When he was 17, he fell in love with a girl from the neighboring class, a beautiful and talented girl. The first time he read her article in the school magazine, he was smitten. He copied it down line by line. Because he liked her, he would secretly watch her at the corner where she passed by and in the reading room she frequented. Actually, she had noticed him. Such an outstanding boy was often the topic of conversation among the girls—tall, handsome, and academically excellent!

In a moment when their eyes met, he looked at her and gently asked, “Can I like you?” The girl didn’t answer. Instead, she took out a handful of jasmine flowers from her bag. The white jasmine flowers emitted a delicate fragrance. She then said, “Open your hand.” He gently opened his hand, and she placed the flowers in his palm before turning and running away.

A year later, they were admitted to universities. He went south, and she went north.

She asked, “Do you still have the jasmine flowers?”

He replied, “Yes, I do. Four years later, I will bring these beautiful jasmine flowers to propose to you.” Through letters carried by messengers, they loved each other deeply. The year they graduated, she rented an apartment in Beijing and told him, “Come to Beijing after graduation. Let’s build a nest for our love.” Unexpectedly, he said, “No, I think Shanghai is pretty good. How about we break up?” Over the long-distance phone line, she said, “I can come to Shanghai.”

But he replied, “It’s not about Shanghai or Beijing. It’s that the love is gone.” Her heart grew cold. She hadn’t expected this outcome, but what was the point of clinging to it? So she hung up the phone, but before doing so, she said, “Return my things to me.” She was referring to the jasmine flowers.

A few days later, she called again, “Return my jasmine flowers to me.” He said, “Keep them as a memento.”

Five years later, she became a vice president of a company and always kept many pots of jasmine flowers in her room. Once, while she was in charge of hiring employees, an applicant came in and said, “When I was working in Shanghai, a colleague of mine also loved growing jasmine flowers. The whole room was filled with their fragrance.” Her heart skipped a beat.

At the end of the interview, she casually asked, “What was that man’s name?” The applicant said three words, and she froze. As she was in a daze, the applicant added, “But he’s blind. He once said that if he couldn’t see and couldn’t smell the fragrance of jasmine flowers, life would have no meaning.”

She nearly fainted. The man said the other man had lost his sight five years ago, learned Braille, and worked as a stenographer at that company. She felt her world turning dark; what she thought was his heartlessness was actually his reluctance.

When she boarded the plane to Shanghai, she carried a sachet filled with fresh jasmine flowers. When she saw him, she stood quietly for a long time, promising herself not to cry, but tears still streamed down her face. She didn’t know if he was already married, perhaps even a father, or if he was as foolish as she was, freezing his love for the sake of a feeling.

He smelled the fragrance of the flowers in the air and gently asked, “Who brought the jasmine flowers?” She walked up to him and softly said, “Open your hand.” He was stunned for a long time and then, almost trembling, opened his hand. She poured a bag of fresh jasmine flowers into his palm and said,

“These are jasmine flowers from 20xx, as fragrant and beautiful as they were back then.” His tears, drop by drop, fell onto the jasmine flowers, making them even more vibrant and beautiful. She took his hand and asked, “Can I still be the most beautiful jasmine flower in your heart?”

He carefully held her close and said, “That jasmine flower has been blooming in my heart for 20xx years, and she has always been the most beautiful one!”

Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “