“One sunny day after school, our shy Pete walked out of his school building while simultaneously looking at his phone. The next moment, he was run into by Ae and his bicycle, leading the both of them into a love story neither of them had imagined.”

Released in late 2018, Love By Chance (LBC) is a Thai BL/gay drama that revolves around eight male characters, each with a unique outlook towards life: Pete is a handsome and rich university student who is incredibly timid and tries his best to hide the fact that he’s gay. Ae, kind and friendly, is unafraid of how people would think about his feelings for Pete. Tin is the younger heir of a wealthy family; cold-hearted and selfish, he does not trust others and believes that people befriend him only for their own advantage. Can is a lively and loyal friend who is always there to protect his friends. Techno (shortened as No) is the football team captain and is the crush of Kengkla, who is cute and cunning. Although each character’s background and personality is different, love finds its way and places them all together into a wonderful love story, by chance.

When I first began watching this series in late May, I have to admit I was not interested in it at all. Just watching the first few minutes made me think, “Oh no, here goes another cliché drama.” For sure, Thai dramas are, to a certain degree, cliché, and the plot development follows a fairly similar pattern. But the further I watched into the first episode, I realized this one is different, at least in the way it portrayed the characters and the BGM (background music). There are 14 episodes in this series. I started watched the first episode at 7 pm and finished the whole series the next morning, and yes, I stayed up all night to finish it. The truth is, it was too good. TOO ENTERTAINING! To understand why this is such an epic drama, we must get to know the main couples.

Couple #1 – Pete & Ae.

My favourite. Pete and Ae meet by chance when Ae almost hits him with his bicycle, which is the relationship’s first cliché. When he helps Pete stand up again, their eyes meet and… and you know, all those slow-motioned, soft BGM and heartbeat, butterflies. Now, this is something I’m used to seeing and always imagine, but come on!!! This one is way too sweet!

Pete and Ae become friends gradually: eating breakfast and lunch together, Ae always supporting Pete and the latter becoming a more confident person. One day after school, Ae witnesses Pete being threatened by Trump, who Pete used to like: Pete has to give him money, or else Trump was going to tell his mother he’s gay. Trump is homophobic and used Pete for his money. He filmed himself and Pete while faking to be intimate with Pete. Pete discovered the hidden camera, and now Trump admits that he felt disgusted when with Pete. We really feel for Pete. This plot also brings the subject of coming out to the family, which is an excellent point for the series. It’s not just about two people loving each other; they ‘discover’ themselves, they know support and shame, confidence, and fear. It’s about Pete trying to push Ae away because he doesn’t want him to experience the same things he had to go through because of a part of his identity. The part where Pete tries to keep Ae as a heterosexual is really emotional and, in a way, it gives reminds Pete of a part of his past full of sadness and shame.

Ae eventually falls for Pete, discovering his sexuality, desire, and feelings towards him. That’s another reason why I absolutely love this series. We can relate to Ae: the first love, the first kiss, the first time, the first date.

The story of Ae and Pete is not without clichés: Pete is submissive, and Ae doesn’t know how to express his love through sweet words and touches. But they love each other, and that is what makes this CP my favourite.

Couple #2 – Tin and Can

They begin their relationship with hate and despise: Tin was rich and believes Can and Ae are close to him only because of his wealth and insults them for leeching off him, which obviously earned him multiple punches and hits from Can. Ouch.

However, further down into the series, their relationship grows, and they begin to discover a lot about each other. Can learns about the reasons behind the behavior of Tin while Tin learns that not everyone wants him for his money and starts to develop feelings for Can. This aspect of their relationship is exactly a representation of “love by chance.”

And most importantly, spoilers alert, you should definitely go watch the scene where they both are eating together, and Tin keeps asking Can for his phone number but being rejected every time he asks. Then when the fruit cantaloupe is served as a dessert, Tin slowly takes one and says, “Cantaloupe…” which triggers Can because his full name is Cantaloupe! Realising that Tin was just calling the name of the fruit, Can takes a deep breath and ignores. Now here comes the MAIN PART! Tin bites a piece of the fruit and says, “Cantaloupe is sweet, cantaloupe is soft… I think I’m starting to love cantaloupe.”

WHAT THE ACTUAL… Holy cow! That was intense XD.

As the drama reaches the ending, I was expecting the couple to start dating officially, but no, it didn’t turn out as expected. When Tin confesses his love for Can, Can hesitates and rejects because he just wants to be friends with Tin and not ruin the friendship due to the uncertainty and fear. Tin, of course, is hurt and leaves.

To be honest, for a series that has only 14 episodes, there are way too many couples in it, making it very difficult to develop the relationships and show each storyline’s complexity properly. The character developments were unequally proportioned, focusing only on Ae and Pete rather than equally on the other couples. In addition to that, the ending lacks closure in terms of Tin and Can’s relationship. After finishing the series, I googled the novel which it was based on and discovered that there is even more content which was not covered in the series; such as more about Tin’s brother, Tin and Cans relationship would develop into a charming one, and Pete and Ae would face a challenge in their love life, etc.

However, the good news is that there is a second season for LBC, which revolves around the story of Tin and Can and provides deeper insight into the storyline. Currently, it has only been aired until episode 7 and will have a total of 14 episodes, so there is a lot of potential for the story to develop further and conclude on a beautiful note.

“LBC” is available on the Thai site of WeTV but can be watched on dramacool.com for free. Simply google “Love By Chance Drama Cool.”