{ Original Name: 우연과 필연사이 | Publisher: Lezhin }
CW // episode spoilers
It’s morning and Dojun awakens next to Taeseok. After their night together, he gets a minute to himself to wonder about this guy sleeping next to him. How did Taeseok manage to find his way into Dojun’s heart, making him feel things that he didn’t even know were possible? As if he knew Dojun was ruminating about him, Taeseok wakes up. He asks if Dojun wants to stay at his place for a while, since he probably doesn’t want to see Jinwoo right now, and surprisingly, he agrees. But Dojun also has a request: he wants Taeseok to take him to see the sea.
Elsewhere, we see Jinwoo leaving Dojun’s place with a small duffel bag. It looks as though Jinwoo has decided to move out, leaving a quick note behind apologizing to Dojun and asking him to call him when he’s ready to talk. Outside, Gitae is waiting. Remember him? He’s the guy that hired Jinwoo to roleplay as his lover so that he could break up with his abusive boyfriend. These two could hardly be considered friends, but I guess Jinwoo is desperate enough that he reached out to someone he barely knows. He even goes as far as to say that instead of Gitae paying him for the roleplay gig, to just let Jinwoo bother him for a few days.
I’m actually a little surprised that Jinwoo did this. I half-expected him to stick around, waiting for Dojun to come back, and then creating another scene when Dojun does return home. Leaving this way is really better for everyone. I mean, Jinwoo could have chosen someone worse to depend on, right? Gitae seemed like a decent guy from the earlier episodes, but I do have to say that he looks exactly like Dojun.
Later, we find Taeseok and Dojun coming from dinner somewhere near the sea. Dojun admits that he’s impressed with how despite Taeseok not being in South Korea for very long, he knows such good places to eat. The two decide to take a walk. It’s chilly by the water, so Taeseok wraps Dojun in a scarf that he had meant to give Dojun earlier, but…. well, we know what happened there. They continue to walk along the shore, and Dojun takes this moment to reveal his tragic past: how his parents died in a car crash, how he still suffers from PTSD from the accident, and how his mother’s best friend (Jinwoo’s mother) took him in.
Taeseok is thankful that Dojun is finally opening up to him, and he acknowledges that it must have been difficult to reveal his past. Dojun then goes onto admit how flawed of a human being he is, but if Taeseok is ok with accepting him the way he is, he’ll gladly give Taeseok the chance he asked for. Not only that, but Dojun also asks Taeseok for a chance as well: a chance to return his feelings. It’s possibly the cutest and sweetest scene of this manhwa so far.
This scene elicited that flailing, leg-kicking, squealing, thrashing reaction from me. Taeseok and Dojun are just so sweet together. It’s beautiful to see Dojun opening up to someone after such a long time of ignoring his own feelings.
I’ll save my overall thoughts of the series for the series review, but this was such a sweet way to end this season. I’m curious to see how Dojun and Taeseok’s relationship progresses, but I’m also curious about what Jinwoo’s next steps are. We know that Jinwoo hasn’t always made the best decisions, but maybe this developing friendship with Gitae may be good for him in more ways than one.
