How Can Two Severely Antisocial People Fall in Love?

Chi Yan is an introvert through and through: a total homebody who is twenty-six and has never dated, with only fictional husbands to his name.

One day, after moving to a new apartment, he was about to go downstairs to take out the trash when he opened his door at the same time as his neighbor across the hall.

They stared awkwardly at each other, then both slammed their doors shut at once.

Chi Yan: ???

That kind of perfect timing. He sensed a kindred spirit.

At eight in the morning, Chi Yan headed out to work and once again bumped into his neighbor across the hall.

Chi Yan stared at the floor numbers shrinking on the display. His neighbor stared at an ad for range hoods inside the elevator.

They fell silent together.

Once they left the apartment complex, Chi Yan went to catch the subway, while his neighbor got into a private car. At last, Chi Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

With one minute to go, Chi Yan made it to work just in time to clock in. The elevator doors opened, and there was his neighbor's face again.

Chi Yan: ?!!

The two of them fell silent once more in the elevator.

Does this guy work at the same company as me?

Chi Yan's mind raced, until he heard the receptionist greet the other man with a respectful, "Good morning, Mr. Yu, CEO."

After graduating, Yu Che learned that his father wanted him to take over the company. He was utterly opposed.

The reason? He had crippling social anxiety.

He'd been at the company for half a month. The handover of responsibilities was going smoothly, but he'd said fewer than ten words in person to the department managers. Everything else was handled by email.

He'd never sent a single message in the company group chat. The only thing he'd done was change his display name to "Mr. Yu: Please contact me by email for work matters."

He really didn't want to answer phone calls!

Then he met an employee who was just as socially anxious as he was. The guy even lived right next door.

He was cute, spoke in a soft, gentle voice, and liked wearing baggy shorts with kitten patterns and funny frog slippers when he went downstairs to take out the trash.

Yu Che wanted to get closer to him, but his social anxiety held him back.

One day, he finally worked up the courage to speak in the elevator.

"Do you have a link for those slippers?"

Chi Yan: ?!

Yu Che: (Another day of pretending to be an extrovert for the sake of an introvert.)

They unexpectedly fell in love, and since they were both socially anxious, it wasn't surprising that they understood each other perfectly.

At a product launch, the young, handsome CEO stood at the podium, speaking at length about the new product. His voice was rich and powerful, and he seemed calm and confident.

The investors in the audience praised him: A brilliant young talent!

Only Chi Yan knew that just three minutes earlier, his boyfriend had messaged him on WeChat:

"Wife, boo-hoo, I really don't want to go up there and speak. Why are there so many people here today?"

"Crying cat face.JPG"

Socially anxious junior employee bottom x socially anxious CEO top

A story about two socially anxious people huddling together and trembling.

P.S. I and E are categories in the 16 Personality Types test. I refers to introverts, and E to extroverts.

The synopsis has been saved as a screenshot.

Theme: Introversion is a precious quality, too.