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Everyone must have read Cinderella when they were young. Or at least know who Cinderella is. When I was 5 going 6 years old, ever since I learned how to read, I already kicked off my bookworm pilgrimage by starting from those wonderfully illustrated Disney fairy tale books. I received a box full of fairy tale story books back then from my mom’s good friend, who then worked in Singapore. Fast forward 17 years after, I couldn’t even find a single one from that collection anymore. I remember being literally swooned at the sight of opening the box itself. It was so important to me back then. It had a special place in my heart because I loved reading them every night before going to bed. I was so engrossed to fairy tales that I almost forgot it doesn’t exist in real life. That’s probably the reason why I grew up having a lot of preconceived notions about love and happy endings. When I was a kid, I used to believe that both things come in handy. Unfortunately, life is more than that. Recently, however, I just finished watching another series. It’s not new at all. Actually, it was filmed in 2008. I actually watched the first few episodes last year, but I never got the chance to finish everything. Now that I have more time to scout for more Asian dramas, I finally decided to finish this series because a lot of people encouraged me to do so. I was like, “Okay, I will finish it.” But as I was watching it, I started to love it, and at the same time, feel for the characters in the drama. If you are an avid Asian drama fan, I’m pretty sure you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s the highest rated Taiwanese drama of all time, and it bagged the Best Drama Award of 2008 at the Golden Bell Awards. It’s none other than “Fated To Love You”, otherwise known as “You Are My Destiny” starring Joe Chen (Chen Xin Yi), Ethan Ruan (Ji Cun Xi), Baron Chen (Dylan) and Bianca Bai (Anna).




The Drama’s Plot...

I’ll try my best to explain how the story goes. So, the plot follows Chen Xin Yi (played by Joe Chen) who is a typical working class girl who is living the ordinary and typical life of an office employee. In the series, she is seen as your average girl, in fact, underrated most of the time because she isn’t capable of doing anything at all. She has no talent or skills. She’s very plain and simple that not even a single guy is interested in her. In Taiwan, Chen is the most common family name. Xin Yi is also the most common name of a girl. Her wishes are very very simple, and she doesn’t aspire to become somebody, so not even a single guy was interested on her. When she was born, it was like any other day. She has 2 older sisters, and compared to them, she grew up without that much attention from people — except her father. She was so engrossed in fairy tales like Cinderella because of her father. She was often told things like, “Believe that your prince will come someday. You will fall in love, and live happily ever after.” And because she was engrossed of the thought that “As long as you are willing to sacrifice today, Happiness will come knocking on your door someday,” she allowed people to walk over her, even up to the point that she was toyed around, and she became the “Sticky Note Girl” in the end. People ordered and bossed around her, and she was okay with everything. She functions in a small-scale world, and she is also very indispensable; like a sticky note which can be torn and thrown away easily — nothing but inconspicuous and ordinary. Since she is so afraid that people wouldn’t like her, so she tried so hard to be nice to people. The problem with this girl is that she falls in love easily. She is a fool who treasures relationships to the point where she doesn’t care if she gets hurt, or if she gets used in the process. I hate it because her weak-willed character always causes her to soften during times when she needs to make a firm decision. She believes that as long as the other person is happy, she too can be happy.




One day, he meets this really weird guy who shows her even the smallest affection, and she falls for it. She started to think that she finally met her prince. That guy never really felt anything special for her, but she felt otherwise. When that guy tried to break up with her, she tried order to win him back by splurging on an Asian cruise. All because of the side effects of a flu medicine, she accidentally entered the wrong room. When she woke up, she was stunned to find that she had a one night stand with a stranger. Subsequently, she discovered that her boyfriend betrayed her in order to hook up with a rich widow. Her boyfriend then dumped and left her, causing her to suffer a severe blow. After the cruise, her life goes back to normal again. Everything is back to how it is. In the office, she still continues to assume the role of her former “sticky note girl” self. A month later, she got her pregnancy test results. She was bewildered to find out that she was indeed pregnant. A series of unfortunate events has caused her pregnancy to be revealed on national television. Already at the crossroads, she starts reflecting on how a twenty-five year old ordinary employee at a law firm like her, all because of a lousy man who turned out to be a complete jerk, has to bear a credit card debt of two hundred thousand dollars (from the cruise expenses) and was carrying the child of an unknown man. This had to be the most ironic joke on earth. This becomes the turning point of the series because through the cruise, the life of this very ordinary girl will change.


