You’ve Fallen for Me: Episode 12

I planted senseless fear in people last week, but rest assured. This drama continues to surprise me in continuing to deviate from my expectations. This young couple is much stronger than I ever gave them credit for, and now that they have found each other, they won’t let conflicts, like simple misunderstanding or jealousy, get in their way. Instead, they actually talk things through and work it out. Perhaps some of those older drama couples have a thing or two to learn from these two young people.

EPISODE 12: “Don’t Cry”

Shin holds on tight to Kyu-won, afraid she’d leave and it would really be over between them.

 

Only after she reassures him that she’ll stay does he let go. His eyes breathe a sigh of relief. (And gosh darnit, his eyes really did do that!)

Now that they’re not breaking up, they continue their walk, pondering over whether Suk-hyun will return. At Shin’s seemingly indifferent attitude about the musical, Kyu-won wonders if this is not important to him at all.

Shin confesses that it is important to him. He’s spent much time and energy into arranging the ending song, and if it goes to waste, he’ll be upset too. But more important to him than that is Kyu-won herself. Those things would mean nothing to him if she were to get hurt and miserable because of this ordeal.

Kyu-won swoons inside.

 

Shin asks Kyu-won why she didn’t tell him yesterday that she was meeting Suk-hyun.

Kyu-won: The text said not to tell anyone.
Shin: Am I just anyone?
Kyu-won: Weird rumors kept circulating about Director and me, so I was afraid you’d misunderstand.
Shin: I don’t naively do things like misunderstand. And don’t do that ever again. Even if you don’t tell others, make sure to tell me if you go somewhere and where.

Although Kyu-won nods in agreement, I disapprove. What is he – her dad? I do commend the total trust in each other that they’re trying to build, though.

 

Meanwhile, since announcing that he’ll quit the musical, the news of Suk-hyun’s departure rapidly spreads among the students. Realizing that he has called it quits because he feels he has been wronged, the students regret that they were so quick to judge earlier.

Hee-joo has a cold and her throat bothers her, but she comforts herself that once she recovers, at least she won’t have to worry about catching a cold right before the show. Her mom tells her the news about Suk-hyun’s departure, and Hee-joo is upset. She points out that she needs to be recognized by a Broadway director for her to shine even more. But the mom explains that Suk-hyun was enraged when they suggested that Kyu-won take a break from school, and she wonders if there really is something between the two.

 

Joon-hee suffers silently at the news that Suk-hyun is leaving. All his friends know something is wrong with him, seeing that he has lost his appetite, but doesn’t know what. He texts Hee-joo that he feels miserable from guilt, but she reassures him again that it’s not his fault.

He stops by Catharsis and seeing Suk-hyun there drinking away, Joon-hee runs off. He wonders what he should do – this is all his fault.

 

Shin and Kyu-won return to the city, and they walk down the street holding hands. Seeing a young couple wearing matching tees, Kyu-won comments that they look good. But Shin stops any idea from getting planted in her head, warning her in advance that he finds couple tees tacky. He confirms with her again that the t-shirt she bought for her grandpa earlier wasn’t meant to be theirs.

Kyu-won lets go of his hand and confirms with him that it wasn’t.

 

But her pout says otherwise. She walks off, and Shin is left wondering what he did wrong. (Boys!)

They walk into a store and Kyu-won delights at seeing a cell phone accessory of a bear holding a gayageum. Shin offers to buy it for her, but the saleslady tells them that it’s part of a matching couple set and suggests that they buy them together.

Kyu-won decides to just buy one for herself. Still clearly upset that she won’t get to do the things with Shin that other couples do, she walks off to pay for her own cell phone accessory and shop around.

But Shin soon walks up to her and suggests that they use his phone to search for good restaurants around the area. Kyu-won looks up and sees that he has the matching cell phone accessory hanging on his phone. Shin argues that it’s not a couple’s set though because the two bears look different – hers is holding a gayageum and his is holding a guitar.

Shin mutters that Kyu-won always likes things that look like her. Holding his bear up next to her face, he marvels at how much they look alike.

