Our fairy tale is at its freaking end and I’m sad to see it go. As expected, our Cinderella story doesn’t turn out at all like our heroine once hoped — it turns out even better. With leads this likable and chemistry that sets off the sprinkler system, it’ll be tough to replace the joyride this drama has been.
EPISODES 9-10
Aw man. Now that our cutesy couple is finally for real I want to see even more of them. But I guess that’s the best place to end a story — right on that high note that has you grasping for more.
Last week we ended with our pair in front of a café, hugging on the sidewalk, after Cha-min had been re-united with his mother. Jae-rim was teaching him about allowing love in his life. When we meet them again this week, Cha-min decides to hear his mother out, and then come back to the sidewalk for more hugs. And right in that moment, without confessing or saying a word, our leads are in sync about their feelings.
Afterward, they have a chat over drinks and Jae-rim tells Cha-min about her childhood dream of being an artist. She gave up that dream to be a Cinderella, so now she can get all the love she didn’t have as a child. But Cha-min tells her that dreaming of Prince Charming doesn’t suit her — and he means that as a compliment. She doesn’t know herself too well, but he can see all the good things about her.
And just like that they fall into acting couple-y. When he takes her home, it’s all smiles and waves with neither wanting to leave the other behind. By the next day, she’s petting his hair and our Prince Cha-min has totally melted for her. Ah, their naturalness together is why I love this pairing, and having them gel with no conversation just feels so right.
Except, there’s a problem. When Cha-min tells Dan-ah that he has feelings for Jae-rim, Dan-ah vows to destroy Jae-rim’s family. He knows she means it and asks what he has to do to stop her. The answer? They have to get married. Worse, they have to do it at Chungdam Heaven, where Dan-ah parades Cha-min around and tells Jae-rim to prepare for the ceremony. And even though Cha-min looks like he’s being held hostage, Jae-rim is about to cry. She thinks whatever she and Cha-min had going on was all in her head.
Right then, Do-hong swoops in with a proposition. He’s going abroad for a film festival and he wants Jae-rim to quit her job and come with him. He sees it as the start of both their relationship and her career, and he’s sincere in his offer. Jae-rim considers it, but only to spite Cha-min, not because she’s enticed.
Meanwhile, Cha-min is going along with the wedding prep with Dan-ah but she wants more. She wants him to smile, pay attention to her, and actually care. That is, she wants a real relationship. And that’s not something he can do. He wants to end it. So finally, she breaks down crying to her father (and this is a woman who usually just screams and throws things), which propels her dad into action to avenge his rejected daughter.
He goes to Chungdam Heaven with his goons, trashes the place, and beats up Cha-min. And then, to add insult to injury, Cha-min’s own father basically says “I told you so” when he finds out what happened. That’s the breaks when you don’t steer clear of love, adeul. Oh and also, since Cha-min met with his mother, he’s cut off financially and Chungdam Heaven is closed. Poor Prince Cha-min is no longer a prince!
Our heroine has no knowledge of this yet and, after some soul searching, she decides that she wants to go out on a limb and confess her feelings to Cha-min. She’s realized that the secret of success is knowing your own worth. So, she marches to his apartment — but then can’t exactly blurt it out. Instead, she tells him about Do-hong’s offer.
Cha-min is distant and tells her to go with Do-hong. That was her dream, so she should do it. Jae-rim gets upset and accuses him of never being serious about her. She was sincere but he was just playing around. She starts to leave, but he grabs her arm, turns her around, and kisses her. Then he says, “This is what a player is.” Jae-rim slaps his face and walks out, crying when she gets outside. Oh, jeepers.
And of course by not communicating, these two silly kids who are really so in sync are totally misreading each other. Jae-rim feels like she can’t confess and make it seem sincere because Cha-min will think she’s just using him as a means to her Cinderella story. (But we know Cha-min is not thinking that.) And Cha-min is telling Jae-rim to go with Do-hong since he has nothing to offer her now and can’t make her a Cinderella. (But we also know Jae-rim doesn’t really care about that — she just wants Cha-min!)
