I Need Romance 3 Episode 13 - Love Ultimatums Galore

The Kdrama gods heard my pleas this week and finally allowed our drama to move forward.  This was a HUGE episode for all of our characters as Joo Wan finally stands up and issues some ultimatums, Joo Yeon realizes that she has two boyfriends, and "the jerk" Tae Yoon moves to new levels of insensitive that had the feminist in me hitting him with an imaginary 2x4, possibly multiple times.

Our heroine is finally caught in the act of her hugging Joo Wan and wonders why her boyfriend is not upset or saying anything.  She sits and think of what she would tell him.  That she had kissed Joo Wan, snuggled with him, always had him tell her saranghae, that she slept with him sometimes?  LOL  As she lists it out in her head it just sounds worse and worse, although she does still seem to be in denial and claims that it is still just Sweet Potato.   (Seriously, if she was not so cute as a couple with Joo Wan I would totally wash my hands of her.  She is almost too dense to be worthy of him.)  But instead of being upset Tae Yoon says that he does not think being angry is conducive to their relationship and that he trusts her to get that man out of her house.  He then tells her to deal with it and smiles that smirking smile that I hate.  You can tell that she is very uncomfortable with the discussion (and I suspect thoughts about losing Sweet Potato) and just lets the topic drop.  Later at home she enters the house and calls "Wan?"  Realizing that she always entered the house and looked for him first, she wanders around until she finally finds him asleep in his bed.  Joo Yeon goes to the edge gazing down at him and pushing a stray hair off his forehead.  He grabs her hand and kisses it (seriously she is so dense) looking up at her sleepily.  She melts for a second but then gathers her wits and smacks him hard on the shoulder.   HAHAHA She gives him an ultimatum that there will be no more snuggling, and kissing, and anything else.  He looks wounded and says that he loves her, but she shoots him down saying that he will always be a boy to her and she does not want to hear that from him.  POOR SWEET POTATO.  All he wants is love and the mean noona is breaking his heart.

Joo Yeon stomps down the stair after declaring the new house rules.  She gets a text from "the jerk" and decides to pretend that instead of doing nothing she has been cleaning (the girl would not know the working end of a broom if it bit her in the butt) and watering her plants (promptly drowns a cacti).  She takes photos as proof and Joo Wan just watches her from behind, finally figuring out what she was doing and is, rightfully so, flabbergasted that she would take credit for his hard work.  Not to mention faking her personality for her boyfriend.  The last straw is when he reads a text complementing her on the soup she made him (remember that Joo Wan had made the soup).  HEHEHE  Joo Wan stomps to the kitchen where he starts prepping rice for the next day, but of course Joo Yeon is close behind (you know since she is kind of addicted to him) and holds onto his arm as he works.  He stops and asks her if she is aware that it is really hard to keep her rules when she is always holding onto him, asking for piggyback rides, and touching him all the time.  Joo Wan suddenly stops mid rant and looks at her intently.  She starts to fidget and he smiles "do you.... like me?"  She of course denies it and says that he touches her all the time, to which he replies "yes because I love you".  SQUEEE  they are so cute!

Things are not all puppies and sunshine on the work front either.  Gradually becoming a better human being and best friend, Joo Yeon is being wonderfully supportive of her pregnant bestie.  She also accidentally outs her pregnant status to the other members of the fashion squad and her jerk of a boyfriend.  Being the jerk he is, Tae Yoon calls her to task in his office asking what the heck she was thinking allowing a single pregnant women to work in her department.  He tells her that she should fire her, or at least make her fake a marriage and go away to have the baby quietly. 

Would just like to pause here and rant. Tae Yoon is truly a total neanderthal jerk who deserves to be smacked.  What modern man or boss is allowed to have that kind of antiquated mindset.  Not to mention that what he says is TOTALLY ILLEGAL, which is what Joo Yeon points out.  He continues to tell her that if she lets this go it will reflect on her abilities as a boss and to suck it up and do the hard stuff.  Joo Yeon leaves his office, upset and unable to say anything to her friend she rushes out.  Just when you think you can't think less of Tae Yoon he always manages to up his tool level.

Talking about our awesome pregnant bestie Min Jung, she is getting a lot of mixed singles from her babies daddy.  Having told her that he has no interest in being a father (he comes from a very dysfunctional absentee father family and is worried about history repeating) but Min Seok still has a lot of feelings for Min Jung.  He wanders around the grocery store seeing things that remind him about his pending fatherhood status and he has a mini break down trying to decide if he wants to buy Min Jung strawberries (he had heard that women crave them when pregnant).  The poor guy ends up falling to the floor in angst over the strawberry decision, but later shows up at her apartment with a bag full of healthy food, yoga books, and vitamins.  He begs her to take care of herself but promptly runs the second she asks if he wants to see the ultrasound.  Poor Min Jung is left crying because of the situation.

