Female lead: Su Tian, 26, a top-tier star across film, television, and music. She has won a Best Newcomer Award, but in recent years her company has pushed her into sweet romance dramas, limiting the roles she can play.
Hidden side:
In private, she loves gnawing on spicy duck necks and watching old Hong Kong movies. Her phone holds a photo of her in her high school uniform, eating street food, a “real fragment” of herself she doesn't dare show anyone.
She has mild social anxiety. She's perfectly at ease in front of a camera, but is afraid to eat alone with strangers. Outside of work, she has almost no social life.
She's fixated on “ordinary life.” In an interview, she once said, “My ideal weekend is building Lego on the sofa.” Fans took it as down-to-earth, but she meant it sincerely.
Male lead: Chen Mo, 28, a backend developer at a major internet company. He rents an apartment in an old neighborhood in the city center for the convenient commute, earns an average salary, and has just paid off his college loans.
Hidden side:
He may seem dull, but he's highly observant. He remembers how his coworkers like their coffee, regularly leaves cat food for the stray cats downstairs, and keeps track of trivial things in his phone's notes, such as “The neighborhood parcel lockers close at 4 p.m.”
He has a secret talent: in high school, he was president of the photography club, and one of his photos won a city-level award. Even now, he occasionally takes his old camera to the river to photograph the sunset. The pictures live only on his hard drive; he never posts them on social media.
His attitude toward celebrities: he's not opposed to them, but keeps his distance. He knows who Su Tian is because his younger sister is a fan and has covered their home in posters. When he first met Su Tian, the first thing he blurted out was, “You're thinner than you look on the posters,” nearly making her mistake him for a fan.
