Recap
Ai Sha warns Fei Yang to stay away from her as she walks away, tapping her watch in frustration. Fei Yang watches her leave and holds his hands out in confusion.
Jing Jing’s dinner partner, Director Xiao, pours her shot after shot as she drinks to attempt his friends who are in attendance. They’re all middle-aged businessmen and applaud her drinking ability. She excuses herself to go to the restroom, maintaining her smile until she’s out of sight. In the restroom, she vomits, reapplies her makeup, and preps her smile to go back into the room.
On her way back, she spots Qi Zhen Kai and recognizes him as the chairman of EC Group. She immediately introduces herself as business director at Chic and hands him a business card. Steven sees them and quickly hides. Zhen Kai looks at Jing Jing’s business card, then dismissively hands it off to his assistant without a word. She frowns after him, but Xiao finds her and hurries her back to the room to drink more. Steven steps out into the hallway and watches them.
Jing Jing tries to use the good mood to negotiate a higher advertising budget for Chic from Xiao. He pours her a pitcher full of whiskey, saying he’ll up the budget if she finishes the whole thing. Jing Jing’s smile falters. But then she puts it back on, slowly stands and takes the pitcher, then prepares herself to drink.
But before the cup reaches her lips, Steven shows up and grabs it from her hand, saying he’ll drink this one for her. He downs the whole thing while she watches, stunned.
Later, Jing Jing watches him with concern as he pukes into some bushes and lightly lectures him for drinking for someone else when he doesn’t have good tolerance. He stumbles off with barely a word, and no explanation for why he stepped in. She watches him go with a small smile.
Ai Sha works out in an attempt to elevate her heart rate to the point where her watch will ping her. She gets tired and sweaty, but still can’t get it above 130.
Finally, she gives up and collapses onto her couch-bed. Is it possible that it’s because of Fei Yang? But then she scoffs and smothers herself with a pillow, immediately dismissing the idea.
Meanwhile, Fei Yang is also bothered by how Ai Sha warned him to stay away. If a person tries to keep their distance from someone else, does that mean they don’t like them? His AI responds saying that yes, usually people stay away from others because they don’t like them. Does that mean she doesn’t like him? His AI responds in the affirmative. He asks a variation of the same question: does that mean she hates him? His AI gives up and puts itself to sleep. He’s asked variations of the same question over 20 times.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang run into each other on their way into work. She ignores him while he follows very close behind her, almost stepping on her heels.
Right as they enter the building lobby, she suddenly stops, turns, and starts edging into his space so that he’s forced to back up until he’s pinned against a doorway. She checks her watch: her heart rate is still normal. She sighs, frustrated but also a bit relieved, and turns to go.
But Fei Yang grabs her arm, and all of a sudden her watch chimes. Her heart rate has skyrocketed again. She angrily tells Fei Yang to stay away from her, the further the better. He asks why, and she responds that the sight of him makes her extremely disgusted and uncomfortable. She quickly walks up the escalator and far away from him.
Ai Sha continues to feel bothered by Fei Yang and her heart rate’s unpredictable (or I suppose, it is predictable?) reaction toward him at work. She’s uncharacteristically distracted during a meeting with Jing Jing and May to go over the impact of the promotional event on their business. May announces that she wants to hold a dinner to celebrate the success of the joint venture between Chic and Golden Man.
Ni Mo and Xi Jun try to talk Fei Yang into giving the whole company a short vacation by diagnosing him with professional burnout as a reason for why his behavior has been so erratic lately. But he doesn’t fall for it and instead tells them that they can take unpaid leave if they want some time off.
The Chic marketing team are still busy with another day of the joint promo event. Xiao An finds Ye Xuan napping in the break room. She gently lays a coat over him and leans in toward his face. She lingers there, smiling, as she watches him sleep. But then his eyes suddenly open and she’s startled backward, hurting her leg.
Ye Xuan has her sit on the couch while he gently touches her leg to check her injury. Yuki shows up in the doorway to drop off a package, but sees Ye Xuan kneeling in front of Xiao An with his hand on her leg and immediately assumes the most scandalous possibility. She lurches backward, into Vicky, whom she quickly shuffles away. She whispers to Vicky about what she saw, then swears her to keep it a secret.
Jing Jing goes to the Golden Man office, looking for Fei Yang. Instead, she finds Steven and invites him to lunch. She toasts him with some tea — she doesn’t drink alcohol unless it’s dark out — and asks why he helped her that day. He claims it’s because she’s Fei Yang’s friend and a woman. But she thinks it’s because they’re actually the same: they look bright and cheerful on the outside, but inside they’re both hollow and full of scars. They want fame and power, but have never really succeeded in having it.
He asks her to get to the point. She asks him not to do anything that would hurt Fei Yang. They are both his friends. “But aren’t you the one who’s using him right now?” Steven asks. He leaves abruptly.