I am so excited to blog about the next few segments since this is really the meat and potatoes of the story.  And I have been waiting for this moment as I ranted through the last three episodes.  We are finally at the point where Joo Wan loses it and becomes the "in love" and jealous mess I was hoping he would be.  His zen attitude finally cracks, breaking under the pressure of Joo Yeon's continued interaction with "the jerk".  As she readies herself to go see him he finally falls apart and gives her an ultimatum.  He yells at Joo Yeon to not go, and when she looks at him like he is crazy, he tells her to choose.  "Choose me or him."  He asks her to imagine if one of them was going to disappear from her life who would she want to be with.  Wan asks: “If I disappear, can you live?” Joo-yeon strikes back: “Of course I can. I lived perfectly well before you came.” and storms off.

Joo Yeon is upset but continues down to the driveway to see Tae Yoon, but when he suggests they go to his house (and probably do everything that comes with that suggestion) she practically screeches out "NO".  And then recovers her senses enough to say that she has work to do and can't do it around him.  Seriously if you have a violent reaction over hanging out with your boyfriend then maybe you should reevaluate what you are doing chica.  They instead go on a coffee date, a very awkward coffee date, when Tae Yoon again broaches the subject of getting rid of "that man" that lives with her.  She tells him that it would be impossible to kick him out since he has only a year before he goes back to the US.  He logically replies that Tae Yoon is not a kid nor is he not without money or a job so why can't he live alone, but Joo Yeon again just changes the subject.

However emotions erupt when Joo Wan catches the couple about to kiss goodnight.  To say he totally loses it would be an understatement.  He breaks up the pair yelling at Joo Yeon "How much longer are you going to two-time us both?"  He grabs her hand and yells at Tae Yoon "Can you live without her?  Because I cant?"  The Jerk just smirks and says that is a stupid and immature thing to say since it just proves how young he is.  He tells Joo Wan to grow up and leave, and go deal with his one sided romance somewhere else.  He then tells Joo Yeon to take care of kicking him out of her house and leaves (again what a smug bleck of a boyfriend).

Joo Yeon orders Joo Wan to follow her in and fumes at him as to why he is acting this way.  "Didn't you tell me to follow my heart with Tae Yoon?"  He just screams that she should stop listening to him since he was wrong.  He again tells her that she has to make a choice between them, "see even now you can't throw me out."  She just stomps away, saying if he crosses the boundaries one more time she will follow through on her threat.  (Seriously girl, if you are being told by your boyfriend ...and your 2nd boyfriend, that you have to choose one and there is one that you OBVIOUSLY can not kick out of your life then your decision is already made.)

Our adorable Sweet Potato sits in his room, devastated. He stares at his picture of Shing Shing at 13 and thinks to himself, “You were wrong. There’s no such thing as a love that’s only bright and shining and smiling. It’s all petty, and childish, and a giant mess.”  He ends up brooding, brooding, and more brooding, broken up by him recording a song he wrote for Joo Yeon.  Then, packing up his belongings, he leaves her house.  Catching him as he is about to get in his car, Joo Yeon questions if he is just coming home, or leaving.  He just moves towards her only to have her retreat and demand that she will kick him out if he comes closer.  Joo Wan does not stop and instead grabs Joo Yeon and kisses the heck out of her.  “Be well, Shin Joo-yeon,” he whispers then walks away, leaving her stunned.

My Thoughts:
WOW, there was a lot to process in this episode.  Not only do we finally have Joo Yeon starting to realize her real feelings (at a snails pace but still we see progress), but we also had Joo Wan take his relationship to the next level by demanding that she acknowledge her feelings for him.  I really enjoy the fact that he was not only the one to open up her eyes to her feelings for Tae Yoon, but then also for her changing feelings towards himself.  I personally was not expecting that.  I also think that deep inside she has already made her choice.  Again when you literally can't make yourself even think about living without someone, then your decision is already made. Unfortunately for Joo Wan, and we the viewers, her lack of insight makes it hard for her to make her decision quickly.  And it is this lack of decision making that is going to bite her in the butt when she is forced to lose the man she needs and loves.  I was saying from way back that they were going to go this route and I am actually excited for the "breakup" of their happy home since it will cause a catalyst for their relationship.  I can't wait to see what the fallout is, not to mention, to see her finally dump the jerk to the floor.  Now if only I did not have the feeling that they are going to give him a happily every after with Se Ryung I would be a happy camper.

Sincerely,
Kmuse

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