After this disaster fell on him out of the sky, he had lost far too much. Not many of the people around him cared about what he had been through. They only worried about their own benefits. His partners worried because his reputation had been affected. His friends were scared that he'd have a hard time finding work again. And even his own mother just dropped a shallow "you've worked hard," because she saw that the issue hadn't affected his father yet.
But life still had its exceptions.
Seeing Dong-gu lock himself in his room for three days without coming out, Ha-neul's mother specially threw a barbecue party on the rooftop. The uncle carried the liquor over and hyped things up, while the younger brother charged straight into the room and dragged him out. Unable to resist the whole family's enthusiasm, Dong-gu had to come out and drink with everyone.
Even though Ha-neul's mother acted tough on the outside, she said very sincere, comforting words to lift his spirits.
At that moment, Dong-gu's phone rang, but he didn't answer it. The younger brother took one look and understood right away, saying it was definitely those people who had abandoned him when he was in trouble, now calling to act friendly again since they saw he was stable.
After the party died down, seeing her family start going crazy, Ha-neul hurriedly pulled Dong-gu off somewhere else. He opened up that he was very grateful to her family for making him feel like he wasn't lonely anymore. But the person he was most grateful to was Ha-neul. Thanks to her, he had been able to stay strong through this dark time.
He said, "Lately everything has been so bitter. Only you are sweet."
In his drunk state, he kept confessing his feelings, which left Ha-neul incredibly shy. On the street, he confessed to her. Walking into the convenience store, he brought it up again. Just like that, in his drunk state, Dong-gu said I love you who knows how many times, and even held her hand really tight.
This exact thing left Ha-neul completely confused. Did this count as dating yet?
She had to take this asking-for-a-friend story to her mother for advice. But because of the generation gap, she couldn't find a satisfying answer. In her mother's time, just holding hands automatically meant you were dating. The youngest uncle, who had been single for twenty years, thought exactly the same.
But the younger brother strongly disagreed, arguing that without official confirmation, everything was just a situationship.
The more Ha-neul thought about it, the more confused she got. So she planned to go find Dong-gu to talk it out. Right after she walked into his room, the younger brother knocked on the door demanding to come in. Ha-neul felt guilty and frantically hid in the bathroom.
Seeing his sister's reaction, the younger brother totally knew who the man in the room was. So he demanded to have a man-to-man talk with Dong-gu. He scolded Dong-gu for being a jerk, for playing with his sister's feelings without being clear about it. Ha-neul hid inside and wanted to disappear into a hole out of embarrassment.
Finally, Dong-gu confirmed that since yesterday, he had already considered her his girlfriend.
Hearing that, Ha-neul got so happy she lost her mind, clumsily turning on the shower head and getting herself completely soaked. She acted like a spaced-out alien, just letting Dong-gu push her along unconsciously. After coming back to her senses, the two of them officially confirmed their dating relationship.
Their first date began. Just as they were about to leave, Kyung-min called wanting to meet, but Dong-gu flat-out refused, because to him the date with Ha-neul was the most important thing in the world.
Ha-neul promised this would be a sweet day, which made Dong-gu look forward to all sorts of things. Who knew round one of the date would be going to the library to study medicine? Ha-neul said her dream was to read theses and discuss them with her boyfriend. Dong-gu could only force out a bitter smile and play along.
Round two, at the coffee shop, was also just studying and more studying, which totally killed the man's mood. Luckily, in the end they actually went to the movies, serving up a ton of public affection by feeding each other and sharing a sweet kiss.
But the joy didn't last long. When they got home, Dong-gu saw Kyung-min's wedding invitation, left behind on the side.
Seeing the invitation, Ha-neul's face suddenly went very strange, and she left.
At this time, Dae-young invited Dong-gu to come work at his clinic, but he refused. He was worried about Ha-neul. If he went back to his bright, successful track too fast, she would feel even more lonely and left behind. When he went over to Ha-neul's house, he accidentally saw an old photo, and from that he understood the reason for her unusual attitude the night before.
At the same time, Ha-neul went to meet her old co-worker. This person told her that Kyung-min wasn't just getting married, he was also quitting his job. He was marrying the daughter of a pharmaceutical group's chairman. Working as a professor at the hospital had only ever been a way to get a title to pad his resume.
Everyone was outraged on Ha-neul's behalf, because it was obvious she had written that thesis all by herself back then, and Kyung-min had blatantly stolen it to get promoted to professor.
The anger inside Ha-neul flared up.
She remembered her early days as an intern, when Kyung-min was the only person who trusted her and cared for her in that drama-filled hospital. Because she was so grateful, she once asked him why he was so good to her. He used sweet talk about her sincerity and her hard work to win her heart.
She used to trust him absolutely, but his true colors slowly showed when he demanded to put his name on her thesis, with the excuse, "The professor doesn't like me. If I put my name on it, the budget will get approved, and I'll explain later."
After that, he started stabbing her in the back, badmouthing her to the professor as someone with a terrible personality, and even framing her for faking research data. When Ha-neul stepped up to confront him, all of her co-workers and the professor took his side.
All alone and betrayed by the person she trusted the most, Ha-neul slowly fell into despair and got depression from then on. She started closing herself off and didn't trust anyone anymore.
Facing Ha-neul's confrontation, Kyung-min still shamelessly argued that everyone in this industry did that. This also explained why he had always tried to find ways to stop Dong-gu and Ha-neul from getting together.
The more she thought about it, the more furious she got. Ha-neul charged straight into Kyung-min's farewell party, didn't say a word, and just threw a glass of water right in his face. Then she warned him to live a decent and realistic life from now on.
Getting off work, Dae-young accidentally ran into Hong-ran. Since they both worked in the same industry, they started talking, and Dae-young told Hong-ran the real reason Dong-gu had turned down his job offer was because he was worried about Ha-neul's situation.