REWATCH: Personal Taste - Ep 5 - Part 1 of 2

Hide and seek...feelings

The time on the clock is 8:00AM. It’s a familiar alarm clock. It’s from the first episode and it belongs to JinHo. It’s beeping. His hand slaps at the snooze button. A moment later, a smaller hand lands on his, also trying to find the snooze switch. JinHo’s eyes pop open. Next to him, GaeIn also opens her eyes. She’s lying next to him on his narrow bed with one leg draped over him. They both jolt upright. “Why are you in my room, JinHo-sshi?” she wonders sleepily. Since he’s gay, she’s just merely curious as to how they ended up sleeping next to one another. She’s not particularly upset. He’s momentarily shocked at their closeness but then at her non-reaction, he lets his own surprise go. He grabs his head as the hangover headache reminds him of how they ended up passed out in his room. “This is actually my room,” he corrects her. She frowns, “Why did you drag me into your room?” Again he corrects her, “You forced your way in here, don’t you remember?”

She considers…the previous night:  

She grabs his arm, “Will you make me…a woman?” He yanks it out of her grasp, blinking furiously, horrified at the thoughts that are popping into his head, “Do you even know what you’re asking!?” She really does not, or it isn’t what he’s thinking anyway. She puts her hand over her heart, “JinHo-sshi, I want to become...the kind of woman…who is really a woman…” He still can’t believe what has come out of her mouth, he demands in outrage, “I’m asking you if you even know what it means when a woman asks a man to make her a woman?” She continues to look at him woefully. He can’t believe how out of line she is, no matter how recklessly she’s used to living her life. He mutters bitingly, “It’s my fault for getting involved in the first place.” They are clearly not speaking the same language. It’s late at night, they are alone, drinking…and now this! He’s really upset because he can’t help but see her as a woman and here she is, asking him to “make her a woman.” He can’t move past the actual words to hear what she’s really asking, which is nothing more than a make-over. 

He stands up to leave but she grabs onto his leg in desperation. “JinHo-sshi! JinHo-sshi!” she begs, she doesn’t want him to go, she’s being completely serious. She’s sprawled on her belly in a drunken crawl, clinging onto his leg like he’s her lifeline from drowning. “I don’t want to hear that I’m not a woman ever again!” she wails. He snaps at her, “Do you think you’re behavior right now is that of a person who can be taken seriously!?” She frustrates him even more by arguing, “If anybody can understand my feelings, isn’t it you, JinHo-sshi? You who has been born a man but can’t live as one? Can’t you understand my heart, what it must have felt like to hear that I’m not really a woman?” There is too much misunderstanding and assumption on her part and his pity for her can’t compete with his irritation. He tells her to fix up her own life because it’s not his problem. 

She must have chased him into his room because next thing we know, they’ve entered the second round of drinks. They’ve simply relocated the party to his bedroom. He’s on his sixth can of beer and she’s working on soju bottle number two. He still can’t believe that she doesn’t know what it means to proposition a man to ‘make her a woman.’ Waving his can around and slurring his words, his eyes half-mast, he tells her, “You have to realize how ridiculous your request is, you know? This request from Park GaeIn to me, asking to make her a woman!” Her words are equally wobbly, “But…must there be sex in order for it to become love?” Waving his hands, JinHo drunkenly gives her a lesson on the birds and bees, “I want to hold this woman. Without this…kind of urge…do you really think a man can love a woman? Men have to want to touch and hold the woman he loves.” But GaeIn asks, confused, how would JinHo know about a man’s desire for a woman? The can of beer slips from his fingertips and he just stares at her with tired eyes. He shoves her soju bottle at her. “Just drink. You talk to much.” He’s glaring at her even when drunk. It’s an exasperated look that reads: what am I going to do with this woman?   

She explains to him brokenly, sleepily, that she wants to be the kind of woman that gets under a man’s skin, makes him worry about her, the kind of woman a man wouldn’t ever want to lose, with or without sex. A man would eventually fall in love with that kind of woman, wouldn’t he? She falls asleep sitting up. JinHo looks at her dozing face a long while. He just stares, his eyes shadowed and bothered. 

