Familiar Wife: Episode 10

by LollyPip

Joo-hyuk started out on this journey with the intent to make himself happy, but it’s all falling apart. Not only is he miserable, but so is everyone else, and there doesn’t seem to be anything he can do about it. He’s been pretty passive so far, just letting things happen without making too much effort to fix anything, but things are getting to the point that Joo-hyuk will have to take drastic action.

 
EPISODE 10: “You have broken away from the route”

After the moment of accidental intimacy with Joo-hyuk, Woo-jin stays up late in her mother’s hospital room, unable to sleep. Joo-hyuk is equally wakeful, and they each spend the whole night thinking of the other.

In the morning, Woo-jin brings Mom to say goodbye to Joo-hyuk and his mother. Woo-jin and Joo-hyuk say an awkward goodbye, and after she’s gone, Joo-hyuk’s mother clucks that she feels bad for Mom and thinks Woo-jin seems very nice.

Woo-jin is still getting used to driving again, and she gets such a bad case of road rage on the way home that Mom begs to call a taxi, hee. Woo-jin nearly gets sideswiped, setting off another round of loud complaints, but then she grins wildly, hits the gas, and admits that driving is pretty thrilling.

Still at the hospital, Joo-hyuk overhears Joo-eun on the phone with Sang-shik trying to figure out how to accommodate their mother in their small home after her surgery. Hye-won calls him, upset that he’s at the hospital and not her father’s party. She doesn’t care that he still has things to do for his mother, snapping at him to let Joo-eun do it and get to the party immediately.

Instead, he insists on taking his parents home to Joo-eun’s place once his mother is discharged, and ignores Hye-won’s calls. It’s interesting how peaceful he appears, even knowing that Hye-won is furious.

After the party, Hye-won goes home to ambush Joo-hyuk when he walks in the door. She reminds him that she said it was over between them if he missed her father’s party, whining that she was embarrassed every time someone asked her where he was. Joo-hyuk asks if she even cares how his mother’s surgery went, but she acts as if he has no right to expect her to care.

Joo-hyuk holds his temper until Hye-won suggests he pay Joo-eun for taking care of their mom instead of doing it himself. He asks why she always throws money at problems, and she says haughtily that that’s what money is for. JW calls her selfish, only ever doing things she wants to do and never caring how her bad behavior affects other people, even if they lose their job.

She asks what he means, then it dawns on her that he knows she was the one who wrote the hateful post about Woo-jin. She admits that she did it, but maintains that she had every right. Joo-hyuk points out that she lied, but again Hye-won acts as if being annoyed gives her the right to ruin someone’s life.

Joo-hyuk tries to walk away, but Hye-won spits that he’s not the same as he used to be when he did everything she said. He asks what he used to be like, and if he would even die if she said so. Hye-won says in disbelief, “You don’t want to live with me anymore, do you? Fine, I understand.”

She leaves the house and calls Hyun-soo to pick her up. She tells him to take her as far as he can, and with a smirk, he asks how far she means. She asks him if he would go to the ends of the earth with her if she asked, and he says he’d go to the end of the universe, but he looks a bit unsettled at her strange mood.

The following morning, Joo-hyuk checks in with Joo-eun, feeling badly for not doing more to help. Joo-eun says it’s fine and asks if he fought with Hye-won, and he denies it then quickly changes the subject. After he hangs up, he looks at the photo of himself and Hye-won that’s his phone’s wallpaper, and sighs heavily.

Hyang-sook shows Hye-jong the lovey-dovey text that Jong-hoo accidentally sent her, and Hye-jong wonders who he’s dating while Hyang-sook tries to find an innocent explanation. They watch him make a surreptitious phone call, missing the fact that Woo-jin answered from over by the copy machine, ha.

JB makes kissy-lips at the phone when he hangs up, which just confirms Hye-jong’s suspicions. He leaves his phone unattended, so she grabs it and dials the last number he called. She and Hyang-sook see Woo-jin answer, and when Jong-hoo returns, they loudly exclaim, “You two are dating?!”