 

That evening, Shin walks Kyu-won home and as they walk up to her house, they’re back to holding hands again. Kyu-won tells him that he better not get their new matching bear taken away by his sister, and he reassures her that he won’t. After dropping her off, Shin returns to campus to return Suk-hyun’s car and make it for his singing gig at Catharsis.

Suk-hyun has been been drinking all day, and by evening, he is completely wasted. Madame Gu has called Yoon-soo to come get him, and Shin arrives at Catharsis just shortly after she has arrived. He offers to help her escort Suk-hyun out.

Yoon-soo asks after Kyu-won and Shin replies, “I don’t know if she’s really okay or if she’s just pretending to be so, but I saw her smile before I left.”

Afterwards, Shin calls Kyu-won to let her know that he saw Suk-hyun at Catharsis and so she need not worry about him. After getting off the phone with her, Shin kisses his little bear and wishes Kyu-won a good night.

The next morning, Suk-hyun awakes to find himself at Yoon-soo’s. She explains that Shin helped her at Catharsis last night, and relays the message that he saw Kyu-won smile before he left.

Suk-hyun muses that Shin can be of good use sometimes, but Yoon-soo reminds him to worry about himself. Isn’t he going to go to school to work on the 100th year anniversary show? But Suk-hyun remains firm on his stance that he refuses to go.

 

Meanwhile, Shin waits for Kyu-won outside of her house and is taken by surprise when her grandfather walks out the door instead. Grandpa wonders what he’s doing here – is he here to listen to his gukak life story some more? Shin explains he has something to say to Kyu-won, but gets told that she has already left for school.

Grandpa reminds Shin that he needs to finish hearing the rest of his story. He guesses that he stopped at year 20 of his life, but Shin reassures him that he heard up to age 21 when the news of his marriage broke the hearts of many women. Shin promises to stop by whenever he wants to hear more of his story, and quickly hurries off. As he sees Shin go, Grandpa muses once again about how much Shin reminds him of his younger self.

 

In fact, Kyu-won runs all over campus looking for Suk-hyun and eventually runs into Yoon-soo, instead. Yoon-soo tells her that Suk-hyun won’t be coming to school today.

Kyu-won: Then is he really quitting? He can’t do that. What about the show? How could he run away like this?
Yoon-soo: You think he’s running away? This is all because…

But when she stops herself, Kyu-won asks if she is to blame. Yoon-soo has good enough sense to say it’s not. Suk-hyun has always had great pride, and he’s just upset by all the rumors. Kyu-won herself should not skip out on the musical rehearsal. If she does, Suk-hyun taking her side would have been in vain.

 

After her meeting with Yoon-soo, Kyu-won walks along campus looking downcast and comes face to face with Shin. He tells her that he had waited for her, and she apologizes, promising to text him beforehand next time she leaves early for school.

They go to the musical practice together, for by Kyu-won’s words, “It’s not for me to decide whether I do it or not.” Shin tells her not to worry too much – she has him.

At the entrance to the building where they hold the practice, the Three Mean Girls are waiting for Kyu-won as if they have something to say. But seeing Shin by her side acting as her “spokesperson,” they run back in.

And that’s when Tae-joon calls out Kyu-won’s name. He walks up to them and tells Kyu-won that she need not come to practice anymore as he has decided to continue without an understudy. Shin starts to say something but Kyu-won stops him, and she speaks for herself. She wants to know the reason why she needs to be dropped. Tae-joon tells her not to think of it too strangely. As the director has changed and the story revised, he wants to focus on the leads and not have to worry about the understudy. Any further explanation needed? (*Raises hand* I have one! Why are you such a slimy loser?)

Shin asks Tae-joon that he be excused from practice just for today, but he tells Shin that he can drop out as well if he wants to treat the show as a joke.

 

Once left alone, Shin tells Kyu-won, “Let’s go.” But Kyu-won tells him that he go on in. If he quits as well, she will be the one to be condemned.

Kyu-won tells Shin that she will see him after practice, and leaves.

  

At practice, Tae-joon announces himself as the new director. The leads will stay the same, but the understudy has been dropped and he has made some changes to the script. The students look over the revised script and note that there are many problems with it. For instance, Tae-joon has one girl play two different roles in the same scene.

