Hyo Eun is waiting for Soo Ah's return, and is all smiles because she’s already befriended the local kids over soccer. The next morning, Soo Ah (played by Kim Ha Neul) starts to accompany Hyo Eun on the bus to school. As she walks home, however, she recalls telling Do Woo about living on the peaceful, windy island when she was younger, and he’d asked if she wanted to live there. She sighs, thankful for their memories together.
As the other moms walk home, a man drives up and asks if they know Soo Ah. They start to giggle at his handsomeness and question their relationship, but he quickly assures them that he’s just Jin Suk’s former coworker and was asked to see how Soo Ah is doing. Wary of the neighborhood moms’ nosy gazes, she invites the man to her cramped and messy home.
After a pause, the man asks her to come with him. As he drives, he explains that one of his sunbaes was once in the same position as she is now, and he’d settled down in a specific neighborhood perfect for the kind of solitude she’s looking for. When they arrive in the secluded, quaint neighborhood, she instantly falls in love with the house, the atmosphere, and the wind blowing through the fields.
She takes pictures of the area, calling it a place far from the world, just like Do Woo (played by Lee Sang Yoon). She decides on a new way to cope with her feelings for Do Woo: every time she wants to tell him something, she’ll send a text message to herself instead. She smiles out the window as Jin Suk’s coworker drives them home.
Everyone, from the flight attendant crew to Hyun Joo, wonders where Soo Ah ran off to and whether it was Jin Suk and Mi Jin’s affair that drove her to flee. Je Ah calls Soo Ah to hatch a plan to catch Jin Suk (played by Shin Sung Rok) and Mi Jin in the act tonight, but Soo Ah assures him that the two are just friends. She hangs up before he can say anything more, but Je Ah is determined to avenge his sister.
Sure enough, Jin Suk texts Mi Jin for a drink as they take the bus home from the airport, asking about the guy who’s been coming onto her. She brushes him off, but he’s still in high spirits—he only has to see his wife a couple times a month now. Mi Jin asks if Soo Ah is still in Korea, but Jin Suk’s lips are sealed. Hyun Joo calls to ask Mi Jin about Soo Ah’s whereabouts, but Mi Jin has no information to give her.
Mi Jin asks Jin Suk to stop hitting on her, especially when she’s already feeling guilty about Soo Ah. As their bus reaches her stop, she notes that her guy is waiting for her as she expected. Jin Suk starts to snarl that he’ll take care of him, but the moment Mi Jin notes that they might know each other, he backs off.
Je Ah escorts Mi Jin all the way home, vowing to stay with her to make sure Jin Suk doesn’t show up again. He tells her dryly that his “idiot sister” still trusts in Mi Jin’s loyalty, catching her off guard. When he suggests they order some food, however, she offers to cook instead. Jin Suk watches the whole interaction from afar. He still hasn’t recognized Je Ah, and just tut-tuts to himself that the best Mi Jin could do was a needy and jobless younger man, wondering who it is.
Back in Jeju, Soo Ah mentions to Hyo Eun that she found a house she likes, but still isn’t sure that they’re staying. At that moment, Jin Suk calls to ask after Hyo Eun before quickly turning the conversation to Mi Jin: He tells her that he thinks she might be seeing someone, and asks if she ever mentioned who it is to Soo Ah. When Soo Ah tells him she doesn’t know, he snaps at her for her cold attitude. After hanging up, Soo Ah tells Hyo Eun that she’s ready to move into the house.
Hye Won (played by Jang Hee Jin) leads a business meeting with Ji-eun and their team, but Ji-eun just sighs to herself that Do Woo should be here. Suk, too, is frustrated that Do Woo won’t pick up his phone, wondering why he left him all alone with Hye Won. At that moment, Hye Won returns home from work, and tells Suk that she doesn’t mind being home with him. “I want to be Do Woo’s wife for as long as possible,” she says. Suk just laughs dryly: “We’ll see about that.”
