Temperature of Love: Episodes 29-30

by LollyPip

I’m beginning to think that nobody in this drama ever learns from the past. As much as they all talk (and oh boy, do they talk), they never seem to learn or change as a result of the things they discuss. In fact, all the talking only seems to be making things worse, which makes me want to tell Hyun-soo and Jung-sun to go take another five-year break and come back when they can talk less and listen more.

 
EPISODE 29 RECAP

Frustrated that Hyun-soo saw his mother without telling him, Jung-sun walks away from her. But she calls after him, accusing him of only thinking of himself, and he goes back to deny it.

Hyun-soo says that Jung-sun never tells her where he is when she asks, and that she’s upset that he turned down her offer to live together. Jung-sun calmly reminds her that he has difficult family issues to handle. Hyun-soo cries that every family has issues, and Jung-sun pulls her into his arms for a comforting hug.

Jung-sun piggybacks her home, and as they walk, she tells him that her parents had a hard time conceiving a baby and then finally had her, which is why they’ve expected a lot from her all her life. Jung-sun wonders to himself how to tell her that his parents had to get married because they had him.

Hyun-soo continues that her parents thought it was important to raise her and her sister to be independent. She says that because her parents are so in love, they’ve never had a lot of time for their children. She tells Jung-sun that her mother believes that the person who gives is the strong one, so she gives gifts to everyone around her.

Jung-sun doesn’t say anything, and when Hyun-soo asks if he’s getting tired carrying her, he just says he’s not. She notes to herself that when she opens up about her family, all he says is that he’s not tired.

Later that evening, Kyung notices Hyun-soo’s bad mood and says that this is why she doesn’t date, because just watching Hyun-soo is exhausting. Hyun-soo says that she plans to work through the night and that she’s meeting with Joon-ha tomorrow, and they both realize that they haven’t seen Hong-ah in a while. That’s because she’s busy writing and making friends on the internet.

Jung-sun returns to Good Soup to find Won-joon deep-cleaning the kitchen. He suggests that they calculate exactly how much money they need to run the restaurant for six months, and Won-joon sighs that he wishes he could help, but his family disowned him when he became a chef.

Jung-sun goes to see his mother’s boyfriend, Daniel, who gives him a full list of the money he received from Jung-woo. He says that Jung-sun doesn’t need to pay it back, since it was a gift because Jung-woo likes his paintings.

Next Jung-sun goes to his mother’s house to tell her that he spoke to Daniel, not trusting her to give him the real amount of money she owes. She lets slip that she had to beg Jung-woo to donate to Daniel’s exhibits, confirming Jung-sun’s suspicions that the money was never a gift.

He recalls that his mother blamed him for her having to ask Jung-woo for money, and he asks how much she needs per month. She asks if he’s going to give her money, but he says he wants to hear the amount first.

At their lunch meeting, Kyung and Joon-ha bicker as usual, and Joon-ha shows his jealousy over Kyung’s frequent visits to Good Soup to interview the handsome chefs. Since it’s closed today, Joon-ha asks Hyun-soo if she’s going on a date with Jung-sun. She says she’s working, but cheekily adds that she should probably interview Jung-sun.

Kyung and Joon-ha reach for the last dumpling at the same time, and Joon-ha casually lets her have it. Kyung takes the dumpling and gives him a little smile, which he shyly returns. Cute.

Hyun-soo calls Jung-sun about interviewing him, and since he’s about to talk with Jung-woo, they arrange to meet at Good Soup later. Jung-sun gives Jung-woo the envelope from Daniel and says that he can’t pay everything back at once, so he’d like to make monthly payments.

When Jung-woo asks what he’ll do if he says no, Jung-sun sighs that he’ll just have to pay what he can. Jung-woo says that a claim/obligation relationship can last longer than a love affair, so he agrees to take payments over time.

As he’s leaving, Jung-sun’s father calls him to say that he’s on his way to see him. He’s angry, having discovered that Jung-sun used the land he inherited to secure the loan to buy Good Soup. Jung-sun firmly says that it’s his land and he’ll do as he pleases with it, then asks his father if he’s even in his life.

His father criticizes Jung-sun for closing the restaurant on Mondays instead of keeping it open to earn more money. On a roll, he brings up Jung-sun’s magazine article, sneering that his career only looks good on the outside. He rails at Jung-sun for refusing to get a professional career or live with his father after the divorce, spitting that his mother ruined him.

