Synopsis:
Cen Yueyin is 24, an epic-level shut-in with no family, friends, or ties, and a severe avoidant personality. Her life philosophy can be summed up in fifteen words: Don't initiate, don't refuse, don't take responsibility, don't get close, don't keep in touch. Her only social activity is forcing herself to livestream and sell her paintings online.
She's so withdrawn that she can spend an entire livestream staring blankly at the screen. When she falls for someone, she simply takes out a little notebook and draws them, then acts as though nothing happened. Whenever someone confesses their feelings to her, she responds like an AI on autopilot.
She receives a private message containing a long, heartfelt love confession.
In: "Thank you for liking me."
The confessor nervously works up the courage to ask, "Would you go out with me?"
In: "Thank you for liking me."
Tao Yao is 26, a little internet celebrity with nothing going for her except her looks. In her friends' eyes, she's a needy, insecure, fussy social butterfly who can talk to anyone. The three things she hates most are being left on read, being brushed off, and not being taken seriously.
She'll talk about anything in her livestreams, but if someone doesn't reply to a message within ten minutes, she'll turn her phone upside down. Her parents were busy with work when she was young, so although she became independent early, she's especially afraid of being alone. She's so clingy that her friends treat her like a hot potato, shoving her into every social circle they can find and hoping she'll make more friends to share the burden.
People tell her to find a partner, but she has her doubts. She's afraid that the social boundaries she struggles to maintain will fall apart in a relationship, that her neediness will annoy the other person, and that asking for company will make her look pathetic. So she simply says she's not interested in romance.
They should have been two people with no connection whatsoever.
Until one livestream brought them together among a billion coincidences.
After losing a livestream battle, Cen Yueyin is given a truth-or-dare penalty. A friend on the call asks her, "When was the last time you had a crush on someone?"
The woman, cool and pale as moonlight, smiles and holds up a notebook. She turns it around to show a pair of peach-blossom eyes sketched in just a few strokes, and says, "Just now."
Tao Yao's heart gives a sudden thump. She recognizes her own eyes.
It's the first time in all her years of streaming that she's been swept off her feet during a call with someone. On impulse, Tao Yao enters the other woman's livestream, only to see four huge words on the announcement: "Not looking for love."
"..." Her heart slams into a wall with a thud.
All her friends tell her they're wrong for each other, as wrong as ice and fire, milk and lemon juice, or a fish riding a bicycle.
Tao Yao knows it all. She should take the hint and give up, but no one can control when they fall in love.
Still, she's too proud to let herself look desperate. So she uses "curiosity" as an excuse to get close. Someone else invited them to call, she just happened to send a gift, and she went to the other woman's place because she was "worried something might happen to you alone." She always leaves herself a way out.
But Cen Yueyin never turns her away. If Tao Yao asks to come over, she can; if she asks her to open the door, she does. Tao Yao takes one step forward and isn't pushed away, then takes another and still isn't pushed away. The deeper she gets, the bolder she becomes, until she's downright relentless.
But Tao Yao still won't confess, as if as long as she doesn't tear away that veil, she'll never be rejected.
In the end, she pushes Cen Yueyin into speaking first. "I'm avoidant, and I have a terrible reputation. I can't give you emotional support, and I don't want to hurt you."
Tao Yao thinks the unspoken meaning is rejection, and tears are already welling in her eyes.
Unexpectedly, the other woman grows flustered and speeds up her speech by 1.5 times. "I mean, if you're really ready for this, I'll do my best to return your feelings."
Tao Yao freezes, staring blankly. "What do you mean?"
Cen Yueyin: "Let's be together."
"!!!"
Still dizzy with overwhelming joy, Tao Yao hasn't yet realized what Cen Yueyin means by "return your feelings"...
An epic-level shut-in artist, a severely dissociative avoidant younger woman x an insecure, fussy social butterfly and internet celebrity, an older woman
Theme: When ice and fire meet, only love can turn them into cups, letting their gentle warmth rest in the palm of your hand.
