Love in Contract: Episodes 7-8

Love in Contract: Episodes 7-8

by Unit

Uncertainty of feelings, failed confession attempts, and the usual crazy antics of chaebol families characterize this week’s episodes. We also get to see more layers peeled off of our antisocial judge, as his past comes knocking in more ways than one.

 
EPISODES 7-8 WEECAP

Last week’s kiss has changed the dynamics of Sang-eun and Ji-ho’s relationship, but in typical second male lead behavior, Hae-jin remains blissfully unaware of this and still harbors hopes of going from fake to real with Sang-eun. And if relationships were based solely on the superficial, he might have had a shot — because compared to Ji-ho’s boring dinner dates at home, Hae-jin prefers exotic outdoor dating activities like horse riding and sailing. Must be nice to be Choi Sang-eun.

Meanwhile, all Sang-eun wants is to find out Ji-ho’s thoughts about their kiss. Neither of them wants to admit that they remembered what happened that night, but they’re both affected by it. Ji-ho seems to think that it was all a part of her job, and her speed at restoring his house to its former state re-emphasizes that for him. Poor guy looked like his heart was being ripped out as their couple pictures were taken down from the wall. Lol.

But whether it’s through sharing meals with him as his wife, or becoming his cordi and jazzing up his work outfits (which Park Min-young she should know about considering she’s the queen of office fashion), Sang-eun has changed Ji-ho’s life for the better. She even gives him pointers on how to interact with his staff, thereby improving his social skills – which, as we sadly come to learn, might not have been necessary in the first place.

Ji-ho was not originally an antisocial person, but he grew into this nature after his father died and he had to live with his aunt’s family. The once outspoken boy was taught to hold his feelings in so he wouldn’t be hated. And to his question about what to do to get people to like him, his aunt had replied with a, “Don’t expect anything so as not to get hurt.” His aunt might have been trying her best in her own way, but there are some things you just don’t say to kids.

Anyway, his aunt was wrong when she said no one will truly care about Ji-ho apart from his family (who obviously didn’t care), because I truly care about him, and Sang-eun does too – to the point where she wants him to be uncomfortable around her. Because how can he be so unbothered by her presence? Not even when her mind travels to unholy places at the sight of his lips. Lol. But Jung “seemingly unbothered” Ji-ho is actually not unaffected by her relationship with Hae-jin, and in his words, “The feelings a man would feel, I feel it too.” *Fans self*

Honestly, even the most random dialogue sound swoon-worthy when coming from this man. But you know what’s really swoon-worthy? It’s when Ji-ho knocks himself out (off just one glass of whiskey, by the way) and makes a drunken confession of his own to Sang-eun: he pretended to be indifferent about their kiss because he was afraid she wouldn’t return to his house otherwise. He’s also scared that she won’t like him.

But Ji-ho’s words don’t really translate well into an actual love confession for Sang-eun, and they return to their default setting of agreeing to wrap things up properly in due course. I swear, these two have been “properly wrapping up” their relationship since day one, and they already sound like a broken record. However, Ji-ho has been smiling more often around her, so maybe it’s not such a bad thing.

Right now, they’re beginning to feel more comfortable around each other, and their couple role-play around other people comes across as natural rather than forced. They also try speaking to each other informally, but Ji-ho is the first to opt out of this one. Heh. He’s also very curious about her plans to travel abroad, and Sang-eun teases that she won’t leave if he says she shouldn’t. But I think she’s trying to test the waters, and Ji-ho very seriously tells her not to go. Awwwww.

On the other hand, things aren’t smooth sailing for Hae-jin. Helmet Man is still very much around – but thanks to this, Gwang-nam gets hired as Hae-jin’s bodyguard, and maybe he can finally become more useful in the story. Hae-jin’s family is also very much interested in his marriage for different reasons. His father wants him to marry to strengthen the business, his mother wants him to take over the company, and his brother wants to see his true intentions.

True intentions meaning: is Hae-jin going to marry up to compete for the business with his brothers? But Hae-jin has no plans of doing that – all to protect his mother. Birthing him was her golden ticket to entering the Kang family after the death of the first wife, and the older Kang sons vowed to go after her instead of Hae-jin if he ever became competition. So much for brotherly love.

I know chaebol families are weird and unfeeling, but I don’t think I can get used to Sang-eun’s father (Ahn Suk-hwan) calling his daughter – adopted or not – a “cancelled project” just because she ruined a prospective marriage. It’s not enough that Sang-eun left the family — now he wants her to leave the country too. And this is all Mi-ho’s fault for threatening him into bringing Sang-eun back to the family.

But then, it’s only crazy that can fight crazy, and it did feel good to watch Mi-ho drag Sang-eun’s father by his tie and warn him to do right by Sang-eun. While at least she has some shame to admit that they jointly ruined Sang-eun’s life, that doesn’t change my ill feelings towards her.

The pressure from Hae-jin’s family takes a toll on his health, and Sang-eun has to drive him to a hotel close to his filming location and nurse him back to health. He doesn’t want rumors to start if he’s seen looking sick, so they don masks and hats and instead get photographed like a couple out on a hot night. Hehe. The pictures hit the tabloids and Ji-ho sees Sang-eun still in the same outfit she wore at his place – after telling him she was going home to sleep.

Lately, Ji-ho has been taking relationship advice from the anonymous online board at work, and one piece of advice he gets is to follow up on things he doesn’t understand to avoid misunderstandings. So, he calls Sang-eun to ask about the pictures and she explains the situation to him. She is surprised to hear that he’s driving down to meet her at the hotel, and that’s when he goes, “I want to see you right now. Come back with me.” Oh be still, my heart!

If I’m already like this, I wonder how I’ll feel when Ji-ho finally says his I like/love you to Sang-eun. I think I’m going to melt! I didn’t even bat an eye when Hae-jin all but confessed to Sang-eun. Like, go away, boy, this is not your zone. It’s almost like I’m supposed to feel sorry for Hae-jin, but I really don’t care that much about him.

Okay, I do feel the tiniest bit of empathy over his situation with his crazy family, but that’s about it. When it comes to Sang-eun, I have zero sympathies. To be honest, I don’t think he’s actually in love with her. It seems more like magnifying the image he has of his first love, and a bit of idolizing her for completely walking away from her family’s crap – something he hasn’t been able to bring himself to do.

But with his request for a corporate lawyer from his agency, I think Hae-jin is seriously considering cutting himself away from his family. In which case, good for him. I’m right behind him on this one. His new lawyer is JUNG JI-EUN (Lee Joo-bin), a self-acclaimed fan of his, and in the mother of all coincidences, she just so happens to be Ji-ho’s ex-wife! (Okay, why do their names have just a single syllable difference? It’s giving sibling and creepy vibes.)

Ji-eun is not exactly a new character, and while she has only appeared in flashbacks, it feels like she’s had a much bigger presence than some of the other characters. Her appearance in the present-day storyline is one I’m looking forward to. And that ending scene of ex-wife, current wife, and two husbands running into each other in the hotel lobby has to be the best cliffhanger yet. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve already mentally arrived at next Wednesday to see where this quartet will go from here.

 
RELATED POSTS

Love in Contract: Episodes 7-8
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily