Tomorrow With You: Episode 8

by gummimochi

Love, love, love. One thing I enjoy most about this show is its use of poignant character moments which make me believe that love is the most complicated and wonderful emotion a human can share with others in this world. Seeing our couple so happy puts a smile on my face, even when So-joon is a clumsy (but adorable) husband who has to learn the tough lesson that love requires active participation, not passive compliance.

 
EPISODE 8 RECAP

In the hospital room, So-joon claims that he tarnished his parents’ last moments with him by disappointing them when he got off the subway. But Ma-rin disagrees, telling him that they were probably relieved that their son evaded death.

So-joon tearfully says he hated himself whenever he found himself thinking about that night. He had tried to hide his survivor’s guilt by doing good deeds like fulfilling his parents’ lifetime dreams, but he still blames himself.

Ma-rin reassures him that the accident happened to occur on a night when he was young and immature, but he’s still a victim who lost his parents. Wiping away his tears, So-joon asks to change topics.

She apologizes for reopening old emotional wounds, and So-joon says this is all he can tell her. It’s true that there’s a big secret he’s been keeping from her, but he asks her to wait with the knowledge that it’s something he can’t tell her just yet.

“For how long?” she asks. He muses, “March 25, 2019?” He says they can go to the fireworks show that will take place that night, and afterward, he’ll tell her everything.

When she asks if it’s something worrisome, he vows never again do something he’ll come to regret later like leaving his parents behind in the subway crash: “So trust me.”

Ma-rin is discharged from the hospital the next day, but instead of heading straight home, they stop at the subway crash memorial so she can pay her belated respects to So-joon’s parents. She smiles when he suggests all the usual phrases a wife says to her in-laws, like promising to be good to their son and not making them worry about him.

Once he steps away, Ma-rin hops on his back, and he twirls her around before setting her down again. Cute.

Ma-rin can’t stop smiling at So-joon when they return home because she feels like their relationship has gone through a rebirth. She has this strange yet nice feeling that nothing but good things lie ahead for them.

She’s thankful when So-joon promises to do better, and she cheerfully announces that she won’t stay in the smaller bedroom anymore. “Of course not,” So-joon replies. “You sleep in the master bedroom, and I’ll take the smaller one.” Perplexed, Ma-rin thinks to herself, You want to keep using separate rooms?

He tells her she shouldn’t feel burdened about staying in the bigger room, which makes her question whether or not he thinks they’ve made up. But she keeps a smile on her face as he says he knows things aren’t resolved just because he shared a bit of his past with her.

When he says he knows a woman’s feelings are more complicated than a man’s, she finally speaks up, replying that the difference can’t be much when both men and women have the same limbs. He asks her if she’s heard of a “touch-me-not,” and she answers no, asking, “Is that a snake? Is it venomous?”

She tries her best to be attentive as So-joon tells her about the touch-me-not plant, whose sensitive leaves fold inward when touched. He promises to treat her in the same careful, patient manner and wait for her signal to “sleep together [hapbang]—… I mean, sleep in the same room [hanbang].” Hahaha.

He pinky-swears on it, and Ma-rin awkwardly laughs that there’s no need to get it in writing. With that, So-joon retires to the smaller room and praises himself for being so considerate. You’re an idiot.

Conversely, Ma-rin laughs in disbelief at her new nickname, and scoffs to learn that she’s been compared to a sensitive plant.

Doo-shik, meanwhile, surveys the land near the city of Jangho, where Director Kim desperately wants him to invest in. Upon hearing that Director Kim doesn’t plan on leaving his position, Doo-shik showers him with flattery and sets down a bagful of cash—along with some extra bills—as a deposit in exchange for working with him. His only condition: that Director Kim resign from MyReits.

He carefully reads Director Kim’s face and pretends to call it all off, but Director Kim agrees and thanks him for the opportunity. In his car, Director Kim darkly vows that So-joon’s era is now over.

Ma-rin wakes in the morning with an impressive bed head. She stumbles over to see So-joon, fresh out of the shower and giving himself a pep talk in the mirror to look his best for his “Touch-Me-Not.”

