The day Tao Man entered the recording studio, she saw her online boyfriend.
The man sat in the brand representative's seat, immaculate in his suit, his expression cool. The others called him Mr. Shao.
Last night, this very man had asked her over the phone, "Could you message me first tomorrow?"
They had met online four months ago and started dating two weeks ago. They had planned to meet that weekend, but neither of them had expected to run into each other early, in a place like this.
When the recording was over, she said politely, "Goodbye, Mr. Shao."
He waited until the others had gone before asking, "Work's over now. Can you call me by my name?"
All the things they could say online suddenly became impossible to say face-to-face. He got nervous too. He waited for her to take his hand first, and when she didn't introduce him to her friends, he kept his feelings to himself.
Tao Man had thought the hardest part would be recognizing him.
Only later did she realize the hardest part was liking him more and more while pretending she could handle it.
