Even though Yo is determined to resist Ryusei, she finds him exciting and is falling for his methods. He says he’s changed. Can it work this time?
In the last episode Ren had run up to Yo’s house just in time to see Ryusei hug her. Of course Ren walks away, completely missing the part where Yo turns her head away so Ryusei can’t kiss her and tells him to go home.
Yo’s mom comes out and is shocked to see Ryusei there. Yo sends him away and hustles her mom back in. Meantime, Ren drops his bouquet in the trash bin down the street and goes home to collapse on the sofa.
The next morning he wakes up sick. His mom has gone outside and found the gerbera daisies and rescued them, putting them in a big vase where everyone can enjoy them.
At work, Maki sees Ren with a face-mask and apologizes for getting him sick. She goes to Yo’s store to tell her Ren is sick and finds out that Yo doesn’t know they broke up. She almost tells Yo something about Ren, but just says to go visit him, and walks out.
Ren is sitting staring dully at the flowers and thinking about the night before, when Yo shows up at the door. If you think she is going to send him to bed and put wet cloths on his forehead you are right. But she also brings a menthol ointment to rub around his neck and under the edge of his shirt. That goes well! She doesn’t even feel uncomfortable until she notices his look.
She makes wonton soup instead of porridge and takes one of the flowers to put in Ren’s room. She tells him these are her favorites, but we all think Ren knew that already. “It’s too bad it was thrown away,” she says, “but when you take care of it properly it revives.” Hmm…what else is going to revive around here?
When Yo goes home her family questions her about the ex-ex-boyfriend coming back. He brother Gaku is very against him. He calls Ryusei a tick because he sucks people’s blood! Yo changes Ryusei’s name in her phone from “trash guy” to “tick.” Haha! But she is a little bothered when he doesn’t call for a few days.
Yo goes to visit Ren again and he is feeling better. He tells her he was asked to go to Shanghai but turned it down. To her that is a bad decision and she asks why. “You told me to take responsibility,” he answers. She says it was a joke and adds, “are you going to marry me or something?” He answers “Yes, I’ll marry you.” She thinks he said that because he broke up with Maki and storms out.
She gets a phone call from “tick.” He says he’s been to Hong Kong and asks her what kind of shampoo she uses, because he misses that smell. Then he adds he’s not looking for shampoo anymore because he has something better. She sees him outside at the end of the street. “Don’t come,” she thinks.
What happens next would be the perfect end to most dramas. He hugs her and smells her hair, and asks if she missed him. “He’s still the worst,” she thinks, but what she says out loud is, “You said we’d be together forever. Don’t disappear so suddenly.” He kisses her and kisses her again, and sucks her lip. It lasts for a whole minute. “There are some things you can’t resist,” she thinks.
The next morning as she leaves for work he meets her in the street with roses and a hug. They laugh and hold hands. That evening she goes to his apartment and his face is priceless when he sees her phone with his name as “tick!” Hahaha! He is very playful as he catches her for more kissing.
The mood is much more solemn when Yo and Ryusei tell her parents. Gaku is very antagonistic, sure that Ryusei will not make her happy. Her father decides it is up to her, but that night her mom asks her, “When you break up with the same person twice, you’ll be laughed at, right?”
Ren complains to Makoto and she tells him he’s not romantic. No news there. As for advice, she says it’s bad to be blunt about wanting sex. He mumbles that maybe as a younger brother, he shouldn’t be listening to this. She ignores him and says, “I’ll be touched if they said ‘I miss your scent,’ or something. But it’s practically like saying the same thing.” There’s probably not one person watching this who didn’t pick up on that!
Ren remembers how happy Yo was when she first dated Ryusei and then how devastated she was when he ran off. We see Ren in flashback writing a song and putting the words down in a notebook. “The distance of our feelings was closer than I thought and the moment I realized it, things got hot…I don’t love you yet because I try not to love you.” It’s a lot like the Setsuna Boys song they play over the closing titles.
His boss asks him to make a quick trip to Shanghai. Ren tries to call Yo; she doesn’t answer so he leaves a voicemail telling her where he’s going. And for the first time he tells her that he has really loved her all along. Silly boy. You can’t say a thing like that in a voicemail!
While Ren is trying to call Yo, we see she is at Ryusei’s house again. She leaves her phone out and Ryusei sees the voicemail. His face darkens as he listens to it, and he angrily deletes the message. When she comes back, he is cheerful again.
One of the good things about this show is that there is always progression in the plot. In episode 4 Ren gets a girlfriend and Yo almost gets a boyfriend. In 5 she winds things up with the almost boyfriend and her ex. In 6 Ryusei comes back. In 7 Ryusei confronts Ren, and Ren breaks up with Maki. In 8 Yo is hostile to Ryusei and wistful about Ren. Episode 9 contrasts Ren and Ryusei, and Yo is still resisting. In 10 we see her being won over.
Come back next time to see if we will get all sweetness and light!
Telzeytalks
Dramas With a Side of Kimchi