She quickly washes up, and when he sends a text to check if she’s still asleep, she pretends that she’s just woken up. Convinced that two can play at this game, she grabs an alluring all-black outfit and emerges from the bedroom looking perfectly made up.

So-joon, however, is dressed in athletic apparel and asks if she’ll be wearing that for their morning workout. She coyly asks what he means by “workout” and he brightly says they’re going jogging. He won’t let her off the hook today, and she alluringly asks if they can’t think of anything to do… inside. Rawr.

But he says they can only jog outside and gets her to change. They go for a brisk jog uphill, where So-joon declares that they’ll do this every morning from now on because it’s good for her health. She finds that odd since she’s never seen So-joon break a sweat, and she worries that he might die from such extreme and sudden changes in his lifestyle.

She says she likes things the way they are without So-joon overexerting himself just because he wants to be a better man. But he says she can run faster if she has the strength to speak and enthusiastically picks up the pace.

Later, Ma-rin confides in So-ri at her piano academy, commenting that So-joon is too good to her lately. So-ri wonders what’s wrong since her married friends have told her that when they were newlyweds, they were getting busy day and night.

Ma-rin covers her friend’s mouth in case any innocent child might overhear them, then scolds So-ri for thinking that newlyweds always give into their carnal desires. She’s surprised by how her usually demure friend gets super enthused when talking about sex, and So-ri explains that it’s because she’s single and lonely.

“I’m lonely too. Real lonely,” Ma-rin says, sighing. All she wants is for her and So-joon to sleep in the same bed, but the problem is that So-joon has suddenly become oddly innocent and sincere.

He’s like a freshly ironed shirt she can neither touch nor stain, but she feels too awkward to jump his bones when she was the one who initially refused many of his advances. Afraid that Ma-rin and So-joon might be one of those couples who never sleep together, So-ri advises her to drop subtle, but noted hints. Ma-rin: “Like what?”

While Se-young tells her co-worker that it’s true that she’ll be quitting her job at Happiness, Ki-doong points out that So-joon hasn’t been in touch with her lately. So-joon is quick on the uptake and remarks that he’s caught on to Ki-doong trying to pretend like he didn’t care when he actually did: “Your heart couldn’t resist?”

So-joon says,”so you really liked [them],” which Ki-doong hears as “so you really like [her].” He says Se-young is still his friend, but he’s confused when So-joon responds, “But you shouldn’t have done that to my babies.”

So-joon is talking about his precious, futuristic sneakers that Ki-doong would dare to wear in front of him. He tells his friend to take them off right now, proceeding to bend down to grab him by the ankles, saying these are “his” over and over again. And that’s when Secretary Hwang walks in, sees them in a compromising position, and awkwardly sees himself out. LOL, I love it.

That’s when it occurs to So-joon that Ma-rin’s question about whether or not he’s dating Ki-doong can be traced back to Secretary Hwang, who mutters to himself that So-joon’s feelings are much deeper than Ki-doong’s.

So-joon approaches the secretary, but before he can question him about what kind of thoughts the secretary was entertaining, they’re joined by Director Kim. Now So-joon has a better guess as to where it all began, and invites everyone—including the director’s wife—out to dinner.

So when Ma-rin arrives at the restaurant, So-joon tells her that they’re here to meet the person who started the rumor about him and Ki-doong. She asks how he knew it was her frenemy Gun-sook, and he laughs, “You just said it.”

He intends on teaching Gun-sook a lesson at dinner, where Gun-sook asks how their newlywed life is going. She tries to fish for mentions about any marital conflicts or misunderstandings, but much to her chagrin, the couple smiles and says that they’re wonderfully happy.

So-joon even cuts his steak to give to Ma-rin, adding that he doesn’t want her to lift one delicate finger. Ma-rin launches into a coughing fit at those cheesy lines, and Gun-sook looks like she’s about to choke on her food.

When Director Kim excuses himself to take a work call, Gun-sook wonders how the newlyweds first met. So-joon and Ma-rin meet each other’s gaze, and he replies, “It was fate.”

