Friends, But Married

Her Tears, His Pain

"Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire."

It's Dylan Wang's favourite English quote, and his whole life, he believed, was the whole chase to make the sentence as true as could be.

For the longest time, what set his soul on fire, the fuel for his energy and the reason he wanted to win in everything in life, was his family. Raised and cherished by his whole family as an only child, it was his dream and ambition to make them proud.

He formally learned to be a flight attendant because of it. He took a swerve in his path and joined Super Idol because of it. And ultimately, becoming an actor afterwards was also to make his family proud. He didn't wish for fame. Money was only a tool to make his family happier. They were never lacking in it anyway. He was motivated to take the role as Dao Ming Si in the new remake of Meteor Garden simply because of one thing. The original Taiwanese was his mom's favourite drama. He just wanted to play her favourite character, played in the past by Jerry Yan, one of his mother's favourite actors.

He felt that winning Super Idol and getting the role, which resulted in his mom's whoops of joy and hugs were a huge payment already. His mom had always been proud of him, being the only child, smart and good looking too. However, his mother's happiness when she knew he got the role surpassed all his achievements ever since he started school.

Whoever played Shancai would be a partner in fulfilling his dream. He'd be happy whoever it was. Knowing it was Shen Yue was an added bonus, though. He remembered he asked in genuine, pleasant surprise when his manager told him who would be his partner, "Shen Yue? Is she that cute actress with big eyes from A Love So Beautiful?"

His manager grinned and nodded.

He gave his own exclamation of joy that day.

Like most younger millenials, he also knew A Love So Beautiful, the viral drama by Hu Yi Tian and Shen Yue. There were mixed reviews about her as the main actress, but he was part of the guys that thought she was extremely adorable.

He didn't watch that drama seriously, yet he admitted that whenever he had time and watched it, he skipped lots of scenes just to admire her innocent, cute face.

His anticipation built higher and higher before the filming started. He had a positive view of life in general, and rarely felt deeply nervous. Filming Meteor Garden was something different, though. It's obviously a pressure to be in such an iconic project, with zero acting experience and as a newbie in the industry.

Add that to his anticipation in meeting Shen Yue in person, feeling anxious of how she viewed him, whether she would underestimate him for knowing nothing about acting or as someone who only had looks with no brain or skills.......

With all the feelings mixed into one, he managed to appear as he was on the first day of filming. The first time he met her, she was sitting in the dressing room, laughing about something he couldn't hear with her stylist, who was putting powder on her face.

That would always be his image of her, no matter how long time passed. Shen Yue, the laughing, bright girl with eyes that could light up the whole world and a smile that could melt every heart.

His apprehension was groundless. She treated him as a professional and as nice as she treated any other actors.

She wasn't someone intimidating or hard to talk to. He barely remembered any awkwardness. Probably only on the first day of filming, but afterwards, everything flew so smoothly, as if they were already friends for years.

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His agency gave him a short course in acting, which lasted for around two weeks. It was his only real base for the drama. The management reminded him of his lack of experience and asked him to compensate it with professionalism and hard work, of which he readily promised.