Feeling depressed, Seo turned to alcohol to forget her troubles. Dohyun saw this and warned her, "Drinking like this will ruin your liver. You might die."
Seo didn't care. "I don't mind dying. I'm just so tired of this broke life."
While she was drunk and venting to him on the roof, her mother called and said she was coming to visit for a few days.
Seo panicked even more. To deal with it, she went to beg Namu to let her cousin stay at his place for a few days, to hide him from her mother. After some begging, Namu agreed. Dohyun moved next door and started plotting to use this chance to escape.
As soon as Seo's mother arrived, she announced she would stay for about three or four days, which made her daughter very anxious.
Meanwhile, next door, Dohyun lay beside Namu and couldn't sleep at all. He started talking about all sorts of things, telling Namu about the glamorous life of a famous star. He talked very sincerely, but unfortunately, in Namu's eyes he was just a guy with mental issues rambling on. After listening for a while, Namu couldn't take it any more, so he turned on the radio to stop the headache.
Little did they know, the station was telling ghost stories, and both of those scaredy-cats turned pale. While they were trembling, they saw a shadow outside the window, and their hearts almost skipped a beat.
It turned out not to be a ghost, but Seo, sneaking over after getting her mother to fall fast asleep. Namu asked shakily why she was here at this hour, and Seo said she had come to check on how her clueless cousin was doing. Seeing that Dohyun was still behaving himself, she breathed a sigh of relief.
So that Namu wouldn't get suspicious, Seo explained, "My mum doesn't like me hanging out with this guy who has mental issues, but out of conscience I have to take care of him. Just don't let her see him, okay?"
Dohyun demanded to go and say hello to the lady, but Seo quickly stopped him, playing up the part of close siblings. The two even pinched each other's cheeks and cuddled, making Namu totally believe it.
"I've got to admit," he said, "you two siblings are really affectionate."
However, Seo's mother happened to wake up. Not seeing her daughter anywhere, she went looking for her, and caught Seo talking to Namu in the middle of the night. Hearing Seo vaguely tell him to keep a close eye on him and not let him run away, she had a disastrous misunderstanding. She thought Namu was Seo's boyfriend, and that her daughter was head over heels for a guy who was dirt poor.
As soon as they got back to the room, Seo's mother chewed her out. "Why are you dating someone who looks like he has no future, kid?"
She said her own life had been miserable because she married a poor man, which was why she always told her daughter to find a rich guy to marry. So why was she being so stubborn now?
Seo tried her best to explain that Namu was just a neighbour and that she had only gone over for an emergency, but her mother didn't believe it at all.
The next morning, the real trouble hit. While cleaning up, Seo's mother found a pair of men's underwear. We know full well it was superstar Dohyun's designer gear, but her mother didn't. She immediately thought it belonged to the neighbour guy from the night before. Turns out they're living together, and they dared to lie to me. She was furious, glaring at Namu's place as though she wanted to torch it.
At this time, Seo was out drinking to forget her troubles, because of too much pressure. In her drunken state, she had a gut feeling that something both very good and very bad was about to happen to her.
As soon as she got home and saw her mother holding up the underwear and asking, "Whose is this?" Seo froze for five seconds.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. She snatched them back, held them up against herself and said, "Mine. Who else's? I like wearing men's clothes because they're comfortable."
Seo's mother was speechless. "Are you crazy? Why do you have such a weird habit?"
Then she continued her don't-date-poor-guys lecture. Seo miserably argued that she really wanted to marry a rich guy too. But the problem was that she didn't have striking looks and her family background was ordinary, so who would even look at her?
Seeing her daughter say that, the mother went silent and didn't scold her any more.
The next day, Seo's mother left. Before going, she didn't forget to tell her to stay away from the neighbour Namu. To put her mother at ease, Seo lied. "Actually, Namu is a rich heir. His dad has a huge business. He just moved here to experience life."
An interesting detail is that Seo's mother was wearing a shirt with a huge picture of Dohyun printed on it. She was his obsessed fan, without knowing her idol was right next door.
After seeing her mother off, Seo texted Namu to let him know. Dohyun heard that his die-hard fan was about to leave and begged Namu to take him over to meet her. Just once.
Namu hesitated. "Seo strictly told me not to let you meet her."
Dohyun used a psychological trick. "You're so dumb. If I were really her cousin, why would she hide me from her mum like a cat hides its mess? Don't you think something is off?"
He tried to explain to Namu that Seo was lying. But Namu stuck up for her. "She's doing that because she doesn't want her mum to worry about seeing a crazy guy like you."
Dohyun got annoyed and snapped back. "Are you so love-blind that you've lost your mind? There isn't a grain of truth in anything she says. Wake up."
Namu got even angrier after hearing that, thinking Dohyun was just having another delusional episode, so he didn't believe a word.
After her mother left, Seo brought Dohyun back from Namu's house to her room. Dohyun started using a mind game, calling her a kidnapper, which made her burst into tears. Seo cried and defended herself.
"I ended up like this because of you. I've never told a single lie to my mum before, and now I have to hide this huge mess."
Dohyun was about to argue back, but Seo just cried even harder. While he was confused and trying to comfort her, Seo's mother suddenly came back, because she had forgotten something.
The mother froze when she saw a man in her daughter's room. But instead of being angry, she was in total shock when she realised it was the superstar Dohyun, her idol.
Seeing her mother fire off questions, Seo got desperate and blurted out, "He's my boyfriend."
Her mother couldn't believe her eyes. "Superstar Dohyun is your boyfriend? Let me get to the bottom of this."
Seeing Seo struggling to figure out what to do, Dohyun suddenly changed his mind and sealed the deal. "Yes, it's true. I'm dating her."
Seo was floored, because she hadn't expected him to bail her out like that. But her mother was still curious. "If you're in love, why are his hands and feet chained and tied up like this?"
Dohyun immediately pulled out an outrageous excuse. "Oh, it's because we like a little thrill, you know. A private hobby for couples."
Seo just wanted to crawl into a hole from embarrassment. She quickly stuffed a rag into his mouth so he wouldn't say another word.
The mother was over the moon, praising her daughter non-stop for landing such a top-tier boyfriend.
However, Namu heard the entire conversation from outside.