He says he was awestruck at first sight, wondering how someone could be this beautiful, sexy, and cute. Worried that he might be taking it too far, Ma-rin encourages him to take it down a notch, but he laughs that she’s being adorable.

He loves being married to her every single day, and when Ma-rin excuses herself to go to the bathroom, he offers to come with. Pffft, now you’re just being clingy. Now that they’re alone, his sweet tone turns dark as he tells Gun-sook that he’s so in love with Ma-rin that there’s no way he’d cheat on her… with a man, at that.

He assures Gun-sook that he’ll take good care of her friend, so she can stop making fun of Ma-rin.

Speaking of whom, Ma-rin can’t help but giggle at all the overtly cheesy things So-joon said at the table, though she admits that it feels nice. As she leaves the bathroom, she overhears Director Kim telling someone that he’s already got So-joon’s biggest investor on his side.

But she gets caught when So-joon calls to check in on her, and she pretends to have gotten lost on the way back. Director Kim doesn’t fully believe her when she says she wasn’t lost for very long, but escorts her back to their room.

She tells So-joon about that call during the drive home, adding that it gave her an eerily bad feeling. But So-joon reassures her that she has nothing to worry about—Director Kim is a good, hard-working man. He tells her not to worry, and she wonders where he gets that confidence of his.

Director Kim calls Doo-shik to inform him that the investment will go through soon now that they’ve secured their last investor. He agrees to leave MyReits, and Doo-shik reminds him not to forget that this is a key opportunity for him.

Once they hang up, we finally learn why Doo-shik has been actively approaching Director Kim: He saw an aggrieved Director Kim at a construction site sometime in the future… where Se-young’s father lay injured beneath metal poles and bricks. In the present, Doo-shik muses, “So-joon mustn’t find out about this.”

Meanwhile, Gun-sook sees her husband drink more liquor on his couch, laughing about how his day will soon come.

Back at home, So-joon finds Ma-rin’s workbook about how to live a happy newlywed life. As he flips through the pages, he envisions Ma-rin writing notes in the booklet which doubled as an informal diary.

He laughs at one note stating that they’ll have nothing to argue about, and another declaring him as the best. Slowly but surely more of those entries capture her growing suspicions about him, and one reads: “I married a strange man. No, I shouldn’t be suspicious of him. But… does he actually love me?”

Ma-rin sits at her vanity, wondering why she still feels so empty when everything in her life is seemingly perfect: “I’m so happy, but why am I not cheerful?” Remembering So-ri’s advice about giving subtle, but noted hints, she decides to give that a try.

Ma-rin heads out to the living room, where So-joon quickly hides the workbook. Joining him on the couch, it’s her turn to bring the aegyo, and when he searches for the remote, she grabs his face in her hands. Heh, so much for subtle.

She tells him to look only at her, reminding him of how he said he couldn’t take his eyes off of her earlier. So-joon gulps, and she lets go of him to go for a hug instead. He freezes and awkwardly pats her back upon request.

He wriggles out of her grip and offers to fetch some beer, and she says she doesn’t want to be drunk when they do it. So-joon: “Do… what?” She then says her legs hurt and asks for a massage, but So-joon offers to call in a professional, then carefully inquires if this is an attempt to seduce him.

She soberly tells him no, and he laughs that he would never touch her if she didn’t want him to, and that he nearly misunderstood her intentions for seduction. She flatly says that isn’t the case, so So-joon apologizes and tells her to be careful of the beast inside of him.

He runs away, stopping short of the master bedroom door before hurrying into the other room to watch videos on touch-me-nots.

Ma-rin, however, takes her frustration out on the pillows and tries to find her calm through exercise. Inside his room, So-joon cries that he’s still a man and it’s too hard to hold out… only to tell himself that he must because he’s a gentleman.

Ma-rin accompanies Se-young’s father out to the construction site where Happiness is building their newest and biggest housing complex. Oh no, that’s where we saw Director Kim and Se-young’s father in the future! When Se-young’s coworker sighs that it’s all thanks to their biggest investor, she and Se-young’s father giggle over how he’s unknowingly talking about So-joon.

