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Some things in life don’t always go according to plan. Yeon-soo and Choi Woong are well aware of that and they’re made even more aware of that fact once they unexpectedly reunite five years later. How will the two react to the abruptness of it all and what will come out of it? Will anything positive come out of it?

Our Beloved Summer Episode 2: 1972 Days of Summer

It’s September 8, 2011. Yeon-soo and Choi Woong are 50 days into dating. Yeon-soo is already thinking ahead and questions what their future will look like once college hits. She starts off her question with the phrase “what if…” and asks what they’ll do if she happens to get into college and he doesn’t. Choi Woong reassures her that it won’t happen, but if the situation ever arises where it does, he’ll make sure he studies somewhere near her school.

340 days into dating and Yeon-soo has another ‘what if’ question for Choi Woong. What if she were to go on a blind date? What if he was to go on a blind date? Choi Woong panics at Yeon-soo’s questions, but she reassures him that she wouldn’t dare to do such a thing. She just wanted to see what his response would be. He must really like her then if he doesn’t want her to see anyone else then, right? Choi Woong doesn’t answer Yeon-soo’s question and the phone call ends.

The couple are 750 days into dating and Yeon-soo has fallen sick with a fever. She poses another ‘what if question’.. this time, she asks Choi Woong what would happen if she was to not survive her sickness? Choi Woong feels her forehead for her temperature and reassures her that she’s fine. Her fever has gone down. Choi Woong suspects that Yeon-soo must like making him suffer, but Yeon-soo argues that she continually asked the same questions because there was a certain answer she was seeking from him.

1,565 days into dating and Yeon-soo has yet another question. What if she was to study abroad? What would he do? Or what if she was to move far away? What would his reaction be? Choi Woong answers similarly to all the other questions and comments that he would follow her where ever she goes so they can be together. Yeon-soo isn’t so satisfied with the answer as it’s not quite the one that she’s looking for. He can’t be that dense, right? But Choi Woong still doesn’t understand what specific words or phrase Yeon-soo is trying to get out of him and Yeon-soo grows upset.

Day 1,670. The couple are at a cafe enjoying some coffee and time with each other. Choi Woong is busy drawing while Yeon-soo poses what would be her last ‘what if’ question. What if they were to break up? What if she was to leave him? Choi Woong freezes at Yeon-soo’s question and then proceeds to say that he won’t allow it to happen. He would never ever see her again if they were to break up. In fact, he would spray water at her, throw some salt, and then make her leave if such a thing was to occur. Choi Woong concludes the conversation by pondering that maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t a ‘what if’ question for Yeon-soo, but rather one that she already knew the answer to.

Fast forward to the present and Choi Woong does what he claimed he would do: he sprays some water out of a spray bottle at Yeon-soo. Yeon-soo is indifferent to the water; she even asks where the salt is. She questions in her mind just how exactly she and Choi Woong were able to cross paths once again after all this time.

Dad (Choi Woong’s dad) is busy filming his promotional video with Kim Ji-woong to promote his restaurant. One of their frequent customers, Chang-sik, is fascinated with the camera and he is so curious he doesn’t act natural at all for the video. Haha. Dad has to remind him to act as he usually would and pretend not to notice the camera, but Chang-sik is a little slow and it takes him a while to get around to it. Mom and Dad eventually circle the conversation back to Choi Woong and ask Ji-woong a series of questions regarding their son. They grow concerned after learning that he hasn’t been able to get as much sleep so they plan on getting him some medicine.

Yeon-soo sits herself on the sofa inside of Choi Woong’s living room. Things are a little awkward at first, but they both break the silence at the same time. Choi Woong suspects that she must be here for a reason. Maybe she’s getting married? Yeon-soo denies his assumption which actually serves to be sort of relieving for Choi Woong and he opens his ears for her follow-up. Yeon-soo presents all the puzzle pieces she connected together that lead her to believe Go-oh is Choi Woong’s alias and with that, she brings up the project about Soen Shop that she’d like to collaborate with Go-oh on. But Choi Woong isn’t so interested in the live drawing collaboration with the shop and rejects it. Yeon-soo assumes he’s still holding some grudges and resentment against her for the past which he doesn’t exactly deny. He’s refusing to do the project because of her. Yeon-soo is in disbelief at his statement and questions how he could still be so upset even after five years since their break-up. To that, Choi Woong argues how Yeon-soo could be so indifferent about their break-up after five years.