But all this separation anxiety forces our heroine into a deeper state of self-reflection. She feels inherently unlovable and realizes it’s because her mother walked out on her when she was very little. She’s crying her heart out on her bedroom floor when a package arrives from Cha-min. It’s a drawing she made as a kid (he found it at her old house that one freezing night) and it shows a princess riding a horse and waving a flag (perhaps into battle?).
With it there’s a note that reads: “I was being earnest when I said you were no Cinderella. A warrior suits you better than a Cinderella. A brave warrior who can go wherever she wants. You must have known as a kid that you were much cooler and stronger than you thought.”
Now Jae-rim is crying even harder and it dawns on her that the real reason she couldn’t confess to Cha-min is because she didn’t feel worthy. “The truth is, I was in pain because I couldn’t love myself.” And then the narrator chimes in with more of the drama’s words of wisdom: “In the end, the only forever Prince Charming of your life is yourself.”
Afterward, Jae-rim decides to follow her heart. She graciously declines Do-hong’s offer and starts thinking about how to find a job as an artist. When she finds out that Cha-min was disowned, she feels worried about him but tries to put him out of her mind. It doesn’t work, though, and she misses like crazy.
One night, she returns to Chungdam Heaven to check out the damage and finds Cha-min there. She’s still angry but also grateful to him for helping her learn to value herself. She tells him that she likes him. Her heart melts when she’s with him. And she doesn’t care that he’s poor — she is too! And so, if he’s okay with that, they can live their life to the fullest together.
After some kissing, he pulls out a ring that he bought before he went bust. He was planning to become her ideal Prince Charming again and propose. But she says he’s better than Prince Charming. And anyway, she’s going to be warrior-like and get what she wants.
Then she takes him home for the night, where he’s introduced to her step-mom and step-sisters who are stunned by his good looks (one sis goes, “what is that?” Lol). Anyway, her step-mom is no prude and she drags her daughters to the other room while throwing a wink at Jae-rim who winks back. Haha.
So our pair sleeps on the living room floor together, kissing each other’s cheeks in succession and being their adorable, joking selves. It’s the moment I’ve been waiting for because I love how they tease each other, but now, their little flirty comments are aimed in a nice (and honest) way, instead of all that bravado from before.
And from there, things start working out. Cha-min gets his parents back together, making his dad so happy that he wants Cha-min to take over the family business. And Jae-rim gets a job drawing animations (based on her work with Do-hong). Six months later, she’s a career woman. She works from home, draws all day, and has Cha-min to bring her coffee and give her massages.
On a mid-day break, they flirt, hold hands, and are as natural and fun as ever — until he carries her to the bed and the narrator tells us that they’re doing something very different than the reason Jae-rim rented this studio. (Is it wrong?) Then we end with the message that “You are the main character of your life.” It’s up to you to create your own story.
Wow, I freaking loved this show. From start to finish, I adored the leads, the humor, the tone, the simple take on a modern fairy tale, and all its messages about romantic love and self-love. It was clear from early on that our Cinderella girl was going to stand on her own at the end, but that didn’t diminish how gratifying it was to watch it play out. Like any good fairy tale it was full of tiny takeaways that hint at a larger truth, but I just loved how they were boxed up and served in such a simple drama.
In fact, maybe it was because it was simple that the messages came across so clearly. Jae-rim’s insecurity and sense of not being good enough was really well rooted. We saw how her impoverished upbringing affected her self-worth, but also how being abandoned by her mom gave her a perpetual sense of not belonging — even when her step-mom really tried to include her. And that was another thing I ended up loving about the story: the development of the family. The step-mom was kind and cool and the sisters always tried to protect each other. With such a shaky start, I was surprised how moving it was to watch the bond tighten between these four women by the end.
But really, the writing (coupled with the way the leads carried it off) deserves so much recognition here. It was refreshing to see an OTP that really, truly felt like equals. They just talk to each other at the same level all the time. Not only does Cha-min not talk down to Jae-rim as someone with more money than her, but he’s also not patronizing as a man. And she’s not demure! They wink, flirt, and like each other openly and that’s the whole story. And the tone was both candid and normalizing of all the sexiness between them, which made the whole thing work.
Well, all that is to say: I was dreaming of a freaking K-drama to love, and I think I found my happily ever after.