# Chapter 1 — The Rainy Encounter

The rain began without warning.

One moment, Lina Chen was walking down the crowded street with her umbrella tucked beneath her arm, and the next, the sky opened as though it had been waiting all day to fall.

People rushed toward shops and covered walkways.

Cars moved slowly through the wet streets, their headlights reflecting across the pavement like long golden ribbons.

Lina stood beneath the narrow roof of a closed café, staring at the rain.

She checked her phone.

**8:17 p.m.**

“Perfect,” she whispered.

Her last bus had probably already left.

She sighed and looked at the small paper bag in her hand. Inside was the cake she had bought for her younger sister's birthday.

She had promised she would be home before eight.

Now she was standing alone in the rain, already twenty minutes late.

Lina pulled her coat closer around herself.

Then she noticed something.

A black umbrella was approaching.

A young man was walking toward her from across the street.

He wore a dark coat, his hands resting casually in his pockets. Unlike everyone else, he wasn't running from the rain.

He walked through it calmly.

As he came closer, Lina noticed his expression.

Serious.

Almost distant.

His eyes briefly met hers.

Then he stopped.

“You're waiting for someone?” he asked.

Lina blinked.

“No.”

He looked at the rain.

“Then why are you still standing here?”

She gave him a slightly annoyed look.

“Because I enjoy getting soaked.”

For the first time, something changed in his expression.

It wasn't quite a smile.

But it was close.

“That's an unusual hobby.”

“So is talking to strangers.”

He looked at her for a moment.

“You're right.”

He turned as though he intended to leave.

Lina watched him take two steps.

Then the wind suddenly blew hard.

Her umbrella slipped from beneath her arm and rolled into the street.

“Oh!”

She rushed forward.

A car approached.

Before she could reach it, the young man grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

The car passed.

Lina stared at him.

He released her immediately.

“Don't run into the street like that.”

“I was getting my umbrella.”

“It isn't worth getting hurt over.”

She looked toward the umbrella lying several meters away.

Then back at him.

“You could have just told me.”

“I did.”

“You pulled me.”

“You weren't listening.”

Lina opened her mouth to argue.

Then she stopped.

Because he was right.

The young man walked into the rain, picked up her umbrella, and returned.

He handed it to her.

“Here.”

“Thank you.”

He nodded.

Then he started walking away.

Lina watched him disappear into the rain.

For some reason, she couldn't explain it, but she felt like she had seen him before.

Not recently.

Not somewhere obvious.

Somewhere much farther back.

A memory she couldn't quite reach.

She shook her head.

“Forget it.”

She opened her umbrella and continued toward the bus station.

She had no idea that the stranger she had just met would soon become the person she couldn't forget.

---

The following morning, Lina arrived at the university earlier than usual.

She walked through the main gate carrying a cup of coffee and a stack of books.

Her best friend, Mei, spotted her immediately.

“You're late.”

Lina checked her watch.

“I'm fifteen minutes early.”

“Exactly. You're late compared with me.”

Lina laughed.

“You're impossible.”

Mei linked her arm through Lina's.

“So, how was your night?”

“Terrible.”

“Why?”

“Rain. Missed bus. Wet shoes.”

Mei's eyes widened.

“And?”

“And what?”

“Did you meet anyone?”

Lina gave her a suspicious look.

“Why would that be your first question?”

“Because you look different.”

“I look tired.”

“No. You look distracted.”

Lina remembered the stranger.

His dark coat.

His calm voice.

The way he had grabbed her before she stepped into the street.

She immediately pushed the thought away.

“I met someone.”

Mei stopped walking.

“I knew it!”

“It's nothing.”

“Who?”

“I don't know.”

“You don't know his name?”

“No.”

“What does he look like?”

Lina continued walking.

“Tall. Dark coat. Quiet.”

Mei smiled.

“That sounds like the beginning of a romance drama.”

“It's the beginning of nothing.”

“We'll see.”

Before Lina could respond, the university announcement system came alive.

“Students are reminded that the new academic research partnership orientation will begin at ten o'clock in Hall Three.”

Mei looked at Lina.

“That's your department.”

“I know.”

“Come on.”

They hurried toward the lecture hall.

---

Inside Hall Three, students filled the seats.

Lina sat near the middle and opened her notebook.

The professor walked onto the stage.

“Good morning, everyone.”

The room became quiet.

“Today, we begin a new research partnership between our university and Zhao Cultural Holdings.”

A murmur moved through the room.

Lina barely paid attention.

Until the professor continued.

“The representative joining us today is Mr. Ethan Zhao.”

Lina's pen stopped moving.

Her heart skipped.

Slowly, she looked toward the entrance.

A young man walked into the hall.

Dark coat.

Calm expression.

The same eyes.

The same person from the rain.

Lina stared at him in disbelief.

Mei leaned toward her.

“Is that him?”

Lina whispered,

“Yes.”

Ethan walked to the front of the room.

His eyes moved across the students.

Then they stopped.

On Lina.

For a second, neither of them moved.

Recognition appeared in his eyes.

But unlike Lina, he didn't look surprised.

He looked almost as though he had expected to see her.

The professor introduced him.

“Mr. Zhao will be supervising part of the research program for the next few months.”

Ethan nodded politely.

“I'm pleased to meet you all.”

His voice was exactly the same.

Calm.

Controlled.

Lina lowered her eyes.

She suddenly felt uncomfortable.

Why hadn't he mentioned who he was last night?

Why had he looked at her like that?

And most importantly—

Why did it feel like he already knew her?

---

After the orientation ended, students began leaving.

Lina packed her books quickly.

She wanted to leave before Ethan could approach her.

But as she reached the door, a voice stopped her.

“Lina.”

She froze.

She slowly turned around.

Ethan stood several feet away.

“You know my name?” she asked.

He didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he looked at her carefully.

“I saw it on your university identification card yesterday.”

Lina remembered.

Her ID had fallen from her bag while she was standing beneath the café roof.

She hadn't even noticed.

“Oh.”

Ethan stepped closer.

“You dropped this.”

He held out a small silver pendant.

Lina's expression changed immediately.

She reached for it.

“Where did you find this?”

“Yesterday.”

She stared at the pendant.

It had belonged to her mother.

Lina had lost it years ago, but her father had returned it to her shortly before he passed away.

She always kept it with her.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

Ethan watched her.

“You should be more careful with it.”

“I know.”

There was a silence between them.

Then Lina looked at him.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“Have we met before?”

Ethan's expression became unreadable.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then he replied,

“Maybe.”

Lina frowned.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you might remember me someday.”

Before she could ask another question, he walked away.

Lina stood there, completely confused.

She looked down at the pendant in her hand.

There was something strange about the way he had said it.

Not *maybe we haven't.*

Not *I don't think so.*

Just—

**You might remember me someday.**

Outside, the rain began again.

Lina walked toward the window and watched the drops slide down the glass.

She suddenly remembered a distant childhood scene.

A little girl standing beneath a tree.

A boy beside her.

Rain falling around them.

Someone saying—

**“When we grow up, I'll find you.”**

Lina closed her eyes.

The memory disappeared.

She opened them again.

Ethan was already gone.

But for the first time in years, Lina wondered whether a forgotten promise from childhood had somehow found its way back into her life.

And she had no idea that Ethan remembered every word.