The mother was sulking, because she felt like they were going on a trip, and being this quiet had no vibe at all. Having no other choice, the uncle had to pull out his phone and play some hype music for the whole family to have fun with.
Poor Dong-gu got sandwiched between the dancing squad of the uncle and Ha-neul's mother to the point where his face was squished, and he didn't dare make a peep. As soon as the music hit, those two vibed far too hard, throwing their arms and legs around and smacking him right in the face.
On top of that, when it rains it pours, and the car just decided to blow a tire in the middle of the road. So the star doctor, in his totally out-of-place kendo uniform, had to stand in the middle of the road catching all the dust from passing cars, looking unbearably messy.
By the time the car was fixed, the sun had already set.
Only then did Dong-gu learn that the real purpose of the trip was to visit Ha-neul's father's grave. He totally thought the vibe would be terribly sad, so he planned to stand far away to be polite, but it turned out the whole family was chatting very warmly and positively.
Ha-neul's mother opened up to him that missing someone comes in many forms, and that after so many years, the sadness had given way to beautiful memories.
Running into Dong-gu while taking a walk, Ha-neul's mother invited him for ice cream, and the two of them talked like a pair of friends. Knowing he was still beating himself up over Kyung-min's death, she gently advised him.
"Forgiving someone isn't for them, it's for yourself. Holding on to hatred will only make you more miserable and more exhausted. Don't force yourself to forget the pain right away. Just let it slowly fade over time."
The deep words of his future mother-in-law hit right where it itched, and helped Dong-gu drop the mental burden he had carried for so long. Witnessing this scene, Ha-neul felt incredibly warmed.
After getting encouraged by her uncle, she also decided to put aside her guilt toward the deceased and go back to the hospital to work as a professor. Dong-gu was the happiest person of all for her.
But life is not a dream. Ever since she started working again, Ha-neul was incredibly busy and often came home late. Dong-gu fell into the situation of waiting for his wife, going from helping the uncle wrap dumplings until he was as good as a master, to cleaning the house just to kill the time.
He told himself to focus on his own work, but his eyes betrayed him, glancing at his phone every five seconds waiting for a text from his girlfriend. He wiped the fridge, cleaned the windows, and did everything he could think of until three thirty in the morning, before falling asleep without realizing it.
Waking up to see the coffee candy Ha-neul had left behind, Dong-gu was both happy and sad, and decided he couldn't just sit and wait forever. He had to go on the offensive by finding his way into the same house. Well, no, the same hospital as her.
He offered to do a free surgery for a little girl with an ear deformity, right at the place Ha-neul worked, so that the two of them would have a chance to team up.
And so the playing-hard-to-get scene continued. When Dong-gu confidently presented the medical case at the podium, Ha-neul sat below looking like a true fangirl, secretly admiring him. Oh my gosh, how can my boyfriend look so cool and handsome when he's working?
Right when their feelings were peaking, both of their phones received photos from the Busan trip the other day. Dong-gu panicked when he saw the last photo, the one showing him wearing the kendo uniform and looking incredibly tacky. He frantically tried to snatch the phone away so she wouldn't see it, but Ha-neul thought it was hilarious and demanded to use that picture as her profile picture.
The two of them wrestled for a bit and tumbled onto the sofa. In the quiet and totally flirty space, Ha-neul took the lead, wrapped her arms around Dong-gu's neck and gave him a sweet kiss, marking the return of the lovebirds after all the drama.
He totally thought a passionate kiss was about to happen, but who knew that when Dong-gu closed his eyes and puckered his lips waiting, Ha-neul would just gently kiss his neck, leaving him slightly disappointed.
Right at this moment, Dong-gu decided to drop his trump card, pulling out the jewelry box he had prepped a long time ago in order to propose. With awful luck, the ring slipped out of his hand and fell right under the sofa. He frantically scrambled around looking for it, which startled Ha-neul and made her ask what was going on. Dong-gu panicked and lied that he had just dropped a coin, telling her to go and do her own thing.
But Ha-neul was way too helpful. She grabbed a broom, planning to sweep under the sofa for him, which made Dong-gu want to cry for real. He didn't want his romantic proposal to end with picking the ring out of a pile of dirt.
Just as he was about to confess the truth, a dark shadow dashed under the sofa and two cockroaches crawled out, giving both of them a massive scare. They ran for their lives, completely shattering the romantic vibe into pieces.
The next morning, Dong-gu brought his sad story to Dae-young. Not only did he not get any comfort, his friend threw cold water on him, saying, "Ha-neul just became a professor and she's super busy, so giving her a ring right now would only add more pressure and block her career path."
Dong-gu was furious hearing that, but he couldn't argue back. He awkwardly waddled back to the jewelry store and swapped it for a bracelet.
On the way home, he ran into his future brother-in-law again. This smooth-talking kid tricked him into buying him a meal. The uncle also teased him, "Don't give cockroaches to Ha-neul as a gift anymore, okay?"
Dong-gu didn't expect that the bad luck story from last night had already spread to the whole family. The uncle advised him to just clean the ring and give it to her again, but the younger brother strongly disagreed. "It's my sister's first time getting a ring. How can you give her something covered in dirt and cockroaches?"
Then, hearing the younger brother say that his sister was a surgeon, so a bracelet would just get in the way and she'd never wear it, Dong-gu felt completely defeated, and quietly walked back to the jewelry store for the ninth time to pick out another gift.
The next day, the news that Dong-gu had won his lawsuit and received 2.5 billion won in compensation flooded all the news outlets. The money-hungry brother-in-law immediately complained, "My brother-in-law is so rich, but yesterday he only treated me to spicy rice cakes. Not even a single fish cake skewer."
Ha-neul's mother scolded her son for bothering Dong-gu, but the younger brother argued that his brother-in-law was super lonely now, and all his friends had turned their backs on him, so that's exactly why he needed their family by his side.
Ha-neul had a heavy heart, because she was worried about Dong-gu. The two of them met up on the rooftop. She told him to count down three hours to get a surprise, but he had only counted to three before he hugged her tightly from behind.
Right when they were having a sweet moment, the younger brother texted to check in on his brother-in-law's wallet.