Back to present time:   

JinHo is now standing up. “How long are you planning to hang out on my bed?” he wants to know a she sits there, slouching and content. She exhales happily, “Thank you for everything, JinHo-sshi. I think you were sent to me from my mother to be my friend.” This makes him uncomfortable. “Just go out and wash up,” he orders. He adds, “It’s because you went around meeting men with crust like that stuck in your eyes that you got dumped in the first place.” She smiles at him, “So, I see you remember what you agreed to do last night.” He denies agreeing to anything, citing that he can’t remember anything after all the drinking. She plays JinHo’s own trump card and adorably chirps, “Oh! Then you probably don’t remember the other thing either! You told me I don’t have to pay back your lease money, that you’ll just move out!” He falls for it and exclaims, “Why this woman! When did I say—” He sees her smug smirk and he falls silent. 

“Let’s give it a go,” she says, “while you’re living here, let’s do our Project Make-Park-GaeIn-A-Woman!” His shoulders slump, “I only agreed to that because you crawled onto my bed and wouldn’t…” Hands on her hips, she chides him, “Really JinHo-sshi, you’re too much! Didn’t you tell me what you hate most in this world are liars?” He gives in, “Fine, fine! Let’s do it? Why not?” He doesn’t see how it’ll do any good, but he’s no match for her wide blinking eyes. She jumps at him and gives him a spontaneous embrace, “I really do think you’re a present sent to me from my mother!” He stiffens. There’s a bit of guilty panic in his face. It’s a sincere compliment but also the most upsetting kind of compliment for him to hear because it makes him feel horrible. Guilt surfacing, he shoves her away, a bit harder than intended and she goes flying. She lands on his bed. But she’s still all smiles. Oh, typical JinHo, she is likely thinking. Gruffly, he orders, “For godsakes, I told you to stop bugging me and go wash up already!” 

ChangYul has passed out on his own sofa, still dressed in yesterday’s snappy cornflower suit. Even in his sleep, he’s grimacing in misery. InHee comes out to find him face down and curdled there like a disheveled drunkard. “When did you get in? I told you to come back right away so we can finish our discussion.” It’s early but she’s already nagging, “Why can’t you follow my orders!?” When he ignores her, his head aching from too much drink, she starts to get louder. He slams the water he’s drinking on the counter and it splashes wildly. At his fit of temper, she orders, “Leave this house.” His own patience with InHee is worn pretty thin and he looks up with a sneer, “Why should I?” She can’t believe how petty he’s being, after all, she’s completely broke because she spent all her money with the intention of marrying a totally loaded heir of a successful architectural firm. 

“First of all,” ChangYul lists, “this house isn’t owned by you. Second, I’m not the one who called off the wedding.” She counters, “But you’re the one who made me want to!” He tosses back that it’s her fault he even dumped GaeIn. InHee angrily accuses him of trying to shovel all the blame onto her because she is the easy target, because she is such the bitch. Why can’t he just let her go, end it cleanly?  He has a splitting headache because he was pouring alcohol down his throat until the sun rose and begs to talk about it later after a shower, but she keeps going until he growls, “Because I don’t want to end it with you!” Thankfully they are interrupted by a phone call from one of his co-dependent mothers who is crying on the other end. InHee laughs in disgust, thinking probably, what a pansy. 

At Sangojae, the mood is vastly improved between GaeIn and JinHo. A freshly changed JinHo is declining instant coffee from his solicitous roommate who has made it for him in an effort to be good to her newly recruited teacher. She hustles after him talking about basic training, “Don’t you think it would be a good idea to start today?” She’s referring to Project Make-Park-GaeIn-A-Woman. He does a once over at her outfit, especially her training pants decorated in big white stars. He snarks, “Exactly how many days have you been wearing those? I heard you even went out on dates wearing things like that, in sweats and slippers.” His pinched expression conveys how distasteful that is, how unfeminine. “What kind of man in this world could possibly see that kind of a woman as attractive?” It’s not a question requiring an answer, but she tries to defend herself anyway, “What’s so wrong about thinking that taking time to primp was a waste. I thought every minute was too precious to waste away from him! Is that so wrong?” His thoughtful expression tells us he actually thinks it’s a rather sweet sentiment, but he can’t say that to her, so he agrees, “Yes, it is wrong.”  

She doesn’t understand, how could her love and her good intentions be wrong? He spells it out for her, “A man won’t find a woman attractive if she doesn’t have any self-respect.” Basically, her lack of attention to her outward appearance tells the world that she thinks very little of herself. She frowns, she’d never thought of it that way. “Also,” he goes on, “making a man wait for you is part of the obligatory female charm.” She downs the instant coffee in her hands herself, all this implicit social contract-dating stuff completely foreign to her and overwhelming (as she’s never had a mother’s guidance or a decent friend who was willing to share dating secrets, namely InHee). “We must start right now,” she declares firmly. 

