A heartwarming and bittersweet story of unrequited love has sent the mainland Chinese Internet into a spin.
It centres on a girl from Enshi, a city in the central Chinese province of Hubei, who recently discovered a hidden message inside a gift that was given to her more than a year ago.
She was given the pink carousel toy at her high school graduation by a boy with a crush on her.
On Dec 28, more than 12 months after receiving it, the girl noticed that the carousel had run out of batteries and went to change them.
While doing so, she stumbled upon a small note hidden inside the battery compartment on which “I like you” was written in black handwriting.
Surprised and touched by her discovery, the girl shared a video of it on the social media platform Douyin, and it was soon reposted by a number of media outlets, sparking an online discussion.
Some observers lamented: “Love always slips away unnoticed.”
Others joked: “I sent a group message like this when I graduated and didn’t even receive a single reply.”
Many people expressed regret that the boy and girl liked each other but didn’t end up together, with some saying that the boy should have placed the note in a more obvious location or used a battery that was running out of power in order to increase the chances of the girl finding it sooner.
Others told the girl she should have pursued a relationship with the boy as soon as he gave her the gift. – South China Morning Post