The more our heroine lets in her dangerous suitor, the more she falls for him. As they settle into their unconventional relationship, our heroine is torn between their secret nights together, and the part of her heart that still doesn’t trust him.
EPISODE 4 WEECAP
Episode 4 opens with the morning after (or more accurately, the morning of), and we have two very different scenarios. In the first, Jae-un gets up for school, tells Na-bi he’s going out for breakfast alone, and that he’s interested in still seeing her. His non-committal language (and attitude) is not lost on Na-bi, who realizes quite rightly that he doesn’t want to date her.
In our second morning after scenario, we have something quite different. Bit-na and Kyu-hyun have also slept together, and she’s horrified with herself. She tells Kyu-hyun it’s because they were drunk, and it doesn’t change anything between them. But that doesn’t work for Kyu-hyun. He barrels into the restaurant where she’s also having a solo breakfast. He tells her quite plainly: he wasn’t drunk, it wasn’t a mistake, things have changed between them — and he wants to date her.
Which scenario do you prefer? I’m squarely with team Kyu-hyun here. Although I’m pretty sure he’s too good for Bit-na, he likes her, wants a relationship with her, and is honest and communicative. Contrast that to Jae-un, and Na-bi’s constant, agonizing state of limbo.
I continue to feel deeply for Na-bi, while at the same time wishing she would pull the plug on this relationship — I don’t know how many more dark metaphors, moments of foreshadowing, and outright comparisons to Jae-un torturing the things he likes that I can take. It’s gonna get ugly, folks.
But before that, it gets cute. Well, as cute as a couple can be that sleeps together regularly with no strings attached, and with no real commitment, communication, or even emotional bond.
The limits, so to speak, of their relationship do start to wear Na-bi down after a while. She not only notices but starts to point out that Jae-un never really talks about himself, and that for all the intimate moments the two share, they never seem to get any closer. To me, that sounds like hell on earth, and I’m amazed that Na-bi lasts as long as she does, because she clearly wants more. He holds her tightly in bed as if he loves her, but in every instance, Na-bi looks like she has some lingering worries that she can’t quite shake.
This dynamic is best shown by the events on her birthday. Though Na-bi had had plans with Jae-un, she decides to spend the day with her mother instead. We haven’t seen much of her, or heard much about her family life, and — well — her mother leaves much to be desired. Na-bi leaves after they get into an argument, and she finds herself running into Jae-un at the subway station, completely by accident.
As ever, the two wind up back at her place having sex — but again, Na-bi is left with this lingering uneasiness. Jae-un promised to make her seaweed soup, but never got around to it. When he gets an important call from his “friend” Seol-ah, he ditches Na-bi for the rest of the night.
And then we hit the new layer of the story: Na-bi’s childhood friend YANG DO-HYUK (Chae Jong-hyeop, of chocolate abs and Sisyphus fame). This boy is like a literal breath of fresh air. Goodbye toxic Jae-un! May I introduce this smiley, sweet, noodle-making chef instead?
Na-bi and Do-hyuk meet by happenstance on the bus one evening, and it’s an adorable scene of recognition. It’s been about ten years since they saw each other, and they’re both delighted to reconnect. Do-hyuk gets her number, spills his bag of potatoes all over the bus, and winds up walking Na-bi home under his umbrella.
It doesn’t take much to see that Do-hyuk had — and now has — a mega crush on her. He’s all smiles and cuteness around her, he remembers things about her life, and when they meet up on the night of her birthday, he makes her homemade seaweed soup and chocolate cake.
I’m digging Do-hyuk’s appearance in this drama — because finally, a character I can like! But at the same time, my trust in this drama is low. After what happened with the puppy dog hoobae last week, I suppose anything is possible with Do-hyuk. But until then, I’ll firmly transfer to the Do-hyuk ship, and will refuse to vacate.
I expect to see Na-bi starting to draw some parallels between the closed-off-ness of Jae-un (and allllll the gossip about his playboy ways that she overhears) and the genuineness of Do-hyuk. Maybe she even sees a little of it already, because by the end of the episode, she’s determined to break things off with Jae-un.
However, she doesn’t quite get to it. They’re meeting one night in the yard at school when a big dude pulls up and punches Jae-un right in the face. I’m betting this is an angry oppa defending the honor of a girl Jae-un wrecked, but I suppose I could be wrong. But if I’m right, maybe this will be enough to get Na-bi to call it off once and for all. She was pretty good at being firm with the return of her creepy ex #1, so I’m hopeful she’ll be able to tap into some inner strength and save herself from the wreckage that’s heading towards her, full steam ahead.