Summary: Mr. Fu who just returned from abroad was met with unwanted marriage arrangement by his family to solidify his position in the company, but Fu Yishi did not want to enter loveless marriage and believed he can conquer the company without such moves, thus he found Yu Shi to act like his girlfriend, but suddenly Yu Shi disappears into the night and also blocks him on WeChat leaving message that she won't be using this account again and she is sorry for leaving suddenly. Fu Yishi went mad searching for his fake girlfriend, but heard from his mother that Yu Shi took money from her and did as promised - left him.
A year later Fu Yishi, now a formidable CEO of his company that many people fear came to the island as the development project. Islanders met the big CEO with drums and gongs and invited him to visit the best restaurant in their town, but what he didn't expect was to see Yu Shi as the boss of this small restaurant.
Well, I'll be honest from the beginning, I was disappointed.
To explain it properly I can't help but lay out all the cards this novel offers and it's not much to me. Because it feels like a daily life of work/having dinners/maybe other characters passing by you can't say there was some plot except meeting of two people after a year-long break-up.
It's again a calm and lovely story from Chestnut, nothing special or serious this time, except two point maybe, but to me they're underwhelming. First is the money issue. Even if the summary is intriguing the conflict over Yu Shi allegedly taking money is solved in early chapters (like ch.16 if I'm correct) and is concluded much later with mother Fu explaining her side why she did it.. even if to me it took a lot to hear her side, because otherwise she sounded like an evil mother-in-law till that moment (even if it felt impossible to see an evil mother-in-law in Chestnut's novel, they usually don't make things dramatic). The second is the reason why she and her mother left so suddenly and this reason was kept hidden for quire some time. And tbh with how long it took for reveal I felt the reason is something awesome, but it's not. The build-up and pay off don't much at all. About the reason later.
This story unfortunately fell flat for me. But why?
It's deeply subjective, but here are some of my reasons:
- The backstory work done. We meet our characters a year later, but we have several flashbacks interspersed into the story, but they are not enough for me to draw picture to be completely sure. Chestnut never dwells, but this is flatter than the surface. We know that Fu Yishi liked his fake girlfriend, but what I didn't get is how I should view the heroine. Like she has a crush on FYS, but she's not ready to trust him with the reason why she left, as if he'll go and betray her. Later when he arrives she acts like a tough-mouthed and shy at the same time, but also has moment of anticipation of Fu Yishi confessing when they took a step forward when resolving the conflict. It starts to feel annoying that FYS basically has to resolve to tactics and we're not talking about confessions of his feelings, which he did. Imagine reading where FYS has to take initiative to say to others - yes, we're in love. Then she asks - why did you say that? And he would answer - you did not deny it. because that's how hard it is to hear from her that she's ready to be in a relationship. We as readers know her mental journey that she's like a shoujo manga character, but from perspective of the novel it feels like he tugs her along, which doesn't sound nice.
- Charecterization of Yu Shi sometimes felt chaotic. You can guess her natural reactions to being more shy when FYS release his charm, or returning to normal when she's more comfortable, but I'm not talking about these, it's just the overall feeling. I couldn't care less about her career though, entire novel passed and I don't know her major. She bought the restaurant accidentally, now she has big plans since the development of these islands will bring prospects to develop her business, not like it's her prominent business acumen tbh. But at least she's motivated and it's good.
- The reason behind them leaving is really weak. Also falls flat because it was never explained, but when you ear it I felt like asking "so what?". The reason was simple. Her mother actually witnessed failed marriage of her parents (explained in one sentence when YS's mom mentioned it, it wasn't portrayed), so she wanted kids but not a husband (pretty selfish if you ask me to simply use the man pat yourself on the butt and leave), when she met her first boyfriend they had a relationship, but she moved away, already pregnant with YS. They lived like this in another city, but one day 20 years later this man finds YS's mother, so she panicked, told YS to pack up and move... tbh don't understand this motivation, it's not like YS will be kidnapped, but we'll let it slide. Now a year later after running away, the father found them again. But honestly, your daughter is an adult, she thankfully finished her studies, otherwise it's unlikely you'd leave and what can a man do, it's like she doesn't trust the man she's dated lol but he didn't show hostility, just came to find mother and daughter, because for him YS's mother was his first love and even after marriage and death of his arranged partner he still held her in his heart. At least he wants YS to recognize him. It would have been good but later has few moments that I did not support, one - appearing in front of Fu parents without notifying YS, she did not recognize him yet but he introduced himself as her father, two - planned to collect info on other talents because he didn't like FYS..I mean, hold your horses dad, people did not recognize you officially yet ahaha. He's not a bad character, just proactive? At times like these YS feels going with the flow. I don't know. I have no problem with the idea of such backstory, but I do not agree with how the story was arranged, the timing of things when they were delivered.
Sometimes I feel that Chestnut is really too easy-going. I wish they'd add more depth to the story, after all depth is not anguish.
I feel like this was quite a random story. Two people meet after separating, they solve their argument quite early and one person due to deep love stays to finally for the two get together. Emotionally it's all okay, but the story feels quite random to me, most of it is like a daily life :)
Maybe I shouldn't get any expectations, I can't say I was hyped, but I know I was expecting. The only thing is that I felt there should be more for me to like it better. But as mentioned, it's all subjective :)
RATE: 3/5.
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