Xiao Yu

Do you want to elaborate?

(2)
Or is op just talking about physical appearance?

Ohhhh that could be it, I totally thought it was more to do with how he was portrayed or something lol. Tbh I personally like how he looks, it's rarer to get a ML with darker skin in modern settings - it's mostly down to his personality though, I love that he's essentially been crushing on the MC since high school :'D

Well if you read an adaptation, there's bound to be some kind of disappointment (more often than not) when it comes to physical characterizations if your imagination is not met. I like how he looks though. Although, I understand how OP feels and I can't really say if I wouldn't be disappointed if I had read the novel because I had it happen to me before. But it is what it is lmao

Yeah, I get that. I used to read a lot of books growing up so I kinda understand, but at some point I stopped expecting things and kept an open mind about these things (/I struggle to imagine characters in detail in my head with words alone) to well, not get disappointed. ^^;