The MC and ML has an on and off relationship for 10 years where they fight and break up over very small things or misunderstandings. We later learn that this is actually necessary for them. MC grows up in an environment that makes him very depressed and insecure as an adult. He needs that constant confirmation that he is loved, deserves to be loved and whatever situation it may be, he and the ML can work it out after decent communication. ML on the other hand, experienced a traumatic event where he watched one of his friend's father drown. This makes him have survivor's guilt. He has hallucinations and he's prone to self harm. Having this on and off again relationship allows him to focus on these fights about small things instead of the dark thoughts in his head. Apparently this has worked for both of them and their conditions. It is allowed by their doctor and everyone around them knows and plays along.

The MC's relationship with his childhood friend is super cute; I love that the author portrayed a jealous ML but still a wholesome friendship and group relationship

Side note: the netizen comments of "uncle this" "uncle that" is because Ran Shu (first name Shu) is called "Shushu" by the fans (it's cute/common in Chinese to repeat a single-character name twice to make it sound cute, kind of like the English way of adding an "-ie" to words like Inky, Fluffy, Annie, Mommy, to make them cutesy versions). Shushu is a homonym for the Chinese word for "uncle, " so as a spin on "Ran Shu, " his fans call him "shushu (uncle) " and also refer to themselves as "nieces."

ALSO FYI, if you ever use Google translate, and it gives you some kind of unreadable dialogue like "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh", use your keyboard, break it up (put an indent or comma in the middle) and Google translate will figure out the actual phrase. It's a bug. No, the author did not actually write "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"