Hong-ran later brought this story up and told her friend.
Finding this out, Ha-neul's heart was a total mess. She questioned Dong-gu about why he had made her feel guilty, why he had made her feel even more pathetic than she already did. Without waiting for him to explain, she unilaterally announced the end of their relationship.
Dong-gu was stunned. He hadn't expected her to push him away while they were both at rock bottom in life.
But Ha-neul didn't want him to sacrifice or compromise too much for her sake. She was scared that one day she would get hurt again by someone she trusted, and she doubted whether an unstable person like her deserved to be happy. So she decisively broke up with him.
Dong-gu didn't try to hold on anymore. He agreed to go work at Dae-young's clinic, and he moved out, leaving Ha-neul's family full of regrets.
After the breakup, neither of them was happy. They were in different places, drowning their sorrows in alcohol.
The next day, Ha-neul's aunt called her mother saying there was a really top-tier blind date coming up to Seoul. It was the son of a director from a big hospital in Busan, who was looking for a doctor daughter-in-law to take over the business later on.
At first, Ha-neul's mother planned to refuse. But remembering her daughter's miserable look when she was drunk, and hearing Hong-ran tell the story of how her dream position had been stolen from her, she decided to take a gamble. She thought being a director was way cooler than being a professor. Plus, maybe a new love would help her daughter forget the pain of the old one.
She lied to Ha-neul that a director's son wanted to learn about the medical field in Seoul, and asked her to go meet him for a bit. Because she was always passionate about her work, Ha-neul agreed right away without any suspicion. But at this point, her mother started worrying about whether what she had done was right or wrong.
When she got there, the man gave off a very snobby and rude attitude. Ha-neul cut straight to the chase and asked what he wanted to know, but he mockingly called her out for acting all high and mighty, saying it was clearly a blind date and yet she was pretending otherwise.
Realizing she had been tricked into a blind date, Ha-neul left in anger.
At the same time, Ha-neul's mother felt uneasy and was about to call to confess, but her daughter was already home.
Ha-neul threw a huge fit, demanding to know if her mother was so embarrassed because she had an unemployed daughter. All this time, no matter how much people mocked her, she could take it. But her mother's action was no different from admitting that those people were right. She felt totally useless and pathetic.
Little did she know that right at that moment her mother was even more heartbroken than she was.
She went back to the shop and sobbed loudly. She just wanted her children to live well, but because she was getting old, sometimes she made bad judgment calls. She blamed herself for being at fault.
Seeing his sister like that, the youngest brother went to look for Ha-neul. Unlike their mother, he always gave in to whatever she wanted. Hearing her talk about the bossy blind date guy, he even wanted to go settle the score with him, which made Ha-neul burst into laughter.
He opened up that all this time he hadn't asked why she quit her job because he had never really studied anyway. He had nothing to give her but a shoulder to lean on. He made fun of himself for being useless and not able to help, but Ha-neul immediately denied it.
He told her a story about their mother. Just from hearing that cabbage was good for people with sensitive mental health, their mother had immediately planted a whole garden of it for her.
Hearing that, Ha-neul stayed silent and thought about it. Taking that chance, the youngest brother dragged her to a pork trotter restaurant. Just as they sat down, the younger brother also pushed their mother in through the door.
The uncle and the younger brother tactfully stepped away to let the mother and daughter make up. The vibe was a bit awkward at first.
Ha-neul's mother took out a savings book, saying this was the money her father had left for her for when she got married. She opened up that they had been very happy to be her parents, but that sometimes a child's achievements accidentally become the parent's life scorecard. Thanks to her, her mother's life scorecard had always ranked first. Up until the last day of his life, her father had always been proud of her.
Her mother apologized for not making her feel happier. She confirmed that she had never once seen her as useless. She wanted her to take this money and travel, and told her that even if she didn't work for the rest of her life, that was fine. As long as she felt happy, that was enough.
Ha-neul choked up with tears, and mother and daughter finally cleared up all their misunderstandings.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Dong-gu was still holding a stomach full of thoughts and trying to understand Ha-neul's decision. But when he saw the photos on her younger brother's social media page, he suddenly felt terribly disappointed. In the photos, Ha-neul was smiling brightly, going from a blind date to eating pork trotters happily, while he had been constantly worrying sick about her.
Ha-neul's mother brought up Dong-gu with a look full of pity. She couldn't forget the sky-is-falling look in his eyes when he first moved in. Back then, he looked like he didn't even care about eating, and being in a situation like that without seeing his parents come over to check on him at all, she thought he was just too pitiful, and her own daughter was just as poor.
She secretly felt thankful that at that time the two of them could lean on each other. At least Ha-neul, who never had anyone to confide in, had finally met Dong-gu. She hoped the two of them could heal together, and hoped they could find a way of living where they didn't have to torture themselves anymore.
Suddenly realizing she was talking a bit too much, she finally dropped the topic.
Getting back to her room, Ha-neul just sat there staring at their group photo and got lost in memories. The result was that when she woke up the next morning, she wanted to hide in a hole when she saw she had accidentally texted him the message, "Are you asleep yet?"
Right when she was so embarrassed that she didn't know where to hide her face, she ran into him on the rooftop.
Dong-gu called her his ex-girlfriend and mocked her. "Why are you so happy? Going from drinking, to eating pork trotters, to even going on a blind date."
After the teasing, he asked her seriously, "Can I wait for you? Wait until your mood gets better."
His patience made her heart flutter.
On the other side of things, thanks to Dong-gu joining, Dae-young's clinic was suddenly packed with customers.