So-joon ignores a call from Ki-doong because he’s out with Se-young. She says he should feel honored that he’s being told before her own father, and announces that she’s leaving in a month. He wonders why she’s in such a rush, and when he learns it’s for another job in Japan, he grills her about how safe that job placement is.

She mutters that it’s too bad she can’t move any further away, but So-joon doesn’t pick up on that and encourages her to leave with a light heart—if things go south, she can just come home.

Se-young gets his attention like she’s about to confess something big, but then she switches gears and asks if he’ll finish his food. She still thinks of him as the boy she grew up and shared everything with, but says that So-joon tends to talk about the past like it’s nothing: “Then what becomes of our memories?”

So-joon then heads over to Ki-doong’s house, which is now installed with security cameras in every corner apart from where Ki-doong sleeps. But his buddy hates the idea of being watched and asks if So-joon suffers from voyeurism.

He has no interest in So-joon’s interaction with his future self on December 3rd, but So-joon reveals that it was Future Ki-doong who advised him to end his marriage. “But I don’t think I can do that,” So-joon says resolutely. “Even if our relationship sours or we break up, I won’t have any reason to run away.”

Ki-doong asks why his friend would run away, and So-joon replies that’s why he’s installed these cameras. He also needs Ki-doong to save the footage in a folder that he’ll refer to in the future: “Because at the very least, I’ll know what happened here.”

So-joon intends on checking if his plan has worked by traveling to the future, but he doubles back to ask if Se-young has told Ki-doong about her moving to Japan. He has Ki-doong organize the bon voyage party, and he reminds a speechless Ki-doong to keep updating that folder.

Poor Ki-doong is on the brink of tears as he looks at a photo of him and Se-young. He ignores her call, but ends up hanging out with her anyway. When she makes him pick out a pair of sneakers, he grumbles that they’d be perfect for So-joon, and she says she’s here to buy sneakers for him.

Ki-doong asks if she’s heard something from So-joon, but Se-young is tired of him bringing up So-joon’s name and tells him to pick something. He walks off when she disapproves of the style he picks, and she gives him until the count of three to come back.

He adorably runs back before she can get to three, and peevishly adds that he isn’t grateful, though admits he is when they leave the store. He declines getting dinner since he already knows she wants an opportunity to tell him that she’s leaving Korea, and that these sneakers are a goodbye gift.

She asks why he didn’t mention anything sooner, having picked up on his angry remarks all afternoon. He angrily tells her that she can just leave now that he’s said his farewell—did she expect him to be moved because she bought him some shoes? Aw, Ki-doong.

Meanwhile, So-joon travels to the near future but discovers that Ki-doong has only logged footage up to October 2016. Still, So-joon takes any footage he can with him, giggling that the future is literally in his hands.

He stops at a store to get Ma-rin a snack, but no one’s there, so he heads right back out… as Future Ma-rin walks past him and stops in her tracks. Carefully, she asks,”You’re… not the Yoo So-joon I know, are you?”

At his silence, she realizes that he must be from the past and affirms that she knows everything about his time travel. So-joon says that must’ve been a shock, and picks up on how cold she’s being to him right now.

She says nothing, which has him wonder if he made her this way: “Why did things get so bad between us?” Future Ma-in says their feelings for each other fizzled, but So-joon takes back his question, saying that he isn’t curious.

He says her future will change too—she’ll wake up and feel like nothing has changed and he’ll still be by her side. “You won’t remember that we met here, and the fact that you hated me won’t—”

Future Ma-rin cuts in: “Are you still doing that? We should never have met in the first place. You and I weren’t fated to meet, but you forcibly changed the future. That’s why this happened.”

“How much do you know?” So-joon inquires, and this time it’s Future Ma-rin who gives him some advice: End things with her as soon as he returns to the present and put her life back the way it was.

“I don’t want to,” So-joon replies. “I like you. I’m so afraid that you’ll change like this. That’s why I’ve been tiptoeing so much around you lately… in case you’ll come to hate me.” His voice breaks as he tells her, “No, in case you get hurt. I’m just careful about everything.”

