Me Too, Flower: Episode 8

by orangy911

Wah. The sweetness of this episode makes up for the bipolar mess from the one before. The snappy dialogue between Bong Sun and Jae Hee made their bickering fun, but it can’t beat adorably mushy scenes of affection. I could watch this all day.

Episode 8

Hwa Young’s assistant grabs Bong Sun and tries to force her to kneel in front of the snobby witch of a customer, but Jae Hee shoves him off. He drags Bong Sun away while Hwa Young grits her teeth in anger. Outside, Bong Sun tells Jae Hee that he shouldn’t have done anything: “You help me now but I know you’ll hurt me again later. I don’t trust you. I never will again.” With that, she turns away from him.

Jae Hee chases after her and they eventually end up at the overpass that overlooks the Han River. Jae Hee grabs Bong Sun arm and asks her to stop running from him. He has some people to protect and is responsible for, but he wants to be with her. If she can help shoulder his burden, he’ll cross the bridge with her.

His earnest pleading shakes Bong Sun. Jae Hee leads her to his bike and they take a drive. As the trees whip by, Bong Sun reflects on her dream to cross over the bridge. They stop at a small town and watch the sun set over the ocean. It’s a quiet, sentimental scene after all the shouting matches and physical fights between the two.

They rent a small cottage and Bong Sun comments that Hwa Young dislikes her for a reason she doesn’t understand. Jae Hee answers that Hwa Young just overreacted because the haughty lady in the store is a long-time VIP member. He assures her that Hwa Young has no ill feelings towards her.

Bong Sun knows that’s not true, and says that Hwa Young seems to loathe every inch of Bong Sun’s body. She asks Jae Hee not to work for Hwa Young anymore, which makes Jae Hee reply that he’s going to quit the parking attendant job soon enough. He has a ten year plan for his future but he refuses to disclose what it is to Bong Sun.

This prompts Bong Sun to reevaluate her sanity for following Jae Hee. He asks if he’s that untrustworthy and she nods. She points out that he has yet to prove that he can uphold his word of taking care of her. He talks big while actually doing nothing. Ooh. Yes. Confrontation.

Jae Hee sits in front of the fireplace and motions Bong Sun to join him, embracing her as he lists off the things he’ll do for her, most of which have to do with feeding her properly. Kek. He inquires if she still doesn’t believe in him and Bong Sun replies that she does, despite her proper judgment. “Whenever I listen to you, it seems that even paper flowers have a fragrance.” His promises sound so sweet that she falls for them even though they can be broken easily.

Later, Bong Sun informs Jae Hee that she met Mr. Bae as she was searching for his home and she comments that ahjusshi seems like a dependable father figure. She slowly confesses that, like Jae Hee, she lived by herself as a young teenager; her parents are alive but they all live separately.

She then asks how he lived without his parents. Wasn’t it scary? She admits that she was scared to be alone, which brings tears of empathy to Jae Hee’s eyes. He starts to sob and Bong Sun quickly holds him. She murmurs that she understands. It’s achingly beautiful, seeing these two loners find comfort in each other.

Dal barges into Dr. Pervert Park’s office and badgers him for information on Jae Hee. He refuses, which causes her to steal his phone in retaliation. She runs into the women’s bathroom and threatens to throw his phone into the toilet unless he talks.

He follows her inside but hides his head in embarrassment when another lady catches him in the lady’s bathroom. Dal continues to make empty threats until she notices a strange silence. She tries to open the door but finds that Dr. Park “locked” it from the outside with a broomstick. Lol.

A girl opens the door for Dal and when she ventures out into the hallway, Dr. Park grabs her into an arm lock and wrenches the phone from her. If she asks nicely and refers to him as Doctor Park Tae Hwa, he’ll let her go. Yeah. Not going to happen. She kicks him and stomps away.

Jae Hee and Bong Sun eat noodles in the morning with their feet interlocked and she asks who the people he’s responsible for. Are they more important than her? He says yes and she immediately pulls her feet from his. Haha. She tells him that she has to be more significant in his life than them. He just smiles and locks her feet again.

They head to Bong Sun’s house and she refuses to get off the bike. She holds him tight and says she doesn’t want to leave, which makes him carry her to the door. She fusses that she can’t press the code to get in, before Jae Hee coaxes her to go home and sleep. Bong Sun doing aegyo? Is the world turning the other way?

They wave good-bye and she closes the door…only to yank it back open to give Jae Hee a hug. She tells him that she feels sad because she likes him so much. An uninvited guest watches their interaction from afar: Does she have a tracking device on Jae Hee or something?