He tries to excuse himself, saying that he must have made a mistake but he can fix it along as they practice. But HA! It is Hee-joo who voices her opinion that they don’t have time to do that, and suggests that he just sit back and watch as they practice with what they have. Of course, Tae-joon refuses to do that and tells them he will fix it by tomorrow. Until they, they can practice reading the new script for today.

 

Shin raises his hand and asks if they don’t need the music team today. Since there’s nothing to do, the music team can choose to either stay and watch, or leave for the day. As Shin and his band members leave, Joon-hee turns to look at Hee-joo before walking out.

Excused from practice, Shin looks everywhere for Kyu-won, asking others if they saw her. He tries calling her, but Kyu-won, who is crying by herself on the rooftop, doesn’t answer his call.

Shin thinks of an idea. He goes to their school’s broadcasting room and sings a song for it to be broadcast across campus. Kyu-won recognizes Shin’s voice as she cries. He sings:

Smile, don’t be sad
It’s okay, don’t cry
This song I am singing right now
I hope it gives you small comfort
Smile, don’t be hurt
It’s okay, even if the world gives you a hard time
Once this time passes, everyone will understand you
Smile, I’m always by your side
I love you, can you hear me?
No matter what anyone says,
The person who believes in you…
I am with you.
Smile, look into my eyes
I love you, my feelings for you
They will never change
Lean on my shoulder
And rest just a short while
Smile
The one who believes in you, I am here.

Hilariously, Bo-woon hears the song and thinks of a brilliant idea of going to look for Kyu-won, only to be stopped by her friends to allow Kyu-won and Shin to be left alone.

Shin and Kyu-won finally run into each other at a stairwell.

Shin: Where were you? I was looking for you.
Kyu-won: I heard the song.
Shin: I told you not to go anywhere without telling me.
Kyu-won: I’m sorry.

He steps forward and hugs her.

Shin: Did you cry all you want? (Kyu-won nods.) Don’t cry when I’m not there. (Kyu-won nods again and says yes.)

Shin has finished working on his ending song, and they walk hand in hand to go practice with their bands.

 

That day, Kyu-won’s dad moves back home. But Grandpa wants the dad to promise him that he won’t give Kyu-won any ideas about doing “Western” music. He must have at least one of his descendants officially do gukak. Dad refuses to comply, as that decision should be made by Kyu-won. Whether she chooses to do gukak or the musical, he plans to support her. Grandpa kicks him back out.

Back in the street with all his bags, Kyu-won’s dad meets with Shin’s mom over coffee. She rebukes him for bringing up the issue with Kyu-won as soon as he has moved in. Considering how strongly Grandpa opposed him when Dad declared joining a band, Grandpa has given in a lot by allowing Kyu-won to do the musical.

Shin’s mom offers to help Kyu-won as her mentor if she wishes to do musicals, but in return, she asks Kyu-won’s dad to be a mentor for Shin. He sometimes need guy talks too. They each agree, and muse that there are so many good points to being neighbors.

 

Meanwhile, Jung-hyun pays a visit to Kyu-won’s grandfather with complaints of her own. How could Kyu-won do this to her brother?! She has been dating Shin and two-timing him with the musical director, all at the same time. Grandpa, what do you mean you didn’t know?

The Stupid and Windflowers perform the ending song, and afterwards, Kyu-won gives Shin a thumbs up. However, as great as the song turned out, one of them voices concern that Tae-joon may still decide to switch the song because it was originally written by Suk-hyun. They try not to worry. After all, Tae-joon doesn’t have any alternative option, right?

That’s when Kyu-won receives a call from her grandfather. Having heard the rumors about her and the director from Jung-hyun, he demands to know what Kyu-won has been going around doing and hangs up before she can explain.

But this is the final straw for Joon-hee. To everyone’s surprise, he goes up in front of Kyu-won and kneels down asking her for forgiveness. With tears in his eyes, Joon-hee confesses that he was with Hee-joo on the day that the sponsors came to visit but had lied because her mom didn’t want Hee-joo to be with him.

Shin yells at him for lying. If he had told the truth from the beginning, the rumors would have never started. But Kyu-won asks Shin to calm down, and Bo-woon also runs up to defend Joon-hee. He has been suffering so much lately and wasn’t even able to eat.

