Forever, If Only

Episode 1

Mike Abbot sits in an office, signing the paperwork to change his name to Xiang Yuan. His degrees, IDs, and passport will all be reissued under the new identity. "Flying far away," he says — in a week he'll be gone, and his old self will stay behind forever.

Meanwhile, Elsa Parker keeps touching a plain silver ring. It's her wedding ring, handmade and polished over many nights, with initials engraved inside. Fifteen years, from school uniforms to wedding dresses. She believes no one has loved as deeply as they have.

Episode 2

At a jewelry shop, Mike asks the craftsman to melt down his ring. Even after everything, his heart still aches — but he's done being disappointed in Elsa Parker. He wants every trace of the marriage gone.

He comes home to find Elsa distracted, brushing off his questions about work. She offers him gifts, perfume, flowers, but he cuts straight through it: were you busy with work, or with Lin Yu?

She goes quiet, then claims she's just tired and suggests they rest. Then her eyes drop to his hand. Where is your ring?

Episode 3

Mike tells Elsa he took the ring off because it no longer fits — he'll resize it later. She buys it easily, then notices the small silver lump he's had made: a token of a love that's been erased, and of a clean break.

It's their wedding anniversary, and Elsa has forgotten. She scrambles to make up for it — dinner, a walk by the river — but Mike says he's tired and goes to bed.

She pushes anyway, complaining he's been cold, joking that she'd suspect him of falling for someone else. In his head, the truth lands: she's the one who fell for someone else. This time he'll take his heart back, along with himself.

They end up at the river where they once began. "Let's end it here," he thinks.

Episode 4

At the river, Elsa's phone rings. She steps away for work — but it's Lin Yu on the line, saying the nights without her feel empty and he wants to see her. She promises they'll meet at the office tomorrow, wherever he likes.

She returns to find Mike gone and panics, then spots him waiting in the car. He says it got cold outside. She fusses over him, worried he's unwell, offering to take him to a hospital; he blames something he ate.

Then she invites him to come to the office with her tomorrow — work, meals, home together. Mike agrees easily, saying he'll just wait in her office while she's busy.

She hesitates, then says yes.

Episode 5

Elsa draws Mike a bath, but he says he's tired and goes to sleep. Before that, he asks about the gift she gave him — can he open it now? She insists he wait a week, saying it will only mean something then. He agrees, playing along.

Later, a call pulls her out early for a company emergency. Mike offers to make her breakfast instead.

Over the meal, he asks whether the "seven-year itch" is real. Elsa laughs it off as an excuse, swearing she'll only ever love him — and that if she ever loved another, she'd deserve the worst. Mike listens quietly.

Episode 6

The office is buzzing. Elsa's assistant Lin Yu is nowhere to be seen, and the staff whisper that Elsa and Lin Yu have been carrying on right under Mike's nose — today she just changed locations to the rooftop.

Elsa's people scramble to flatter Mike, fetching his favorite coffee and sushi, while joking that his ring must be shrinking since he's gotten thinner. They're careful, though: Elsa has warned that anyone who leaks her affair with Lin Yu is fired on the spot.

Mike wanders the office and spots something left behind.

Episode 7

Mike's phone rings — a travel agent confirming his ticket abroad is booked. He only needs his passport to board.

Elsa appears behind him. "What do you need your passport for?"

Mike lies smoothly: a friend lost theirs and asked him what to do. Elsa relaxes, relieved he isn't leaving the country.

She then turns on her staff for neglecting him, threatening to fire them all. Mike snaps that she shouldn't use him as an excuse, and she immediately backpedals — she'll cancel all her work today and spend it with only him. He tells her to actually mean it.

They plan a movie, but her phone rings. She steps away, promising it's urgent, then leaves. Mike knows exactly who called: Lin Yu.

Episode 8

Lin Yu shows Mike a hospital record — she's pregnant, and she frames it as concern for his health, calling the baby "the fruit of our love." Mike doesn't engage. He only wants one thing: a fast divorce.

A lawyer explains that if they live apart for two years, the divorce can be granted automatically, no signature needed. Mike hands over full authority to proceed, and the lawyer is confident if there's no property dispute.

Elsa calls, and Mike says he's already home. She tells him she has to travel for work, promising to clear her schedule next week for him. He says nothing.

Then she makes her vow: if he ever leaves, she'll search the whole world for him — as long as he still calls her name, she'll never let him go. Mike decides to test it.

Episode 9

Mike quietly arranges to donate his clothes to a mountain village charity, clearing out traces of himself. He tells Elsa he's fine, and she leaves for her trip, promising to make it up to him next week.

He's already decided: he can leave her, but he has a way to make her come looking. He tells her to run first — he'll give her three days, then he'll find her. She laughs that he can never shake her. "Then let's try it," he answers.

The stage is set: separation, the two-year clock, a new name, and a ticket out. All that's left is the week.

Episode 10

Elsa has taken Lin Yu to the Maldives, celebrating both her birthday and the pregnancy. She's booked out an entire island and bought up every firework in the country — a spectacle of devotion for the man she's betraying Mike with.

Meanwhile, Mike's belongings are being given away, piece by piece, as if he's already a ghost in his own life.

The two of them are, as the staff put it, "double blessed" — a birthday and a baby. But Mike has vanished from the picture, and Elsa has no idea the man she's celebrating without is the one she swore she'd chase across the world.