Okay, I am officially ready to throttle Tae-min at this point for his complete inability to treat Hyo-shim like a person with her own agency and preferences. He has this heart-to-heart with his dad about how he’s struggling because he and someone close to him like the same woman (which is totally moot since SHE DOESN’T LIKE YOU). They both agree Sook-hyang is the main problem with this romance (except it’s not – see above). For some inexplicable reason, Tae-min decides his best course of action is to keep on keeping on. So after finding out that Tae-ho joined in on Hyo-shim’s work retreat, Tae-min shows up uninvited and practically forces Hyo-shim to hang out with him. (Dude, stoooop.)
While Hyo-shim looks uncomfortable whenever Tae-min approaches her, she has a very different reaction to Tae-ho. She seems lighter around him and smiles more easily, despite the constant calls from her mother demanding she come home for various ridiculous reasons. Tae-ho clocks how much Hyo-shim neglects herself in favor of taking care of everyone else, and he rightly encourages her to love herself more. That leads into a moment, and right as they lean in to kiss, her mom calls to ruin that too.
Meanwhile, things are hectic at the apartment. Incorrigible landlady Kkeut-soon secretly takes Ga-on to a singing contest behind Ga-on’s father’s back. They might’ve gotten away with it, but Ga-on does so well she ends up competing on TV and winning the whole contest, which her father sees. Maybe the monetary prize of 20 million won will soften the blow. Speaking of stressed-out fathers, we go out with a bang this week when Tae-min’s dad has some kind of medical emergency and collapses in his shoeshine shop right after a reporter visited… the same reporter who’s been asking questions about Tae-ho’s parents’ deaths.