Fei Yang is on the rooftop, nervously trying to decide whether he should open the Ocean’s Heart app. He finally does, then runs into a roadblock with what to text her in order to figure out how she feels about him. He ends up texting nothing at all and heads back downstairs.
The elevator is broken so he has to take the stairs. He overhears Ai Sha eating lunch with Zhen Zhen and asking what it means if she clearly hates someone, but finds her heart beating faster when he’s near. Zhen Zhen tells her it’s because her heart knows what it wants: she must like him. Ai Sha scoffs. Fei Yang smiles. But then his phone chimes and Ai Sha spots him. He starts running away up the stairs and she gives chase.
She manages to corner him on the rooftop. He tells her to prove to him her claims that her body goes into shock if she’s too close to someone she hates. She grudgingly obliges, calling him childish. Keeping one eye on her heart rate monitor, she slowly approaches him, then tries touching him, then puts his hand on her wrist. But her heart rate remains firmly below 100.
She turns to leave, annoyed that she was proven wrong, but then Fei Yang grabs her arm and turns her toward him. “How about this?” he asks. Then he kisses her.
And it works. Her heart rate skyrockets and her watch chimes. Fei Yang pulls away, surprised it worked. “So you really do hate me?” he asks.
Ai Sha, who remained as motionless as a statue during the kiss, continues to stare at him with wide eyes. Fei Yang quickly tries to gloss over the kiss, saying it was an experiment. That finally gets a reaction out of Ai Sha.
“An experiment?!” she exclaims. She slaps him.
Jing Jing spots Ai Sha storming down the stairs, followed shortly afterward by Fei Yang, who clutches his cheek. Neither notice her. Ni Mo and Xi Jun see Fei Yang brooding, but are too afraid to talk to him. They try to get Steven to approach him, but Fei Yang ignores them and heads out.
Jing Jing returns to the Chic office and tries to talk to May, who is on the phone and dismisses her with wave, then closes the door in her face. Jing Jing frowns.
Ai Sha is in a bad mood when she returns to the Chic office and angrily tries to throw herself into her work, but can’t escape memories of her interactions with Fei Yang. Fei Yang is similarly bothered by his memories as he beats up a punching bag in the gym.
The Chic marketing team finally returns to the office after another long day of the promo event. One of the team members realizes that she accidentally packed some of Ye Xuan’s pans. Xiao An volunteers to drop them off at his restaurant, even though it’s late, saying it’s on the way for her. Yuki and Vicky exchange a look.
Fei Yang ends up ranting about Ai Sha to the girl who took the shark necklace. She gives him some relationship advice, saying he should purposely lose to Ai Sha and then she’ll like him. He says he can’t lose to her, and asks for other advice. The girl just shakes her head with a sigh, saying he’ll just have to like someone else. Fei Yang tries to say that he doesn’t even like Ai Sha, why would he switch to liking someone else? But the girl has already disappeared.
Ai Sha rants to Ye Xuan about Fei Yang, but pretends she’s talking about a coworker instead of herself. Her coworker clearly hates this man and feels like he’s playing her, but at the same time, he’s always there for her when she needs help. Ye Xuan says that he would tell her coworker to keep her distance from this man, unless she wants to be in danger. He stares intently at her for a moment, then says that he would tell her friend to stop wasting time on people who don’t matter. She probably already has someone next to her who wants to protect her. All she has to do is focus on achieving her goals.
Xiao An pushes through the door of Ye Xuan’s restaurant with a smile, but quickly frowns and backs out when she sees Ye Xuan staring at Ai Sha. Instead, she watches them through the window.
Afterward, Fei Yang and Ai Sha walk parallel to each other on their ways home, but both are deep in thought and don’t notice the other. They both end up sitting on opposite sides of the same slide. Fei Yang thinks about texting Ai Sha via Ocean’s Heart, then accidentally sends a virtual gift.
She asks him why men think women like virtual gifts. He gives some inane response about the virtual gifts representing sincerity and that he’s thinking of her. She responds that he clearly doesn’t understand women. Is he a college student? A little boy? She goes offline and leaves, while Fei Yang splutters incredulously.
At the Chic-Golden Man celebration dinner, May immediately takes a liking to Fei Yang and says they should collaborate more in the future. Fei Yang smiles and says they’re all friends here, right? He pointedly asks Ai Sha, who responds that she is not friends with Fei Yang and that the business department can handle future collaborations with him.
May reminds her that this is a celebratory event and that she should smile. Fei Yang says that it’s okay: he’s sure everyone present is used to Ai Sha’s demeanor by now. Everyone else studiously avoids looking at Ai Sha.
