Anxious older golden-retriever male lead × avoidant, tsundere calico-cat female lead
(The golden retriever act is an act; the calico cat is just scared.)
Zhou Bohan: anxious, trembling hands, and a habit of forcing a smile.
He believes that if he keeps smiling, he won’t be abandoned, and if he tries a little harder, he’ll be loved.
His body’s stress responses have long made him used to smiling through everything, people-pleasing, and acting like nothing bothers him. Everyone takes it for granted that he has to hide his battered heart.
No one knows that beneath his smiling mask are words he has never dared to say:
“Please look at me. I want to know if I’m worthy of being loved.”
Jiang Hanyu: avoidant, indifferent, and quick to bristle.
“If I pretend I don’t care, I won’t get hurt.” That’s her motto.
To her, love is like something out of a science-fiction novel. She has never experienced it, so all she can do is imagine.
She locks her heart away in a sealed room, bolts the door, and warns everyone: “Keep out.”
Every time Zhou Bohan approaches with a fake smile and a wagging tail, Jiang Hanyu arches her back, bristles, and hisses at him.
He tries to strike up a conversation, and she always snaps back. He leans in to explain a problem, and she stares at his ballpoint pen.
He gives her a bag of cookies, and she crushes every one of them.
“Zhou Bohan.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m pushing you away. Can’t you tell?”
“Is it because you care too much, so you push me away on purpose? If you really felt nothing, you’d just ignore me.”
Jiang Hanyu said nothing. Her gaze moved from his face to his hands, and she suddenly asked, “Then why are your hands shaking?”