Later, Woo-jin takes Jong-hoo to the roof, where he apologizes for not putting a lock code on his new phone. He holds his arms in the air like a schoolboy being punished, though he pouts that he didn’t think anyone would actually snoop into his call history.

He asks if they can just keep dating since everyone will think they’re crazy if they find out about their contract relationship (Woo-jin: “They already think I’m crazy.” Jong-hoo: “Yeah, they do.” LOL). But Woo-jin thinks he’s about to be in big trouble — now that Hyang-sook and Hye-jong know about this, they’ll probably cause trouble.

Joo-hyuk almost walks in on them as they’re bickering over whether Jong-hoo flirted with them and led them on. Woo-jin is right — both Hyang-sook and Hye-jong complain that they thought Jong-hoo liked Hyang-sook considering how much he flirted with her.

Team Leader Jang tells them to stop talking about it, and when Hwan asks why she looks so down, she admits that she feels depressed that everyone her age has a partner but her. Hyang-sook and Hye-jong obediently assure her that she’s not old or unattractive, while Hwan is conspicuously silent, ha.

Hye-jong offers to set Hyang-sook up with an accountant friend of hers, but Hwan (who still nurses a crush on Hyang-sook) says that she needs someone more relaxed. He says he knows a handsome sunbae who owns a restaurant in Gangnam, and offers to take her to meet him after work.

Poor Joo-hyuk is being tortured by Manager Byun, who can’t stop talking about the newest office dating scandal. Manager Byun tries to figure out every instance of proof that Joo-hyuk knew about Jong-hoo and Woo-jin and peppers Joo-hyuk with questions like when they started to like each other.

He’s mystified when he teases Team Leader Jang and just gets a baleful glare instead of an argument, as he was expecting. She wearily tells him to leave her alone, but he complains that this is no fun and invites her to blast him like usual, making her sigh that there’s no point.

A courier delivers an envelope and a small suitcase for Joo-hyuk. It turns out to be divorce papers from Hye-won, and when he calls her, she says that all he needs to do is sign them. She tells him that she’s not doing this because she’s angry, it’s because she needs someone who makes her their top priority at all times.

Devastated, Joo-hyuk ends up at Sang-shik’s bar after work, where Sang-shik is loyally horrified that Hye-won would file for divorce just because Joo-hyuk didn’t go to a party. Joo-hyuk blames himself, and when Jong-hoo and Woo-jin arrive, having heard everything from Sang-shik, he glares at Sang-shik for his big mouth.

Woo-jin just watches Joo-hyuk with a sympathetic expression as Sang-shik and Jong-hoo urge him to fight to keep his marriage. But Joo-eun blurts out that she supports the divorce, because Joo-hyuk and Hye-won are from such different backgrounds and never seemed stable anyway. She reminds Joo-hyuk that he and Hye-won don’t even really get along, and tells him to just get divorced.

Jong-hoo says that Joo-hyuk should follow his heart, and he turns to Woo-jin for backup, but she’s distracted and wasn’t listening. Joo-eun notices the way Woo-jin looks at Joo-hyuk, all her feelings in her eyes, but she doesn’t comment out loud.

Hwan takes Hyang-sook to the restaurant he mentioned to meet the owner, but when they get there, he tells her with fake regret that his “friend” isn’t at work today. He offers to buy the grumpy Hyang-sook dinner since they’re there, and to take her somewhere fun afterward. His sorta-kinda date is ruined when Hye-jong joins them, having been called by Hyang-sook when she went to the restroom.

Manager Byun even takes Team Leader Jang out for dinner, where she spends the whole time whining that everyone but her dates and gets married, even him. He says there’s nothing wrong with her, she just hasn’t met the right person yet, but she compares herself to food that’s nearly expired.

Manager Byun counters that she’s still very attractive, and that he even once had a little crush on her. Team Leader Jang cheers up at that and asks why he never told her, because she might have… but she doesn’t finish that thought, but what she was about to say goes right over Manager Byun’s head.