The next morning, Soo Ah prepares for a job interview, and Hyo Eun tells her she absolutely must get a job so they don’t have to move back to Seoul. As Hyo Eun heads to school, Soo Ah texts “Do Woo” (that is, herself), telling him about the door in their house that won’t quite open: “But it’s nice—I forget to scold her because I’m too busy trying to open the door.” She writes that his expressions and words still give her strength now. Soo Ah takes the bus to her interview. Just as she gets off, we see that the bus driver is actually Do Woo, but they don’t see each other.
Soo Ah is briefed by Jin Suk’s coworker at Jeju Airport, who tells her she’ll be on call once or twice a week. He promises to spread good rumors about her work ethic and experience so they can make better use of her, but she seems happy just to be in an airport again.
Suk packs up the ornaments Do Woo has collected so far, ready to send them to him. As Soo Ah gets to work at the airport, Do Woo starts constructing his ocean side gallery. As Soo Ah walks home at night, she notes Do Woo fixing his bike on the side of the road. They still don’t see each other, but Do Woo lights up the dark road for her with his flashlight, studying the way she walks.
Do Woo spends his days putting Grandma’s works on display in his new gallery, but as he listens to music as he works, he thinks of talking about his favorite singers with Soo Ah. When he finally decides to call her, he listens to the recorded image that it’s a nonexistent number over and over again.
Hye Won meets with Ji Eun’s mom, who points out rumors of her imminent divorce with Do Woo. She mentions that she’s very interested in their old house, and that she plans to take it if she doesn’t think Hye Won will be able to keep it in good condition.
Hye Won calls Do Woo, asking if his feelings haven’t changed about their divorce. When he confirms, she tells him that she wants one thing from their alimony: the house. He tells her that he’s capable of maintaining it, but she argues that she doesn’t want it to become public property. When she keeps pushing, however, he realizes that Ji-eun’s mom must be behind this, and advises her that once they make demands, they’ll continue to do so. Still, says Hye Won: “It’s my condition of divorce.” Suk listens in on the conversation with a grim expression.
Suk comes to visit Do Woo in Jeju, jokingly lamenting Do Woo’s new lifestyle—he’d expected something elegant, like Northern Europe, to display Grandma’s works. When he asks if Do Woo plans to fulfill Hye Won’s request for the house, Do Woo denies it, saying he just wants her to live in peace now.
Suk is elated at the cozy serenity of Grandma’s gallery, saying it’s just like her. Just as they sit down, however, Do Woo notes a final package that he hadn’t noticed before in the corner of the room. He opens it to find a message from homestay mom Mary, telling him that the box holds Annie’s final belongings.
Do Woo turns on the phone inside and finds a recording of Annie’s last phone call with Hye Won, where she’d told a tearful Annie not to come home, and that her father was dead. He realizes now that Hye Won lied to him about the circumstances of Annie’s father’s death, even after he confronted her about it.
Once again, Do Woo starts walking to cope with his emotional anguish long into the night. He passes by Soo Ah again, though they’re still two ships passing in the night. Soo Ah goes home and tucks Annie’s bead safely away, while Do Woo sits by the ocean with a beer. He tries to call her again but is met with the prerecorded message, so he asks it emptily: “Soo Ah, where are you? I’m so upset. I need you.”
The next morning, Suk is shocked to hear that Do Woo won’t confront Hye Won about what he found inside the box. Do Woo explains that he wants Hye Won to live without guilt or fear and to work freely as she wants, especially since they’re going to break up anyway. But Suk explodes at him, saying that Hye Won doesn’t think that way. She plans to hold onto Do Woo forever, and he’d better take care of it now.
At Jeju Airport, Soo Ah is surprised to hear that Jin Suk’s coworker has a crush on Mi Jin. He asks if Mi Jin is seeing anybody, and she starts to say no before remembering the affair. The coworker tells her that he’s heading to Seoul tomorrow and will be seeing the crew, checking to make sure he’s kept track of Soo Ah’s lies properly. He means it in a thoughtful way, but even I cringed at that.
Do Woo’s final touches to the gallery include framed pictures of Grandma and Annie, and Annie’s iron. Afterward, he heads to the airport to pick up Grandma’s last few ornaments, which the owner wanted to deliver personally. At the airport, Soo Ah helps the owner carry those very boxes, but by chance glances down at the package label: “Deliver To: Seo Do Woo.”
