If you time traveled back a month ago and told me I would be writing about 1. a love story, 2. a Japanese reality show, or 3. a love story featured on a Japanese reality show, I would assume you were from a parallel reality’s future and tell you to buzz off. But my destiny merged with that of my lovesick, international TV-watching parallel universe self–and now I’m writing about the greatest love story on Netflix, a love story on Terrace House: Opening New Doors.

What is Terrace House? I’ve had to explain what this show is to my confounded friends a few times, after clarifying that I’m not saying “Tara’s House” or “Terrorist House“. Terrace House is essentially Japan’s Real World, specifically the first couple seasons of the MTV classic before it became Booze-Fueled Hookup Frenzy: Las Vegas. Terrace House stars six housemates, three men and three women in their early 20s to early 30s, and the show follows them as they pursue their careers and, most relevant to this article, romance.

Honestly, Terrace House is mostly a show about planning. A good chunk of every episode is spent with the cast essentially pulling out their day planners and scheduling meals, hang outs, trips, and dates.

For American audiences, Terrace House is defined by its slow pace and low-impact conflicts. The most insane reveal in the first episode of Opening New Doors was when the housemates found out 19-year-old Yuudai sleeps with two stuffed pandas–and he only named one of them! But if you’re tired of the Jersey Shore-ification of the reality/soap genre, Terrace House will become your everything. And, as I discovered while blazing through the first 16 episodes of Opening New Doors (spread over two “seasons” with a third batch dropping on July 31), the glacial pacing makes for the most intense love story on Netflix.

That love story is between 24-year-old ice hockey player Tsubasa and 22-year-old model Shion. She’s scoring goals and he’s striking poses–they’re a mismatched pair and they are the protagonists of the only love story I care about in this abysmal year, 2018. They’re honestly so mismatched that the Terrace House hosts were totally surprised when these two went on their first date in episode 5.

Terrace House is so perfectly built for engrossing romance. Since the show lacks producer’s pulling puppet strings (maybe that’s why they show us the cast members making all those plans?), it creates a true reality feel. The show is so mundanely real that you feel the jolt of electricity between two ex-strangers when they connect.

The love story came as a shock because all eyes were on the doomed love triangle between student/aspiring model Ami, bratty boy Yuudai, and pro snowboarder Taka. You’d expect the hockey player to hit it off with the snowboarder and the two models to get something going, but that’s not what happens. Instead, Shion asks Tsubasa to visit a foot bath in Kusatsu, and that’s where the romance blossoms. When she tells him that she has a hard time opening up to people, he–again, kinda out of nowhere!–says, “I’ll wait then, for the moment you decide to open up your heart.”

The next time we see them together is in episode 6, when Tsubasa’s watching game tapes and preparing for a big hockey match. Shion joins her and then becomes, I think, the first person in the house to talk to her about her passion. And he listens! And asks her questions! And then he says he wants to see a game–and then, this being Terrace House, they plan on going to the game in December as opposed to waiting until February.

The way relationships are handled on Terrace House, and presumably in Japanese culture, is different from what we see on TV here. This is a romance that involves zero kissing, barely anything past a high-five, and the two participants are not sure how the other feels. It’s tentative AF, but that tension pulls you the F in.

The dates continue throughout the next few episodes, as Shion and Tsubasa shoot some hoops and go on a skate date (Shion is totally unfazed by Tsubasa being a way better athlete than him in every way). In episode 9, they go on a prayer date to the temple Zenkō-ji so they can wish for luck in Tsubasa’s big match.

It’s a really beautiful scene, punctuated by the two of them reading their love fortunes to each other (oh, the foreshadowing…!). Later at the hockey match, Shion is so clearly in awe of how badass Tsubasa is on the ice. Shion is not a Ross or a Riley, two all-American boys totally intimidated by their significant other’s power (Rachel’s fledgling career, Buffy’s vampire slaying). Shion loves watching Tsubasa score goal after goal; in awe, he keeps remarking how strong she is.

Like any good love story, things aren’t so easy. As they grow closer, Tsubasa admits to her roommate that she thinks Shion might be too good for her. And also, brace for heartbreak, Shion confides to his roommates that he thinks he only likes Tsubasa… as a friend.

This is the drama of Terrace House. No one screams their feelings directly at their target; instead, the roommates all ask each other how they feel about their prospective partner in secret. Everyone in the house is very sincerely, quietly invested in everyone else’s love lives. This makes the dates even more awkward, because you might know that X isn’t as into Y as Y is into X, but Y definitely has no idea.

And that’s what happens midway through “season 2,” now that we know Tsubasa thinks Shion’s too good for her, and that that doubt has given Shion the indication that Tsubasa isn’t interested. They go to her dad’s restaurant (who is so enthusiastically, adorably approving with his daughter’s potential BF), but the excitement of those early dates has given way to legit anxiety. When will one of them make a move, only to be shot down?

The beginning of the end and/or the end of the beginning begins in episode 14, which bears the melodramatic but accurate title “The Birthday That Decided Their Fate.” Shion’s birthday is coming up, and Tsubasa travels all the way to Tokyo to get him a special gift. Then she makes a big gesture, planning a little surprise by covering the media room in birthday decorations just for Shion.

Up until this point, Shion’s made all the moves (he scheduled their prayer date and got the house to go cheer for her at her match). This move, Tsubasa’s biggest “Hey! I Like You!” moment yet, really will decide their fate. Later, when the guys ask Shion if the surprise made him feel anything, Shion pauses (the pauses on this show are killer) and says… yes, “I’m very happy.”

It’s at this point that I screamed at the television, overjoyed. And then my joy was crushed in the very next episode when Tsubasa said she found Shion hard to read. She says, “I feel like there’s still a barrier between us,” and that’s when I realized that good things can’t happen in 2018, not even on Terrace House.

But…in the last episode of “season 2,” Shion has a revelation. Faced with another roommate departure (Ami’s), he realizes he doesn’t have time to waste. Ami tells Shion that Tsubasa actually isn’t sure about his feelings. And then Shion decides that now (or rather Valentine’s Day, always be planning) will be the perfect time to tell her how he feels. For the first time. After that prayer date and the hockey match and the birthday surprise and all the doubt and mixed messages.

And that’s how it ends! That’s the cliffhanger we’re left on until the next episodes arrive on July 31! What a doozy, what a lovestruck doozy!

There is something so refreshing about Tsubasa and Shion, a couple whose relationship has so far been built on mutual respect and genuine interest in each other. There is no DRAMA between them, but there’s plenty of tension. All reality TV producers need to watch this unlikely romance on Terrace House, how it came outta nowhere and grew in the background while way juicier plotlines played out in the spotlight (I never want to think about Yuudai and Ami’s nightmare date again). But by the end of episode 16, I was fully emotionally invested in a romance–a romance I had to read! Is Terrace House also the greatest romance novel ever? Sure, I’ll say so!

I don’t know what happens between Tsubasa and Shion next, but you better believe I will be on my couch, marathoning the new episodes and obsessing over every high-five and whispered confession.

Where to stream Terrace House: Opening New Doors