Jong-hoo takes Joo-hyuk home to stay with him, and Joo-hyuk sits on the floor in his bathroom, thinking about how Hye-won said he’s not the same guy who used to do everything she said. He tries to call her, but she doesn’t answer. Jong-hoo insists he sleep on the bed and adorably cuddles close to him, pretending he’s Woo-jin.

He jumps out of bed to text her a good night, and on her end, she texts back that she got home okay. She starts to ask if Joo-hyuk is okay, but she decides against it and goes to see what Mom is drawing. It’s a man, a woman, a child, and a baby, and when Woo-jin asks who they are, Mom says it’s her, Joo-hyuk, and their children.

At the bank the next day, Branch Manager Cha reminds everyone that this weekend is the company marathon, and they all groan. He tells them to do their best and win the grand prize, a paid vacation.

After the meeting, Hwan complains to Manager Byun that he didn’t take this job to run marathons, do all the menial tasks, and get no respect. Team Leader Jang chastises him in Manager Byun’s defense, throwing Manager Byun a saucy wink. Uh-oh.

A while later, Joo-hyuk gets a call from Hye-won’s father, wanting to meet with him at lunch. But it’s not about Hye-won filing for divorce — he brings along a colleague who wants to take out a business loan to expand his new company. It’s a huge sum, but Hye-won’s father leans on Joo-hyuk, saying that his company backs the man even though his business is new.

Joo-hyuk takes the man back to the bank, where Branch Manager Cha meets with him and promises to process the loan application quickly. Joo-hyuk seems unsettled and offers to do a due diligence appraisal of the man’s company, but Branch Manager Cha is happy to take Hye-won’s father’s word that the man is a safe bet and wants to nail down the loan as soon as possible.

Woo-jin approaches Joo-hyuk in the break room to shyly ask if his helping her find her mother has anything to do with Hye-won filing for divorce. He assures her that it has nothing to do with her and everything to do with him, telling her not to worry.

Hye-won calls him to tell him to sign the divorce papers today, and when he asks for some time to think about this, she threatens to come to the bank. So Joo-hyuk meets her at the courthouse, but she’s not interested in thinking or discussing this. She says they can each tell their parents in their own time, and walks away.

That evening, Woo-jin’s mother draws a more disturbing picture — a tollbooth on a lonely, remote road.

Jong-hoo takes Woo-jin to a nice restaurant for dinner, and he pauses to take a call from Sang-shik, who says that Joo-hyuk signed the divorce papers today. While they’re talking, Woo-jin spots Hye-won going into the restaurant with Hyun-soo. They end up taking food back to Jong-hoo’s place to share with Joo-hyuk, and Jong-hoo cooks while Woo-jin and Joo-hyuk sit in the living room feeling awkward. They’re rescued when Sang-shik arrives and backhugs Joo-hyuk, sobbing over his divorce.

Manager Byun makes Hwan and Hyang-sook stay after work to do some organizing and cleaning. Hyang-sook complains about everything Hwan does until he stomps away grumbling that he even paid for her evening last night, so she asks if spending money on her upsets him.

He says that’s not it, but when she tries to pay him for her meal and asks why he’s always so mean to her, he blurts, “Because I like you. That’s why I’m upset. Happy now?” Stunned, Hyang-sook stammers for him to stop joking around. He takes her hand and says he’s not joking, then warns her that he’s going to kiss her in three seconds, giving her a chance to avoid it.

He counts to three and leans in, but at the last second, Hyang-sook shoves him away, hee. Hwan snaps that he gets it, they’re not meant to be, and storms out of the bank. He keeps his composure until he gets outside, where he whines adorably that that move always works in dramas.

At Jong-hoo’s place, Joo-hyuk won’t let his friends badmouth Hye-won, insisting that the divorce is all his fault. Sang-shik is so beside himself that he wants to feed Joo-hyuk to make sure he eats, and finally Joo-hyuk complies just to stop his friend’s crying.