She then took a leave from her company and prepared to return to her hometown “Jiang Mu Island” to consider what she should do. The stranger in the bed that day was called Ji Cun Xi. If you’re wondering who this guy is, he was every girl’s prince charming. He was rich and handsome, young and super capable. When he met the ordinary office girl Chen Xin Yi, he didn’t know whether it was the start of his troubles or the beginning of his happiness. Because of the Ji family’s heredity illness, there are few males in each generation. Up to now, there was only one male heir for the past nine generations. This causes the matriarch of the family, Chairman Ji Zhen Zhu, (Ji Cun Xi’s grandmother) to lose sleep with worry as she feared that this tiny family flame would be extinguished. Because she is already old, all she ever wanted was for her grandson to finally settle down so that she can see her great grandchildren. One day, granny accidentally discovered that Chen Xin Yi is carrying Ji Cun Xi’s baby. She thought that the Ji family’s ancestors had blessed her and finally gave her a “little golden great grandchild”. Therefore, granny insists that Cun Xi marries Xin Yi so that on the day she dies, she can face the Ji family ancestors. Granny forced Cun Xi to marry Xin Yi by threatening to call and tell his girlfriend of three years (Shi Anna), so he has no choice but to marry her in order to fulfill her only wish in life. But Cun Xi discovered that he could not face the fact of his marriage and couldn’t decide whether to run away at the last minute or pluck up the courage to take responsibility. Ji Cun Xi’s girlfriend of three years, Anna, on the other hand had dumped him a lot of times in the past. He proposed to her many times before but she always turned him down each time because she is a ballerina, and she has big dreams ahead of her. Despite that, he patiently waited for her. At that Asian cruise where Ji Cun Xi meets Chen Xin Yi, he was supposed to propose to her again. Everything was already planned and outlined, but she wasn’t able to board on the ship. With only the two of them knowing, Ji Cun Xi and Chen Xin Yi secretly signed a pre-marriage contract which states that they would divorce after the baby is born. The terms were to give her a huge amount of money and after that they would have nothing to do with each other.



Being the sticky note girl that she is, she agreed to everything after careful consideration for the sake of her baby. Cun Xi’s plan was that, after the baby is born and Anna returns back after her tour with the New York Ballet troupe, the contract would be due and he can resume his relationship with Anna, like nothing happened. Chen Xin Yi moves into Cun Xi’s house and begins to learn how to get along with him. The two strangers, from being unable to adapt initially, slowly learns to get used to each other. They slept in the same room in order to hide their pretence, but he actually went to the guest room to sleep. He slowly discovers that he doesn’t like the loneliness of sleeping alone so he would often go back to his original room in the middle of the night. After some time, sleeping with someone by his side became a habit. He who doesn’t like to return home for dinner started to return home regularly and the guy who vowed not to help her in anything also started to show concern for her in many different ways throughout her pregnancy by shopping for wallpapers and children’s toys. Everything seemed to be perfect, until one day, Anna comes back. He never thought that his unresolved relationship with Anna would hurt Chen Xin Yi, who disappeared after leaving behind a divorce agreement. He thought for himself that this was the best ending that their story could ever have. Little did he know, Chen Xin Yi already captured his heart. So he tries to find her again, but this time, will a couple forced to marry for the sake of their unborn child find love with each other?


My Review of the Series...

The theme of the series is very Cinderella, although they added other elements to it in order to expand the storyline and to make it more interesting. I honestly don’t know if the series is an adaptation from a Japanese comic book (most Taiwanese dramas are), but the story in itself is pretty interesting and fun. We all know that Cinderella was a commoner. An ordinary girl, leaving an ordinary life until one day, he meets his prince, and they fall in love in the ball. Things are pretty much like that for Chen Xin Yi and Ji Cun Xi. For Xin Yi, it was like meeting his prince charming in a fairy tale. She was never loved and desired. Not for anything, not by anyone, and not for even once in her life. For Ji Cun Xi, it was otherwise. Haha! What I love about the story is that everyone can relate to it. Episode one was a good pilot for me. A lot of things happened in the very first episode so viewers will definitely look forward in watching the upcoming episodes. It’s very funny so it will really lift your spirit up. You will feel for the female lead because of her attitude, which for me was too much, because she was so good, and sometimes, dumb (sorry to say) for letting people treat her like dirt. Joe Chen played the role really well, and I think these kinds of dramas suit her so much. She is one of the best in the Taiwanese entertainment industry when it comes to romantic comedies. Sometimes, I feel like I want to strangle her to death so she can finally realize that she has to stop being so insensitive. All I ever wanted was for her to at least fight back.



