Chapter One: The First Encounter

The first time Lin Ge met Qiu Qian, he was just a boy—awkward, quiet, and burdened with a life heavier than his young shoulders could bear. He had grown up in the shadows of loss, his parents taken too soon in a car accident, leaving him with an old bookstore and an aching loneliness that no words could fill.

And then, like a brushstroke of color on an otherwise gray canvas, she appeared.

It was a rainy afternoon, the kind where the sky seemed to be mourning something unseen. The bookstore was nearly empty, save for the sound of raindrops tapping against the windowpanes. Lin Ge sat behind the counter, absentmindedly flipping through an old novel, when the bell above the door chimed softly.

She stepped in, shaking off the rain from her umbrella, her presence immediately filling the small space with an inexplicable warmth. She had a certain brightness about her, as if the world had not yet found a way to dim her light.

"Excuse me," she said, her voice gentle yet firm. "Do you have any books on time travel?"

Lin Ge looked up, startled by the odd request. People rarely came to his store looking for something so specific. They came for old literature, forgotten tales, or simply a quiet place to escape the world outside.

"Time travel?" he repeated, setting down his book.

She nodded, pushing a few stray strands of damp hair behind her ear. "I've always been fascinated by it."

He hesitated for a moment before leading her to a shelf tucked away in the corner. He ran his fingers along the spines, then pulled out a well-worn copy of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

"This one's a classic," he said, handing it to her.

She accepted the book, her fingers brushing against his for the briefest second. A strange feeling fluttered through Lin Ge's chest—an unfamiliar warmth, like a forgotten memory trying to resurface.

She smiled. "Perfect. I'll take it."

As she walked back to the counter, she glanced around the shop, her eyes dancing over the rows of books, the wooden shelves, the faint scent of paper and ink that lingered in the air.

"This place is nice," she murmured. "It feels… timeless."

Lin Ge wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he simply nodded.

After she paid for the book, she lingered for a moment, hesitating before asking, "What's your name?"

"Lin Ge."

She tilted her head slightly, as if tasting the name on her tongue. Then, she smiled again. "I'm Qiu Qian. It was nice to meet you, Lin Ge."

And just like that, she was gone, disappearing into the rain as if she had never been there.

Lin Ge stood by the counter, watching her figure fade into the misty streets, clutching the book she had left with. There was something about her that lingered—an inexplicable pull, a whisper in his mind that told him this was not just an ordinary meeting.

This was something else. Something more.

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A Thread of Fate

Days passed, then weeks. Lin Ge found himself thinking about Qiu Qian more often than he cared to admit. He wondered if she had finished the book, if she had liked it. He wondered if she would ever return.

And then, one evening, she did.

It was just past dusk when the bell above the door rang again, and there she was, standing in the golden light of the setting sun, holding the same copy of The Time Machine in her hands.

"I need another recommendation," she announced, stepping inside as if she had always belonged there.

Lin Ge felt his heart skip, just for a second.

He nodded, suppressing the small smile that threatened to creep onto his lips. "You finished it already?"

She shrugged. "It was good, but I need something… different."

And so began a quiet ritual between them. She would come back, again and again, always asking for books about time, about fate, about love that transcended lifetimes.

And Lin Ge, without realizing it, found himself waiting for her visits.

She became a rhythm in his life, an echo that he welcomed with open arms. He learned that she loved the sound of rain but hated thunderstorms. That she could never walk past a bookstore without stepping inside. That she believed in the impossible—that somewhere, somehow, love could bend the rules of time itself.

And Lin Ge—who had spent so much of his life believing in the certainty of endings—began to wonder if she was right.

Because with every book she borrowed, with every fleeting smile she left behind, he felt something growing between them.

Something infinite.

Something inevitable.

But fate is not always kind to those who challenge time.

And neither of them knew that their story had already been written long before they met.

A love that defied time. A promise that would echo through eternity.

And a destiny that neither of them could escape.