That night, Woo-jin dreams of her faceless man again. One scene comes in sharp and clear — she’s in high school, and a man grabs her on the bus. The only person who speaks up for her is her faceless man, and his voice sounds disturbingly familiar.

The next day, the bank employees show up for the company marathon, and Hyang-sook looks particularly sour when she learns that Hwan begged off. When Jong-hoo and Joo-hyuk arrive, Jong-hoo tells Woo-jin that Joo-hyuk spent the night sleepless and throwing up.

Woo-jin is worried about him running the marathon after all that, but he assures her that he’s fine. She keeps a sharp eye on Joo-hyuk during the marathon, more worried about him than about Jong-hoo, who’s huffing and wheezing like he might collapse at any second.

While out shopping, Hye-won dodges invitations from her mother then calls Hyun-soo. She asks him to hang out today, but he says he’s got classes all day. He’s actually at his job as a valet, where his buddy grins that he’s almost achieved boyfriend status.

They’re so busy crowing at how the stupid heiress is falling for Hyun-soo’s student act that they don’t see her walk right up behind them. She clearly hears Hyun-soo say that he plans to toy with her for a while and use her for her money before he breaks up with her. Hyun-soo finds himself with a purse upside the head, and Hye-won snarls that he’s a bastard and stomps off before he can say a word.

Hye-won drives off, then pulls over when she’s bombarded by memories of all the times Hyun-soo was sweet to her. She realizes now that it was all part of a plan, so she deletes his number from her phone then calls the department store to make a complaint that he drives customers’ cars without their permission.

Nearing the end of the marathon, Manager Byun grabs Jong-hoo (who looks near death, ha) to pull him to the finish line, despite Jong-hoo’s insistence that he wants to run with Woo-jin. They leave her behind, and she hears another runner say that a man collapsed with a heart attack somewhere behind them. Woo-jin stops, fearing that the collapsed man is Joo-hyuk, and she turns around to run back.

She follows the sound of sirens, and when she gets close enough, the paramedics are already loading the man into an ambulance. All Woo-jin can see is his left arm, and the watch that Joo-hyuk was wearing when she last saw him. She races to the ambulance, calling Joo-hyuk’s name, but ohthankgoodness, it’s not him.

He’s nearby though, and he sees how scared she is and asks if she knows the man. Woo-jin just looks up at him with huge, tear-filled eyes, than hangs her head.

The team go out to eat after the marathon — they didn’t win the grand prize vacation, but the cutie security guard, Min-soo, did come in third. Nobody can eat because of the guilt trip Branch Manager Cha lays on them about how it’s fine they didn’t win, though that vacation sure would have been nice, but it’s totally fine, really. Poor Min-soo even apologizes for only coming in third, awww.

Joo-hyuk watches Woo-jin as she drinks shot after shot of soju until Jong-hoo asks her to slow down. She says quietly that she’s just craving alcohol today, as she takes another drink without looking at anyone.

Joo-hyuk steps out later to call his mom, and he stops to appreciate the full moon on display. He belatedly realizes that Woo-jin is crouched behind him, so he takes her to a park to sober up and asks why she drank so much. She just tells him how she used to fall off the seesaw when she was a kid, and how her heart used to drop whenever it happened.

She asks him to sit on the other side of the seesaw with her, and he does, bouncing too hard until she nearly throws up. Soon she says she feels better, but she can barely walk, so Joo-hyuk uses an abandoned tricycle to push her back to the restaurant. She loves it and urges him to go faster, but ends up falling off. He takes her hand and asks if she’s okay, but she grabs his hand in a death grip and pulls him closer to her.

She finally looks Joo-hyuk in the eye and says, “No. I’m not okay. I’m not okay at all. I know it’s not right, and I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but I couldn’t control my feelings from the start. It’s like my heart is malfunctioning. I can’t help but look at you, and I want to be goofy around you. You never felt like a stranger. You make me feel comfortable and safe. I don’t know anything anymore. Conscience? Guilt? I don’t care. One thing I know for sure is that I like you a lot.”