“But even then… I’m happy. I’m sure that I like you, and I’m certain that I’ll keep liking you, but I’m telling you this because you’re talking to me as if you don’t remember any of it,” So-joon finishes.

Future Ma-rin wipes away her tears and says she remembers, if only for a moment. “That moment…” So-joon answers, “is everything to me right now.” She has one last bit of advice: If Se-young hasn’t left for Japan, So-joon should stop her from leaving.

So-joon returns to the present when he finally reads a string of texts from Ma-rin, who’s been waiting for him for hours to pick her up at the construction site. He races down there, and his worries only subside when Ma-rin cheerily instructs him to sit by the fire.

She explains that she called him down here to see for himself how his donations have helped build this future housing complex. She knows he wouldn’t have come unless she was a bit dramatic, and So-joon melts when she smiles at him.

He’s relieved that Ma-rin is fine, and she happily shares that she’ll be taking photos during construction for a photo exhibit later this year. She’s happy to work in the family business like a good daughter-in-law, then handles a potato she roasted just for him.

He asks to see the photos she took today, but while she doesn’t have any of those, she shows him the one she took during the move-in ceremony.

He pauses at the photo of the happy elderly couple, and she hopes that they can grow old together like them. So-joon turns to her and sadly says he had the same thought.

Ma-rin finds marriage completely fascinating, given that they were strangers a few months ago. She’s amazed by the idea that So-joon will be there when she grows old, and wishes that she could take a time machine to see what they’ll be like as an elderly couple.

“If you were able to travel to the future, what would you want to do?” she asks. “Stocks? Win the lottery?” And then it occurs to her that he could see what areas of land would be profitable. Oh hon, he’s already done all that.

He reaches for her face, wiping away the non-existent tears while thinking about the Ma-rin he saw shedding tears in the future. Ma-rin thinks he’s cleaning her face, and he sincerely tells her that she’s pretty and cute, adding, “I wish every day were like today.”

The happy couple jumps a foot when they return home to find Mom cooking up a storm in their kitchen. So-joon happily looks at the spread, takes his very first bite… and freezes. Ha, so terrible cooking runs in the family.

Both Mom and Ma-rin look at him expectantly, and when So-joon says it’s delicious, Ma-rin says it’s okay to be honest. Don’t be honest. Don’t be honest.

Instead, So-joon says Mom’s cooking is just like Ma-rin’s, and both women protest simultaneously. Mom: “Is she that good of a cook?” Ma-rin: “Am I that bad of a cook?”

Ma-rin then asks if Mom will be staying the night while sending her hints to say yes. She takes her mother upstairs, clarifying that this isn’t an invitation for her to stay with them forever.

Mom spreads out on the soft bed, only to start crying once she’s alone. She takes out a photo from her wallet and speaks to it, saying, “We were her parents but could do nothing for her and just put her through so much.” She happily cries that their daughter now lives in a lavish house, thanks to their wonderful son-in-law.

Ma-rin rushes downstairs before So-joon can head into the smaller room, noting that they have to keep up appearances while her mother is here. Ahaha, so you let Mom stay so that you and So-joon would sleep in the same bed? That’s kinda brilliant.

So-joon agrees that they have no other choice, and follows her inside with a tiny pump of his fist. Lol. He lies in bed in a rigid position and bids Ma-rin, his “Touch-Me-Not,” goodnight.

Both of them take a breath, and when So-joon accidentally touches her hand, Ma-rin tries cuddling up to him and he turns to his side. Stop fighting it!

So she turns the other way too, but then gets up, unable to take it anymore. So-joon rises, startled, and she says she’s thirsty. I bet you are.

She gets out of bed and grabs her hula hoop to work out her, er, frustrations, and So-joon emerges, wondering why she’s suddenly exercising now. He says they can work out in the morning, but Ma-rin says she likes doing it at night.

When So-joon leaves her to it, Ma-rin decides that she’s had enough and bluntly asks why he’s so dense. She’s given him plenty of hints, but if he needs a clear-cut sign, he can get a pen and she’ll get it in writing.

