When I initially watched this series, I gave it a very generous 9.5 rating. This was when I first got back into watching BL series again, and the last series I watched before my hiatus was during the 2gether and TharnType era where the standards were much lower. I thought that this series was brilliant because it does not succumb to the early BL days toxic plot, it was very refreshing to see two parties who are undeniably attracted to each other without one person looking like they're about to shit themselves just thinking about kissing a dude.

However, the rating for this series went down quite a bit for me when I watched this without my rose-tinted glasses. Don't get me wrong, this is still a good series and quite enjoyable of a watch, but there are major issues that affects my watching experience. Let's get the bad out of the way first:
1. Pacing is not the best. The ending felt rushed and although I do like that they honor past relationships and did not demonize the ex, it just doesn't make sense to make half the final episode about YuZhen and his ex instead of the main couple. The flow between YuZhen hesitating to take the next step with ShiLei and then finally getting over his hesitance and fear is also not very well written in my opinion.

2. The ex's motives are weird - borderline incomprehensible to me. Spoiler: the ex pretended to be the villain to get YuZhen to move on because he felt guilty that he caused YuZhen trauma. This just doesn't make sense to me, especially with the way it was written. This could have been sold to the audience better if they either: change the ex's motives, or change the writing of the interactions between the ex and the main couple.

3. I am not convinced that ShiLei is YuZhen's first choice. This is hugely due to the editing and writing choices made for the last couple of episodes. They started out so well. The actors had amazing chemistry, they did the enemies to lovers trope well, and the progression felt organic. However, everything they built was ruined the moment they wrote ZiTong's character in. This is just something I can't get over after my second watch.

Now let's move on to the things that were executed really well:
1. The actors were absolutely adorable together. They have a very natural chemistry with each other and I absolutely adore that they nailed the dynamics of being enemies, then friends, and then love interests. Hank Wang is a standout in this drama to me - it is an absolute joy watching him on screen.

2. Characters were written well. Even when they were enemies and were technically hostile toward each other, they were never unnecessarily evil or mean which I adore. I also hate incompetence so it is an absolute pleasure to see two people who are very competent at their jobs with each other. No useless uke trope here! Shi Lei is also an assertive character - even though he is YuZhen's employee, he is also someone who will stand up to YuZhen to defend his team and to defend his stance on issues. Hugely adore this.

3. This was basically the perfect amount of romance, pining, and companionship until ZiTong's character was written in. If they eliminated the whole ex storyline, this would have stayed a 9.5 for me.

4. I did enjoy the fact that they respect previous relationships and first loves - I love that they didn't do the whole "I've never loved anyone until I met you" thing, because people can have big love stories before they find their soulmate and it does not negate their feelings for their current partner. I do not like the way this was executed, but I do respect the decision to showcase YuZhen's previous love for ZiTong.

5. Side couples are sweet.

Look, this still ranks high in my books because I am biased and choose to focus on the excellent first half of the series. I would still recommend watching this drama, but please try to turn off your brain in the second half otherwise you'd be as frustrated as I am with the writers.