Romance is in the air, and our heroine is thriving in all the cringey, cute, and heartwarming joys in this new relationship. Everyone except for best friend Jae-young is rooting for this new couple, and he hesitates to make his feelings known. He struggles to determine his which role — father, family, best friend, or potential romantic partner — will allow him to keep our heroine in his life.
EPISODE 9: “Moments we call love 1”
Yi-sang walks Ha-ri home as they both glace at each other with giddy smiles. He admits that he wanted to see her today and enjoyed the night. To clarify his intentions, Yi-sang assures Ha-ri, “The kiss wasn’t a mistake. I like you.” He apologizes for his late confession and agrees to replace worry about their future with curiosity. Ha-ri looks overjoyed, and they reluctantly part in front of her home. As Yi-sang walks away, Ha-ri peeks around the corner to giddily watch him go. Ahh, she’s so excited, it’s so cute!
Over dinner, Vice President Joo asks Manager Kim about his opinion on promoting Ha-ri to the editor-in-chief role. Manager Kim thinks that despite Ha-ri’s poor reputation, she does her job extremely well. That’s not what Vice President Joo wants to hear, and Manager Kim quickly defers to his superior on the issue.
Vice President Joo says that he plans to hire externally and seek out someone with skills in marketing content. Manager Kim’s ears perk up at the implication to his department, and Vice President Joo throws even more bait by mentioning that someone will need to take responsibility for their declining marketing performance.
Ha-ri wakes up with the happy memory of her kiss with Yi-sang and dances her way to the bathroom. Finding Jae-young’s boxers in her laundry hamper spoils her mood, and she bickers with Jae-young as they leave for work. Ha-ri chokes him with his necktie, and she lets go when Yi-sang greets her with a cup of coffee.
Ha-ri agrees to this and makes a pinky promise to keep their workplace romance a secret and date for as long as they can. When the part, we see that Ha-ri’s editing team was eavesdropping on their conversation the whole time from the balcony. LOL.
Yi-sang enters Jambi studio in high spirits and greets Soo-chul, who’s making coffee without his brace on. Yi-sang notices the brace on the table and throws it at Soo-chul as a test, and he confirms Soo-chul’s recovered wrist. Soo-chul apologizes nervously explains that he was just trying to get Yi-sang and Ha-ri together, not trying to get out of work. Yi-sang stoically approaches him and gives him a bear hug.
Breaking into a smile, Yi-sang says that he’s dedicated to working with Soo-chul. Curious about the relationship, Soo-chul asks about Yi-sang’s commitment to the bachelor life, and Yi-sang says that Ha-ri has a commitment against marriage. They’re both loosening their commitments, but when Soo-chul asks about having children, Yi-sangs look more serious. “We’ll have to hope for a miracle,” he says.
Jae-young thinks back to Yi-sang and Ha-ri’s suspicious interaction that morning and calls Ha-ri to demand her presence at Do-ah’s 1st birthday photoshoot. He then asks her out in the most Jae-young way possible by yelling that she promised to eat dinner and watch a movie with him. Ha-ri scoffs at his tantrum, and Jae-young immediately regrets his childish outburst.
Yeon-ho catches Ha-ri in the hallway and loudly confronts her about her relationship with Yi-sang. Shushing her team, Ha-ri ushers them into a meeting room and asks what they saw. They tease her about what they could have seen, and Ha-ri asks them to keep the rumors at bay, since she already has a poor reputation. They promise to keep the secret and warns Ha-ri to be careful.
Then, they ask about Ha-ri’s pregnancy project and wonder if her problem is now solved with Yi-sang in her life. Ha-ri says that Yi-sang doesn’t like children, but her team convinces her that Yi-sang is probably already considering it, since the whole world knows about her pregnancy project. Ha-ri looks cautiously optimistic but says that she can’t bring it up on day 1 of dating after they’ve only kissed. The team screams in excitement over the kiss and celebrate Ha-ri’s relationship.
