YOUNG_ADULTS
NCT CHENLE AU | COLLEGE AU
She thought leaving would finally make everything quiet.
A new country. A new campus. A life that belonged to no one else but her own.
Haeun arrives at a prestigious university in China carrying more than just luggage- she brings unresolved grief, half-healed wounds and a heart that has learned how to survive but not yet how to rest.
New mornings smell like cookies and unfamiliar laughter. New nights hum with rain, campus lights, fun and the weight of possibilities she's never allowed herself to consider.
Healing comes in small, ordinary moments-shared kitchens, late walks, accidental smiles.
And then comes him, who changes everything upside down.
Among them is Chenle-the college's infamous guy. Effortlessly charming. Always flirting. Too carefree for someone with eyes that linger a second too long. He flirts like it means nothing, lives like tomorrow is optional and pretends nothing ever weighs on him.
Haeun doesn't plan on getting close to anyone like that.
She came here to breathe. To create. To exist without being someone's daughter, someone's responsibility, someone's fragile heart to protect. But change doesn't announce itself. It happens in small moments- you're yet to find.
Somewhere between independence and desire, between fear and freedom, Haeun begins to realize something unsettling.
She didn't fall in love all at once.
She didn't even notice when she started changing.
And when she finally understood what she feels, the truth surprised her most of all-
The love she always questioned wasn't meant to save her.
It was meant to find her.
Not for Chenle.
But for herself.