27dramafun

The romance story I’d be glad I never experienced in real life!

I don’t know, maybe this is an unpopular opinion, considering how many critics have praised this kind of relationship. And okay, I can accept the fact that it’s realistic. We’re talking about two people with flaws, after all.

But… this relationship is early winter, not early spring!

It’s toxic!

Luke is arrogant, harsh, controlling, and manipulative most of the time, although he can occasionally be protective. You can never really tell whether he genuinely loves Flora or simply enjoys being the one who hurts her, as long as nobody else gets to.

And perhaps that’s what makes his character so frustrating. He may care deeply for Shang Zhitao, but he struggles to give her the emotional reassurance and security she needs. His problem isn’t necessarily a lack of love. It’s his inability to love her in a way that makes her feel valued.

And isn’t that just as important as love itself? Because what good is loving someone if the way you treat them constantly makes them question their own worth?

Here’s a man who is supposed to establish and enforce boundaries at work, setting all these rules for everyone else, yet somehow he’s the one who gets to break them by entering into a “secret relationship” with a newbie!

Even his choice of Flora is interesting. Out of all the beautiful women around him, he chooses the one he can control most easily because she’s young and deeply insecure. Was it really love, or was it a strategic choice?

At one point, he even tells her to her face that she’s the easiest person to manipulate! And then he has the audacity to get angry with her for not telling him she was sexually harassed.

I wonder why!

Even after they get together, he takes almost every opportunity to belittle her whenever something goes wrong.

But, of course, Luke isn’t the only one who contributes to this unhealthy relationship. Flora has her own share of responsibility, too.

She knowingly enters a relationship with her boss, fully aware that it will have to remain a secret and that, at least initially, it will be limited to weekends. How much clearer could the warning signs have been?

And after all the miscommunication, the belittling, the constant undermining of her personality, and the devaluation of her feelings, she chooses to stay. Over and over again. All it takes is a few crumbs of affection and reassurance from him, and she’s willing to give the relationship another chance.

So, is she responsible for some of her choices? Yes.

Is she insecure and lacking confidence in herself? Also yes!

But there’s another side to this. Flora repeatedly hides things from Luke and lies to him. And while that behavior isn’t healthy, I can understand where it comes from.

Every time she keeps something from him, it’s usually because he has already judged, insulted, or belittled her. Out of pride, she refuses to give him another reason to confirm his negative opinion of her.

She wants to protect herself, preserve her dignity, and prove that she has value. And that desire is perfectly healthy!

But the fact that she has to hide things from her own boyfriend just to maintain her self-respect? That is anything but healthy.

Another thing that bothers me is how Luke is portrayed in comparison with the other men around him. He’s certainly no saint, but almost every potential competitor turns out to be unethical, manipulative, or downright villainous. Take Alex, for example.

It’s almost as if the story needs to make everyone else look worse so that Luke can appear to be the better choice.

But being better than someone terrible doesn’t automatically make you good!

And here’s the thing: relationships like this, and people like Luke and Flora, exist everywhere.

It could be you. It could be me. It could be your friend, your colleague, or the person living next door.

But just because something is realistic doesn’t mean it should be acceptable.

The problem isn’t that these characters have flaws. Of course they do! Everyone does. Expecting perfection from a partner would be completely unrealistic.

But, to my way of thinking, that’s not what a relationship is supposed to be about.

Your partner should be the person who gives you a break from the harshness of reality. A shoulder to lean on. A source of comfort and reassurance. Someone who accepts you for who you are, including your imperfections, and helps soften your insecurities rather than exploiting them.

And for me, that is non-negotiable.

We don’t get to choose our families. They are who they are, with all their virtues and flaws, and we have little control over that.

But we do choose our partners and our friends.

And those choices say something about who we are, what we value, and the kind of people we want to become.

So, even if Luke and Flora’s relationship is passionate, intense, and perhaps even rooted in genuine love, I don’t think it’s mature or healthy enough to realistically become an endgame relationship.

And if someone isn’t looking for a lasting relationship and simply wants to follow their instincts and enjoy the passion, that’s perfectly fine, too—as long as neither person ends up hurting themselves or the other.

But passion alone doesn’t make a relationship worth keeping.

And that brings me to another famous example of a toxic yet passionate romance: Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele.

Did they end up together? Yes.

Was their happy ending more of an exception than the rule? Also yes!

But is that really the kind of romance you could expect to find next door, with a realistic chance of ending the same way?

Definitely not!

Because, at the end of the day, I can understand why a toxic relationship might make for an addictive romance novel.

But I don’t believe that a love story being compelling to read makes it a love story worth living.
Thank you if you actually made it through this entire review! 😂

Of course, this is just my personal opinion, and trust me, I’m someone who often finds herself drawn to red-flag characters! But this time, it was simply too much for me, especially when it came to the relationship dynamics and the way the characters’ psychological profiles were developed.

That being said, huge congratulations to the actors! Their performances were incredibly convincing, and their chemistry was undeniable. They really brought these complicated characters and their relationship to life!💛