After suffering through a loud scolding from Vice President Joo, Manager Kim sheepishly returns to his desk and answers a call from his daughter. As he walks outside, he tells his daughter, who wants to go to London, that he can’t take the summer off from work. Soo-chul has a similar conversation with his partner, who wants to enroll their young child in flute lessons. They both end their conversations in front of the company saying the same things: “This is difficult. I’ll talk to you later.” They both acknowledge each other, and as they walk back to work, they agree to grab a drink afterwards.
Ha-ri and Yi-sang agree to meet in the stairwell and creep toward each other. They find that another workplace couple (So-yoon and her partner) having staked their claim to the stairwell, and So-yoon knowingly smiles as she announces that the spot is taken.
Hyo-joo finds Eu-tteum eating his packed lunch at his desk, and he explains that he’s saving up for the ring. She suggests that he go for a less expensive ring, but he wants to confess with the best. He shares that this is his first confession and that he’s never liked someone this much. He wants this person to like him and his confession, and he knows that he’s stupidly in love. Misguided Hyo-joo looks touched and insists that they go out for lunch together.
As Ha-ri eats ddukbokki, Yi-sang notes that anything they eat together is delicious. He affectionately wipes the sauce on Ha-ri’s lips and says that dating in secret has a fun thrill to it. Yi-sang wonders if it’s actually a secret, since all the reporters and Soo-chul know about them, but Ha-ri assures him that her team is loyal. He thinks that Ha-ri will make it too obvious, which I totally agree with.
Ha-ri notices that Yi-sang is addressing her less formally (dropping her surname), and he offers to call her by another nickname, “cutie.” Ha-ri responds by saying that she can’t handle the cuteness but then proceeds to be extra cute. Ahh, I need Jae-young to cringe with.
Hyo-joo informs Yi-sang about a retake, and when he hears that Ha-ri’s order, he happily agrees to do it. Hyo-joo can’t seem to adjust to their honeymoon phase of dating, and she shares some sobering insight — that Ha-ri’s goal is to get pregnant but she’s observing a slower pace in the relationship because she’s a shy romantic. That puts pressure on Yi-sang, and he broods about Ha-ri’s question to him: What if he meets someone he loves and has a child? Has he never wanted to be a father?
The editing team have a separate chat to discuss Ha-ri’s love life, and Ha-ri correctly interprets her colleagues’ simultaneous animated typing as them talking about her. They all stop typing, confirming Ha-ri’s suspicions. Then, they receive a notice from corporate about Ha-ri being appointed the acting editor-in-chief, instead of a promotion to editor-in-chief.
In response, Ha-ri meets privately with Manager Kim and demands that he share what he knows about the editor-in-chief appointment. Manager Kim tries to deny any insider knowledge, but Ha-ri knows that the men in this company meet up separately and suspects that Vice President Joo publicized this notice without considering Ha-ri’s opposition because Manager Kim provided his consent.
Manager Kim acknowledges Ha-ri’s perceptiveness, and Ha-ri owns her sharp mind and warns him about her temper. He finally shares that Vice President Joo is looking externally for an editor-in-chief with marketing content skills. Vice President Joo effectively threatened to dismiss Manager Kim if the marketing profits dipped, so even though he thinks that Ha-ri would be the best candidate, he couldn’t sacrifice his job.
They commiserate about the potential of finding a new job at their age and stage in their career, and Manager Kim apologizes that he can’t do anything to help her. Ha-ri receives a text from Yi-sang asking how she’s doing in response to this notice, and she tells him not to worry. She hints that she’s about to cause some trouble and says that she feels more confident with him by her side.
Yi-sang smiles at the response and returns to his leatherworking class, which Ha-ri’s mom is also attending. Noting that Yi-sang is taking on hobbies during the work day, Mom asks what Yi-sang does for work. Yi-sang explains that he’s a freelance photographer and shares that he started finding new hobbies because life felt meaningless.
Mom, who started picking up new hobbies that she never experienced in her youth, relates to this sentiment. When she learns that Yi-sang isn’t married, she offers to introduce him to a property heir (lol, is that how she describes Ha-ri?). Yi-sang laughs and says that he has a great and beautiful girlfriend, who he needs to woo since she’s a keeper. Mom laughs off her disappointment, though we know she’s in for a surprise.
