Despite their unspoken mutual feelings for each other, our mobster and his leading lady intend to cut ties and go their separate ways. Our deerlings are not happy with the current state of affairs and take matters into their own hands, but will their cockamamy plans to parent-trap our OTP into starting a relationship be successful? Or will they backfire spectacularly (and hilariously)?
EPISODES 9-10
After hearing Eun-ha tell Ji-hwan that she no longer wanted to seem him, I braced myself for the worst case scenario: a prolonged separation — for me, anything over fifteen minutes — in which our time is spent watching the less-appealing secondary leads try and wedge themselves between our OTP. Turns out, I should have trusted our writers — and our deerlings — because they somehow managed to make the little speedbump in our favorite couple’s relationship not only palatable but downright entertaining. (You know, despite our hearts aching for them to reconcile and be all gosh darn cute again.)
As unwelcome as Eun-ha and Ji-hwan’s temporary separation was, I will begrudgingly admit that it served a purpose and gave our characters the time and space they needed to figure out their priorities. For Eun-ha, her decision to vacate Ji-hwan’s house and put some physical and emotional distance between them was entirely out of self-preservation — and not, as I previously suspected, because Hyun-woo revealed Ji-hwan’s childhood name. Instead, Hyun-woo admitted that, although he’s not the Hyun-woo she’s looking for, he did locate her missing friend. And, if she wanted to meet him, he would tell her his identity.
Eun-ha, remembering Ji-hwan’s previous words that sometimes people do not want to revisit certain memories, declines Hyun-woo’s offer. She feels responsible for leading the bad man (Ji-hwan’s father or one of his henchmen?) to Hyun-woo, and she doesn’t want to intrude on his current happiness if her presence will remind him of an unhappier time. This same thought process is what has her choosing to leave Ji-hwan’s household. If Ji-hwan wants to put up a landlord/tenant wall between them, she will not try to climb over it. No, she will retreat and protect herself before she falls too deeply for a man who has clearly stated he’s not romantically interested in her.
Of course, we all know that’s a big fat lie. He’s head over heels in love with her, and he pushed her away in order to protect her because she will either be physically caught in the crossfire of his enemies’ machinations or be devastated if something ever happened to him. By pushing her away, he thinks he’s protecting her. The problem is, though, when he went and told Eun-ha that she was “just his tenant” he never thought she’d — well, you know — act like a tenant and move out. (cue: shocked Pikachu meme).
Ji-hwan outwardly accepts Eun-ha’s decision, but inside he’s just as distraught as his deerlings, who don’t like to see Mommy and Daddy fighting. Can you blame them, though? They’re rooting for our OTP as much as we are, and they’re here to get us through the temporary separation of our favorite pairing by making us laugh with their parent-trapping antics. We all know Ji-hwan just needs a little shove in the right direction, and that shove comes in the form of our deerlings tricking Ji-hwan into thinking Eun-ha is on a blind date with another man.
The masquerade successfully incites Ji-hwan’s jealousy, and if his judgment wasn’t so clouded, maybe he would have questioned the strangeness of Eun-ha having a blind date on the ground floor of his company’s building before going downstairs to spy on her “date” with one of his more extroverted and flirtatious employees (a.k.a. his complete opposite). Unfortunately, beyond stirring up Ji-hwan’s green-eyed monster, the deerlings’ plan backfires spectacularly. But, on the bright side, watching Ji-hwan wrestle with his jealousy and then get caught (once again) in a seemingly compromising position with Ye-na was priceless.
As amusing as the deerlings’s faux-matchmaking attempt was to watch, there really was no need for them to try to make Ji-hwan jealous because that’s Hyun-woo’s job as the second male lead. And you know what? Even though I’m firmly on Team Ji-hwan — who isn’t? — Hyun-woo earned some brownie points with me this week when he set aside his biases and did his own research into Ji-hwan’s background.
