly.
Lu Lin picked up a box of instant beef rice noodles and a bottle of electrolyte water and was going to the cashier to pay.
Just as he passed by the candy shelf, he suddenly heard a soft sob.
Why would there be a woman crying in the convenience store at this late hour?!
Out of kindness, Lu Lin stopped.
There, in front of a row of horizontal shelves, was a small, thin white figure squatting down. Her head was buried between her knees, and her shoulders were twitching as she sobbed softly.
"Hey, are you in any trouble?" Lu Lin tried to soften his voice for fear of scaring the girl.
"... I... I can't reach that candy..." The girl looked up at Lu Lin while wiping her eyes.
Just this one look almost took Lu Lin's soul away.
Wasn't this girl, who was sitting there hugging her knees pitifully, the very girl he had secretly loved in high school?
Her pale and pointed face remained the same. Those eyes that used to show slyness and cuteness in high school were now a bit red from crying. It seemed that time had left no trace on her. She was still as pure and thin as in Lu Lin's memory!!
"Du... Li Li, you're Du Li, right?"
Lu Lin immediately called out the name that had been stored in his mind for ten years. "I'm Lu Lin, your high - school classmate. I'm... the boy sitting in front of you on the right. I... I put lollipops on your desk. Do you remember?"
"... Oh."
The girl was startled by Lu Lin at first. She looked at this over - excited man timidly. It wasn't until he mentioned "putting candies on the desk" that she seemed to remember something and showed a faint smile. "I... I seem to remember. Lu Lin, classmate."
"Which candy do you want? I'll get it for you."
Lu Lin tried to suppress his inner excitement as he looked at the colorful candies on the shelf.
"... It's... the one you put on my desk." The girl's voice was as soft as a poor kitten.
"Fujiya strawberry lollipops. I remember! It's the kind you always ate! That's why I bought them and put them on your desk!!"
Lu Lin could remember every moment he spent with the girl in school. When he heard the girl wanted the same kind of candy he bought for her in high school, his heart skipped a beat for no reason.
She remembered too. She remembered him from high school!
Lu Lin picked up the candies, paid for them, and then walked out of the convenience store with the girl.
Only then did he notice that the girl was wearing the nurse's uniform of their hospital?!
"Du Li, are you working in our hospital? Which department are you in? How come I've never seen you?"
Lu Lin found it even more unbelievable.
"... Well, my name is Li Li now. I'm an intern nurse in the emergency department of the hospital."
The girl was sucking on a candy as she walked beside Lu Lin. Lu Lin thought she was so thin that a gust of wind could blow her away. She was so thin that it made people feel pity for her.
"I'm working in the intensive care unit. I've just finished my shift. How about you?"
Lu Lin looked at the girl eagerly.
After ten years, he could still meet the girl who made his heart flutter for the first time. What kind of fate was this?!