She looks up just as Do Woo walks in. They stare at each other in disbelief for a long moment, but finally, Soo Ah spins on her heel and hurries away. Do Woo, too, catches himself and starts to take Grandma’s ornaments to his car. When he hurries back inside, however, Soo Ah has disappeared. The camera pans back to show us that she’s desperately trying to catch her breath, hiding from his view.
Do Woo drives the owner’s assistant to the gallery, and is surprised to hear that the man plans to stay at Do Woo’s place tonight. Do Woo takes it in stride, but when they arrive at the gallery, Do Woo can’t stop himself from hurrying straight back to the airport.
Soo Ah gets off work and is still unable to think clearly. Jin Suk’s coworker graciously offers to drive her home, but when they exit the airport, they see Do Woo waiting outside in his car. They can’t tear their eyes away from each other as he gets out and approaches her. When the coworker asks if she knows him, she tells him she does—but then she apologizes to Do Woo: “I have to go.”
He nods and returns to his car as Soo Ah’s coworker goes to get his own car. Do Woo watches her before flashing his headlights at her, bringing her back to reality. He comes back out and tells her to get ahold of herself, and she asks, still in disbelief: “Is it really you?”
Do Woo somehow convinces her to let him drive her back. They drive for a while until he pulls up to the side of the road to ask if she lives here on Jeju Island. Keeping her gaze out the window, Soo Ah asks Do Woo to keep driving so she can pick up Hyo Eun. They arrive at the home of Hyo Eun’s babysitter, prompting Do Woo to ask where Soo Ah lives. To Soo Ah’s relief, she gets a call from Kevin before she has to answer the question. She lies to Kevin that she’d decided to take the bus back and apologizes for leaving suddenly.
Soo Ah turns to Do Woo and tells him in a strained voice that she’s finally able to live comfortably, and that she can’t handle this right now. So she gets out of his truck without another word, and Do Woo stays behind and watches as she picks up Hyo Eun. He turns off the headlights and quietly follows the two as they walk back home, which isn’t very far. When the two head into their home, Do Woo exits the car and recognizes the pathway as the same spot he’d lit for the woman walking alone at night. It now registers that the woman was Soo Ah. He’s shocked to discover that she was so close, but a faint smile forms on his face.
Soo Ah puts Hyo Eun to bed and, knowing he’s still out there, comes out to see Do Woo. She learns that he lives on the island now – just down the street, no less – and doesn’t know what to make of this situation. “I know very well what this is,” Do Woo says.
Suk is confronting Hye Won with the recording of Annie’s last phone call. Do Woo may not have wanted Hye Won to feel guilty about this, but Suk is all for it. But rather than a threat, Suk sees this as some firm advice – to part ways with Do Woo cleanly and to let go of her hold on the old house.
Hye Won returns to her work and asks Suk to leave if he’s done talking. Suk’s eyes widen as he asks how Hye Won isn’t at all bothered by this recording. As Hye Won ignores him, Suk desperately tells her not to be this way. When Suk leaves her alone, Hye Won shuts her laptop and puts her face in her hands, overwhelmed with frustration.
The next morning, Soo Ah sends Hyo Eun off to school, only to be left with a nudging curiosity. She heads down the street to the very last building and pokes her head in, surprised to see Do Woo standing right inside. The assistant points her out, making her panic and hide behind the door.
Do Woo happily invites her in. When the assistant asks who she is, Do Woo plays it cool and acts as if he’d expected her to come by as a customer. He asks what kind of furniture she’d like, and Soo Ah goes along with it by asking for a dining table. Do Woo: “How many family members? Two? Or… three?” Soo Ah: “Two chairs will do.”
Do Woo’s face lights up, relieved to hear that. Soo Ah starts to feel mighty uncomfortably and starts to leave, but Do Woo insists she has to leave her contact information. He closes the space between them and takes out his phone, telling her he never changed his number since he was hoping she would call. “I waited and waited,” he says, looking into her eyes.