Madam Oh opens the garage door in her car when suddenly a hand slips over her mouth. Jae Hee sits in the passenger seat and tells her that he’s going to upload a post on Twitter (pft) about how the wife of Congressman Kim goes around returning used handbags. Can she imagine the rumors that will swirl afterwards?

He asks her why she does that but she deflects his question with one of her own. Who is he? Smart-ass Jae Hee replies that he’s someone who knows the power of Twitter. Lol. It’s funny because it’s ridiculously true. Twitter has marred the reputations of many celebrities and politicians. Oh, the power of social networking.

He gets out of the car and tells her to stop commanding people to kneel. That makes their legs hurt.

Maru and Bong Sun try to head back to the station, but the car won’t start. Maru tells Bong Sun to go out in back and push the car, which is really just a way for her to see the special event he prepared. He urges her to open the trunk, where she finds balloons, a poster, and roses. She heaves a sigh and walks over to the driver’s side to tell Maru to get out, but he refuses because she’s going to hit him. Aw.

She comments that he has the worst possible timing and that she’s not good for him anyway. She thanks him but firmly rejects his proposal. Slowly, his smile dissolves and he looks at her with sad puppy eyes. She says she’d like to assure him that a good person will come along…but they’ve all disappeared. He’s young though, so keep looking. Okay, that’s just cruel.

He asks if she’s acting like this because of Jae Hee and her eyes light up at the mention of him. Maru covers his face to hide his hurt. He never had a decent shot at winning Bong Sun over but that doesn’t make his heartbreak any easier.

Bong Sun gets home to find her father waiting for her. He scolds her for staying out late and she retorts, What’s it to him anyways? He glowers and announces that he’s spending the night. Reluctantly, Bong Sun goes upstairs to bring his highness blankets and as she lugs them out of a bag, a picture frame falls. It’s a portrait of young, cheerful Bong Sun and her parents. Dad has an awkward “cheese” smile while Mom just looks stiff and unhappy.

She stares wistfully at it, but Dad’s booming voice distracts her thoughts. He nags about scratches on the floor and orders her to stop dragging chairs around. He’s worse than a typical ahjumma. She goes back to her room to sleep but sleep evades both of them and Dad soon tells Bong Sun to make him ramyun. Ugh. Is he allergic to boiling a pot of water or something?

Dad slurps down his noodles as Dal bursts in complaining about the cold. She immediately freezes at the sight of her stepmom’s ex-husband and he beckons her towards the table. He asks what she does for a living and why she’s still in his house. She replies that she’s a model and that she plans to move out soon. Dad grumbles in disapproval, which makes Bong Sun jump to Dal’s defense. Bong Sun tells him that there’s no need to make Dal feel guilty. It’s their business, not his.

Dal slips into her room as Bong Sun confronts Dad about his treatment of Mom when they were married. She tells him that he was always nagging and never thanked Mom for anything. This sets Dad off and he spouts that her mother was lazy and ignorant of all the hardship he had to go through to make money. She replies that he never communicated his issues properly to Mom; constantly yelling doesn’t help people understand what’s wrong.

At that, Dad chucks his cup at Bong Sun and he gets to his feet cursing his ex-wife. He threatens to sell the house and mutters that she’s just like her good-for-nothing mother. She shoots back that she’s his daughter too, remember? He grunts in reply and stomps out like the true gentleman he is.

The next morning, Bong Sun visits the restaurant Mom works at, and she asks Mom if she never had a moment of happiness with Dad. Bong Sun brings up the memory of a family camping trip and she insists that Mom definitely laughed then. Mom replies that there were good times; one can’t live in sadness or happiness forever.

She explains that Dad was talented and hard-working and he obtained numerous promotions in a short period of time after he became a police officer. But then he got stuck in the same position for many years. As time passed, his dreams slowly disintegrated and he turned into a bitter, miserable man who took his anger out on Mom because she was the closest to him.

Tears pool in Bong Sun’s eyes at Mom’s story but she blinks them away. She starts to walk away, but Mom stops her. She thanks Bong Sun for visiting her and confesses that she kept her distance because she was scared of Bong Sun. In addition, she brought Dal to her house so Bong Sun wouldn’t be alone. Bong Sun’s touched by the heartfelt explanation, but she remains standoffish and mutters that the japchae didn’t taste very good and Mom enthusiastically assures her that she’ll try harder next time. Aw. They’re slowly but surely making their way towards reconciliation.