The two give a brief look into each other’s eyes before Eun-ho enters the intense situation in the living room. It’s as if he’s dreaming that he’s seeing Yeon-soo again after all these years, but that’s not all that he’s dreaming about. A few seconds later, NJ shows up at Choi Woong’s place unexpectedly and she invites herself into his house while Yeon-soo is still there. Wooow. Yeon-soo is quick to leave and starts badmouthing Choi Woong the moment she exits, but Choi Woong throws some salt at her as a final farewell. Choi Woong is a man of his words, indeed.

With Yeon-soo gone, Choi Woong and Eun-ho welcome NJ to his place and they give her a tour of Choi Woong’s studio. She proposes that he draw one of the buildings that she recently purchased. She likes hid drawings. Eun-ho is excited at the request, but Choi Woong hesitates with the ask. He seems a bit distracted and he doesn’t accept the challenge right away.

While walking home, Yeon-soo beats herself up over her encounter with Choi Woong earlier in the day. She felt humiliated and she vows to never be treated like that ever again. But she’s reminded of Mr. Jang’s words to get Go-oh on board and she second guesses herself. Maybe she does need to let go of some of her pride to get the work done. Yeon-soo is so distracted that she almost gets hit by a motorcyclist, but Ji-woong pulls her out of the way just in time. It’s been a while since the two have seen each other and Yeon-soo rattles off right away about her reunion with Choi Woong. He’s still just as immature and childish and he hasn’t changed much. She explains that she had to see him regarding work, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to work out. Yeon-soo gathers herself once more and properly greets Ji-woong a second time since it has been a while since they’ve met also.

Choi Woong steps outside for some air and ponders over whether he went overboard with Yeon-soo by throwing salt at her. He seems a bit concerned and bothered by what he did. Later on that evening, Yeon-soo sits down for some dinner with her grandma. Grandma notices NJ on the TV screen, but refocuses her attention to her own granddaughter. She reminds Yeon-soo to never let anyone look down on her. Even though Yeon-soo is struggling with that at the moment, it’s always helpful and great to be reminded about such a thing from Grandma.

Eun-ho assists Dad at Dad’s restaurant and frequents the table that Sol-yi is sitting at. She purchases many food items off from the menu which raises Eun-ho’s suspicion and he assumes she must be a business owner nearby. She’s basically testing out her competition and trying to assess what makes them so successful as a restaurant. Sol-yi gets caught by Eun-ho so she gives in. While cleaning up Sol-yi’s table, Eun-ho takes a peek at the notes that she wrote about their food. It’s nothing too complex or detailed; Sol-yi enjoyed the food overall and wrote everything off as tasty. Haha.

Ji-woong visits Choi Woong at his house that night and they converse about Yeon-soo right away. Choi Woong was finally able to spray water and throw salt at Yeon-soo like how he had been rehearsing and practicing all this time. He also grows curious as to whether she mentioned anything else about him during her encounter with Ji-woong, but Ji-woong notes that there wasn’t much that was new. With that, the two bid farewell and Choi Woong heads back inside his place.

It’s a new day and Yeon-soo is determined to be better. With Grandma’s reminder, she’s not going to let anyone look down on her and speak down to her. However, it’s a lot easier said than done and she falters the moment she faces Mr. Jang at her office. She heads with him to Soen Shop where the live drawing ceremony with Go-oh will hopefully take place. To break the ice, she assumes that Mr. Jang must have gotten home safely that night that they were at the cafe together. However, Mr. Jang’s response triggers a flashback in Yeon-soo’s mind and she begins to panic. She was intoxicated that night and she begins to recall memories of her behavior during the ride home. She calls Mr. Jang a sociopath, accuses their designated driver of stealing his car, and has no issues with cutting Mr. Jang off as he’s talking to her. Nice, Yeon-soo. Nice. Yeon-soo eventually apologizes to Mr. Jang and he’s willing to forgive her.. as long as this upcoming project is successful.

Eun-ho brings the Soen Shop collaboration to Choi Woong’s attention and emphasizes on the importance of the project. Choi Woong should do it. Soen Shop is a new boutique with openings worldwide and most importantly, his favorite architect Jean Ferrat designed the store. Choi Woong slowly begins to change his mind on the project and he agrees to attend Soen Shop’s soft launch happening later on that day.