The more he learns about Ji-hwan from Eun-ha, the more willing he’s become to put on his critical thinking cap and explore the possibility that Ji-hwan is not a brutally violent thug. And, after meeting with another witness to the incident at the hotel ten years ago, Hyun-woo confirms that Ji-hwan is not only a good guy but the person responsible for his own father’s incarceration. Unfortunately, it’s Ji-hwan’s sense of justice that has painted a very large target on his back, and now that Ji-hwan’s father has been released from prison, there’s not one but two dangerous men aiming their knives at him.
Although Ji-hwan and Hyun-woo are in agreement that Eun-ha is safer if she stays out of Ji-hwan’s radius, it’s easier said than done, especially when she keeps getting into trouble on her own. Ji-hwan nearly loses his mind with worry trying to find her after she ticks off a group of teenage hoodlums and drops her phone, but he keeps that information to himself when Eun-ha asks him why he would call her twenty times when he thought she was in danger. Instead of revealing how scared he was, he puts his hands in his pockets and nonchalantly explains that he’s just a boy, standing in front of a girl, telling her that he’s only comfortable being alone and keeping everyone at arm’s length. (Oh, Ji-hwan.)
The thing about Ji-hwan that keeps Eun-ha in a constant state of confusion — and questioning whether she should move out or not — is that Ji-hwan’s actions are always at constant odds with his words. Ji-hwan may say he doesn’t like her, that she’s just a tenant, and that she’s free to sign a lease on a new apartment — even if said apartment is not as nice or as secure as the one he secretly leased for her — but his actions are screaming “I love you, and I would throw myself onto a bed of cacti before letting you suffer a single splinter!” But words are concrete, whereas actions can be misinterpreted. So, Eun-ha signs the lease on a new apartment, not bothering to wait until 11 o’clock out of some misguided hope that Ji-hwan might romantically show up and stop her before she can sign the paperwork.
But guess what? Ji-hwan was spurred into action. He was just too late — too late to prevent Eun-ha from signing her new lease, but right on time to witness Hyun-woo shoot his shot and confess his feelings to Eun-ha. She quickly releases her wrist from Hyun-woo’s grip when she spots Ji-hwan watching them — a sure sign of where her feelings are aligned — but Ji-hwan’s brain is too busy trying to figure a way out of this awkward situation to notice her instinctive reaction to his presence. Ultimately, Ji-hwan decides the best way to get Eun-ha away from Hyun-woo is to tell her she’s needed at home — because nothing says “I secretly want to confess my love for you” quite like telling a woman she should do housework. (*facepalm*)
Even though Ji-hwan has finally accepted his feelings and is ready to take a giant leap towards Eun-ha, he’s inexperienced and clearly needs some help. Enter: our deerlings. Their earlier failed attempt at parent-trapping hasn’t discouraged them from plotting a new matchmaking scheme. This time, they decide they need a change of scenery — and some mild-mannered kidnapping. They have it all planned out: force Eun-ha and Ji-hwan into a van and escort them for a nice little getaway in the mountains. Surely the woodsy atmosphere and isolated bonding time will show Ji-hwan and Eun-ha that they should all continue living under the same roof like one big happy family.
Almost immediately, their plan goes awry when they have to pivot and kidnap Mi-ho along with Eun-ha, causing the van ride to be extra tense because there’s now two awkward couples avoiding eye contact — not that anyone else is aware of the fact that Mi-ho and Il-young had a one-night stand. While Eun-ha gives Ji-hwan the cold shoulder and ignores his edible peace offerings, Mi-ho is more vocal about her displeasure — especially since she’s got a pregnancy test burning a hole in her pocket. Yeah, that’s right, Mi-ho’s period is late and certain food smells make her nauseous, but before she could read her pregnancy test and confirm her suspicion, she got kidnapped by her maybe baby daddy and his friends.
