Ji-hyung and Seo-yeon arrive bearin

Ji-hyung and Seo-yeon arrive bearing gifts, and despite Ji-hyung’s posturing about being strong enough to carry the heavy stuff on his own, they end up holding the monster fruit basket together, which is cute.

They laugh their way up the hill, as he says he’d rather carry her up the steps since her “kill heels” always worry him. In fact, he wants to get rid of all her heels once they’re married, and she balks until he offers to pay her back. Okay then, but he owes her double. He smiles at the memory, saying he’s glad she wore them to impress him, and she points out that he complained the whole time. Heh, well here’s a case where it really is the thought that counts.



Aunt accepts Ji-hyung’s bow happily, and gets tearful as she expresses her relief. She had been so worried for Seo-yeon’s future, and urges her to be happy.

Aunt’s joy and tears are touchingly sincere, and I wonder if it hadn’t hit Seo-yeon just how much her aunt loved her, and how hard it was to watch them maintain a respectful distance. She loves them like her own children, but Seo-yeon has always been so conscious of her pride and kept her relatives at arm’s distance lest she be considered a freeloader, paying for her keep and working for everything.



Myung-hee comes in with coffee and kills the mood (so what else is new?), sniping at Seo-yeon for keeping her relationship a secret for a year: “She made us all into fools!” Jae-min argues, “So what?” Myung-hee uses her mother as her excuse to complain, saying that Mom’s worked so hard trying to find Seo-yeon potential matches, and the whole fuss could’ve been avoided.

Myung-hee throws a few more veiled insults at Seo-yeon, then turns to leave with a totally insincere, “Anyway, congratulations.” I love Aunt for her response: She flies at Myung-hee and hits her in the back, screeching, “What kind of congratulations is that?” Haha.



But I suppose it’s not really a funny scene, because Mom has just taken her daughter to task in front of a guest, which is doubly humiliating for Myung-hee. Not that she doesn’t deserve the rebuke, because she has crossed the line so long ago she probably can’t even see it anymore, but it adds to her hurt feelings.

Myung-hee screams and sobs, saying Mom never took her side, and finally Dad raises his voice and tells them to cut it out. Dad leaves for work, the men see him out, and Aunt sits with Seo-yeon to apologize for the outburst. She assures her not to worry about the groom’s family, and encourages her to be happy with her husband.



Next it’s off to see Moon-kwon at his convenience store job. Who could’ve guessed that there’d be a scene in this drama that could double for a toothpaste commercial?

Meanwhile, while the three parents on Team Death To Ex-Groom golf together, Ji-hyung’s mother, aka the one with a heart, stays home. Hyang-gi comes by with homemade soup for her, hearing that she wasn’t feeling so well.

Hyang-gi and Ji-hyung’s mother go for a walk, and Hyang-gi confides that she finds it comfortable to be with her. She even prefers their house to her own, with her own demanding mother never being satisfied with her. Ji-hyung’s mother tells her it’s not that her mother dislikes Hyang-gi, but that she basically wants a mini-me. Now there’s a frightening thought. It brings to mind images of a tiny Lee Mi-sook running around creating havoc like an imp, shrieking at people and cutting random cords with tiny scissors, and maybe running them into your shins. Where’s that drama?



Hyang-gi asks about Ji-hyung, admitting that she’d like to call him, but doesn’t want to burden him. She sighs that she wishes he’d just text her once in a while, even if just to ask if she’s okay, but “He must have forgotten that I exist already.” Mom faces her with an Oh, honey look on her face and tells her it’s so she can get over him quickly.

It’s like Hyang-gi’s convinced herself that she doesn’t expect more, all while hoping for a miracle, or maybe a personality transplant. That he’ll wake up and realize he loves her after all. That’s clear in the way she clings to hope, and reminds Mom that he accepted the cookies she gave him. Ji-hyung’s mother has to remind her that she said he treated her like a sibling, and entreats, “Forget him. There’s no space for you in his heart. End it now. The most painful thing in the world is a once-sided love. Don’t do it.”



The words shake Hyang-gi, perhaps getting through to her in a way that nobody else’s words have. But maybe she needs another push, because Ji-hyung’s mother drops the big bomb, that Ji-hyung intends to marry. She doesn’t approve and his father is unaware, but there you have it. Mom offers to break the news to Hyang-gi’s mother while Hyang-gi cries and says, “My mother…will have a fit.” That’s the nice way of saying it.

