Because of You

He looked at her for the final time before the screen went blank.

With a small sigh, he turned off his own laptop.

That's it. Is this the last time he would meet her?

He sighed again and tugged on his jacket. Taking a bite of the leftover bear cake, he stared into space. He was relieved when his staff told him he could take the night off. He had some thoughts to process. And these thoughts were never good. They made him confused.

Are my thoughts or feelings confused?

When he received the offer for "My Villain Boyfriend" last year, he was reading a script from another modern play. He still remembered the day his assistant poked his head into the room "Chen-ge, there is a new offer for you. Do you want to check it out?"

He cocked his head. "'Modern or costume drama?"

"It's modern. Romcom. Time travel."

He squinted his eyes. He never thought he was funny. The last romcom was time travel (again) and he felt he couldn't deliver his best.

"Romcom time travel again? Wouldn't it be boring for the audience?"

"It's not the same. This script ML is an anti-hero. You get to be the narcissistic guy."

He raised his eyebrow "Oh. I haven't done those roles before. But hey I'm halfway reading this and it's pretty good so far. Should I even be looking at other plays?"

"Why not? By the way, the FL is Shen Yue."

"Shen Yue? Chen Xiao Xi?" He sat up.

His staff cleared his throat. "Yes, that's right. So....do you want to read this?"

Zheyuan stood up and walked over "Give me the script. I will go over it tonight."

He looked at the cover of the script "My Villain boyfriend" "Hmm... sounds interesting." He wondered why Shen Yue would accept a script like this.

The next day, he informed his manager his decision of accepting Mr Bad. Everyone agreed as they felt Zheyuan would be a good match with Shen Yue. Both started almost same time and they knew he was always talking about Chen Xiao Xi before filming Our Secrets. When he was researching dramas, A Love So Beautiful was the first he watched. He was deeply impacted by Shen Yue's acting.

Tonight's finale livestream caused a bunch of emotions in him. Initially, he thought it was because he felt bad for not making it to Beijing as promised.

But...how come his heart kept pounding each time she looked at him?

She looked exceptionally beautiful tonight. He could not keep his eyes off her. He loves to openly compliment her especially during their interviews, but it had been a long time since they met so he found a roundabout way to tell her she was beautiful.

The first time he met her in the makeup room, he momentarily froze. Shen Yue came in without make up and yet she looked even more gorgeous in person.

Chen Xiao Xi has grown up to be a beautiful woman.

He greeted her politely and not knowing what else to say, being tongue-tied in front of his idol, he went back to his meal, feeling a little stupid.

Throughout the whole month of filming, he kept his professionalism as usual with co-stars. He didn't want to eat suppers after filming, not because he was trying to watch his diet (if anything, he needs to be eating more!)

It was because he didn't know how to socialize in close circles. He felt awkward. What should he talk about? Shen Yue is a friendly person but he needs time to warm up.