A lot of girls can feel for Chen Xin Yi because a lot of girls grew up reading fairy tales. The series shows the cruel realities of finding love, falling in love, and being loved in return, so we can set aside our preconceived notions about fairy tales and happy endings. There are a lot of lessons to learn so I like this drama. The notion about the handsome and mighty prince fighting of the bad guys, the dragons, and the evil witches suddenly faded like a waning moon, because in the story, the prince does nothing but to make the princess fall for him, and she does all the fighting. The series is really funny but sometimes, things do get a bit overboard. I love how they ended up together in bed. Who would have thought that just because of that flu medicine, their lives would change in a single click. During the bed scene, I think it was unnecessary to show the rockets. The production theme was so creative for thinking about that. The imagination of the production is hilarious. Haha! But I really enjoyed the drama. It showed a good balance of funny and romantic at the same time. Ethan was also good. I have never seen him before in any series, but I think this was his breakthrough portrayal for showing a different side of himself. I always thought he was the serious guy, but after watching the series, and a couple of Behind The Scenes episodes, I realized that he was a happy go lucky person, much like Joe Chen.

This day and age, I wonder if fairy tales still exist. But this drama made me realize that as long as we strive for direction each day, as long we persevere to make our lives worthwhile, and live with contentment, we don't need another fairy tale love story or happy ending. Life is already one big fairy tale. So whatever the ending is, whether it is happy or not, in the end it's up to you. You have love yourself first to be able to love other people. Lesson #1: Love is supposed to make you happy, not sad, or gloomy. It is not supposed to make you feel sorry about yourself, or to feel less about being a person. It should bring out the best in you. It should make you a better person. Lesson #2: While you're with the person who makes you happy, cherish the moment and make it last forever. Lesson #3: It takes a lot of courage and strength to show somebody that we care, so while we can still show it to them, don't wait for tomorrow. Lesson #4: If it is really meant to be, then it is. Lesson #5: True love waits. It has it's own time.

Everyone must have read Cinderella when they were young. Or at least know who Cinderella is. When I was 5 going 6 years old, ever since I learned how to read, I already kicked off my bookworm pilgrimage by starting from those wonderfully illustrated Disney fairy tale books. I received a box full of fairy tale story books back then from my mom’s good friend, who then worked in Singapore. Fast forward 17 years after, I couldn’t even find a single one from that collection anymore. I remember being literally swooned at the sight of opening the box itself. It was so important to me back then. It had a special place in my heart because I loved reading them every night before going to bed. I was so engrossed to fairy tales that I almost forgot it doesn’t exist in real life. That’s probably the reason why I grew up having a lot of preconceived notions about love and happy endings. When I was a kid, I used to believe that both things come in handy. Unfortunately, life is more than that. Recently, however, I just finished watching another series. It’s not new at all. Actually, it was filmed in 2008. I actually watched the first few episodes last year, but I never got the chance to finish everything. Now that I have more time to scout for more Asian dramas, I finally decided to finish this series because a lot of people encouraged me to do so. I was like, “Okay, I will finish it.” But as I was watching it, I started to love it, and at the same time, feel for the characters in the drama. If you are an avid Asian drama fan, I’m pretty sure you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s the highest rated Taiwanese drama of all time, and it bagged the Best Drama Award of 2008 at the Golden Bell Awards. It’s none other than “Fated To Love You”, otherwise known as “You Are My Destiny” starring Joe Chen (Chen Xin Yi), Ethan Ruan (Ji Cun Xi), Baron Chen (Dylan) and Bianca Bai (Anna).




The Drama’s Plot...