Seo-yeon invites Ji-hyung in to her apartment and unpacks groceries while explaining to him how happy and comfortble she and Moon-kwon were to move here, to have their own home. Ji-hyung comes behind her to hug her, and she warns him that this isn’t the place for that, since her brother could come home at any minute. Ji-hyung tells her he wasn’t planning anything more than a hug, but she says that it’s because she wouldn’t want to stop with a mere hug. Rawr. That revs his motor, and he grabs her hand and asks, “Where’s your room? Is it that one? It’s that one, right?” Hehe.



She resumes with the groceries, cheerfully posting up her “Foods for Dementia” list and adds, “But for our lunch…” She stops short, then picks up that misplaced train of thought, “We ate already.” I like the matter-of-fact way Ji-hyung handles her lapse, adding, “At Aunt’s, with Jae-min.” It’s nice that the men in Seo-yeon’s life react to her illness with a conspicuous lack of hysteria — it’s refreshing. (Those dramatics, I fear, will be supplied enough by Aunt.)

She falters when looking for the green tea, forgetting which cabinet it’s in. She remembers at the last minute and pours herself a cup, but accidentally spills the scalding water on her hand. In a flash, Ji-hyung’s at her side, running her hand under cold water and preparing a cold compress, worried and just a wee bit overreacting. About halfway through this procedure, Seo-yeon calms and watches him fuss over her, and when he wants to take her to the hospital, she outright bursts into laughter. Her: “Are you going to be like this every time?” Him: “Are you going to pour hot water on your hand every day?”



She assures him she’s fine, although he’s not convinced, and she tells him out of the blue, “I’m going to kiss you. I want to.” She hugs him and says, “I love you. I’m sorry. Thank you. I want to say it while I think of it, and not push it till tomorrow. I might not think of it tomorrow. I love you, I’m sorry, thank you.”

It’s a bit emotional for him and he tells her not to talk this way, but she continues, “Even if I don’t say these words again and become dumb, be understanding. Even if I’m not me, my heart will remember you.”

Ji-hyung: “I was a coward. Because I was, I turned away from you. I’m sorry. Don’t forgive me — you don’t have to forgive me, Seo-yeon.”



Seo-yeon, Moon-kwon, and Ji-hyung sit down for dinner, and she tells her brother that they’ll all be moving soon, and that preparations are nearly complete. He protests, preferring to stay here and not get in the way of the newlyweds, but she appeals to his sensitive nature by teasing, “You’re not just saying that because you’re tired of me and want to foist me off on him, are you?”

Seo-yeon’s jokes are understandable and it’s refreshing that she’s so frank, even if it’s disguised as jest, especially after hiding her condition for so long. But it’s also a bit gut-twisting every time she says something darkly amusing and the men in her life look stricken. For instance, Ji-hyung praises her cooking by saying that smart people are often good cooks, and she says lightly, “Am I smart? Is that why my brain going to ruin, because it’s too smart?”



At Aunt’s, the family gathers around a cake and sing Dad happy birthday. Myung-hee’s husband stumbles in drunk and in a rage, shocking everyone by kicking things over. The normally affable husband orders his wife to pack their bags ’cause they’re moving out. Myung-hee thinks this is just drunk babble, but he announces that this is how he really feels, and he’s been holding it all in all this while.

Okay, this scene starts out serious but becomes comical because of everyone’s unfortunate tendency to mutter one last comment that ignites the flame just as it’s about to die out. Seriously, it’s a hoot. Turns out that Husband is upset that Mother-in-Law embarrassed Wife earlier and hit her, and in front of Cousin’s Bridegroom, at that. (That gets Myung-hee to stop arguing with him, at least.) It’s almost sweet how he declares that she can’t treat Myung-hee like that…until he adds that it’s because Wife is his (read: property, chattel, minion, what have you) to manage, not Mother-in-Law.



Mother-in-Law retorts that she’s Myung-hee’s mother, a never-changing condition, compared to a spousal relationship that can be dissolved. Plus, Myung-hee was rude enough to merit the discipline, as far as she’s concerned. Finally Father-in-Law intervenes, which you know means everybody’s crossed a zillion lines because he always tries to remain far out of the mother-daughter hysterics. And when Husband starts to argue with him, Myung-hee slaps him upside the head — he can argue with Mom, but not Dad, especially not in this condition.

Aunt tells Husband to sober up and then talk, then tosses out the backhanded insult about him not being brought up right, and that gets him right back in their faces, demanding, “Did you just insult my mother?” Oh lordy. You people.



Seo-yeon sees Ji-hyung out, the lovers reluctant to part ways.