Translated stories I like enough to recommend. I review them so expect some spoilers (I try not to spoil major events.)
(Please read the novels on the original translator's site which can be found on novelupdates!)
Ji Ting and Tan Yucheng were desk mates for two years, and she had a fleeting crush on him, like the brief bloom of an epiphyllum.
However, his attention had never been on her. She knew they were impossible.
They were familiar with each other, often stayed in touch, and met frequently.
She knew clearly that he was still bitter about his breakup with his ex-girlfriend and that they would eventually get back together.
But she didn't expect to get entangled with him again, and this entanglement was also like the bloom of an epiphyllum.
They agreed that either of them could call it off at any time, around winter.
The day before her birthday.
His ex-girlfriend came back.
Ji Ting stood across the street from him and said, "Goodbye."
Then, she turned and left.
—
— Forbidden Friendship/Crush Literature
— Happy Ending (HE)
— Unrequited Love
— Beautiful and Gentle Boss Lady VS Wild Boss (with a side job as a rich young master)
Thoughts:
Friends to lovers!
I love love LOVE a good friends with benefits storyline. It's honestly a guilty pleasure. Even when I was active reading original stories here in Wattpad, I tend to gravitate towards plots like this.
I can't get enough of the tension, the sneaking around with no one knowing, the keeping their feelings secret because they think the other person does not feel the same, and that silent yearning gets me every single time. Give me a hundred of the same shit and I'll eat it up!
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FL just does yearning so good, but has enough self respect to walk away if needed. ML, on the other hand, is just so unpredictable. He is such a tease, no wonder FL still liked him after all these years. With a relationship like theirs (prior to the fwb situation), you can't help but fall. Her doubts and hesitations are valid, especially when there already was a real life example of that situation close to her.
I liked the contrast between the relationships in this story and the author's other novel (for ML's friend), which I believe came first. I haven't read it though as it hasn't been translated yet and the concept doesn't interest me as much, since it's a common plot in most chinese novels.
Anyways, this story is not the best I've read and it has its flaws (mainly that it gets boring at times and no smut), but it did something I rarely see chinese novels do. The only stories I know of where there is also a fwb storyline is The Devil's Woman and Forbidden Crush(there are many similarities between them tbh).
And personally among these three, I liked this one the best (I still enjoyed the other two tho).
So yeah, try them!
(btw if you know any stories with this kind of plot, please let me know🥺)