Project Make-Park-Gae-In-A-Woman commences! 

The drills begin. JinHo dumps a bucket of water on a table between them. Her head is tightly wrapped in her hoodie as she waits for his instructions. “Dunk your head in there,” he orders. The obvious question pops out of her mouth, “Why?” He informs her that the biggest obstacle in making her the kind of woman that makes a man yearn for her is her lack of ability to keep cool herself. She still doesn’t understand how it all connects to the bucket of water and her head getting dunked into it. “In your eagerness, because you’re so afraid of keeping him waiting, whether it be in your sweats or your underwear, you—” She quickly interrupts him, “I’ve never gone out in my underwear.” He purses his lips and shuts his eyes in irritation and hangs his head. She hangs her head too; of course, that isn’t his point. “Please continue,” she says meekly, contritely. He puts one hand on her shoulder and tells her that a woman should be at least ten minutes late to keep a man interested. She’s aghast, “I have to be late ten minutes!?” He grits through his teeth, “Work with me here, okay?” Again, she apologizes. He explains patiently, “By being late, you’re showing him that you are confident enough to know that he’ll still be there waiting no matter when you show up.” At her impressed noises at his insight, he can’t believe how dense she is, as he’s not even saying anything so marvelously novel.  

He tells her that Park GaeIn’s biggest problem is her bad habit of running full dash whenever her name is called and they must force that instinct out of her. She’s beginning to see his point but she still doesn’t understand why she has to dunk her head. JinHo says he can’t work with someone who questions his methods. He turns to leave. She gives in immediately, “I’ll just dunk then, ok? Dunk, dunk, dunk!” And she does. When it looks like she’s coming up for air, he presses his fingers into the nape of her neck. When she goes slack, he gets concerned. “GaeIn-sshi?” he asks. “Park GaeIn-sshi?” Before he can really worry, she falls to the floor gasping for breath. His immediate reaction is relief, but then snits at her about the poor 40 second effort. 

Since that didn’t turn out to be so effective, they try something else. He throws her into the garden shed and informs her that no matter what happens outside, she’s not allowed to come out for an hour. He sets up the scenario: “Right now, a man is outside waiting for you but for one hour, under no circumstances will you go outside. You understand?” From inside, she sees his shadow move away and quickly sticks her head out, “Um…may I have just two comic books…?” He pushes the door shut, forcing her back inside. “Are you going in there to have a good time!?” he barks.  

Inside the small, dark closet, she doesn’t know how she’s going to keep herself occupied for an hour. Sitting right outside, he’s doing some sketches of Sangojae. Once in a while, he throws out a few traps, such as, “Should we continue this after lunch?” She bursts out happily, “Should we?” He simply sits there and stares at her in annoyance. Right, another trick. She goes back in.  

He screams then hollers in fear, “WHAT’S THAT!?” She comes exploding out, “What? Where? What?” He narrows his eyes at her. She goes back in.  

When he finally opens the door to free her, she has slumped to the floor, looking glum and sad. When he sees her dejected face, his expression also becomes somber. He’s not really enjoying making her feel bad but this whole ‘project’ was her idea. She looks up and a winning smile lights up her face when she sees his face, “Time’s up?” 

Next, they try poise. He’s placed a line in the courtyard and she needs to walk it, but instead of elegant and graceful, she looks like she’s taking a sobriety test. With too much faith in her ability to walk without wiggling her ankles, JinHo places a glass cup on her head. A moment later, it goes crashing to ground. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I’ll—!” she exclaims and immediately sticks her fingers into the glass. JinHo is faster and slaps her efforts away. “This is exactly why your hands are always in the condition they are!” he snaps irritably, referring to the cuts he had seen days ago. He tells her to leave the glass to him and go fetch him some gloves. She takes a brief second to register that, the simple fact that he remembered something so trivial as a few scratches on her fingers and was concerned enough to bring it up again.  

She’s staring at him in awe, touched by his nonchalant and effortless goodness. When he realizes she’s gazing at him with a look of complete devotion, he frowns, “What are you doing? Why aren’t you going to get the rubber gloves, like I asked?” She smiles at him genuinely and it’s a look of pure happiness that is coming from within her heart. “JinHo-sshi,” she says to him, “let’s stay friends for a very long time.” He doesn’t quite know what brought that on, and while it’s nice to hear, it frightens him, it makes it complicated for him. 