Jung-sun fires back that he chose to live with his mother because she was the weak one. He reminds his father that he made Jung-sun choose between them, and says that he sometimes missed his father after he and his mother moved to France, but he hated himself for it.

He says that he doesn’t want to be like his father, and his father has the gall to ask what’s so terrible about him. Incredulous, Jung-sun reminds him that he abused his wife.

Hyun-soo sees Jung-sun’s father leave, though she doesn’t know who he is, and then gets a text from Jung-sun inviting her to interview him now. They have the kitchen to themselves, and Jung-sun explains the different stations and what they do there. Hyun-soo is surprised when Jung-sun says that it was his mother who inspired him to become a chef, because she was a homemaker who did a lot of cooking and baking.

She asks about his previous statement that it only took him one minute to decide to be a chef, so he explains that one day, his mother didn’t come home until late. He ate dinner alone, and decided right then to become a chef.

Hyun-soo tells Jung-sun that she wants to learn more about him, saying that it’s so that her drama’s main character will be more well-rounded, but Jung-sun looks uneasy. She asks about his father, and he reveals that he was against his becoming a chef but that it didn’t stop him. He abruptly changes the subject, which doesn’t escape Hyun-soo’s notice.

They sit in the dining room, and Jung-sun says that the hardest part of owning a business is making sure his employees are paid. Hyun-soo asks if he paid them this month from his loan, and he says that he did pay them, but that she needn’t worry about that. She asks what else worries him and again supplies the answer for him, bringing up his mother, which makes Jung-sun close up and say he doesn’t want to talk about her.

Hyun-soo sighs, wondering out loud how much longer she should hold back. She tells Jung-sun that she’s been waiting patiently for him to talk to her about his mother. She asks when he’ll allow her into his life, and when he says that she’s already in his life, she retorts that it doesn’t feel like it.

She says that she’s showed him everything about her life, even crying in front of him, while he’s never done the same. She begs him not to cry alone, because it means he’s not letting her know and love him deeply, and asks if he just wants this to be a superficial relationship.

Jung-sun says that she’s being too dramatic, and that he’s never shared his pain with anyone. He says that she can’t expect that from him right away, but she interrupts to say that he’s had lots of chances. Jung-sun tells her that she doesn’t know what it’s like to be the child of messed-up parents, and that he’ll tell her when he’s ready.

Hyun-soo says that his mother told her why she got divorced, and Jung-sun lashes out, thinking that she saw his mother again without telling him. He asks if they can’t end this conversation on a positive note, but Hyun-soo retorts that it’s better to be honest. She leaves, muttering that it’s pointless to talk to someone who won’t open up.

While discussing the casting of Hong-ah’s drama, Director Min grows frustrated with Hong-ah’s insistence on only hiring top actors. When she hears that Jung-woo is doing a photo shoot with a K-pop boy group, she uses it as an excuse to interrupt and get a picture with them.

She asks Jung-woo if he’s having difficulty seeing Hyun-soo lately, and tells him to just cancel his contract with her. Laughing wryly, Jung-woo asks why he’d do that when it’s so hard to find good writers. Hong-ah muses that she’s stopped liking Jung-sun after liking him for four years, and that she’s realized that her feelings for him weren’t real.

She suggests that Jung-woo do the same, and find out if what he feels for Hyun-soo is real or not. But Jung-woo says that just the fact that she was able to end it proves that her feelings weren’t sincere.

Hyun-soo’s father calls her to ask if she’ll go to the hospital with her mother for her checkup today. He has to work and he doesn’t want her to go alone, so Hyun-soo agrees.

Jung-sun thinks a lot about Hyun-soo and their relationship, then gets to work making more of her favorite caramels. He takes them to her house, and although she’s initially wary, she returns his apologetic hug.

At the hospital, Hyun-soo’s mom tells the doctor about her recent headaches, and that her recent CT scan came out fine. But the doctor does an examination and recommends another CT scan right away.

Jung-sun’s mother calls Jung-woo and browbeats him into meeting up with her. She tells him that Jung-sun considers him a brother, and she’s positive that Jung-woo feels the same. She asks him not to accept money from Jung-sun and let her pay him back, and when he says he never intended to make her repay him, she jumps on it and assumes her debt is forgiven.

But Jung-woo says that if Jung-sun wants to pay him back, then he won’t stop him. Jung-sun’s mom asks what she has to do to convince Jung-woo to go easy on her son, and Jung-woo gets a wistful look on his face. He says that sometimes being around her makes him wonder how it would have been if his mother were alive.

