They said bad luck was losing a job, failing a test, or getting dumped.
But Lina Chen knew better.
Bad luck was being born into a storm.
Losing your mother before you even knew her voice.
Watching your father gamble away what little future you had, then vanishing like a coward.
Her brother, Jin Chen, tried.
God, he tried.
He worked until his hands bled. Fought until his knuckles cracked. Sold his pride to save her life.
But fate had no mercy.
Jin was struck down in the chaos of a gang war—left breathing, but not living.
And Lina? She was left to carry it all.
She cleaned streets at night. Folded laundry by day. Starved quietly in alleyways between shifts. Her body withered, but her soul clung to one thing:
Don't let him die.
Hospitals stopped caring. The world stopped seeing her.
But she never stopped.
Until her knees gave way.
Until her world went black.
Then came Kai Ren.
A bookstore owner with quiet eyes and a heart too kind for this world. He gave her a warm bun. A place to rest. A reason to breathe.
For the first time in years, she felt something other than pain.
She felt seen.
Kai asked for nothing.
And in return, Lina gave him the only thing she had left:
A piece of her heart.
They fell in love like paper burning—slow at first, then all at once.
She smiled again. Dreamed again. Dared to imagine a life beyond survival.