He obeys the command literally, and turns back a second later, smiling at her. She asks if he’s toying with her when he was caressing her face a few hours ago, and So-joon giggles.

“Then… you like me, right?” So-joon asks cautiously. She returns, “Was there ever a time I didn’t like you?”

He says he wanted to hear her say it, so Ma-rin tells him: “I love you. I’m not curious at all about that secret you can’t tell me. I’ll just… love you, no matter what. I love you, Yoo So-joon!”

She drops the hula hoop and invites him to have his way with her, then rushes up to him to kiss him. He deepens the kiss, and they head back inside, their bodies still entangled together.

Upstairs, at the edge of Mom’s bed, the camera zooms in on the family photo of herself, Ma-rin, and her father… eep, it’s Doo-shik!

As So-joon and Ma-rin giggle and kiss in the bedroom, we hear So-joon wonder in voiceover, “Could we be as happy tomorrow as we are today?”

 
COMMENTS

What a wonderful week for So-joon and Ma-rin. It’s so enjoyable to see them so happy now, knowing that they have broken through the emotional floodgates that guarded their hearts for so long. Hearing So-joon’s deep sense of survivor’s guilt and misguided disappointment broke my heart, and I’m relieved that Ma-rin was there for him in that most vulnerable of moments to reassure him that his parents would’ve been so glad that their son continued to live admirably.

I loved how honest he was to her about the walls he had built to protect himself from those fears, and that there was a huge secret he was keeping from her. It was a big step for his character’s development, though this still means that at present, Ma-rin is unaware that she’s married to a time traveler. Given the circumstances in the previous episode, it makes sense that she wouldn’t have taken his confession seriously, but I do appreciate that she loves him enough to trust that So-joon would tell her in his own time.

Even with this step, So-joon is still quite dumb when it comes to keeping the spark alive in a marriage. I loved the reversal in this episode where So-joon acted like the pure, innocent lamb while Ma-rin did everything short of taking a cold shower to stop herself from jumping his bones. Funnier yet was Secretary Hwang’s arc of mistaking So-joon and Ki-doong’s bromance as forbidden love, and I was so satisfied when So-joon used that very idea to teach Gun-sook a lesson. I have to say I was initially confused when So-joon was suddenly so chaste, since his courtship with Ma-rin was fast and furious, but now we know his actions were embedded in fear that he and his wife would grow distant.

When he ran into Ma-rin in the future, it hurt to see him speak so earnestly about being able to change her current reality. Part of me is so happy that they’ve made up in the present, but my fear grows with every passing day that So-joon doesn’t tell her the whole truth. I do think that her knowing the truth is only one facet of the bleak future that hasn’t changed, since there are other gears in motion. We know that Ki-doong stopped keeping a video log mere weeks after So-joon’s request, and I’m guessing that it largely has to do with how he found out about Se-young leaving through So-joon, his best bud and his crush’s crush. I can’t stop thinking about how everyone, including Future Ma-rin herself, has told So-joon to end his marriage, and if the future plays out like So-joon had originally seen it, we know that he’ll continue to fight for them.

And thankfully, he isn’t the only time traveler caught in an ongoing battle with time. We now have confirmation that Doo-shik is Ma-rin’s father, which only makes me more intrigued about his character. I do believe that Doo-shik is still trying to help So-joon by leading Director Kim astray, but I’m worried that he has underestimated Director Kim’s ambitions and his plan will backfire. Though I’m still confused as to how Doo-shik’s time loop works, it was both nice and unnerving when Doo-shik said that his daughter and son-in-law lived happily ever after. On one hand, that leaves the possibility that Ma-rin and So-joon could have a happy ending, and yet there’s the other more frightening idea that Doo-shik only said that because he was hoping to change their bleak future.

Now that we’re at the halfway mark, I feel like both Ma-rin and So-joon have come a long way already and learned some important lessons about one another. But if there’s one more piece of advice I’d want to give So-joon, it’d be this: When it comes to expressing love for your wife, manners maketh idiot.

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