Concealed Affection

I Six years ago, Ning Zhi was caught kissing Shen Yizhi. Shen Yizhi rejected her without hesitation. Six years later, after a long separation and a series of twists of fate, the two register their marriage on the very first day same-sex marriage becomes legal. They agree to get what they each want and keep feelings out of it. To make the marriage last a little longer, Ning Zhi decides to hide her feelings. II Ning Zhi downloads a dating app. By day, she films scenes with Shen Yizhi and pretends not to care. At night, she chats with a mysterious stranger online and vents to her heart’s content. “I’ve never met anyone harder to get along with. She’s cold and demanding.” “She looks pretty when she smiles, but she only smiles at other people.” “She’s actually going to leave me behind and walk the red carpet with someone else. That’s outrageous. It’s practically the equivalent of cheating on me.” “But it’s fine. I don’t like her anyway. I don’t want to walk with her.” Every now and then, Ning Zhi feels miserable. She doesn’t even dare reveal her feelings to a stranger she met online. Still, at least the mysterious stranger is a good person. She’s very busy and just as cool and distant as Shen Yizhi, but she never gets annoyed with Ning Zhi. Then one day, the app adds a “Listen Together” feature, and Ning Zhi tries it out with the mysterious stranger. After listening for a while, Ning Zhi sees their profile pictures side by side on the song page. A line of tiny text below them reads, “3 meters apart, listened together for 2 minutes.” Ning Zhi freezes, then turns to look at the wall behind her. On the other side lives Shen Yizhi, who sleeps in a separate room from her. Theme: Be careful online and cautious when surfing the web.