Romantic love story of patience: The Best Arrangement
At 18, she experienced a brief romance. Due to her stubborn unwillingness to let go, her heart remained closed for seven years. She refused to open up to herself or allow others to approach her. During this time, some expressed their affection for her, promising a lifetime of companionship and endless romance. Among them were people she liked—those gentle and refined individuals. She even tried to accept them but quickly realized that the hard ice lodged in her heart wouldn’t melt. The biting cold would inadvertently become a blade that hurt others! Though she still longed for love, she no longer dared to believe in it.
She once thought that perhaps, in this lifetime, she would find someone she didn’t particularly love and spend the rest of her life in mundane ordinariness.
At 24 or 25, she could no longer avoid the talk of marriage that everyone around her was constantly bringing up. She couldn’t resent the worldly pressures because her parents’ hopeful gazes carried a responsibility she couldn’t evade.
She began to resign herself to fate. She couldn’t remember when the cycle of blind dates started. From the initial awkward silence, she gradually became more composed, even joking and laughing. After more than ten such arranged meetings, she remembered giving her parents the same response: shaking her head. Often, while comforting her beloved parents with playful banter, she would silently ask herself, “Is there no right person in this world?” During this period, she even got to know someone for nearly a year.
Though their relationship was neither too hot nor too cold, marriage was discussed. She had heard more than once that she was suited for a domestic life. For a while, she found this to be the most sarcastic and despairing thing to say. Isn’t love the only reason to enter into marriage? For her, at 25, the thought of never marrying was terrifying. But the thought of spending a lifetime in a loveless marriage was even more tragic. Even if love seemed like a luxury, she still wanted to wait for her true love.
Although she was often pressured by well-meaning elders and introductions came one after another, testing her fragile nerves, she never wanted to give up. She remembered a friend once solemnly telling her, “Follow your heart, don’t settle. You will meet someone who truly cherishes you, and you will be happy.” Even if the whole world turned against her, at least one person believed in her future, and that made it worth sticking to her original intentions. In that moment, she felt as if she had been given an exclusive ticket to a happy future, filled with strength and a pure, beautiful heart.
One of her favorite speeches by Lu Yu was about a woman who had just ended a six-year relationship and was emotionally exhausted. On her first blind date, the woman’s opening line was, “I don’t have time for romance. I want to get married.” It was this bold declaration that led to a happy marriage. Once, she thought that flash marriages were unreliable, but later, she realized that if you meet the right person, one glance could indeed last a lifetime.
On February 13, 20xx, it was the same routine. A group of people sat around in the living room.
Although it was their first meeting, everyone chatted warmly like old friends. Perhaps it was because she had just seen two others the day before that she felt tired and dissatisfied. As she mechanically made tea, she couldn’t get into the role in this play staged for her. She noticed her father smiling as he chatted with the young man, sitting close to him on the sofa. She knew this was a sign that her father was pleased with him. But what did it matter? She had already told them she couldn’t accept someone younger.
However, the matchmaker’s enthusiasm was hard to reject, and it was just a meeting after all, so she went along with it. Even when her friend whispered, “Not bad, you should give it a try,” she only smiled indifferently without saying a word. When everyone left, she couldn’t remember a single detail about him because she hadn’t looked at him closely even once. She thought this chapter would end like all the others, with no further entanglement.
The next day, they exchanged casual messages on WeChat, their conversation as bland as water. In the afternoon, he sent a message saying he was leaving for work the next day and asked if they could meet before he left. Since she had nothing else to do, she agreed, curious to see the person her father had liked and her friend had praised.
They met at a KFC in town. That evening, light rain fell, and the wind howled fiercely, making even her down jacket inadequate against the cold. As she walked, dialing his number, she regretted agreeing to meet in such weather. She opened the door to KFC, her eyes scanning the room, and noticed a boy holding a phone and smiling at her from not far away. She felt a sudden warmth, as if a wave of warmth enveloped her. Her calm heart rippled with unexpected emotion. She couldn’t recall what they talked about, but they had a pleasant conversation. What she did remember clearly was his serene and gentle smile, which she found herself unexpectedly drawn to.
If it hadn’t been for the days that followed, the story might have ended there. But sometimes, fate plays by its own rules.
Later, she often wondered when she began to develop an inexplicable attachment to him. Even though they had known each other for only 20 days, she couldn’t remember. Everything seemed to happen naturally yet astonishingly. She remembered friends telling her about people who got engaged, pregnant, and married within days of meeting. She had always scoffed at such stories, thinking that the most beautiful love couldn’t start so hastily. But when she found herself in a similar situation, she realized that love doesn’t require logic and has nothing to do with time.
During those few days, they would hold hands while lying on the couch watching TV. Occasionally, they would look at each other and smile. After dinner, he would hand her a cup of warm water. He helped her wash her hair, and she trimmed his nails. Everything felt so natural. She often had the illusion that these familiar scenes were from years of being together. In their idle conversations, he painted beautiful pictures of their future, promising her a lifetime of unwavering love. She was moved by the thought that she could be so favored by fate. She sighed, “How fortunate that at this moment, not too early or too late, I finally found you!”
He once asked her, “When did you start liking and loving me?” Was it when he shared his life story, and she felt an overwhelming sense of empathy and pain? Was it when he tenderly dried her feet? Or was it that unique smile that completely captivated her? She truly didn’t know. What she did know was that the psychological defenses she had built up over the years had finally crumbled. It took another person to clear her of her obsessions, and she finally released all her burdens.
Many people had asked her about her ideal partner. She would answer, “Someone who grew up in a harmonious family environment, has a stable job, a pleasant appearance, good manners, is three to five years older than me, and loves me—then everything would be perfect.” But when she met him, she realized that some stories don’t follow the script.
On the contrary, they can turn out quite differently. But no one has the right to interfere with the choices of your heart. If he is unruly, she would offer him vast space. Isn’t life just like this? The most perfect match isn’t necessarily the one that fits your pre-set standards. He was the person she met at just the right time.
Love at first sight is a story that plays out every day, and she had envied those passionate romances. She had imagined countless fairy tales for her love in her mind—beautiful, brilliant, and fleeting. What they shared wasn’t love at first sight, but the feelings still hit her like a wave. She couldn’t explain why, but she was certain that he could and would give her a long and dazzling life together.
She believed that love should be like this: meeting the right person at the right time requires both courage and luck, and she now had both. How proud she was that, despite her heart being played with and betrayed, she still found the world to be incomparably beautiful.
She had always wondered what it meant to have “feelings” for someone. Was it fiery passion or a lightning strike? Her sister had once told her that if you meet someone with whom you can imagine a future and strongly feel that he is the one, then everything is right. That’s what love is.
The first time they interlaced their fingers, the first time they cuddled close, and even this moment as she wrote again, she felt immensely happy to have found him amidst the crowd.
She had held on to her true self and waited for the light at the corner. Meeting him was the best arrangement fate could offer.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
