Sparks fly between our dating coach and publisher this week, and neither party can shrug it off as easily anymore. But what’s a love story without trials and tribulations and pesky exes waiting in the wings to shake them up?
EPISODES 9-10
This week, our breakup show is split into two major categories: a) misconception and b) the return of the exes. But first, we get a mini category which is the aftermath of last week’s spontaneous kiss. After the kiss, Bora and Soo-hyuk individually dig holes of embarrassment to fall into, although Bora’s hole is much deeper. I mean, Soo-hyuk is a master at hiding his feelings and Bora is the expressive one. So naturally, she takes the lead in downplaying the kiss.
“Kissing is used for emergency care.” Ma’am, you mean CPR? Lol. “Are we supposed to have a reason for kissing?” “Lip service is basically kissing, no?” *Insert forced laughter*
Bora’s overcompensation is a bit embarrassing to watch, but it makes for some funny moments. Like when she called Soo-hyuk out for using lip balm in front of her, and when she got all flustered after he leaned over to help her with the seatbelt. Lol. Bora is so cute.
Championing our first major category this week is Yoo-jung, the unwitting Agent of Misconception. Yoo-jung watches Bora fall into her hole of embarrassment and assumes that it stems from Bora’s usual drunken escapades in front of Soo-hyuk. So, like every good friend, Yoo-jung tries to smoothen things over with Soo-hyuk and claims that Bora made a “mistake.” Yoo-jung goes further to plead with Soo-hyuk to pretend that nothing happened, and Soo-hyuk interprets this to mean that that Bora thinks their kiss was a mistake. Ouch! Bora is ever so slightly disappointed when Soo-hyuk in turn calls their kiss a mistake, and to clear the air, she asks if he likes her. The answer is “No.”
On another occasion, Yoo-jung tells Bora about a conversation she had with Sang-jin where he brought up Soo-hyuk’s reluctance to work with Bora and publish her book. Of course this happened ages ago, but the ladies assume it’s a recent development. To Bora (who already assumes their kiss meant nothing to Soo-hyuk), this is a double blow to her ego. And she goes on a rant that starts with “Should I show him all my [seduction] techniques?” and ends with “Making a man like him fall for me is child’s play.” Unfortunately for the mistress of seduction, Soo-hyuk overhears them, and he’s not at all pleased to be so sexually objectified.
It turns out that our resident Agent of Misconception was also the one who introduced Sang-jin to his ex-wife, Soo-jin (although she had nothing to do with their divorce), and on a night out, all the elements in the misconception equation run into each other at a club. This is one of the funnier scenes this week that starts with Sang-jin’s attempt to pick up a lady — who turns out to be Bora — and ends with the very awkward congregation of Sang-jin and Bora with their individual club buddies: Soo-hyuk, Yoo-jung, Soo-jin and Bomi. Heh.
Soo-hyuk excuses himself from the awkwardness and Bora goes after him to apologize. Honesty and a few tears help to clear the misunderstanding between them, and they bury the hatchet. With this, Bora and Soo-hyuk’s relationship grows closer and now I can get behind a romance between them. There’s something cute about the way they flirt, their awkward giddiness around each other, and casual compliments that lead to blushing and overthinking in bed. Our Heartbreak Couple are finally giving off that catching feelings/newly-in-love vibe, and it’s nice to see them enjoy each other’s company without the shadows of their breakup tales and exes hovering around.
Unfortunately, the thing about some exes is that they won’t get back together with you, but they won’t let you move on in peace. Thus, we arrive at our second major category this week: the return of the exes.
There’s nothing the chicken-brained Ju-wan could do that’d surprise me anymore, and I barely raised a brow at his “Are you asleep?” text to Bora. Her initial use of Soo-hyuk to make Ju-wan jealous was clearly a success. But now there’s no scheming involved as Bora is genuinely interested in Soo-hyuk. Even if she wasn’t, she’s totally over Ju-wan now and I loved that she just ignored his message.
On the other hand, I was quite surprised by Soo-hyuk’s ex, YU-RI (Kim Ji-an). My first thought when she gave Bora her wedding invitation was, “Wow! How long has it been since she broke up with Soo-hyuk?” Yes, she started seeing someone else after the breakup. Still, isn’t this too early? But as it turns out, the new guy was already in the picture while Yu-ri was with Soo-hyuk and this means the story she sent in to Bora’s radio show was half truth.
It’s a form of deceit to string two men along while trying to decide on the better option, and as Bora said, Yu-ri should have directly asked which one to choose rather than act like there was only one man in the scenario. But quoting a flippant remark Bora once made, Yu-ri tells Bora that, “Relationships are meant to be petty and unfair,” and she loses whatever pity I felt for her. I understand wanting closure on a previous relationship before a lifetime commitment to another one, but Yu-ri’s demand to know if Soo-hyuk really loved her felt more like an attempt to massage her ego rather than to get closure.
But this doesn’t mean that I’m now team Soo-hyuk as regards to their breakup. For someone who spent several episodes down in the dumps and still can’t bear to throw out the things Yu-ri left at his place, Soo-hyuk’s inability to verbally express how he felt about Yu-ri was so frustrating to watch! And I wanted to smack him when he practically ditched Bora by the roadside after an “I’m in front of your place and I miss you” call from Yu-ri — which is where we wrap things up for the week.
If you google “lack of self-awareness,” I’m sure the men in this show will pop up as search results — from Soo-hyuk (who had better be headed to Yu-ri for a clean break) to Sang-jin (who thinks he and Soo-jin got a divorce solely because of his parents as opposed to the other marital problems they had). And as for Jin-woo, his self-awareness meter has never even moved past zero since the beginning of the show.
It’s quite annoying how the drama brought up passiveness and overfamiliarity in marriage — which is a great topic to address — but rather than properly address it, the issue is brushed over ever so casually like it’s no big deal. I had to pick my up eyes from the back of my head after rolling them at Jin-woo’s jealous outburst when he saw Sang-jin and Yoo-jung together at the club. Was that supposed to be romantic? Tsk.
With two weeks left in the show, I still don’t know how the drama plans to resolve all the complicated relationships it has set up. But I’m nothing if not optimistic, so fingers crossed for a logical and acceptable resolution.