Offering his hand to Kyu-won, Shin tells her that they should go to Grandpa together and tell him what happened. Kyu-won thanks him, admitting that she is afraid to face her grandfather right now.

When Kyu-won walks into her grandfather’s room, he gets ready to throw a book at her that he has been reading. But in walks Shin as well.

Grandpa tells Shin to go back home as he doesn’t have time to tell his gukak stories today. But unheeding, Shin takes a seat across from Grandpa and explains that there was a misunderstanding. Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, Grandpa thinks this would have never happened if Kyu-won had never done the musical. She even failed the audition for the leading role. So what has she done, but humiliate herself and her grandfather’s name.

Shin proudly declares that Kyu-won did do something. Showing Grandpa the ending song he worked on, Shin explains that he was able to finish it thanks to Kyu-won’s help in teaching him about gukak. But instead of the praise he expected, Grandpa retorts back on what he expects to learn from a young one like Kyu-won.  Did Shin learn anything from hearing his gukak life story? Since Shin has started to learn about gukak, he should learn it properly. Grandpa tells Shin to come listen to his gukak life story for an hour each day starting tomorrow. Kyu-won starts to protest on Shin’s behalf, but when Grandpa asks Shin if he does not want to, he readily answers he’ll come.

After they leave his room, Kyu-won asks Shin what he plans to do now. Shin’s first idea is to try to convince Bo-woon to come, but as she has fallen for it once, there’s only one other person left – Joon-hee. He needs to be punished for lying. Kyu-won worries that Grandpa may collapse because of Joon-hee. After all, Joon-hee is a little… But before she can finish her sentence, Shin explains that Joon-hee won’t do anything strange in front of elders. LOL.

Since he’s here already, Shin asks Kyu-won to show him her room. She hesitates because she has not cleaned her room yet. Just then, Grandpa walks out with the suggestion that Shin starts listening to his gukak story starting today. Kyu-won hurries Shin out, making up an excuse that he has an urgent matter to attend to.

 

Yoon-soo finds Suk-hyun at a fishing pond that he always comes to whenever he has something on his mind. Suk-hyun asks her whether she has been sent by the university president, but Yoon-soo tells him no. In fact, he doesn’t have to do the show if he doesn’t want to. She’ll be on his side no matter what.

At the news that Suk-hyun will no longer be directing the musical, many sponsors drop out. In response, Hee-joo and her mom decide to call Suk-hyun back, reassured that Hee-joo’s cold has been cured and Kyu-won won’t be able to perform even if she stays as the understudy.

As they drink wine, Suk-hyun apologizes to Yoon-soo. She says he should have many things he should feel sorry for towards her and asks him to pick just one. He laughs as he responds, “A man should do the marriage proposal.” Turning more serious, he begins saying, “Let’s…” But before he can finish what is likely to be a marriage proposal, Yoon-soo receives a call from the university president to bring Suk-hyun over.

Suk-hyun pretends that he doesn’t want to go, but catching that he’s faking it, she persuades him to go and direct the show again. The show is not a joke, and they need his talent right now.

 

Suk-hyun returns to school the next morning and is a little too warmly greeted by Soo-myung. Suk-hyun protests that he doesn’t like men, and Soo-myung says neither does he.

Suk-hyun meets with the university president and Hee-joo’s mom in a conference room. They ask that Suk-hyun let go of any hard feelings he may have and just focus on the musical. Suk-hyun also has a request of his own – that Hee-joo’s mom doesn’t interfere with his decision to use Kyu-won as the understudy. She agrees to it, for whoever the understudy may be, the person who will be going up on stage will be her Hee-joo.

At rehearsal, rumor has already spread to the students that the musical may get cancelled because the sponsors have been dropping out. The Mean Girls look at Hee-joo as they say that there is someone else who should be dropping out. But Hee-joo tells them to shut up if they don’t know anything.

When Tae-joon arrives and has them practice, Hee-joo is the only one sitting refusing to do so. After all, he’s not their director. And that is when Suk-hyun walks in. Everyone runs to greet him. And Hee-joo turns to Suk-hyun as she says, “Let’s start practice, Director.”