Though she still seems unsure about this, she calls his phone. As he saves the new number under “Han River Waterfront” again, he advises her to take her walks in the daytime instead of having to come home at night. He mentions the bicycle, triggering Soo Ah’s memory of the man who’d lit the pathway for her the other night.
She looks up at him in shock. He merely smiles and says, “You ran far away, and yet you’re still this close. You really don’t know what this is?” The assistant cuts in, giving Soo Ah the chance to breathe. She takes her leave and Do Woo calls out that he’ll call her. As she walks further away, Soo Ah can’t help but smile. Meanwhile, Soo Ah keeps running into Do Woo – when she comes home from work, when she takes out the trash – and he just passes by, all “Howdy, neighbor” every time. You are so going out of your way to run into her, lol. Nonetheless, it definitely gets Soo Ah smiling.
Je Ah is still on guard duty at Mi Jin’s apartment. Since Mi Jin still isn’t feeling too well, she’s not in the mood and tells him to get lost. She then gets a call, and is instantly delighted to hear that it’s Kevin. As the two catch up, Je Ah eavesdrops until Mi Jin shoos him away. Upon hearing that Je Ah is there, Kevin mentions Soo Ah.
Mi Jin finally learns that Soo Ah is living in Jeju, though she tries to hide the surprise in her voice from Kevin. When they hang up, Mi Jin mutters to herself that it’s just like Soo Ah to run away from her problems.
Mi Jin ignores Jin Suk’s calls, but when he shows up at her doorstep, she’s forced to let him in. He settles in with a beer, and it’s not long before they go into their usual bickering. He grumbles that he’s going to come and go as his heart desires, which fires Mi Jin up. She hates the very phrase “follow your heart” since it’s always sure to change, and she definitely regrets following her heart that night in Australia.
Mi Jin tells Jin Suk to snap out of it and take care of his family instead of basking in his freedom here in Seoul. She reveals that Je Ah saw Jin Suk coming into her apartment and that Je Ah has been bugging her ever since, and she wonders why it’s only Jin Suk who’s unscathed in this whole messed up situation. All Jin Suk hears is “Je Ah,” and he’s angry to discover that he’s the guy she’s been seeing.
Do Woo calls Soo Ah to further discuss the table, but since she needs to go to work soon, he offers to drive her so they can discuss it on the way. It’s a bit of an awkward drive, so Soo Ah breaks the silence by gesturing to the back and saying how she’s always wanted to ride in the bed of a truck. Do Woo asks if she wants to do it now, but she’d rather do it another time.
They make a quick stop at the wood shop where Do Woo asks her some questions about what kind of table she’d like. When he asks how long she plans on staying in Jeju, she can only shrug – since she came in such a haste, she’s still trying to sort things out. She looks at his smiling face, noting, “You’re a little different. For some reason, you seem more comfortable.” He nods in agreement.
They head back to the car and, like it’s the most natural thing in world, he takes her hand to help her inside. As he shuts the door and looks at her, he thinks back to Soo Ah’s expression when Do Woo had scattered Annie’s ashes by the Han River.
Jin Suk and Kevin find the time to meet up for lunch, and Kevin panics when Jin Suk tells him he plans to fly over to Jeju Island today. Kevin immediately calls Soo Ah to warn her and to offer up his place for Hyo Eun to hide out. Soo Ah is so flustered that she can barely think out a plan. For now, she calls Do Woo to cancel the plans they’d made for later that day to talk about the table.
First, Soo Ah tells Hyo Eun to stay at the neighborhood granny’s place, and then she rushes home to unpack and lay out Hyo Eun’s books and school supplies. Later, Do Woo catches a glimpse of Jin Suk riding in Kevin’s car just as Soo Ah rushes out of a convenience store and back toward the house. Remembering Jin Suk from the café in Seoul, it dawns on him that Soo Ah’s husband is now in town.
Jin Suk inspects the house, making sure to throw in a few complaints before asking Soo Ah if she needs anything. And then, out of the blue, he brings up the time he’d asked if Mi Jin was seeing anyone. He says he found out Mi Jin was seeing Je Ah, and he looks at Soo Ah, expecting her mutual disapproval.