Jae Hee finds Bong Sun sitting alone on a park bench and when he calls out her name, she looks up and immediately hugs him. She asks him to call her a good daughter and nods when he inquires if she met Mom and Dad. He hugs her and says he’s envious; at least she can still see and touch her parents. She replies that she used to think that life would be easier without parents. She still can’t forgive them now and wonders if that makes her a bad person. He assures her that she’s not. Otherwise, he wouldn’t like her. I love that how he manages to say such sweet things without the cheesiness.

Jae Hee approaches Hwa Young to tell her that he and Bong Sun are dating. She masks her hurt and coolly says that he doesn’t have to report that to her. She does, however, slip in a warning about how unpredictable Officer Cha can be. She reminds him that he still has an image to uphold and that the company is just as important as his relationship. She asks if Bong Sun knows about Jae Hee’s alter ego and he answers that he’s going to tell her everything soon. I see the gears turning in Hwa Young’s head already.

During therapy, Dr. Park analyzes the relationship between Bong Sun’s parents and concludes that they have incompatible personalities. Dad must be an S who likes to solve problems by doing while Mom is an N who dreams and thinks about solutions for a long period of time. She asks how two people that are so different from each other dated, married, and had a child. He tells her that people have a tendency to look for characteristics they share with a lover to explain their feelings.

She reflects on her conversation with Jae Hee about living alone as a young teenager and wonders out loud if she’s doing the same thing. Dr. Park grimaces and sniffs that she’s making him jealous. He presses for details about Bong Sun’s new boyfriend but she just smiles in return.

Hwa Young sees Bong Sun leaving Dr. Park’s office and she races to her cousin to ask him if Bong Sun is his patient. He nods and she tries to squeeze out information about Bong Sun’s condition. He tells her that he’s bound to a rule of ethics: patient confidentiality. Extra awesome points for Dr. Park today. I’ll even overlook the “I’m jealous of my patient’s boyfriend” comment.

She insists on finding out what’s wrong with Bong Sun and he tells her that Hwa Young is the one with a mental condition. LOL. He asks how long she plans to keep Jae Hee chained to her side. She dodges the question and brings up one of her own. Is he still feeling suicidal lately? He quickly responds that he’s stopped having those thoughts a long time ago. He asks her what’s wrong with her (many things) and she tells him that she doesn’t know.

One thing does bother her, though: Why are kids these days so pretty? Even fat and ugly girls seem charming. They just have a certain light around them. She spent countless hours trying to figure out what that light was and now she knows; it’s youth. Recently, she saw a girl in love whose “entire body was emitting a fragrance like a blossoming flower.” Hwa Young comments that the girl’s beauty angered her. It seemed like the girl was mocking Hwa Young with her happiness. I’m having flashes of the Evil Queen in Snow White now.

She heads back to work and sees the invitations to the launching party for the diamond bag. She calls over her assistant and informs him that she wants to invite the next-door police officers. Or more specifically, Bong Sun. Crap.

Dal shows up at the police station and asks for Bong Sun. Maru gapes at the pretty and stammers that Cha sunbae is in the bathroom. As she walks away, Maru sighs that it’s a shame Dal is Bong Sun’s sister… Yeah. My sympathy for you just disappeared. Bong Sun and Dal head outside to talk right when Hwa Young drives into the parking lot. She proceeds to showcase her second best talent after glaring: eavesdropping.

Bong Sun scolds Dal for wasting money on designer clothes and shoes. She needs to learn how to save what she earns. Dal argues that she’s a model and needs to dress appropriately. Also, the clothes are knockoffs anyway. Kek. In any case, Bong Sun tells her that she’s not giving her a penny so she should just go home.

Dal badmouths Bong Sun as she walks away from the station but is stopped by Hwa Young, wanting a chat. Dal initially refuses and tells the ahjumma to leave. Unflustered, Hwa Young replies that she can provide Dal with a way to earn money for real designer clothing. Dal perks up at that and the two talk about modeling for Jae Hee’s company in a café.

Hwa Young commands Dal to stand up, turn around, and then sit down as she scans her from head to toe. Hwa Young asks who she lives with right now, and when Dal responds “unni,” Hwa Young’s lips curl into a smirk. Step two in her devilish plan is to hand the party invitation to Bong Sun, who turns it down. Hwa Young smiles at Bong Sun’s predictability and tells her that a seat is reserved anyway so she can come whenever she wants.

Dal calls Bong Sun that she won’t be home for a couple days and Bong Sun warns her to refrain from doing stupid things. Spoken like a true older sibling. After they hang up, excitement bubbles up in Bong Sun. She has the house to herself, eh?