Hee-joo’s mom meets with Tae-joon and lets him know of the change. If he had done a better job, she would not have needed to switch directors again. Tae-joon threatens her to expose that she was the one who planned the rumor about Suk-hyun and Kyu-won. But not intimidated, she tells him to do so if he dares.

 

Suk-hyun watches his musical team practice and scolds them for regressing while he was gone. He announces that since they don’t have much time left, they will gather at the school this weekend and practice during a 2 nights/3 days stay.

After practice, Joon-hee waits for Hee-joo and reveals that he has confessed the truth. She tells him he did well for there’s nothing left to hide. But noting that he looks haggard, Hee-joo asks if he has been eating these days. Joon-hee admits that he hasn’t be able to eat because he was worried that he would not be able to see her again. She reassures him that won’t happen, so he should go eat now. She also promises to treat him out to a buffet when the musical ends.

 

Once Joon-hee leaves, Hee-joo clears her throat again as it continues to bother her. Tae-joon sees and follows her as she heads to go see a doctor.

The doctor diagnoses Hee-joo as having vocal cord nodules, and as her condition has advanced pretty far, a surgery is required. And until her surgery, she must rest her voice. If she strains too much right now, her voice can change permanently.

 

While in Shin’s room to borrow his stapler, Jung-hyun sees his bear cellphone accessory and asks him to let her have it. Shin quickly snatches it away from her hands and says no. Jung-hyun jokes that he wouldn’t do such a childish thing as getting a couple set with Kyu-won, right? But to her horror, he remains silent, confirming that that is indeed the case. She expresses disappointment with her brother for changing so much and asks him to return to the cold man he once was.

While closing back his desk drawer, he notices the photos he took back in Jeju Island. He looks at the girl in the photo and wonders, “Was it Lee Kyu-won?”

 

The next morning, Kyu-won drags her suitcase to take the bus for her weekend stay/training at school. As she struggles with it as a wheel is missing, Shin swoops in from behind and carries it onto the bus for her, just like he did during their trip to Jejudo.

As they stand side by side in the bus, she recalls the same scenario at Jejudo. Shin smiles as he tells her that he remembers her, and she replies that she does too.

 

Looking through the photos that Shin took of her, Kyu-won points to to them as evidence that he was the one who chased after her first. He concedes, saying that they have taken the long-winded road to get here.

 

He suddenly starts to approach Kyu-won for what looks like for a kiss, and once again, she starts looking startled. Hilariously, he tells her not to be nervous because Cha Bo-woon will be here any minute now. He snaps his finger and…

Tada! They hear Bo-woon’s voice calling for Kyu-won. Shin nods at her “perfect” timing once again and says, “See, she always shows up at a time like this!.”

 

Bo-woon asks whether she did something wrong again. Kyu-won says no, but afraid of repercussion, Bo-woon wants to hear it directly from Shin.

He shakes her head no and pointing to her, he tells her that she was merely staying true to her character. He’s become used to it now. PUHAHA!

Shin gets up to leave, and Bo-woon calls after him that he won’t exact revenge on her again.

 

Tae-joon pays a visit to the weekend musical rehearsal under his authority as the dean of the school to see how the practice is coming along. But of course, the real reason is to investigate his suspicion that Hee-joo has a problem with her voice.

He tells them that he’s in a hurry and asks that they start with Scene 4, the highlight of the musical where Ki-young and Hee-joo sing. But unable to sing, Hee-joo lies that she hasn’t memorized the lyrics. She has reworked the lyrics because she was not happy with it, but now she is left confused.

But this is enough for Tae-joon to confirm his suspicion. For surely the workaholic Hee-joo would never NOT remember her lines. With this new proof, he calls Hee-joo’s mom to meet him, saying she’ll regret it if she doesn’t.

 

Tae-joon merely tells Hee-joo’s mom that Hee-joo won’t be able to perform, and if so, Kyu-won will have to take over as the understudy. If that were to happen, Kyu-won will end up stealing all the limelight that they have prepared for Hee-joo to receive.

Back home from her meeting with Tae-joon, Hee-joo’s mom demands for Hee-joo to tell her the truth. What did Tae-joon mean that Hee-joo wouldn’t be able to sing? Hee-joo starts to say she can sing, but her voice breaks and she has to stop herself. Hee-joo cries and her mom laments that someone else will really be stealing her daughter’s limelight.