Spoiler alert: there are two lines, which means it’s positive. Personally, I’m not a fan of this turn of events — even if the positive COVID pregnancy test did result in what is, hands down, my favorite one-liner joke from this drama thus far. I just don’t find accidental pregnancies amusing or romantic, especially when the relationship status of the parents-to-be is as complicated and undefined as it is between Mi-ho and Il-young. Sure, we know that Il-young only said their one-night stand was a “mistake” because he assumed that was how Mi-ho felt, but I would have preferred our secondary couple sorted out their feelings before finding out they are going to be parents. As it is, Il-young inadvertently sees the pregnancy test before Mi-ho, and I fear he’s going to start pursuing Mi-ho “for the sake of the baby.” At this point, I’m hoping the pregnancy test was a false positive, but if not, my fingers are crossed that the writers find a way to deviate from the usual pitfalls of this particular trope.
After arriving at a mansion in the woods, Eun-ha decides to go for a walk and put a little distance between her and Ji-hwan. An hour later, when she hasn’t returned to the house, Ji-hwan grows increasingly worried, remembering the suspicious person he saw earlier outside his house. Panicked, he searches the nearby woods, frantically calling her name until he finally finds her. Eun-ha, completely unaware that she’s inadvertently stirred up a fuss, backs up when she sees Ji-hwan running at her. She then twists her ankle, and sends them both tumbling down a hill. Ji-hwan, always the dashing hero, cups her head and grabs her so that he takes the brunt of the fall.
In between gasping breaths, Ji-hwan confirms she’s all right, scolds her for wandering off on her own with a dead cell phone battery, admits he was worried about her, and confesses he likes her — wait!
Ji-hwan’s brain short circuits after the kiss, and every time he looks at Eun-ha, his eyes wander to her mouth, which reminds him of their kiss, and — beep, boop — his brain explodes. Unable to process these new feelings — emotional and physical — Ji-hwan develops an unfortunate habit of running away whenever he’s in close proximity to Eun-ha. Thankfully, now that Eun-ha has received a verbal confirmation that Ji-hwan reciprocates her feelings, she’s able to correctly interpret his awkward behavior as a sign that he’s smitten and not disinterested. Even better, she decides to exploit her newfound knowledge and send him adorable videos that she knows will turn him into a gooey, heart-eyed fool. (The best kind of fool.)
But, as happy as she is to start her romance with Ji-hwan, Eun-ha realizes that the time has come to officially tell Hyun-woo that she can’t reciprocate his feelings. Hyun-woo, smart man that he is, has already come to the conclusion that Eun-ha is going to reject him, but they go through the motions of having dinner, buying ice cream, and walking off the calories before finally addressing the elephant in the room. Hyun-woo’s disappointed, but — unlike his coworker, who has secretly kept her feelings for Hyun-woo a secret so she can remain a part of his life — he tells Eun-ha not to take his feelings too seriously. He assures her that he will get over her, and he encourages her to reach out if she ever needs help instead of worrying that things might be awkward between them. (Okay, Hyun-woo, here’s some more brownie points.)
Hyun-woo escorts Eun-ha home, and just as he’s reaching out to shake her hand goodbye, Ji-hwan swoops in and palm-blocks him. With Eun-ha’s hand firmly tucked in his, Ji-hwan glares at Hyun-woo and yells, “Let’s go, Baby!” at a decibel that clearly indicates the term of endearment is as foreign to him as the jealousy welling inside him. He then whisks Eun-ha up the stairs and into the front yard, where he gives her a kiss that says — clearer than any words his malfunctioning brain could cobble together — that he’s been thinking about her all day. (Me-ow)
And there it is, Beanies! We finally have a love confession and (a sober) kiss! This week might have started out a little slow due to Eun-ha and Ji-hwan’s brief separation — if you can call it that — but the payoff was worth it! I think this might be my favorite K-drama love confession scene of all time. Something about the combination of Ji-hwan’s concern and the way he just blurted out his feelings was absolutely endearing, but even better was the way he transformed after hearing his affection was mutual. Beanies, he’s smiling!