Now the real challenge for GaeIn: food. Samgepsal, or uncured sides of pork, are grilling on a table-top grill. It’s sizzling in front of GaeIn’s face and she looks completely awestruck. She licks her lips, mouth watering. JinHo holds a long strand of bacon and starts cutting it into squares. She can’t resist anymore. She grabs her chopsticks and tries to snatch a piece but JinHo blocks her. He informs her that there’s nothing cute about a woman who stuffs her face in front of a man on a date. She has a different theory, “It doesn’t make sense to be picky with food in front of the man I love. What if he interprets my lack of appetite as, ‘eating with you makes me lose my appetite’?” JinHo doesn’t deny that there is a certain logic to her words. She takes that as go to dive in for the meat. He blocks her again and adds flatly, “Nothing cute about a woman obsessed over meat, either.” She’s horribly frustrated. There is delicious pork fat calling to her mouth but her coach won’t let her eat! 

Outside, SangJoon has just parked his car outside of Sangojae. He bumps into YoungSun at the entrance, who thinks it’s just so adorable that even working together every day, SangJoon still misses JinHo. She asks him if it makes him all hot and bothered and worried if he doesn’t see JinHo even for one day, to which SangJoon continues to smile and chuckle good-naturedly, but his voices pitches a little as he involuntarily says, “Huh?” 

Not knowing anything about The Project, the friends go inside to find GaeIn and JinHo looking chummy and grilling meat in the courtyard. GaeIn wonders why the two friends have come. YoungSun says her son went off with his dad to the playground so she took the opportunity to escape domestic life for a bit. As for him, SangJoon explains, “With such a large project on the line, I thought it was weird that JinHo didn’t come into the office so I came by to see what was up.”  

SangJoon hijacks JinHo’s chopsticks and grabs a piece of grilling meat. JinHo scolds him for being so unsanitary and says he will go get SangJoon his own pair of chopsticks from the kitchen. YoungSun, ever the liberal, poo-poos JinHo’s prudishness, “No need to be so shy between the two of you, it’s not like you haven’t shared more than just chopsticks with each other.” JinHo immediately rolls his eyes, Here we go again. But SangJoon, still smiling politely, looks from JinHo’s annoyed face to YoungSun’s expectant one and noises, “Huh?” In fact, YoungSun even insists they be as lovey-dovey as possible because she understands their situation and approves. “Feed each other lettuce wraps and stuff like that. Do it all!” she urges. JinHo is glaring again. If looks could set fire…sensing JinHo’s growing irritation, GaeIn wants YoungSun cut it out: “Please stop it. JinHo-sshi doesn’t like that kind of stuff.”  

GaeIn has a newfound appreciation for JinHo’s boundaries, especially since he’s her new best bud. YoungSun, however, doesn’t get what the big deal is. For someone who only days earlier had lectured GaeIn about staying on JinHo’s good side, she’s surprisingly dense in this situation to his growing discontent. “What’s not to like? All I’m saying is lovers should comfortably share their food, what’s so upsetting about that?” YoungSun goes on to say that both she and GaeIn know the truth about them and she has many gay friends, so it’s all good. SangJoon is nodding along blankly when it dawns on him…his face contorts, “HUH?”  

Seeing the shock on the faces of both men, GaeIn yells at her friend, “Hey, YoungSun, didn’t I already tell you to knock it off!? I told you JinHo-sshi really hates the word gay being brought out!” JinHo drops his chopsticks and it clatters to the table, the only noise amidst everyone’s stunned silence. 

In the privacy of JinHo’s bedroom, SangJoon’s trying to add it up. “So those women out there think you’re gay?” JinHo has his head in his hands. He murmurs, “Not just me, but you, too.” SangJoon’s own hands cover his face. “Sorry about this,” JinHo says. But SangJoon has a better sense of humor about these things. He thinks this is a necessary artifice and actually makes a great deal sense. If he wasn’t gay, JinHo wouldn’t be able to live in a single woman’s house alone with her. He says he’ll take one for the team, too, and adopt the role of JinHo’s boyfriend. He’s actually far more excited than he should be about the playacting. JinHo tells him that not getting involved will be the most helpful, but SangJoon is having none of that. They need to really do this right. “From this moment on, JinHo, I’m not your hyung, I’m your lover.” JinHo doesn’t like that, “What do you think you’re doing?” SangJoon’s already practicing his character and starts to gesture with an upraised, fluttering hand. JinHo explodes, “Are you INSANE!?” JinHo throws SangJoon out of his room. 

