Yeaah I think you just like slow burn lol. I’ve seen both the stories you mentioned and they were such slow burns that I was suffering lmaooo. In my opinion I don’t think it was that rushed or forced. There’s a lot of manga/shoujo manga out there where the author originally intended from the start that their story would be short. Sometimes it’s nice to have short stories like this.
Stretching out a story can make it have the opposite effect and can make the story tiring. For example: some authors like to drag the story out as much as possible, going so far to create tons of problems and drama continuously so it doesn’t end. In those cases lots of people can complain and say that they can’t even see where the story is going anymore. A lot of modern romance manhua including rich cold MLs usually make their story to be 100+ chapters, filled with never ending drama and issues. Somehow I feel as if the authors think by doing that it’ll make it more interesting?
it might have been because of the pacing since i usually enjoy something more slow-burn, but idk this felt kind of fake deep...? like very surface level..? oh, well. as long as theyre happy. still, i totally feel like this couldve been like ao haru ride or kimi no todoke in terms of the level of feels but so much substance(?) was taken out that i feel like the moments were lowkey forced and rushed..? idk. feel free to disagree :) the story is nice nonetheless. maybe the mangaka didnt want to stretch this one out too much.