A young man who made a giant heart from hundreds of fruits for a public love confession was left humiliated when his advances were rejected by the girl of his dreams.
The unnamed boy, a third-year university student, laid out the round pomelo fruits - a citrus with flesh like a grapefruit - outside a crowded shopping centre in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, where he arranged the meet-up with the girl known as Mu Mu.
Mu Mu, who arrived with her girlfriends from university, is a year above the young man at school, but her seniority did not prevent him from pulling out all the stops to get his girl.
Occupying the public square in the shopping area, the man laid out some 999 pomelos into the shape of a giant heart, and later borrowed a microphone to very publicly announce his love for the girl.
He was quoted as saying: "I've liked you since the first day we met, and now I want everybody to know."
As Mu Mu put her hand over her mouth in disbelief, she seemed to know the confession was on the way.
The student added: "Will you be my girlfriend?"
The crowd screamed with delight at the scenes of young love, expecting an emphatic "yes" followed by a hug and a kiss - but Mu Mu had other ideas.
Unfortunately for all involved, she returned the boy's love interest by "friend-zoning" him, picking up the microphone and saying: "I don't like you in the same way. I've always seen you as a great friend."
She added: "But I'll keep the pomelos."
The dejected young man is said to have left the scene hanging his head, but at least his fruit did not go to waste.
According to reports, Mu Mu gave the baying crowd permission to take the pomelo home - and they swept the fruit up in just two minutes.
One woman is said to have even removed her child from his pram so she could fill it with pomelos.
- australscope