My ultimate Achilles heel with drama write-ups/recaps is that I’m so lazy, guys. I’m SO LAZY. The longer I put it off, the more I have to say, the less I feel inclined to write about it. Oh dear, what a vicious cycle…

This image isn’t from this episode, but isn’t this shot just great? Like I’ve said a million times, I would totally watch a teen drama version of “Will it Snow on Christmas,” with Nam Ji Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun. (And of course, an undead Song Joong Ki.)

Five minute recap of episodes 7 and 8

After Ji Wan returns Kang Jin’s pendant to him, he tells her that he wants to take their relationship slowly. Listen to each other’s stories, revisit their pasts, all that good ish. So he asks her out on a date to go to a local Italian restaurant, and at first, Ji Wan is hesitant to meet him.

Tae Joon stops by ZOOMIN, and Ji Wan thanks him for returning the pendant necklace. Tae Joon is angry that she pretended not to know Kang Jin, and thus played him like a fool. (Uh….let’s not go there, buddy-who-left-engagement-ceremony-to-hang-out-with-former-lover.) Ji Wan admits that she didn’t want to say anything because she was scared that she would like Kang Jin again.

At work, Woo Jung finds out from Jae Hyun that Kang Jin found out that Tae Joon’s colleague sabotaged his presentation on purpose. Woo Jung does her bit of pleading with Kang Jin, telling him not to make it into anything. Kang Jin asks her indirectly why she bothers with him at all, if she likes Tae Joon so much. Woo Jung is straight forward in her response, saying that even though Tae Joong occupies a majority of her heart, there’s still some of it left for Kang Jin. So, she may have a lot of feelings left for Tae Joon, but she’s not completely unstirred by Kang Jin.

Ji Wan continues to work at the cafe and originally, she doesn’t even plan on going on the date with Kang Jin, but after re-reading the line which says, “If you don’t come, may cry” she reconsiders. Once she gets there, she doesn’t see Kang Jin, and assumes that he’s already left, but when she turns around, she bumps right into him. Kang Jin fakes anger at first, but he doesn’t hold it against her.

But their dinner gets cut short when Kang Jin receives an urgent call from the office, telling him of a problem someone has brought up. Since he’s the person in charge, he leaves. After he goes, Ji Wan realizes that he left his phone behind.

Ji Wan waits and waits for Kang Jin’s return, but after a while, it’s time for the restaurant to close, so she has no choice but to take all her things and leave. Just as she does, Kang Jin’s phone rings. Ji Wan takes the call for him, and it turns out that it’s Han Junsu on the line. Junsu is looking for Kang Jin because he wants him to pick his mother up from Seoul, but he doesn’t realize that it’s his daughter on the line, and calls her “miss.” After he hangs up, she continues to talk into the phone, in tears, saying that she’s not “miss,” she’s “father’s daughter.”

Kang Jin works until late into the night, having completely forgotten about his promise to Ji Wan that he’d be back within the hour. When he rushes to find her, she’s quiet and sullen before telling him that she’s hungry.

They head to a nearby pojanmatcha where Ji Wan scarfs down her meal in silence as Kang Jin watches. When he tells her that he won’t be eating his meal, she goes ahead to take it and continues eating. He furthers by saying that he had something to give her tonight, and hands her a set of notebooks that Ji Wan’s brother gave to him back when he was still in high school. Ji Wan opens the notebooks up with nervousness, and reads through a letter that Ji Yong wrote to Kang Jin, saying that these will be Kang Jin’s notebooks to help him through school, so that he can get into the same university that Ji Yong goes to. When he does, he has to give the notebooks to Ji Wan so that she can also get into the same school. She might not be able to, but it’d be good if Kang Jin can hold her hand and never let her go.

(GUH so depressing. Song Joong Ki, why must you always play characters that kick it within the hour.)

After reading the letter, Ji Wan is left speechless. Then she tells Kang Jin that she wants some milk. Kang Jin goes to grab milk for her — the same kind that she gave him back as a student — but when he comes back, she’s not at the table. An ahjumma tells him that she left with a bottle of soju. Kang Jin runs out in a panic, trying to locate her.

Meanwhile, Tae Joon gets a phone call from Ji Wan’s phone, but on the other line is someone from the police station who says that Ji Wan is currently inebriated and asleep at the station. He rushes to find her, and urges her to get up, only to find out that she’s this drunk because she can’t forget how her brother died. Her brother died because he went looking for Kang Jin’s necklace, so how could she possibly meet up with Kang Jin again?