I’ll try my best to explain how the story goes. So, the plot follows Chen Xin Yi (played by Joe Chen) who is a typical working class girl who is living the ordinary and typical life of an office employee. In the series, she is seen as your average girl, in fact, underrated most of the time because she isn’t capable of doing anything at all. She has no talent or skills. She’s very plain and simple that not even a single guy is interested in her. In Taiwan, Chen is the most common family name. Xin Yi is also the most common name of a girl. Her wishes are very very simple, and she doesn’t aspire to become somebody, so not even a single guy was interested on her. When she was born, it was like any other day. She has 2 older sisters, and compared to them, she grew up without that much attention from people — except her father. She was so engrossed in fairy tales like Cinderella because of her father. She was often told things like, “Believe that your prince will come someday. You will fall in love, and live happily ever after.” And because she was engrossed of the thought that “As long as you are willing to sacrifice today, Happiness will come knocking on your door someday,” she allowed people to walk over her, even up to the point that she was toyed around, and she became the “Sticky Note Girl” in the end. People ordered and bossed around her, and she was okay with everything. She functions in a small-scale world, and she is also very indispensable; like a sticky note which can be torn and thrown away easily — nothing but inconspicuous and ordinary. Since she is so afraid that people wouldn’t like her, so she tried so hard to be nice to people. The problem with this girl is that she falls in love easily. She is a fool who treasures relationships to the point where she doesn’t care if she gets hurt, or if she gets used in the process. I hate it because her weak-willed character always causes her to soften during times when she needs to make a firm decision. She believes that as long as the other person is happy, she too can be happy.




One day, he meets this really weird guy who shows her even the smallest affection, and she falls for it. She started to think that she finally met her prince. That guy never really felt anything special for her, but she felt otherwise. When that guy tried to break up with her, she tried order to win him back by splurging on an Asian cruise. All because of the side effects of a flu medicine, she accidentally entered the wrong room. When she woke up, she was stunned to find that she had a one night stand with a stranger. Subsequently, she discovered that her boyfriend betrayed her in order to hook up with a rich widow. Her boyfriend then dumped and left her, causing her to suffer a severe blow. After the cruise, her life goes back to normal again. Everything is back to how it is. In the office, she still continues to assume the role of her former “sticky note girl” self. A month later, she got her pregnancy test results. She was bewildered to find out that she was indeed pregnant. A series of unfortunate events has caused her pregnancy to be revealed on national television. Already at the crossroads, she starts reflecting on how a twenty-five year old ordinary employee at a law firm like her, all because of a lousy man who turned out to be a complete jerk, has to bear a credit card debt of two hundred thousand dollars (from the cruise expenses) and was carrying the child of an unknown man. This had to be the most ironic joke on earth. This becomes the turning point of the series because through the cruise, the life of this very ordinary girl will change.


She then took a leave from her company and prepared to return to her hometown “Jiang Mu Island” to consider what she should do. The stranger in the bed that day was called Ji Cun Xi. If you’re wondering who this guy is, he was every girl’s prince charming. He was rich and handsome, young and super capable. When he met the ordinary office girl Chen Xin Yi, he didn’t know whether it was the start of his troubles or the beginning of his happiness. Because of the Ji family’s heredity illness, there are few males in each generation. Up to now, there was only one male heir for the past nine generations. This causes the matriarch of the family, Chairman Ji Zhen Zhu, (Ji Cun Xi’s grandmother) to lose sleep with worry as she feared that this tiny family flame would be extinguished. Because she is already old, all she ever wanted was for her grandson to finally settle down so that she can see her great grandchildren. One day, granny accidentally discovered that Chen Xin Yi is carrying Ji Cun Xi’s baby. She thought that the Ji family’s ancestors had blessed her and finally gave her a “little golden great grandchild”. Therefore, granny insists that Cun Xi marries Xin Yi so that on the day she dies, she can face the Ji family ancestors. Granny forced Cun Xi to marry Xin Yi by threatening to call and tell his girlfriend of three years (Shi Anna), so he has no choice but to marry her in order to fulfill her only wish in life. But Cun Xi discovered that he could not face the fact of his marriage and couldn’t decide whether to run away at the last minute or pluck up the courage to take responsibility. Ji Cun Xi’s girlfriend of three years, Anna, on the other hand had dumped him a lot of times in the past. He proposed to her many times before but she always turned him down each time because she is a ballerina, and she has big dreams ahead of her. Despite that, he patiently waited for her. At that Asian cruise where Ji Cun Xi meets Chen Xin Yi, he was supposed to propose to her again. Everything was already planned and outlined, but she wasn’t able to board on the ship. With only the two of them knowing, Ji Cun Xi and Chen Xin Yi secretly signed a pre-marriage contract which states that they would divorce after the baby is born. The terms were to give her a huge amount of money and after that they would have nothing to do with each other.



