Our penultimate week comes with secrets, betrayals, big reveals, and drama. But no worries, our show continues to be amazeballs with tons of fun sandwiched between generous helpings of romance.
EPISODES 9-10
Picking up from last week’s cliff, Hae-young and Ji-wook are about to kiss when Gyu-hyun barges in demanding to know if Ji-wook is the product of his father’s affair. It’s a first, seeing Gyu-hyun this angry, and I don’t think the birth secret upsets him as much as the betrayal from Ji-wook knowing about it and keeping it from him. It doesn’t matter that Ji-wook only found out recently. Gyu-hyun wants him — and Hae-young! — to leave Ggulbi. Ji-wook is worried that Hae-young will suffer because of him, but she reassures him that she’s on his side — and tells him to take over the company and overthrow Gyu-hyun. Pfft.
But before they can carry out their coup, our labor union leader and her husband are demoted and suspended respectively. Cue: Ji-wook announcing to Gyu-hyun that he’s divorced (so that Hae-young won’t suffer alongside), and the staff in the lobby conjuring a BL fantasy starring the brothers. LMAO! Gyu-hyun doesn’t buy the divorce, and he threatens Ji-wook to either permanently leave the country — per Madam Fangirl’s wishes — or drag everyone he cares about into his mess. Tsk. This Bok family and their threats. Why must everyone suffer because of the chairman’s affair? Honestly, cutting off his hair isn’t enough. Chairman Bok needs to strip down to his white inner-wear and bow on all fours for forgiveness — Joseon style. Even then, it’s still not enough.
Moving on, Gyu-hyun confesses his feelings to Ja-yeon. And while Ms. Writer is amazed that the enemies-to-lovers trope happens in real life, she tells him there can never be a happy ending for her. “Our story ends here,” she says, and this is why she isn’t the writer of this drama. Gyu-hyun is in the middle of asking her to give him a chance when Ha-joon walks in on them, and the secret is out. Oops! Ha-joon goes on to apologize to Ja-yeon for his hate comments and swears he will never do that to any other writer. He also thanks her for naming her male lead after him, and with this, we finally wrap up the hate comments arc. I hope.
A lightweight Gyu-hyun soon finds himself in front of Ja-yeon’s house drunk on some “please excuse me while I hug you” whiskey, and Hae-young and Ji-wook happen upon the scene. Cue: 1) Hae-young and Ji-wook hurriedly prying Gyu-hyun off Ja-yeon under the assumption that he’s an assailant; 2) their realization that he is Ja-yeon’s hater — who now likes her; 3) Hae-young’s attempt to hit him with a “how dare you like her?” umbrella; 4) Ja-yeon admitting the feeling is mutual; 5) Ji-wook accidentally getting hit instead. Pfft. So dramatic! Anyway, Gyu-hyun ends up sleeping over in Ji-wook’s room — and DNA doesn’t lie because they have the exact same sleeping habits!
Our lead quartet sit together for an hilariously awkward breakfast the next morning, and Gyu-hyun’s innocent small talk spirals into truth bombs: Ja-yeon plans to move out of the house, and Ji-wook plans to leave the country. Oops! In a makjang, Hae-young’s reaction to this news would have been to drool her orange juice back into her cup. But since we’re in a rom-COM, she kicks the Penthouse twins Ji-wook and Ja-yeon out of the house — to conclude their breakfast at Subway. Lol. And as for the parrot Gyu-hyun, she tells him to stay away from Ja-yeon — but we soon learn that this is not just because of his hate comments.
It turns out that ten years ago, Ja-yeon’s abusive father murdered Hae-young’s dad. Heol! Ja-yeon had to move to another foster home to hide from her sperm donor — before he ended up murdering Dad, and this explains why she wants to move out again now that he’s out on parole. Her ill-fated relationship with that murderer also explains why she thinks she’ll never have a happy ending. *Sniff* Hae-young has always — and will continue to — stick by Ja-yeon regardless of the incident, but she’s not confident that Gyu-hyun will do the same if he learns about Ja-yeon’s past. Hence, her warning for him to stay away. Fair enough.
Manager Jang calls Ji-wook out for some random horse riding/advising session — and essentially calls Ji-wook’s travel plans “an idiotic waste of time.” Lol. Jang tells Ji-wook not to allow other people dictate the course of his life, and that he’ll be happier following his heart rather than leaving because he doesn’t want to ruin his mom’s life or because he wants to “protect” Hae-young. Take that, noble idiocy! Manager Jang is a much better fatherly figure than the other fathers on this show — minus Hae-young’s dad, of course.
Hae-young pretends to be okay with Ji-wook’s impending departure — after all, she’s used to watching her foster siblings leave — but Ji-wook is more than a little disappointed that she also sees him as a temporary person in her life. For a minute there, I thought they’d drop the ball on communication after doing so well all this time, but the drama said not today! Waiter, I’ll have my communication steeped in Hae-young’s angsty outburst, Ji-wook’s “I love you,” their ferocious kisses and the resulting bed scene. Please and thank you. Gaahhh! I love this show a little too much.
Our secondary romance gives the first a run for its money when Ja-yeon asks to do some research at Ggulbi, and Gyu-hyun personally gives her a tour of the building. My man is so invested in the “research” to the point of acting out one of the scenes in her novel unprovoked, and Ms. Writer joins in the fun. Lol. I see we are setting the stage for their spin-off. Gyu-hyun and Ja-yeon rewrite the scene to include a kiss — kyaaa!! — and if I manifest hard enough, maybe October 3rd will arrive sooner.
Sadly, Gyu-hyun and Ja-yeon’s cute research date is cut short when they have to hide from Woo-jae and Yi-lin — who are clearly in this scene for drama’s sake. Because why else would two people who live in the same house choose to loudly confront each other in the office? At night! On a weekend! Tsk. Woo-jae brings up Hae-young’s dad’s murder, and Yi-lin mentions Ji-wook’s birth secret and its implication on Hae-young’s job. No thanks to the busybody couple, Ja-yeon snaps out of her fantasy and reiterates that a relationship with Gyu-hyun is impossible. Nooo!!
The week ends with Hae-young’s discovery that Ji-wook was her mom’s foster kid — and like Gyu-hyun, she’s more upset that Ji-wook kept it from her all the while. It is the ultimate betrayal after they both agreed not to keep secrets anymore, and she tells him to pack up and get lost. Oof! This is one painful cliffhanger. But the good news is that we have just a week left which means less time to drag out Hae-young and Ji-wook’s fallout.
The bad news is that we have just a week left to spend with what has been an amazing show so far. *Weeps in advance* In other news, Hee-sung is pregnant. The baby is most likely to be her main boyfriend’s — who is totally onboard with being the father regardless, and will also support her if she doesn’t want to keep the baby. It was sweet to see Mom congratulating Hee-sung when Hae-young and Ja-yeon’s default reaction was to worry. But their reaction is also valid considering that Hee-sung herself is conflicted about the whole thing. I hope she makes a decision that makes her happy. One last lap, Show, don’t fail us.