Kang Jin walks in and hears enough of her words to feel absolutely stricken. But just when Tae Joon tries to carry Ji Wan out, Kang Jin pushes him away and does it himself. Tae Joon warns him not to interfere in her life because she’s been hurt enough as it is.

Meanwhile, Chunhee broods because she’s under the impression that she’s sick. But, Junsu shows her reports and they state that she’s not sick. Junsu doesn’t tell Chunhee, but he’s the one who’s sick. He has a brain tumor and it doesn’t seem to be curable.

Ji Wan goes to where Kang Jin works, and wants to talk to him about leaving him the other night. She doesn’t remember that Kang Jin was at the scene when she spilled her deepest, darkest fears to Tae Joon, and she doesn’t remember that it was Kang Jin who took her home afterward. She tentatively apologizes, and suggests that they go somewhere else to grab a meal again, doing the date “properly” this time.

Now it’s Kang Jin’s turn to balk. He has plans to return to San Cheong, but remembers that Ji Wan is probably waiting for him at the restaurant, so he heads there. When they start having their meal, Kang Jin notices that Ji Wan picks teeny tiny pieces of meat to eat, and instructs her to eat in big hearty bites instead. She obliges. Afterward, she suggests they go grab some ddokboki.

At the ddokboki stand, Ji Wan is overzealous with her food and shoves ricecake down her throat like there’s no tomorrow. Kang Jin notices, and tells her not to force herself to eat when she’s not even hungry. In a little while, he spots her crouched over a bench, puking her guts out. After the vomiting subsides, he tells her to go home and rest, but Ji Wan protests. She doesn’t want to muck up their “redo” date once again, and is upset at herself for ruining another outing with Kang Jin. He tells her that there are still plenty of things for the two of them to do together, vomiting notwithstanding, so she should take this relationship slowly.

Slowly or not, Ji Wan still blames herself, and ends up making herself sick. Literally. She gets taken to the hospital, and both Tae Joon and Kang Jin rush to visit her. They’re both told that her body’s succumbing to the stress. In our favorite man-to-man facedown (or in this case, man-to-man’s-back), Tae Joon tells Kang Jin that he should stay away from Ji Wan, because they both know the reason why she’s fallen ill.

Kang Jin is faced with a tough decision, and reminisces back to a conversation he had with Ji Yong (my favorite scene in this drama thus far):

Ji Yong: I heard you’re first in your school? You’re good looking too. Your popularity with the ladies must be no joke. Ah, this won’t do. I should tell Ji Wan to forget about it. You’re too good to be Ji Wan’s boyfriend. She’s not good at school, she’s not pretty, how could she think she had a chance with you? Sorry. She doesn’t know that she’s not on your level.
Kang Jin: Ji Wan … is pretty. And, I’m definitely not better than Ji Wan. Out of all the girls I know, Ji Wan is the kindest, prettiest, and best person. About her not being a good student… I can teach her.
Ji Yong smiles.
Ji Yong: Your feelings, do you have confidence that they won’t ever change? Do you have confidence that you won’t hurt her or make her cry? Do you have confidence that everyday, you’ll make her happy? Everyday, you’ll make her smile?

Kang Jin raises his pinky to Ji Yong and pinky swears on it.

When she awakes, Ji Wan remembers Kang Jin’s words that they’ll take their relationship slowly because they have so many things left to do, and she wills her sick self out of bed. (IDIOT.)

She drags herself over to Kang Jin’s apartment, where Woo Jung happens to be standing outside. Kang Jin and Woo Jung both spot Ji Wan, and in a moment of self-sacrificial love, Kang Jin grabs Woo Jung for a kiss, all the while under Ji Wan’s hurtful gaze.

Annnnnnnnnnd scene.

It’s always during this point in a romantic series that I start conkin’ out. The love-me-hate-me-can’t-be-without-me stuff that gets flung around so carelessly all the time. It makes me impatient. Wouldn’t it make you impatient?

As for Ji Yong’s scene with Kang Jin. You guys. This is why I would’ve gladly taken a drama with the teens. I can give up Go Soo for the sake of Song Joong Ki and Kim Soo Hyun.