Is 2026 the year of the onscreen workplace romance? East-Asian drama audiences are at present, collectively swooning over two CEOs. Kang Ha-Gi(played by actor Kang Hoon) from the South-Korean romance My Bias, My Boss, and Luan ‘Luke’ Nian(Jing Boran) from the Chinese drama The Early Spring. This comes on the heels of the recently concluded K-Drama, See You At Work Tomorrow, a well-written workplace romance starring Seo In-guk and Park Ji-hyun. The Early Spring, currently streaming on Netflix, has taken the world by storm. Ahead of its release, the show generated buzz for reportedly having an intimacy coordinator on set, considered a rarity for C-Dramas. The show’s source material, a hugely popular novel, came with its own legion of fans, eagerly awaiting its onscreen adaptation. A statement from Netflix indicated that in the week of August 24 to 30, The Early Spring debuted at No. 2 on Netflix’s Global Non-English TV list, garnering 2.4 million views and 21.5 million hours viewed. The series has since broken into the weekly Top 10 ranking in 22 countries.Currently ranked third among Netflix India’s most watched shows, the C-Drama has has spawned multiple reels of viewers dissecting whether the male lead is a green or a red flag, what the lead couple can do to better their communication skills, and if the show lives up to the original novel; all while attempting to sing along with the Mandarin lyrics of its melancholic theme song. What has made the show tick? The show follows rookie Shang ‘Flora’ Zhitao(Sun Qian) who makes her way to big city Beijing from her smaller hometown. She soon lands a job at the glitzy advertising firm Lime, and encounters cold, and largely obnoxious industry veteran Luke(impeccably styled at all times), who wastes no time in telling her she is not fit for the job.