 

The first night of their weekend stay, the boys and the girls are separated into different rooms. Kyu-won enjoys the sleepover, and the girls ask Sa-rang for some good story-telling.

Sa-rang tells them the legend of a ghost haunting their school and that anyone who sees the ghost ends up hitting great success. Bo-woon chimes in, naming names of students who won competitions who supposedly saw the said ghost before they won. Sa-rang suggests that they go ghost-hunting as a group. If they see ghost, the success of their show will be practically guaranteed!

They all agree to go. Kyu-won is scared to go, but the alternative option to stay behind by herself is even worse.

Soo-myung has heard the news that the girls are going to look for the ghost and tells the other boys about it. When the girls are looking for a ghost, who should the boys be but the ghosts themselves! Soo-myung collects everyone’s cellphone so that no one can warn the girls in advance. Shin hesitates, clearly wanting to warn Kyu-won knowing how easily scared she gets, but Soo-myung confiscates his phone.

 

The girls go looking for the ghost, calling for it to come out. But while Kyu-won replies back to her grandfather’s text that she is doing okay so he need not worry, she ends up being left behind from the others.

Meanwhile, the boys also come out in ghost costumes and monster masks. Everyone except for Shin. He is too preoccupied with concerns for Kyu-won.

While Kyu-won searches for the other girls, she gets startled when a hand covers her mouth to silence her and drags her out.

 

Of course, it’s Shin. Kyu-won yells at him for startling her.

Shin: What did I say? I told you not to go anywhere without first telling me.
Kyu-won: I have to report to you when we’re all moving together as a group?
Shin: Of course!

As her “punishment,” he kisses her on her cheek. She is left speechless, and when she finally speaks, she comments that there would have been a lot of trouble if she goes to look for the ghost twice. (Keke, what is this “trouble” she thinks of, and will she purposely go on many more ghost-hunts from now on?)

 

Meanwhile, the boys and the girls end up running into each other in the dark. The girls scream and shout, and hilariously, the boys scream just as loud. So much for scaring the girls, huh? The boys run away while the girls chase after them, but one boy gets caught by the Three Mean Girls when he trips and falls. Sa-rang and her gang beat him to a pulp, only to stop to beg for forgiveness at seeing who he is. It’s Soo-myung.

 

Out on the balcony, Shin takes out the necklace he had earlier bought for Yoon-soo. Kyu-won is surprised that he still has it, but she gets even more surprised to see Shin toss it away. He wanted to throw it away when she could see him do it. (Awww!)

Kyu-won guesses that they won’t see any shooting stars here for her to make a wish. Shin points out that they get along fine. Ha, like if that’s the only wish she could ever have. She actually wants to make a wish that their show finishes well without any further problems. He agrees that that’s his wish as well.

Shin moves to give her a back hug.

And standing like that, they look toward the campus together.

 

The next day, Suk-hyun has everyone out in the field and jokingly tells them to do the “national exercise.”* They complain what the heck. But now that has them awake, he has them do jumping jacks instead. Don’t you love how Shin’s definition of jumping jacks constitutes just flapping his arms around and umm, not jumping?! Hehe.

(*Note: “National exercise”  is a 12-step exercise movement created by the Korean government. It was used as a workout routine at schools in the 1970s and 1980s. Fans of the drama Smile, You may recognize the song and the exercise as the one that Hyun-soo’s family did every morning.)

 

But while they laugh and exercise, Hee-joo’s mom meets with the university president to cancel the school’s 100th year anniversary show. She makes up a lame excuse on how there has been so much controversy surrounding the show already, and she doesn’t want to hear any more of it.

Soo-myung runs over and tells everyone the news of the cancellation.

COMMENTS

I don’t have any information on the song that is the title of this episode. There are several songs titled “Don’t Cry,” and I’m not sure which one is the intended one the producers had in mind.

But I think more important than that is the song Shin sang for Kyu-won. Although the entire school may have heard the song, Shin sang it for one person only and that was Kyu-won. Knowing that she would be crying somewhere, he comforted her not to cry for just like his song resounding across campus, Shin will always be by her side no matter where she may be.