NJ is occupied with worrying about Choi Woong. He hasn’t gotten back to her on her request and it’s unusual for her to receive such a postponed response. She’s quite interested in Choi Woong and even admits to one of her staff members that he’s her type. While at work, Ji-woong revisits some footage from the high school documentary with Yeon-soo and Choi Woong. He’s encouraged by his co-worker, Jung Chae-ran, to go with a follow-up documentary on the two. The high school documentary was popular and relatable to viewers for a variety of reasons and it’d be nice if there was another documentary on the former high school students. Before leaving, Chae-ran suggests that Ji-woong watch clips of the documentary again so Ji-woong does as he is told. Later on that night, he pulls out some cassette tapes containing footages of the hit documentary and watches it very closely.

Yeon-soo is busy planning with Mr. Jang and walking around the shop when they suddenly encounter Eun-ho and Choi Woong. Haha, I love it! The four meet up for introductions and Eun-ho basically reveals Choi Woong’s identity as Go-oh to Mr. Jang while Mr. Jang is introduced as the team leader of the project. Things are quite awkward between Yeon-soo and Choi Woong, but they try their best to pretend as if everything is fine. Eventually, the conversation finally comes to an end and Yeon-soo walks off with Mr. Jang while Choi Woong and Eun-ho stays behind.

NJ isn’t so happy waiting for a response from Choi Woong and she grows even more frustrated when she sees that he read her text without messaging anything back. With that, she decides to skip the rehearsal for her stage performance to search for Choi Woong. While waiting for the elevator, Yeon-soo apologizes to Mr. Jang once again. She doesn’t think the collaboration with Go-oh will go according to plan, but Mr. Jang already knows the reason for the hesitation. He’s well aware that she and Choi Woong used to date thanks to her intoxicated rant from the other night. Mr. Jang is stern and harsh; Yeon-soo will put aside her personal feelings and get the project done or else they’ll find someone else to replace her to get the job done. With that, Mr. Jang leaves and Yeon-soo waits at the elevator.

As if things couldn’t get any more stressful for Yeon-soo, she waits at the elevator only to find Choi Woong standing inside alone. She gets inside the elevator with him and together the two are trapped inside the elevator a few seconds into its run. Yeon-soo isn’t shy to bring up the salt and water combo that Choi Woong had apparently been practicing and rehearsing and Choi Woong isn’t shy to bring up the project. Is work the only excuse she could come up with to see him? But it’s not an excuse to Yeon-soo and what other reason might Choi Woong had expected from her?

But things don’t end there. The ‘what if’ questions return and Choi Woong ponders what she would have done if he acted serious with her and not in the childish way he did earlier? Yeon-soo combats that by asking Choi Woong what he would have done if he was serious about her? What would that have looked like? How would he have proved to her that he was serious about her after all these years? Eventually, the elevator doors open and the brief stare into each other’s eyes come to a close.

While walking home, Choi Woong comes across NJ as she pulls over in her car to talk to him. She was curious as to why he never replied back to her text even though he read it. Choi Woong’s a bit confused and shocked to see her in his neighborhood; she is an idol with a busy schedule after all. But for Choi Woong, she’ll make the time and she heads back for her schedule after checking up on him. Sigh.

Yeon-soo enjoys a can of beer before heading to sleep that night. She sits alone at the dining table and takes a few sip of the beer, reflecting on herself and everything in between. Meanwhile, Ji-woong continues to watch the footages from the high school documentary. He eventually makes up his mind and confirms his plans to do the new documentary to his team leader, Mr. Park. He’ll do it.

So with that, Ji-woong breaks the news to Choi Woong and Yeon-soo the next day. Yeon-soo receives a phone call while out on a walk with Sol-yi. Meanwhile, Ji-woong visits Choi Woong who isn’t so happy with the news. There’s never a chance in a million years that he’ll film that documentary with Yeon-soo. There’s just no way.

Epilogue

Choi Woong and Yeon-soo greet the cameras while sitting on the sofa together inside of Choi Woong’s house. Haha. While Choi Woong seems to be enjoying the moment as obvious by the smile on his face, Yeon-soo seems irritated. Do they really have to do this? Standing across from them behind the camera is Kim Ji-woong who can’t help but look at the both of them nearly speechless. This one might take a while to film.