SangJoon pounds on the door, “Honey! Honey! We need to talk some more!” The women are huddled nearby, worried and anxious about the rift they’ve caused between the couple. SangJoon plays it up. “Oh, my honey is just too cruel!” he croons in a tearful voice then hop-skips out of the house, flailing his arms. 

No one finds the situation very funny…except SANGJOON, who is outside having a giggling fit at his own brilliant acting. “Whaaa…this is crazy,” he laughs in delight. He likes this sort of thing, as he also hadYoungSun comes out after him, he goes back to crying. “It’s upsetting, isn’t it?” she says sympathetically. He agrees, “Of course it’s upsetting! He always so embarrassed to show other people that we have a romantic relationship.” SangJoon hams it up and YoungSun consoles him, “Let it all out! I’m here for you!” He looks at her, hand on chin, and inquires, “Can I call you unnie from now on?” Which, of course, in Korea is a form of address between two women. 

In a more sober setting, at a fitness center, Director Choi is having a run on the treadmill. ChangYul settles in on the machine next to him and attempts to start a conversation. “You’re Director Choi, aren’t you?” But the other man doesn’t hear, he’s listening to music and focused on his workout. When he’s done, ChangYul scrambles off his own machine and tries again, “You’re Director Choi from Dam Art Gallery, aren’t you?” After polite introductions, he says cheesily, “It’s feels like fate to meet you here like this.” It’s so obvious what ChangYul is doing that it’s an amazing feat when Director Choi doesn’t roll his eyes. “Yes, well, please continue your work out,” he says diplomatically and tries to leave, but ChangYul’s not going to let him off that easy.  

The Mirae Construction heir wants to clear the air about the wedding disaster and any misunderstandings still lingering because of it. He doesn’t know what InHee has said about him to her boss but…Director Choi interrupts to say that while Park InHee is someone he regards highly, he doesn’t meddle in her personal affairs. ChangYul is impressed and thankful that Director Choi is such a progressive thinker and won’t let petty things like a botched wedding affect his opinion of ChangYul. But it’s not that simple. Director Choi does, however, postulate, “People who lead messy personal lives also have a similar work ethic. I hope that’s not the case with you, Mr. Han ChangYul.” Director Choi may not have an unfavorable opinion of ChangYul, as he will judge people on their merits, but it certainly isn’t a favorable one either. 

When GaeIn fearfully opens JinHo’s bedroom door, he bites out, “How many times do I have to repeat myself about not bringing that gay thing up!?” He’s not looking at her but staring at the space above his computer screen. She quickly falls to the floor and raises her arms above her head, taking it upon herself to accept punishment. “I made a mistake,” she says. He turns around to see her on the ground, arms up. “Did you forget our contract? The agreement said that if you ever did this again, you’d do whatever I ordered.” She offers a meager defense of her actions, but he stone-colds her out with silence. 

When her phone starts to chirp, she asks very softly, “Would it be okay…if I put my hands down?” He retorts, “Did I even order you to put it up?” She points to her phone in her pocked with an index finger. She hedges, “It might be an important text message…” He sighs. “Answer it. But this is the LAST TIME I will forgive you!” he warns.

Reading the text message, she cheers for herself, “Yes!” She shuffles on her knees toward JinHo, who is busy tapping away on his laptop. “I scored a job interview tomorrow! With your help, JinHo-sshi, I know I can get it! You’re going to help me, right? What should I wear?” He replies, “What do you think you did to even deserve my help?” Her arms shoot back up. She says she will repent “until I cry with tears.” Her eyes are shut tight. When she peeks out of them one by one, she catches JinHo trying to stifle a grin. She smiles back, happy at seeing his failed effort to stay mad at her. He’s just a big softie. She goes in for the kill. Reaching up to touch his cheek, she murmurs in reverence, “Wow, you’re skin is no joke!” 

In the kitchen, JinHo is mixing something in a bowl with GaeIn assisting. “Honey,” he orders. “Milk. Egg yolk. Green tea.” She obeys every order. She sticks a pinky into the mixture and puts it in her mouth, “Oooh, tasty! Tasty!” He tsks her but she whines that she didn’t even get to eat the pork during lunch so she’s starving. “Would you rather just eat this and forget about your complexion then?” She says no.  