She makes him laugh when she says that she would have been friends with his mother, since their sons are close. She offers to be his mother since his is gone, making Jung-woo laugh even harder. She says they can all be a family, and when Jung-woo stops smiling, she guesses that it’s because of Hyun-soo.

She tells him that Hyun-soo is crazy, because even after knowing everything about his mother, she still chooses to be with Jung-sun. She reassures Jung-woo that he’s still young and will find love again.

After her CT scan, Hyun-soo’s mom’s doctor tells them that she has a cerebral aneurysm. He explains that the blood vessels in her brain could burst, and that she needs surgery as soon as possible. But when Hyun-soo asks for the first available surgery, the doctor pauses.

As they leave the hospital, Hyun-soo tries to comfort her mother, saying that everything will be okay. But her mom breaks down in the parking garage and starts to cry, and all Hyun-soo can do is hold her.

 
EPISODE 30 RECAP

Bored with her social media friends, Hong-ah breaks down and calls Won-joon. He’s at the restaurant making lunch for himself and Soo-jung, and when he asks why Hong-ah called, she slams the phone down and decides to go tell him in person.

She’s shameless about the fact that she’s crashing what’s obviously a date, even getting right in Soo-jung’s face to ask if she’s bothering her. Soo-jung actually invites Hong-ah to join them, telling Won-joon that they have to take care of Hong-ah before they can date anyway.

But Won-joon totally mans up and informs Hong-ah that she’s intruding on his private time with Soo-jung (which makes Soo-jung smile). He walks her back outside, where she says that love doesn’t change and asks him if he’s rebelling. Won-joon just says that he knows she only looks for him when she’s bored, but that this time, he thinks she’s jealous.

Hong-ah shamelessly admits it, saying that even her four-year obsession with Jung-sun was largely because she knew she couldn’t have him. Won-joon retorts that she’s just being competitive, and that she’ll forget him like she forgot Jung-sun. Hong-ah says that he’s just trying to be like her, and tells him not to live that way.

Hyun-soo takes her mother home and offers to stay the night. She explains to her father that they have to cut into Mom’s head to repair the aneurysm, and that they have to wait three months for the best surgeon to be available. Her dad starts to cry, beside himself with worry that the aneurysm may burst while they’re waiting.

They decide to keep looking for a surgeon to do the surgery sooner. Hyun-soo takes a call from Jung-sun, and she promises to explain everything later. In the morning, Hyun-soo tells her dad that her connections didn’t pan out and she couldn’t find a new surgeon, and her mother tells her to go home because being here won’t help anything.

Jung-sun puts Won-joon in charge of the kitchen while he goes out for fresh ingredients. While he’s gone, two men show up who put Soo-jung on alert, thinking they may be Michelin inspectors. She tells Won-joon that she thinks these guys are the real deal.

Meanwhile, Hyun-soo calls Hong-ah, whose father has connections at a local hospital. Hyun-soo says she’ll ask her parents about Hong-ah’s offer to have her mother moved to a different hospital, and Hong-ah asks why she doesn’t just ask Jung-woo for his help, since this would be easy for him to solve. Hyun-soo says she can’t possibly do that, and Hong-ah argues that it’s better than doing nothing for three months.

The suspected Michelin inspectors don’t finish one of their courses, and Soo-jung brings their plates back to the kitchen just as Jung-sun is returning. He sees that the sauce is broken from being heated too quickly and offers to replace the course, but Soo-jung says that they’ve already requested the next course.

After they leave, not looking very happy about their meal, Soo-jung reports to the kitchen staff that she thinks there’s a fifty percent chance they were Michelin inspectors. Jung-sun says that that means there’s a fifty percent chance they weren’t, then sends everyone back to work.

Hong-ah goes to meet Jung-woo, who’s looking over possible casting candidates for her drama. She tells him about Hyun-soo’s mother, and how they’re having to wait months for the surgeon. Director Min shows up for their meeting, and although he and Hong-ah argue, there’s no real heat in their words and they make Jung-woo smile.

Jung-sun spends the day cooking, but when he takes the food to Hyun-soo’s house, Kyung tells him that she’s out trying to find someone who can help with her mom’s surgery. Hyun-soo arrives home after another disappointment to find Jung-sun waiting for her, but she’s not feeling well enough to eat.

Jung-sun asks why she didn’t tell him that her mother needs surgery, and she says that she didn’t want to burden him. He says she should have told him, but she replies that there’s a lot he doesn’t tell her, either, but she’s too worried about her mother to be really upset.