Yi-sang runs to catch Mom and gives her a pain relief patch for her wrist. Mom looks touched by his considerate nature, and as he runs off, Mom comments that his girlfriend is lucky. This lucky girlfriend meets up with Yi-sang to vent about her resignation, and Yi-sang fully supports her. Ha-ri worries about her team preparing the next magazine, but she reminds herself that she won’t stand for this dishonor and disdain.
Then, Ha-ri goes back to worrying about whether she’ll be a good or bad example, concerned that she’ll actually get fired. Yi-sang continues to assure Ha-ri that she made the right decision and presents her with a keychain he made at the leatherworking class. The leather has the phrase “You’re right” inscribed, and that seems to comfort Ha-ri.
Distracted by Ha-ri’s relationship, Jae-young puts his stethoscope to a mother’s forehead instead of her child’s chest and even forgets to pick up Do-ah from daycare. When he arrives at daycare to pick her up, the teacher says that Ha-ri’s mother just picked her up, and Jae-young catches up to Mom.
Mom doesn’t mind picking up and taking care of Do-ah, but Jae-young feels bad for all the inconvenience he’s causing. Jae-young feels sorry for himself and guilty about his unfulfilled responsibilities, but Mom tells him to snap out of it. She warns him to screw his head on straight, or else, she won’t help him. Mom offers to take care of Do-ah and tells him to go back to work, and Jae-young sincerely thanks her.
As Ha-ri searches for items in the storage room, she feels an eerie presence behind her. Eu-tteum eagerly watches her from the shelves, and Ha-ri freaks out, thinking he’s an intruder. She throws toys at Eu-tteum until she realizes who it is, and Eu-tteum apologizes for alarming her. Ha-ri laughs that she doesn’t dislike Eu-tteum even though he causes trouble, and that gives Eu-tteum hope that she’ll like him if he does better.
Eu-tteum clumsily tries to distract Ha-ri so that he can gage her ring size, and Ha-ri ends up offering her hand for him to try out different circular storage items on her finger. He finally finds something that fits and looks overjoyed. Eu-tteum tells Ha-ri that he wouldn’t have offered his sperm to anyone and only offered to share with Ha-ri because it was her. Then, he rescinds his offer.
Jae-young angrily confronts Ha-ri at home about inviting Jung-won to Do-ah’s photoshoot, and Ha-ri says that she did it for Do-ah. She didn’t want Do-ah to look at that photo in the future and associate it with her mother abandoning her. Jae-young asks if Ha-ri wants him to get back together with Jung-won, and Ha-ri responds that it’s none of her business. But Jae-young gets in her business and says that he doesn’t want her to be with Yi-sang.
Their tense argument is interrupted by Eun-young, and Ha-ri brushes off the argument as their normal bickering, barely noticing Jae-young’s irritation. Eun-young updates them on her sister’s reaction to her brother-in-law’s cheating, which apparently was already a known but ignored fact in their relationship. Her sister blames Eun-young for forcing them to acknowledge it, and she doesn’t intend on getting a divorce, especially since they have kids.
Ha-ri and her editing team anxiously wait for their mom subscribers to return to the chatroom, and one by one, they all return. The team celebrates, and Vice President Joo stops by to congratulate Ha-ri. He summons her to a meeting with the president to finalize the decision, and he tells her, “Good job, Chief Editor Jang.” Ha-ri finally cracks a smile of relief, and her team excitedly celebrates the promotion.
After wrapping up work, Ha-ri meets with Yi-sang in high spirits. She says that she thought of him even more because she was having such a good day. Then, she says, “I need to tell you something. I love you.” Yi-sang tenses up, and he responds, “I love you, too.” They snuggle closer together and continue to be the cute couple they are.
The next morning, Mom asks Jae-young if he’s heard anything from Ha-ri, who didn’t come home last night. Jae-young asks Mom if she’s fine with Ha-ri being a single mom, and Mom admits that she wants Ha-ri to have a baby with a suitable partner, with the single mom route being an alternative. Jae-young asks if he should just live with Ha-ri and stick with her, as he’s done all along.