Game Sanaeha (炽爱游戏)

Premise

Muanchanok (Nok) is the spoiled only daughter of a wealthy family. After several years studying abroad, she returns to Thailand early to surprise her parents, only to find that Tawat and Wisaka, her father and mother, have divorced. Her father is about to marry Pimonkhae (Khae), a former beauty queen about Nok's own age, while her mother keeps company with younger men without regard for society's opinion.² Unable to accept the breakup of her family, Nok acts out in an effort to make her father call off the wedding and win her mother back to the house.²

Complicating her return is Lakkhanai (Nai), an orphan whom Nok's parents took in and raised. In the years Nok was away, Nai rose from a country boy to manager of the family's fund company and custodian of its assets, and he holds the position of vice president of Green Dream Co., Ltd., a business operating waste-sorting factories.^{5 • 6} Nok assumes he spent her absence ingratiating himself with her parents to seize the family fortune, and she resents the protection both parents give him despite their mutual hostility.⁵

The game. Nok resolves to drive Nai out of the family and devises a "game of affection" to make him suffer disappointment and heartbreak.⁷ The two marry, and Nok treats the marriage as a contest she intends to win, aiming to make Nai return everything he has and leave her life.^{6 • 8} Nai, who has loved Nok since he first entered the family, knows her intentions and plays along, hoping to win her heart in return.⁶ The title reflects this structure: in the story, "game" means the tactics and schemes the characters use against each other, with the heroine building the game to make the hero surrender to it.⁹

The synopsis closes with a night connected to her father's wedding, when another man schemes to take advantage of the distraught Nok; Nai rescues her, and photographs of him carrying the unconscious Nok create a scandal in the next day's news. When Tawat and Wisaka learn the truth, they recognize it as the lesson of a girl who played with fire until it burned her.²

Cast and characters

The principal cast, as listed by ThaiContentDB and TheTVDB:^{1 • 3}

• James Jirayu Tangsrisuk as Lakkhanai "Nai" Disathaporn, the adopted orphan turned company executive¹
• Taew Natapohn Tameeruks as Muanchanok "Nok" Watcharamphon, the heiress heroine¹
• Ice Amena Gul as Pimonkhae "Khae" Rungkosol, the former beauty queen engaged to Nok's father¹
• Chai Chatayodom Hiranyatithi as Tawat "Wat" Watcharamphon, Nok's father¹
• Tanya Tanyares Engtrakul (Ramnarong) as Wisaka "Wi" Watcharamphon, Nok's mother¹
• Tao Sattaphong Phiangphor as Doctor Wongwet¹
• Pear Pitchapa Phanthumchinda as Penny¹
• Took Duangta Toongkamanee as Malinee Yotsakun, Nok's grandmother^{1 • 4}

The series paired James Jirayu and Taew Natapohn again; press coverage of Channel 3's 2018 lineup noted that in this drama Taew took on a fiery, drama-heavy role opposite James.¹⁰