JinHo finds himself lying next to her on the ground, a little pillow tucked under his head and a green facial mask slathered onto his face. He mutters, “Really, I can’t believe I’m doing this...” She doesn’t move but her eyes swivel toward him, “We couldn’t eat the leftovers…and it’s too wasteful to throw it away…” So naturally they had to use up the rest on his face for the sake of thriftiness. 

He points out, “You ate it just fine when we were mixing it!” She shhhs him, “You’ll get wrinkles. Besides, your boyfriend will appreciate your efforts, too.” Ugh. Now, he’s almost used to her references to his sexuality. He turns on his side, facing away from her. When a woman is able to coerce a man into doing ridiculous things, such as a facial, it is the beginning of the end. A professed expert at co-ed relationships, he should have already realized the nature of his behavior, but while JinHo seems to excel at doling out advice, he isn’t quite ready to apply it to himself. He is still attributing his indulgence with GaeIn as mere charity. 

When his phone rings and he sees the caller, he picks up. “JangMi-sshi,” he answers. GaeIn’s ears perk up at the female name and his tone. “At this late hour—a female caller!?” She grabs his arm, he shrugs it off. His mother is on the other line, also having a facial (with HyeMi). She’s depressed that her son didn’t come home even when it’s Sunday. JinHo apologizes for being too busy with work to make time. GaeIn has now scooted over and is lying on his shoulder, trying to press her ear against the backside of his phone. “Is it a woman? A woman?” He shoves her away again, more roughly. 

“Is someone next to you, son?” his mother asks. “No,” he replies,“it must be a dog next door.” The mother wonders, “Why does the dog sound like a person?” HyeMi chimes in next to her, “These days, there are dogs that spend so much time with their owners that they think they are people, too!” JinHo’s mother tries to laugh but it comes out as a stiff “hohohohohoh” due to her tight facial mask. “That is so interesting,” she manages to squeeze out. 

GaeIn is still listening to his side of the exchange and she’s getting frustrated. “You shouldn’t act so friendly with women! It’s not right!” She pokes her finger into his chest accusingly. Again, he shrugs her off. His mother understands he’s busy but she’s very sad she didn’t get to see him. He says, “I’ll make it up to you later for making you sad today. I promise.” GaeIn can’t believe his audacity, “You can’t make promises like that!” JinHo’s mother’s voice gets louder, “Why is the next door neighbor’s dog so noisy!? You might have to move out of there!” When he gets off the phone, GaeIn can’t believe he has the nerve to flirt with a woman that way when he only likes men. 

She accosts him outside the bathroom when he’s done washing his face. “How can you be like that with women?” She tells him he needs to be more cold and aloof with women if he can’t return their love. “I do love her,” he says simply. This floors GaeIn. “Are you bisexual!?” she gasps. He is exasperated, “She’s my mother, okay?” GaeIn is surprised that he calls his mother by her first name. He tells her he addresses her that way because she enjoys it.   

GaeIn thinks it’s lovely that he can do that with his mother. Her smile turns downward as she grows envious of his relationship a mother. “That’s so great…to even have a mother…who likes it when JinHo-sshi calls her by her name.” She speculates that if her mother was still alive, she too would like to call her mother by her first name. EunYoung, she murmurs, letting the name roll off her tongue. 

“When did she pass away?” JinHo asks. When she was five, she answers, but it’s weird, GaeIn explains, “At five years old, I should be able to remember something about her, but I can’t remember a single thing. I only know her face because of pictures.” He tosses out as a joke, “You must be dumb.” But she agrees immediately, “I think you’re right.” That’s not what he expected. “I was just…talking to talk,” he tells her, a bit apologetically. “No, you’re right, I am dumb. That’s also probably why I can’t seem to do anything right.” 

Okay, that is definitely not what he meant. He tells her gently, “Don’t you think for a five year old child, something like that was so traumatic that subconsciously, a child would try to forget those memories in order to protect oneself?” He gives her a half-smile, “Maybe it was like that for Park Gae-In-sshi, too.” She lets his words sink in. With a comforted smile, she rests her head on his shoulder. “I haven’t told you yet, have I?” He looks down at her. “For moving into this house, I would like to warmly welcome you in.” She sighs happily as they both know she’s really thanking him for moving into her life. He looks away, both unhappy and happy to hear the sentiment.

(Part 2 coming soon; I had to divide it...for some reason, this episode felt packed with a LOT more content!)