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Beyond the projection we look for in any drama, I never expected Flora to be my redemption hero after reflecting on myself at my age, in a drama whose main attraction was realistic, ordinary people in situations that could happen to any of us, instead of unusual fictional situations, overacted CEOs, gifted geniuses, or Cinderella stories.

This is not a toxic love relationship in an office environment, but a credible plot based on the attraction to power working as an aphrodisiac, between a normal woman and a man who is excellent in his work, but not an out-of-this-world genius, that could happen to any of us, despite the differences between Eastern and Western cultures. Any young, inexperienced woman in the world, like Flora, could never resist being impressed by a handsome, powerful, and results-oriented executive who built a career in the corporate world, watching him successfully face daily challenges with the right decisions, facing customers, employees, suppliers, and business partners, while carrying the responsibility of delivering results and meeting KPIs, quotas, and profitability goals, always ready to fight. As Flora said, it was the relationship between one above and the other below, between the boss and the subordinate.

From a personal perspective, Luke's character was written a little bit over the top, but the actor did a great job, not falling into the traps of a sometimes unrealistic and exaggerated character, but showing him as a credible, ruthless, hard-to-deal-with, no-empathy, no manners, and a control freak, with a behavioral problem acknowledged by his mom; the portrait of the character credibly showing the required toolset to survive the corporate battlefield, plenty of rivals doing whatever it takes to take you down, as happened to him several times (as shown when Alex’s assistant published the photos and videos). He protected himself by being stubborn and proud, imposing his way even on his superiors, and rarely admitting mistakes to avoid giving his opponents tools to attack him. This clearly sets the stage for his behavior when he tries to escape the trap of relying on what has worked for him to overcome setbacks and plan every step. Luke’s moving acting after the breakup lets us feel the helplessness, pain, anxiety, and depression over his responsibility in the breakup, the knot in the stomach of regret, and the emptiness that makes you blur reality and fiction, making everything that came before very important in your life.

Flora was also convincing as a young, inexperienced, beautiful woman with strong principles, arriving in the capital, needing a job, knowing her disadvantages, and impressed by an imposing Luke. She was credible as a normal person who needed to work hard to catch up (unlike the usually unconvincing gifted characters in other dramas), using opportunities, learning, and falling in love with her boss along the way. Her performance was very good, evolving from a shy employee to a woman in love, eager to go deep in her relationship with Luke, even when she couldn’t understand the big picture, which led her to make serious mistakes, as she recognized while narrating certain episodes. Her character development as an employee was also credible, conveying the mood and momentum through her expressions and body language. She was convincing as anyone’s girlfriend at work and never looked like a beautiful actress playing a hard-to-believe corporate clerk, so common in dramas.

Then came the equally credible office-romance setup: an easy-to-fail relationship built on secrecy and hidden encounters. Luke’s behavior shows what happens when a relationship develops at work, dating on his terms and following the only patterns he knows: control, harsh language, and a thin separation between personal and corporate life. Luke showed the changes in his life very convincingly when he fell that hard in love, a new feeling beyond his understanding, and he started losing control, scared to let his guard down, trying to understand what to do to stay with Flora, and always doubting if she was taking advantage of learning opportunities. On Flora’s side, she became a victim of the cocktail of attraction, admiration, and an addictive secret office romance; instead of making him feel secure, her insecurities led her to lies and misbehaviors, sent the wrong message, and fed his insecurities, which is repeatedly shown multiple times, as when Alex tried to poach her, sleeping in the guest room instead of marking her territory as Luke’s partner in his house, not telling him that she was being harassed after he directly asked about it, the dating site episode, and her relationship with her ex, without establishing boundaries. The flaws in the relationship started to crack the foundation, reducing communication to a primitive level of survival; they couldn't react properly, even when they were profoundly sorry, leaving a bitter sense of unreciprocated love, betrayal, and deep wounds. Unfortunately, Luke had the authority and the sharpest tongue, causing so much damage that Flora returned it to him in his own style, as shown in the breakup dialogue.

Unlike the common drama trope of unnecessary breakups used to manipulate emotions, this breakup was necessary to find peace after the emotional storm and to end a relationship that had gone wrong, with both of them exhausted, suffocated, and frustrated. In the breakup scene, we see Luke again, without reaction, consumed by anger, and Flora saying the same harsh words as Luke would. I can say Luke’s performance is real because I have been in his position: controlled by anger and saying hurtful words, only to end up with an emotional hangover after realizing the damage.

This is when Flora became my real hero and redeemed my experiences. She became aware and decided to stop being the person below in the relationship, doing what was necessary to rise to the same level, even without him; she evolved into a more mature woman, growing personally and professionally as she overcame her broken heart and disappointment, accepted his change, worked hard to achieve, and became a confident woman. Flora’s credible rebuilding process was the backbone and the only way to eventually earn Luke's trust to change. He was ready and looking for it after the reality check of losing what he wanted most, feeling safe to start changing after finding her again and letting her even lead the process, leaving behind his pride and arrogance, stepping out of the trap of being the leader, and relying on an equal partner to build a long-term relationship in which both evolve beyond physical attraction.