Jing Jing tries to stir the pot by asking what the “personal matter” between Ai Sha and Fei Yang was earlier, when they’re supposedly not friends. Ai Sha says it was probably because she had watched Fei Yang break up with three women in the same night, and he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. Fei Yang snidely responds that it was actually because he wanted to check on Ai Sha and see if she was okay after she was stood up by her ex-boyfriend on her birthday, and then received a wedding invitation from him.
They start going back and forth, each tossing chilly insults at the other veiled in civil voices. May tries to lighten the atmosphere by saying that Ai Sha and Fei Yang clearly have such a great rapport already.
Ai Sha gets a phone call from Ye Xuan, who has just arrived, and leaves to pick him up. Fei Yang insists on coming with. They start bickering again, Ai Sha annoyed that Fei Yang revealed her problems with her ex-boyfriend to the world. Ye Xuan shows up, asking how Fei Yang knows about Ai Sha’s ex. Fei Yang says it’s none of his business. Ye Xuan says Ai Sha is his best friend, so her business is his business. The two men stare each other down.
Ai Sha tries to pull Ye Xuan away toward the banquet room. Fei Yang childishly pushes his way between them, forcing them apart, and goes through the double doors first.
May gives Xiao An a special shout-out during her toast, giving her credit for coming up with the idea for the joint promotional event. Xiao An is stunned and nervously picks up her glass, looking to Ai Sha for approval, before drinking. Yuki and Vicky give her dirty looks.
May also declares that Chic and Golden Man should go through with the co-marketing campaign that Jing Jing came up with. Ai Sha tries to warn her away from making any hasty agreements, but May ignores her, saying she believes that Chic and Golden Man will have a very successful partnership.
Ai Sha is not happy. Fei Yang watches her out of the corner of his eye. Jing Jing smirks.
In the restroom, Jing Jing runs into Xiao An touching up her makeup. They bond over the fact that they use the same compact (insert product placement). Jing Jing gives Xiao An some makeup advice while also giving her some career advice. With Xiao An’s abilities, she should already be an assistant director of marketing instead of just Ai Sha’s assistant. Jing Jing sighs that Ai Sha doesn’t know how to use talent. Xiao An tries to defend Ai Sha, saying that Ai Sha is still trying to sharpen her skills. Jing Jing tells her to think carefully about it: is Ai Sha trying to sharpen her or is she trying to suppress her?
After the Chic-Golden Man celebration dinner, May and Ai Sha go out for drinks on their own. Ye Xuan offers to call a car for them. Before they leave, Ai Sha gives Fei Yang a sharp look. It doesn’t escape Ye Xuan, who gives Fei Yang a hard stare of his own.
Ai Sha is still worried about jumping into a collaboration with Golden Man, but May asks if she trusts her. Ai Sha nods. May reminds her that she needs to be able to trust people, no matter what happens. The day she finds that she can trust no one is the day she should be very, very afraid.
Jing Jing’s words about Xiao An’s talents being wasted and suppressed linger with her through the next morning. She watches Jing Jing joke around warmly with the other marketing team members.
May holds a meeting with Jing Jing, Ai Sha, and the marketing team where she pushes for work to be done on the Golden Man collaboration. Ai Sha is critical of how Chic is doing all the work while Golden Man does nothing, but May doesn’t seem to want to hear it.
Fei Yang continues to pout and brood over Ai Sha while playing video games. He gets a phone call from… someone. We don’t know who.
May meets with Ai Sha to talk about the Golden Man collaboration. Ai Sha explains that she’s not opposed to the collaboration, she just wants to make sure that both sides are contributing equally. May suggests sending someone from Chic to work with Golden Man and make sure they are also contributing. How about Xiao An? Xiao An is in the doorway with cups of coffee for the two, and smiles at the mention of her name.
But Ai Sha says, “No, not Xiao An,” and Xiao An’s face falls.
I don’t like it when Jing Jing schemes against Ai Sha, though she didn’t really say anything wrong to Xiao An, but the show is also doing such a great job of making her a sympathetic character. She makes her own sacrifices for the company, literally putting her body on the line, and smiles all the way through it. Plus I’m shipping these interactions between her and Steven.
Jing Jing is definitely getting into Xiao An’s head. And perhaps for a good reason, though this ending makes me feel like Ai Sha may also have a good reason for not wanting Xiao An to be in charge of the project. Will Xiao An hear the reason and understand? Or will she not hear the reason and misunderstand, thus sowing discord and setting up some sort of corporate revenge drama?
Ai Sha’s cold-heartedness and demand for excellence have worked for her so far, but this episode seems to suggest that it’s not enough for her to rely only on that if she’s alienating all her coworkers. She and May have a special relationship, but it also seems like May didn’t appreciate Ai Sha overstepping her bounds.
What game is Fei Yang playing? He so obviously likes Ai Sha yet denies it to even himself. Why kiss her? Why can’t he lose to her?
The Drama Llama 