#25?

They never had to say these things. And the story makes it work.

In Phupha and Tian's world, a thank you is an admission of feelings:

It's not 'do you like me?' or 'do you want to date?' when it can be this instead:

It's 'I want you and I know you want me too. Please, ask me to stay' and in answer, it's 'i can't but you have made me so happy in the short time we had':

It's not 'I love you, can we be together now? It's so much better. It's a promise to stay at each other's side for the rest of their lives:

Obviously, things are bound to be different for them when they are thrown 10 years worth of angst, life or death situations and a two year separation. Admittedly, these things tends to accelerate the relationship progress bar.

So yes, at one point they are past leaving things unsaid or implied within a fuckton of layers. But even when they do vocalize their feelings to each other, it's never in the way you would expect. That's purposeful. We are meant to feel that for when it comes to Tian and Phupha, things are different.

atots does follow the beats and many tropes of your typical, universal love stories. Yet, it's fascinating to see what parts atots chooses to draw out (the tentative first steps of courtship) and what it decides to ccompletely drops (the i love yous and other relationship-checklist things) and I can't help but wonder if this is what made atots resonate with queer people who grew up with asian romances.