Being the sticky note girl that she is, she agreed to everything after careful consideration for the sake of her baby. Cun Xi’s plan was that, after the baby is born and Anna returns back after her tour with the New York Ballet troupe, the contract would be due and he can resume his relationship with Anna, like nothing happened. Chen Xin Yi moves into Cun Xi’s house and begins to learn how to get along with him. The two strangers, from being unable to adapt initially, slowly learns to get used to each other. They slept in the same room in order to hide their pretence, but he actually went to the guest room to sleep. He slowly discovers that he doesn’t like the loneliness of sleeping alone so he would often go back to his original room in the middle of the night. After some time, sleeping with someone by his side became a habit. He who doesn’t like to return home for dinner started to return home regularly and the guy who vowed not to help her in anything also started to show concern for her in many different ways throughout her pregnancy by shopping for wallpapers and children’s toys. Everything seemed to be perfect, until one day, Anna comes back. He never thought that his unresolved relationship with Anna would hurt Chen Xin Yi, who disappeared after leaving behind a divorce agreement. He thought for himself that this was the best ending that their story could ever have. Little did he know, Chen Xin Yi already captured his heart. So he tries to find her again, but this time, will a couple forced to marry for the sake of their unborn child find love with each other?


My Review of the Series...

The theme of the series is very Cinderella, although they added other elements to it in order to expand the storyline and to make it more interesting. I honestly don’t know if the series is an adaptation from a Japanese comic book (most Taiwanese dramas are), but the story in itself is pretty interesting and fun. We all know that Cinderella was a commoner. An ordinary girl, leaving an ordinary life until one day, he meets his prince, and they fall in love in the ball. Things are pretty much like that for Chen Xin Yi and Ji Cun Xi. For Xin Yi, it was like meeting his prince charming in a fairy tale. She was never loved and desired. Not for anything, not by anyone, and not for even once in her life. For Ji Cun Xi, it was otherwise. Haha! What I love about the story is that everyone can relate to it. Episode one was a good pilot for me. A lot of things happened in the very first episode so viewers will definitely look forward in watching the upcoming episodes. It’s very funny so it will really lift your spirit up. You will feel for the female lead because of her attitude, which for me was too much, because she was so good, and sometimes, dumb (sorry to say) for letting people treat her like dirt. Joe Chen played the role really well, and I think these kinds of dramas suit her so much. She is one of the best in the Taiwanese entertainment industry when it comes to romantic comedies. Sometimes, I feel like I want to strangle her to death so she can finally realize that she has to stop being so insensitive. All I ever wanted was for her to at least fight back.



A lot of girls can feel for Chen Xin Yi because a lot of girls grew up reading fairy tales. The series shows the cruel realities of finding love, falling in love, and being loved in return, so we can set aside our preconceived notions about fairy tales and happy endings. There are a lot of lessons to learn so I like this drama. The notion about the handsome and mighty prince fighting of the bad guys, the dragons, and the evil witches suddenly faded like a waning moon, because in the story, the prince does nothing but to make the princess fall for him, and she does all the fighting. The series is really funny but sometimes, things do get a bit overboard. I love how they ended up together in bed. Who would have thought that just because of that flu medicine, their lives would change in a single click. During the bed scene, I think it was unnecessary to show the rockets. The production theme was so creative for thinking about that. The imagination of the production is hilarious. Haha! But I really enjoyed the drama. It showed a good balance of funny and romantic at the same time. Ethan was also good. I have never seen him before in any series, but I think this was his breakthrough portrayal for showing a different side of himself. I always thought he was the serious guy, but after watching the series, and a couple of Behind The Scenes episodes, I realized that he was a happy go lucky person, much like Joe Chen.

This day and age, I wonder if fairy tales still exist. But this drama made me realize that as long as we strive for direction each day, as long we persevere to make our lives worthwhile, and live with contentment, we don't need another fairy tale love story or happy ending. Life is already one big fairy tale. So whatever the ending is, whether it is happy or not, in the end it's up to you. You have love yourself first to be able to love other people. Lesson #1: Love is supposed to make you happy, not sad, or gloomy. It is not supposed to make you feel sorry about yourself, or to feel less about being a person. It should bring out the best in you. It should make you a better person. Lesson #2: While you're with the person who makes you happy, cherish the moment and make it last forever. Lesson #3: It takes a lot of courage and strength to show somebody that we care, so while we can still show it to them, don't wait for tomorrow. Lesson #4: If it is really meant to be, then it is. Lesson #5: True love waits. It has it's own time.