Love, Now () is a 2012 to 2013 Taiwanese modern romance comedy drama television series created and developed by SETTV. It stars Annie Chen and George Hu as the main leads, with Bobby Dou, Harry Chang from Taiwanese band Da Mouth and Vivi Lee as the supporting leads. The drama is about regular everyday life, especially finding love while juggling a busy career, and going through and overcoming problems together.
Written and produced from the same team as Sanlih's 2011 to 2012 hit romance drama Inborn Pair. Filming began on September 16, 2012 and finished on March 3, 2013. It began airing on SETTV ETTV on October 31, 2012 weekly from Monday to Thursday. Each episode has a 45-minute running time. The final episode aired on March 5, 2013 with 72 episodes total, 8 less than the originally intended 80 episodes. This is the first Sanlih drama that has overseas filming.
Synopsis Yang Yi Ru is a workaholic who never had time to take a break. Her family and friends decide to pull a prank on her to slow her down. They con her into believing she only had six months to live, then pack her off to a vacation spot to clear her mind. She spends her first day on a sunny beach lamenting to a stranger that she wished she had the time to meet Mr. Right, get married, and have kids. Unbeknownst to her, the stranger was a man from her past who was in love with her when they met years ago. He proposes to her the next day and she marries him, but when the prank is revealed, her new husband feels cheated and unleashes his wrath on her.
Plot summary Lan Shi-de is a tall, handsome and successful young man who manages his family bathroom fixture business, but he is also cold, impatient, and hot-tempered. He hates being deceived, because he was betrayed by former employees in the past, so he always makes sure there is retribution to anyone who crosses him. The only soft spot in his life is his family (which consists of his grandmother, mother, older sister, aunt) and the pretty girl who lent him a pen during his final college exam. He cannot forget the girl that lent him a pen and has been searching for her for 6 years. Not knowing her name or who she is the only memory he has of her: a fuzzy image in a picture he keeps on his desk at home and the pen he never got the chance to return to her.
Yang Yi-ru is a hardworking workaholic who basically runs the entire advertising company she works for, due to her boss and co-workers always depending on her for everything. To make matters worse, her boss is a womanizer who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend, whom her father and younger sister treat like a member of the family. Her boss and family con her into taking an actual vacation, by faking her medical test results to say she has cancer and only six months to live. They pack her off on a trip to sunny Boracay, Philippines, telling her to take some time to relax.
Shi-de also happens to be on a business trip in Boracay, and saves Yi-ru when she is in a daze and almost gets run over by a van. He thanks the heavens for finally being able to meet her again, the girl that lent him a pen all those years ago. Seeing how distressed Yi-ru is, he lets her know that she can confide to him about her problems. She spills out to Shi-de about her regrets on not being able to meet someone she will love, get married, have kids and live a happy old life with her husband. When he hears she only has 6 months left to live, he proposes marriage to her immediately. Yi-ru thinks Shi-de’s proposal is out of kindness to make a dying woman happy. Unbeknownst to her, they had actually met in college and that he has been in love with her all these years. Shi-de decides to put his business trip on hold and stay by Yi-ru’s side. He gives her the most romantic and beautiful wedding reception by the beach. He also tries to fulfill her dying wishes.
Touched by all that her new "pretend" husband has done for her to make her happy, she is overcome with emotion and sleeps with him (losing her virginity in the process), making their marriage feel real. When Yi-ru finds out her illness was a prank by her family and boss, she leaves for Taiwan immediately, without saying goodbye to Shi-de. Not wanting to lose her again, Shi-de returns to Taiwan and vows to find her, but when he finds her and finds out her illness was a lie, he feels cheated and unleashes his wrath on Yi-ru, making her life miserable because he thinks she had tricked him into dropping his lawsuit against the company she works for. He gives her the advertising account for his company so he can bully her.
When their misunderstanding is finally cleared up, he tries to pursue her again because he is still madly in love with her. Yi-ru being able to see Shi-de’s vindictive side during his wrath on her wants nothing to do with him after their business relationship ends. Knowing how he can’t lose her again he tries hard on changing his perspective on people to win her back. Desperate for Yi-ru to accept his love for her he uses their business relationship and signs up for cooking class with her father just to be able to have a chance to see her. He even ask for her boss's help to better understand Yi-ru's personality, but Yi-ru remains unfazed by all that he has done and tells him to stop wasting his time on her. She even rejects his offering to start all over and be friends so that they can get to know each other better.
During a business outing at an orphanage Yi-ru accidentally spies on Shi-de playing with a bunch of kids and finds out that he is a major sponsor at the orphanage. Being able to see a softer and gentler side of him she starts falling for him and accepts his love for her. They get married and go through family and personal issues together, both realizing they must cherish the present.