After watching Flora’s evolution, I realized that it wasn’t right to feel guilty for the most significant breakups of my life because my partners did nothing to evolve during the times we tried to get back together, and they never tried to evolve as Flora did; they stayed in the same stage as before the breakup, sure that it was my fault, complaining and never giving me security and clues to realistically make a change without stopping being myself, which led the relationship to the rocks. Thank you for the vindication, Flora!

Regarding the intimate scenes, they supported the plot with a credible interaction of couples in love enjoying each other, avoiding the stupid puritanism shown in Asian dramas (which, for me, is a factor in my lack of interest), and without falling into the almost required explicit sex of Western dramas and movies (even when it looks awkward being dressed after sleeping together). I have watched a few other dramas showing acceptable attraction and couples openly enjoying getting intimate; however, the scenes in this drama were on another level of emotion, tension, and sensuality, evoking the same level as it was clear they had immense passion to support their love, and a couple freely devouring each other like any other ordinary people could and do.

I was surprised by the intimacy coordinator's presence. She really made a difference in creating sensual scenes you can identify with, letting the actors express their feelings and convey the atmosphere you expect when watching adults in intimacy, without needing nudity (another Western practice, which, for me, is a cheap trick to catch attention). Even the scenes with several kisses showed different emotions and how control of the moment shifted between them, with hand placement on another level showing deep emotions; for me, that’s the art of movies. As I read in an article, because the scenes were choreographed, the crew and the actor were very comfortable, stopped guessing, knew what to do, and stayed focused on their jobs. I hope this marks a turning point toward dramas aligning more closely with reality.

Additionally, the dialogue felt very true to life, showing a couple communicating beyond the acting and matching how normal people behave. In key scenes, the metaphors carried an underlying message they exchanged, showing how they could evolve without exposing the other to “defeat” or acceptance of wrongdoing, and she often used that language to contrast his directness. For example, when they were in Tibet, he was attached to the stubbornness of not being in photos, and Flora didn’t fight over it, but asked the store employee if he knew a handsome model, sending the message, “I want my memories with or without you. When Luke was asking Flora for a job, you can almost read the statement: “I was wrong; I need your guidance; I would do what is necessary to be with you, and what was very important for me in my career means nothing without you.” On her side, she recognizes the need for Luke’s help without feeling inferior. The scene in Flora’s apartment when Luke asked for “permission”, the message of “are you ready to go back?” and her reaction were realistically well acted. Her directness was straight and to the point when needed, which was superb and left him speechless. The scenes of the mistakes' acceptance were great, emotional, well-written, credible, and you can imagine saying the same words. Additionally, their acting in the scenes where Flora’s way of accepting her mistakes was shown through melting Luke with hugs and kisses, and his letting this happen. Additionally, all the expressions and body placement in the “silent” scenes transmitted as much as any dialogue.

The supporting characters stayed in their roles, without unnecessary side stories that added nothing to the plot or exaggerated portraits that undermined the drama's credibility. Luke’s friends were very sharp with him, and Flora’s friends gave her reality checks about her feelings; all characters added what was necessary to the plot, which made the drama feel like something that could happen in your life. Even turning down potential partners wasn’t framed in the “silent movie villain” way common in other dramas to manipulate emotions, which immediately made the drama feel like fiction. Even the suicide scene wasn’t more dramatic than needed, and the message about the importance of dealing with depression on time was good.

The office environment felt realistic and very similar to real life; you can find the corporate jargon and the shock of adapting to it, as seen in the many work interactions (even when marketing isn't my specialty, I still remember the difficulties and hard work when I started working). The actors never seemed to be repeating a script but really working in the business. I am not familiar with housing in China, but the portraits of the different houses were realistic too.

The drama showed all the pieces in place- good script, clean direction, excellent photography, good OST, and an episode rhythm that made the 45 minutes fly by and left me wanting to keep watching. Of course, we found the typical licenses taken with the dramas’ plots, among others, money to survive out of nowhere, successful companies without any explanation, reserved parking spots in front of the place they are heading to, small suitcases with tons of clothes for a week, unlimited laptop battery, Wi-Fi everywhere, connecting to the company from everywhere and from any laptop, drinking glasses magically moving from one side of plate to another in the next scene, drinking from a glass in one take and from the bottle in the following, three friends gathering together in the same take watching Luke, but magically one took the video from a window, decision-maker relaxing at work or not going to work because of love, the timing (getting ready in the morning for a night date), Flora left the suitcase in Luke’s apartment after the breakup, she never picked up her stuff from the office, and the creation of a place such as a museum out of nowhere: Who took the pictures?, How did the move a giant fishbowl like? How did he get Flora’s object? The mistakes were few compared with typical Chinese dramas, which have plenty of mistakes and plot holes.

I usually write reviews to practice my second language in a way different from work or daily life, and this drama first caught my attention because it was set in an office environment with adults, and social networks constantly showed intimate and fight scenes, with this “Intimacy coordinator” presence (Is this necessary nowadays?). Even when I was ready to criticize it harshly because I was in a bad mood about external situations beyond my control that were clouding my mind, and I didn’t have high expectations, thinking I had seen it all, this drama between normal people eager to share their passion and their desire to improve touched a nerve and made me reflect on how I could use it in the future, even at my age.