This means that she can cook a proper meal for Jae Hee. The two go on the cutest date ever to buy groceries. Bong Sun happily tells the market ahjummas that she needs more ingredients because there’s one more mouth to feed. Wah. They’re ridiculously adorable.

On their way to Bong Sun’s home, she mentions the invitation to the launching party. She tells him that she wasn’t planning to go but she’s changed her mind. She’s going to attend and find out how materialistic Hwa Young’s world is. She mentions that the products Hwa Young sells are copies of foreign designs anyway. Uh-oh. Jae Hee stops in his tracks and challenges her assumption. Does she know the painstaking effort that people put into creating those bags?

She tells him he’s overreacting and he covers up his slip by quickly changing the subject. You could just tell her it’s because you designed the stuff she just dissed. Just saying.

Bong Sun cooks dinner while Jae Hee goes around fixing doors and rickety tables. It’s like they’re married already. They sit down to eat and Bong Sun tells Jae Hee that they have to pray first. She calls God, Buddha, and Allah to thank all of them for giving her the chance to share this warm, delicious meal with someone she loves. The only other thing she asks is for this moment to last forever.

Jae Hee tears up at her words and begins to eat. He thanks her and confesses that this is the first time he’s ever had a home-cooked meal. She smiles and tells him to eat more.

Comments:

Omg. Words cannot express how giddy this episode made me feel. There’s so much cuteness but we also get some significant breakthroughs. Bong Sun opens up to Jae Hee about her parental problems and Jae Hee finds the courage to tell Hwa Young that he likes Bong Sun. I’m still waiting for Jae Hee to trust Bong Sun enough to inform her of his “I feel like a murderer” problem, but I understand that it’s going to take some time. That’s not a conversation that you have on the first date.

What I don’t get is why he keeps hiding his other identity from Bong Sun. It’s obvious that Hwa Young is going to spill the beans before him, which aggravates me to no end. I hope he has a damn good explanation for not being honest. Maybe he thinks she’ll turn away from him because of his wealth or something, but avoiding the subjects will only make her feel more betrayal when the truth is revealed. Gah. Curse Hwa Young and her bitterness towards young love. She’s ruining all the fun.

It’s unfortunate that Hwa Young is so attached to Jae Hee because it prevents her from seeing how beautiful, intelligent, and independent she can be without him. She’s consistently afraid that he’s going to leave her because she thinks he’s the key to her survival, but he’s not. First, she forgets that the company would have a hard time functioning without her work. She’s acting like she’s some parasite who lives off a host. Jae Hee’s designs may be the foundation of the company but she makes up the infrastructure. He’d be just as lost without her as she would be if he just disappeared, which makes them business partners.

Additionally, she’s relies on Jae Hee’s guilt to keep him from leaving her. She tells him that he needs to accept that her husband’s death was an accident but her actions contradict her words. She insists that she’s looking for a nice woman for Jae Hee to marry, but we know that those are empty words because no woman will ever be good enough for Jae Hee besides herself. If she really wants to absolve him of guilt, she needs to let him go. I got chills when I saw her self-assured smile after Jae Hee announced that he won’t marry until Ah In grows up. She’s happy that he feels obligated to stay next to her. But that’s the key thing: obligation. He promises to stay by her side out of duty, not love.

If she keeps acting like this crazy, green-eyed batlady, she’s going to lose Jae Hee’s friendship. Right now, Jae Hee considers Bong Sun as important to him as Ah In and Hwa Young, but there’s the chance that Hwa Young’s scheming ways could tilt the scale towards Bong Sun. I don’t see her stopping anytime soon which is too bad. She’s going to end up hurting Jae Hee the most and the respect levels that she commands from her cousin and Bong Sun are going dip down into the negatives. Could she have been any less haughty towards Dal? Granted, the animosity wasn’t one-sided and Dal is a bratty opportunist but damn. She was like a cat playing with its food.

It’s at times when she interacts with “lower class” people that she feels superior and totally in control, but there’s an underlying insecurity as well. She holds a grudge against young, fresh girls like Dal which frustrates me. She’s far from being old and ugly and she has her own womanly “scent” as well. It’s just being covered up by the stench of her hatred towards other women.

I sense some turmoil ahead for our happy couple, so I’m glad that we were given some quieter scenes between Jae Hee and Bong Sun in this episode. Bong Sun is on her way towards healing the fractured relationship with her family (even if her father is a misogynist who treats her like a slave) and she’s brightening up into the blossoming flower that incites Hwa Young’s jealousy. It’s Jae Hee’s turn to air some of his issues, but me thinks he needs a kick in the pants. Anyone care to volunteer?

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