Luckily, Jung-woo has a connection at the hospital where Hyun-soo’s mom is being treated. He learns that a doctor has recently returned from a sabbatical who can perform Hyun-soo’s mother’s surgery quickly.

Unable to do anything else, Jung-sun makes soup for Hyun-soo’s mother and takes it to Hyun-soo. He then braces himself before going to see his father at his office, to ask if he knows any neurosurgeons at the hospital. His father says he does, but when Jung-sun explains the situation, all his father hears is “girlfriend” and says that Jung-sun is too young to get married.

When Jung-sun says that this isn’t about marriage, that he’s just here to ask a favor, his father retorts that if he’s not marrying the girl, then there’s no point in helping her. Damn, Dad.

Thank goodness, Jung-woo’s contact works out, and Hyun-soo’s mother is scheduled for surgery first thing the next morning. He even arranges a private VIP room for her, and he jokes that she can just keep making him her citron tea as payment.

When Hyun-soo shows up with her sister, Hyun-yi, they’re surprised to see Jung-woo there. He leaves the family to their privacy, but Hyun-soo follows him to the hall to thank him. She also says that she’s sorry, making him complain that all she ever says to him is “thank you” and “sorry.”

Back in the room, Hyun-soo tells her parents that she thinks the VIP room is too much and they should change rooms. Worried that that might offend Jung-woo, her dad decides that they should just pay for this room themselves with the money they’ve saved for their retirement cruise. He says that Mom deserves the best, and that without her, he’ll die, too.

Won-joon finds Jung-sun cooking again, and later he visits the hospital to take the food to Hyun-soo. Dad tells them that Mom is sleeping and thanks Jung-sun for the food he’s been bringing. Jung-sun and Hyun-soo go outside, where he gently chastises her for not telling him that her mother’s surgery was scheduled.

In the morning, Jung-woo arrives at the hospital just moments before Jung-sun. Jung-sun is only a few steps behind Jung-woo as he enters Mom’s room, and he watches as Hyun-soo’s family welcomes Jung-woo like he’s one of them.

We see that Jung-sun got up early to make fancy lunch boxes for Hyun-soo and her family, but as the door closes in his face, he thinks to himself, “I made lunch for five, so that we could eat together. Today… we won’t be able to.” Looking stricken, he stands alone staring at the door, then takes one step forward.

 
COMMENTS

Oof, that was hard to watch. Poor Jung-sun, who has no family to speak of and who I’m sure would love to be a part of Hyun-soo’s warm and loving family, standing there watching Jung-woo being accepted, while he’s left out in the hallway alone. He has as much right to be there as Jung-woo, more even if you take his relationship with Hyun-soo into consideration. But he can’t just passively wait for them to accept him, so I hope he takes that step forward, goes in that room, and takes his rightful place as the man Hyun-soo loves.

In my opinion, Hyun-soo got off the hook way too easily for ignoring Jung-sun’s requests not to see or speak to his mother. If I were him, that would have triggered a conversation about trust and loyalty and how ignoring those things can end a relationship, but instead, he let Hyun-soo make him the bad guy for sometimes being emotionally distant. I’m frustrated that he let her play the victim when she’s known from the day they met that he has a hard time expressing his emotions, while in reality he makes so much effort to do just that because he loves her.

But Hyun-soo gives him zero credit for that and only demands more, not seeming to really understand the weight of his abusive upbringing by saying that all families have issues. I think she should be giving him time, and not pushing so hard for more when he’s heading that way but just not ready yet. And then she continues to push him, using her working interview to dig for more information on his private life. I thought that Jung-sun showed valiant restraint in not shutting Hyun-soo down hard the minute she asked about his loan and his mother.

Hyun-soo is being extremely intrusive about Jung-sun’s private business, especially after he’s told her again and again that it’s hard for him to talk about. But what’s worse is that she thinks that Jung-sun’s difficulty discussing his past is something he’s doing to her rather than something he’s trying to deal with and overcome, when what he really needs is some patience and understanding.

And the truth is, he’s doing the very best he can, and he’s put up with a lot more than most people would. I’ve liked Hyun-soo so much until now, but I’m not happy that she’s becoming so manipulative. I hope that her keeping Jung-sun out of the loop on her mother’s illness isn’t some sort of childish payback, but that instead she learns why someone may sometimes want to keep private things private, and come out of this understanding Jung-sun that much more.

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