My Thoughts:

Okay, so on a second watch, there were two things that stood out to me that I was definitely not a fan of. One of them I spoke about in my initial review for this drama which was the intoxicated flashbacks that Yeon-soo had with Mr. Jang that night at the cafe. It seemed very cliche and reminded me of plenty of other dramas that have done the same thing. It wasn’t new or funny really and I get what the drama was trying to do, but it did feel pretty old-fashioned.

The other part of this episode that I wasn’t a big fan of is NJ whose personality and attitude is way too much for me. The entitlement that she has simply for the fact that she’s an idol singer is off-putting and overwhelming and I think this drama would be the same and maybe even better without her character. I’m caught up with all six episodes so far and I think I know where the drama might be taking her character and why the drama has her in the show in the first place, but still, it’s a little too much for me. I feel like the drama simply has her in the show because it felt like it needed a traditional set-up of a second female lead when that’s not always necessary — especially with this drama.

But what I am a big fan of is the reunion between Yeon-soo and Choi Woong. There were quite a few scenes in this episode alone that made me really open up to the drama as a whole and kept me engaged enough to want to watch the next episode. I mean, that conversation in Choi Woong’s living room where Yeon-soo and Choi Woong pretty much just let it out and air their grievances with each other? Forget the water spray, the salt, and everything else. That first conversation between them was so raw and real and I loved everything about it. I loved it even more when they just stopped beating around the bush and became honest with each other. How could Choi Woong still be so upset about their break-up after five years, but how could Yeon-soo not feel anything about their break-up after five years? They’re both so baffled from the other’s response to this unexpected reunion, but they also aren’t afraid to just be blunt with it and get straight to the point. Things didn’t end off on a good note for them and they both maybe didn’t get that closure that they needed or wanted. That living room scene really stole my heart and captured my attention in this episode. Such a solid scene that gave us so much insight into their past relationship and break-up.

Now that I watched the elevator scene a second time around, I think I’ve come to appreciating Yeon-soo and Choi Woong’s conversation during that scene so much more. I think they both posed really great questions to each other that the other was not prepared to answer. It was made obvious with the silences and stares that they would give each other after they took turns asking questions. Neither of them expected to be in that situation and they weren’t expecting the questions that they were asked either. Now I’m also curious to see what Choi Woong would have done if he didn’t act so childish upon reuniting with Yeon-soo. Instead of throwing salt and spraying water at Yeon-soo, what would he have done to prove to her that he was genuine and serious about her again? What would Yeon-soo have done in return if she saw that Choi Woong had changed as a person as a result of their break-up?

It’s also so interesting to watch the two bicker upon reuniting because it also sort of gives you glimpses into how they reacted to their break-up. The fact that Yeon-soo pretended as if the break-up wasn’t a big deal for her or that there was no other reason other than work to meet with Choi Woong again proves that she didn’t think much about the break-up (or at least tried not to). On the other hand, Choi Woong had no trouble in expressing himself and showing Yeon-soo just how hurt and affected he was by the break-up. Why was Yeon-soo so indifferent to it? Did she really come to see him for work? Was there really no other excuse other than work to meet with him again? Surely, she must have come to see him because she wanted to repair their damaged relationship, right? This is an interesting dynamic that I’ll comment more on in future recaps, but I love just how much insight we were given about the two with the little hints that we were provided in this episode.

It’s even the little things like how Choi Woong had been rehearsing the water spray and salt throw for this exact moment with Yeon-soo that gives away so much on how he felt about everything. He was still not over their break-up that he knew exactly how he would react if presented with the opportunity to meet Yeon-soo again. He knew exactly what he was going to do and how he would do it and even practiced it with Eun-ho just to be extra prepared. Little details like this makes me think that Choi Woong maybe let the break-up get to him just a tad bit harder than Yeon-soo did. Yeon-soo is someone who naturally has walls built up around her so it’ll be interesting to watch as the layers to their relationship and break-up are revealed. Regardless, Choi Woong and Yeon-soo have so much to figure out and I’m here for it. Less of water sprays and salt throws and more of communication, patience, and listening. One step at a time.

Extra photos from the episode~