I was able to enjoy this series for what it was, a slice of life KDRAMA semi-romance between two people who are so afraid of love, the past, or possible rejection that they waste precious time misinterpreting each other's feelings for indifference. Se-Hee is so restrained emotionally that he can't speak a word having anything to do with emotion. He hides this behind boundaries that he carefully places around himself. Jin-ho is sometimes completely obtuse when it comes to understanding Se-hee and the carefully restrained passion simmering below the surface...no fault of her own. He hides it well.
Recap: The story is about a young man whose name is See Hee, who lives a very careful life. He wants no emotional entanglements or any life-altering events. He wants to live a quiet life without any sort of emotional turmoil or companionships. He loves his cat and loves living in the apartment he owns. The problem is that he has a very large mortgage that he wishes to pay off so that he can have security and feel safe as he lives his life without Love. Enter Jin-Ho. Her life is the opposite. She has just lost her home while away for work because her brother has taken over their paid off apartment and he is getting married and having a baby. This means that she has to move out because her brother and his girlfriend are living like newlyweds and Jin-Ho is the odd one out. Only she is finding it very difficult to find an apartment that she can afford on such a meager salary. She meets See Hee and after realizing that she had such a great need and he had an extra room and could use the rent money to help pay off his mortgage faster, they enter into a contract marriage which is secretly a landlord tenant agreement as well.
Their friends and family believe the couple married for love, but in reality, the couple have secretly agreed that the marriage is strictly business as she will be the tenant and he will be her landlord and that the contract will last for 2 years. This arrangement works. Jin Ho finds security in this arrangement and a home (i.e., she is no longer homeless). She takes a job at a restaurant since she no longer wants to be a writer due to being assaulted by her boss. She finds her life is very comfortable with See Hee and he is very happy with her as his tenant. She does everything he wants a roommate to do and goes above and beyond in keeping up their home. They both fall into a comfortable routine. But problems ensue when Jin Ho is unable to keep her feelings in check and crosses those emotional boundaries See Hee has worked so hard to keep in place. But can he keep his emotions in line as well or will he eventually erase the boundaries and fall in love with Jin-Ho? See Hee develops an awful habit of crushing Jin Ho's feelings to keep the boundaries in place. He manages, with even the smallest gestures, to reject her.
There are also supporting characters who really help round out this story. They are See Hee's two friends and Jin Ho's two best friends who make up the two other couples with conflicting storylines that are also interesting.
There is See Hee's hilarious and endearing boss, who is in a romance with Jin Ho's friend. He wants more and she wants less for reasons unknown to him. And then there is the third couple who have been in a relationship for 7 years except the boyfriend will not commit to a marriage causing much emotional turmoil that shakes and their entire relationship. I found this couple very annoying and immature and felt the young woman was better off with the other man that she met.
Spoiler: The one part I didn't understand was the ending. Jin-ho confesses her feelings openly to everyone around her except to Se-hee, understandably fearful of being rebuffed again. Yet when she learns he plans to confess his love from mutual friends, she interrupts him and announces that she wants a divorce and will leave him. Kdrama romance has a formula: Boy rejects girl, girl finally wins boy's heart, girl dumps boy, boy must grovel to win her back. In this case she dumps the fake marriage and he loses his everlovin' mind. He becomes so broken and lost in despair that he gives up the one thing he wanted most in the world, the very thing he agreed to a fake marriage to get. So I could not make out a reasonable motive for her destroying his life. If it was just to reboot the relationship on her terms. Then that's silly and Se-hee's reaction to her re-emergence after he had lost/given up everything...well,, he was appropriately ticked off. While he drinks himself into a stupor she's off laughing and having the time of her life with friends...after he rescued her from being homeless she did not stick to the contract. I still love the show however. And felt the outcome of the series was appropriate.
Recap: The story is about a young man whose name is See Hee, who lives a very careful life. He wants no emotional entanglements or any life-altering events. He wants to live a quiet life without any sort of emotional turmoil or companionships. He loves his cat and loves living in the apartment he owns. The problem is that he has a very large mortgage that he wishes to pay off so that he can have security and feel safe as he lives his life without Love. Enter Jin-Ho. Her life is the opposite. She has just lost her home while away for work because her brother has taken over their paid off apartment and he is getting married and having a baby. This means that she has to move out because her brother and his girlfriend are living like newlyweds and Jin-Ho is the odd one out. Only she is finding it very difficult to find an apartment that she can afford on such a meager salary. She meets See Hee and after realizing that she had such a great need and he had an extra room and could use the rent money to help pay off his mortgage faster, they enter into a contract marriage which is secretly a landlord tenant agreement as well.
Their friends and family believe the couple married for love, but in reality, the couple have secretly agreed that the marriage is strictly business as she will be the tenant and he will be her landlord and that the contract will last for 2 years. This arrangement works. Jin Ho finds security in this arrangement and a home (i.e., she is no longer homeless). She takes a job at a restaurant since she no longer wants to be a writer due to being assaulted by her boss. She finds her life is very comfortable with See Hee and he is very happy with her as his tenant. She does everything he wants a roommate to do and goes above and beyond in keeping up their home. They both fall into a comfortable routine. But problems ensue when Jin Ho is unable to keep her feelings in check and crosses those emotional boundaries See Hee has worked so hard to keep in place. But can he keep his emotions in line as well or will he eventually erase the boundaries and fall in love with Jin-Ho? See Hee develops an awful habit of crushing Jin Ho's feelings to keep the boundaries in place. He manages, with even the smallest gestures, to reject her.
There are also supporting characters who really help round out this story. They are See Hee's two friends and Jin Ho's two best friends who make up the two other couples with conflicting storylines that are also interesting.
There is See Hee's hilarious and endearing boss, who is in a romance with Jin Ho's friend. He wants more and she wants less for reasons unknown to him. And then there is the third couple who have been in a relationship for 7 years except the boyfriend will not commit to a marriage causing much emotional turmoil that shakes and their entire relationship. I found this couple very annoying and immature and felt the young woman was better off with the other man that she met.
Spoiler: The one part I didn't understand was the ending. Jin-ho confesses her feelings openly to everyone around her except to Se-hee, understandably fearful of being rebuffed again. Yet when she learns he plans to confess his love from mutual friends, she interrupts him and announces that she wants a divorce and will leave him. Kdrama romance has a formula: Boy rejects girl, girl finally wins boy's heart, girl dumps boy, boy must grovel to win her back. In this case she dumps the fake marriage and he loses his everlovin' mind. He becomes so broken and lost in despair that he gives up the one thing he wanted most in the world, the very thing he agreed to a fake marriage to get. So I could not make out a reasonable motive for her destroying his life. If it was just to reboot the relationship on her terms. Then that's silly and Se-hee's reaction to her re-emergence after he had lost/given up everything...well,, he was appropriately ticked off. While he drinks himself into a stupor she's off laughing and having the time of her life with friends...after he rescued her from being homeless she did not stick to the contract. I still love the show however. And felt the outcome of the series was appropriate.