Cast
Main cast Annie Chen 陳庭妮 as Yang Yi-ru (楊奕茹) - Age 28 A workaholic with a hot temper. She doesn't like to be deceived or lied to by others. She manages and runs the entire advertising company Sun Qi-ming owns because her boss is lazy and her co-workers rely on her too much. She meets Lan Shi-de in Boracay and marries him thinking she only has 6 month to live. When she tells Shi-de her illness was a lie, he decides to make her life miserable. Seeing his stern vindictive side, she wants nothing to do with him after their professional business relationship ends. After seeing a softer and gentler side of Shi-de, she falls for him and marries him for real when she almost loses him during an accident. George Hu 胡宇威 as Lan Shi-de (藍仕德) - Age 28 General Manager of his family bathroom fixture business Hao Sheng. Cold and hot tempered, all of his employees are terrified of him. He does not like to be deceived or lied to by others because he was betrayed by his former employees when he took over his family business. He cares deeply of his family and is very protective of them. He has been in love with Yang Yi-ru since meeting her in college and searching for her ever since. For anyone that crosses him he makes sure there is payback, even if it's the girl he loves. After his misunderstanding is cleared with Yi-ru, he tries hard to change his cold-hearted attitude to win her love. He eventually convinces Yi-ru that his love for her is sincere and they get married for real when she thought she had almost lost him during an accident. Bobby Dou 竇智孔 as Sun Qi-ming (孫啟鳴) - Age 33 Yang Yi-ru's womanizing boss and ex-boyfriend. Owner of Feng Hua advertising company. He is a lazy slacker who doesn't take work or life seriously. He refers to his multiple girlfriends as goldfishes he raises in a fish bowl. He has a kind personality and is always considerate of others. He thinks of Yi-ru's family as his own due to his lonely childhood upbringing. Discovers he actually does love Yi-ru after Shi-de comes into the picture, but Yi-ru knowing his personality too well rejects his love for her and chooses Shi-de. He comes to accept Yi-ru and Shi-de's relationship and treats both as his own family members. He later finds love with He Cai-rong and marries her. Harry Chang 張懷秋 as Zheng Yu-xiang (鄭雨翔) - Age 25 Blames Lan Shi-yun self help love books for the break up of his relationship with his ex-fiancee. Plans a revenge scheme against Shi-yun to make her fall in love with him and then break her heart. He owns a bike messenger mail courier service/cafe shop with his friend. While getting to know Shi-yun during his revenge scheme he eventually falls in love with her for real and finds out his ex-fiancee never really loved him but was using Shi-yun's books as an excuse to end their relationship. Vivi Lee 李維維 as Lan Shi-yun (藍仕筠) - Age 32 Lan Shi-de's older sister. She's a famous author of self help love books even though she is 32 years old and last of her friends not to be married. She starts dating Yan Kai but breaks up with him when he tells her he doesn't want to get married. She starts falling for Zheng Yu-xiang later on but is heart broken when she uncovers his scheme to exact revenge on her.
Supporting cast Esther Yang as Yang Yi-qing (楊奕晴) - Age 25 Yang Yi-ru's younger sister. She's a recent college graduate that works as a bicycle messenger mail courier at her former classmate Zheng Yu-xiang shop. Her plan in life is to catch a successful guy which she refers to as fishes. She is immature and nosy. Angus and Guo Zi-yuan both have crushes on her but she dates Angus later on. Shen Meng-sheng 沈孟生 as Yang Hao (楊浩) Yang Yi-ru and Yang Yi-qing's father. Loves his wife who died of cancer. He has never remarried or doesn't plan too. He teaches cooking classes from his kitchen at home. He treats Sun Qi-ming as a son and originally wanted Yi-ru to choose him, but accepts her decision when she chooses Shi-de. He later supports Qi-ming's relationship with Cai-rong by telling him to get over his doctor phobia. as Lan Yi-ping (藍以蘋) Lan Shi-de and Lan Shi-yun's aunt. Works alongside Shi-de at Hao Sheng as the Deputy Manager. Falls in love with Yang Hao after attending one of his cooking classes. Past 40 years old and has never been married. She's a loving aunt to her niece and nephew. She takes a liking to Yi-ru immediately and tries to set her up with Shi-de even before knowing she was his dream girl. She gives advice to Shi-de to make sure he doesn't make a mistake and lose his chance at happiness with Yi-ru. as Lan Ceng Yue-ling (藍曾月鈴) Lan Shi-de and Shi-yun's grandmother. She is constantly setting Shi-de up on blind dates because she wants him to get marry as soon as possible so she can have a great grand child. Highly superstitious person who goes by time and date for setting up all important events. She can be unreasonable at times but it's only because she desperately wants great grand children before she gets too old and can't take care of them. Yang Chieh-mei as Fang Xiu-qing (方秀琴) Lan Shi-de and Lan Shi-yun's mother. Stay at home mom who likes to take care of her whole family. Her husband died 6 years ago in an accident. She is in charge of the cooking and housekeeping in the Lan household. She understands the pressure and unpleasantness Shi-de's goes through when he is set up on blind dates by his grandmother but tends to side with her mother-in-law in order not to offend her. Mandy Wei as He Tsai-jung (何采蓉) Oncologists doctor (cancer specialist) and star pupil of her class. She was originally enlisted by Shi-de to treat Yi-ru when he thought she had cancer. Lan grandmother tries to set her up with Shi-de after seeing them chat with each other, but because she is a detailed person she knows Shi-de loves Yi-ru and thinks of him as a friend. She falls in love with Sun Qi-ming because of his kindness towards others. She helps Qi-ming reconcile with his mother. Later she and Qi-ming starts dating and gets married at the end. Kao Cheng-peng 高振鵬 as Uncle Kang (康叔)