Joo-hyuk listens, then with a look of regret, he tells her that she shouldn’t like him. He tries to stand, but Woo-jin pulls him down and kisses him.

 
COMMENTS

Well, this is just a big old hot mess. Joo-hyuk decided to do the right thing too late, and now Woo-jin is all confused and heartbroken, with feelings she knows she shouldn’t have but can’t help. I don’t think that Joo-hyuk has led her on beyond being kind to her and her mother, but it’s still his fault Woo-jin is in the wrong timeline living the wrong life and feeling things she doesn’t understand. She’ll probably regret confessing and kissing him once she sobers up, but the damage is done.

I really don’t understand Hye-won at all, but one positive thing I will say about her is that at least she’s honest about who she is and what she wants. She’s never mentioned love in regards to Joo-hyuk — she even told Hyun-soo that what she always liked about him was how he always did what she said and focused on her. She doesn’t hide that what she wants from a partner is blind obedience and adoration, and I think she’s always been that way, because even in the original timeline, she broke off any possibility of dating him when Joo-hyuk missed one date (and for a very good reason). I’m not surprised that, even after all these years, Hye-won dumped Joo-hyuk as soon as Joo-hyuk developed a mind of his own, because she’s not exactly someone to give second chances. Complete and total devotion, or get out, that’s all she asks. It’s pretty despicable (who gets a divorce because their husband missed a party to take care of his sick mother?), but as I said, at least Hye-won is clear about what she wants.

And Joo-eun is absolutely right – Joo-hyuk and Hye-won are a terrible match. When this timeline’s Joo-hyuk was married to her, the only reason it worked was because he just obeyed Hye-won without question and never had differing wants or opinions. I can’t understand why Hye-won wants a partner who is just a shell that has no thoughts or desires of his own, but there’s no way that’s sustainable in the long term, not and have both people in the marriage be happy. Joo-hyuk is sad about this, obviously, but I don’t think it’s because he loved Hye-won — he couldn’t possibly, because he knows almost nothing about her. I think it’s because he’s realizing that he threw away a real love and family in the original timeline for an empty life. It would have been empty with Hye-won, and it will be empty now without Hye-won or Woo-jin to love. He’s careening down the same road that the doomsayer probably found himself on, having lost the thing that truly meant something and not even having the fantasy he’d hoped for as a consolation prize. He wanted to save the marriage, not because he really loves Hye-won, but because if he loses it, it means this was all for nothing.

Mostly I just feel so bad for Woo-jin, who has no idea what’s happening or why she’s so miserable. Joo-hyuk at least has the benefit of knowing why it’s all going wrong, even if he’s powerless for now to do anything about it, but Woo-jin is an innocent victim in all this. She can’t deny her feelings for Joo-hyuk, she’s having disturbing dreams that seem to be telling her that she’s living the wrong life, and she doesn’t understand why she’s suddenly so unhappy. I loved the park scene, where having Joo-hyuk on the other side of the seesaw or pushing Woo-jin on the tricycle should have made Woo-jin feel more balanced and stable, but despite his best intentions Joo-hyuk just kept making Woo-jin sick — such a perfect analogy for their marriage.

Mom drawing the tollbooth, along with Woo-jin’s dreams, is making me think that something is trying to tell them that something is terribly wrong in their lives. It’s easy to chalk up Mom’s drawings of a family to wishful thinking and dementia, and Woo-jin’s dreams could be just the dreams of a woman who wants a family. But the tollbooth drawing is too specific to be anything but a sign, and it makes me wonder exactly what Mom knows and how it all ties in to Joo-hyuk’s time travel. Whatever is going on, it’s clear that this timeline is definitely the wrong one, because nobody is happy and everything Joo-hyuk tried to do is going downhill fast. His marriage to Hye-won is over (and was terrible to begin with), Woo-jin is dating a man who doesn’t make her happy and developing feelings for Joo-hyuk, and Joo-hyuk himself is miserable because he can’t do anything to fix it. This is definitely not where they’re meant to be, but I have a feeling that Mom might be the key to figuring it all out.

 
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