“So?” Soo Ah says. She tells him that there’s nothing wrong with the two meeting. After all, they could have a legitimate reason. Jin Suk nods, wondering why Mi Jin gives him side dishes then… (Whoops.) He realizes that Soo Ah isn’t supposed to know he and Mi Jin are close and clumsily comes up with the excuse that he saw Mi Jin by chance and she gave him some food.
Soo Ah laughs dryly (girl, I would too), at how the first thing Jin Suk asked about was Mi Jin and Je Ah. Jin Suk is caught off guard and quickly lies that he just happened to think of it.
“Do you see Mi Jin often?” Soo Ah blurts out.
Now totally defensive, Jin Suk asks if Je Ah said anything to Soo Ah. When she says no, he demands to know why she asked him that then. “I just happened to think of it,” she echoes his words from before. Jin Suk tells her not to have any strange thoughts – he’s sure she must have drinks with male colleagues all the time.
Do Woo’s coworker at the wood shop barges in, saying that Seo Do Woo wanted her to come check what size table Soo Ah needed. Thankfully, Jin Suk doesn’t seem to remember the name. Once the worker leaves, Soo Ah just tells him she doesn’t talk to Mi Jin these days and ends the conversation there.
They go to a furniture shop, and Jin Suk tells her to buy absolutely everything she and Hyo Eun might need. Soo Ah asks him if he’s saying this out of worry she might return to Seoul early, and he responds with a mere, “Yeah.”
Jin Suk argues that after ten years of marriage, seeing each other only once in a while like they do now is a blessing for them – it gives them the chance to long for each other. Soo Ah asks if longing for each other is really what he thinks a marriage is. When they don’t even like living with each other, she wonders how they can be a married couple. “Is this still a marriage? What am I to you?”
Jin Suk continues browsing the furniture and blankly says that that kind of question should only be asked when there’s still something left between them. If there was something left, he’d at least consider answering. He goes back to admiring a dining table. Soo Ah’s expression breaks for a brief second as she digests what he just said. Then it hardens, and she says that she’s already bought a dining table. He asks about the other furniture, but she persistently repeats that all she needs is that table. Nothing else.
Mi Jin visits Hyun Joo unni and they’re all smiles until Hyun Joo brings up Jin Suk. When she was still a flight attendant, Hyun Joo saw the two in the middle of a passionate fight, so she knows they were a thing. She tells Mi Jin to apologize to Soo Ah. Feeling cornered, Mi Jin casually asks if Hyun Joo has any alcohol in the store, but Hyun Joo tells her to apologize and then come back if she’s still feeling wronged.
Kevin finds Soo Ah sitting on a bench at the airport, having just sent Jin Suk back to Seoul. Kevin asks her if she’s going to keep lying about Hyo Eun going to an international school. Soo Ah isn’t sure herself – at first, she wanted to lie to run away, and now she wants to lie to stay on the island. She can’t figure out if she should continue lying or stop. Kevin smiles and pats an imaginary overhead bin, telling her to do her final check. She needs to finish it in order to go after what she wants.
Back at the old house, Suk is surprised to see movers taking all of Hye Won’s stuff. Hye Won sits in a café, recalling the time she’d brought Annie to the same spot. Hye Won had written down a full back story for Annie, including her favorite food and dream job. However, Annie hadn’t understood why she had to act as this independent child who only wanted to study abroad. Hye Won had ordered her to just live that way.
“What was your dream?” Annie had asked. Hye Won had told her normal kids didn’t care about their parents’ dreams, so Annie told her to list it under her back story that she loved her parents then. And that her name was Seo Eun Woo. Hye Won had said that Annie had to go by the name Do Woo called her – Annie had no other choice, since Do Woo was way over her level.
Annie had wondered if Hye Won accomplished her dream by meeting Do Woo. Hye Won hadn’t answered, so Annie again asked what her mom’s dream was. Hye Won had coldly stated she didn’t like the word “dream.” It was then that Annie realized what her dad said was true: that Hye Won believed only pathetic people used the word “dream.”
“After I heard that, I understood why you didn’t look for me,” Annie had said. And for once, Hye Won had actually looked somewhat hurt.
In the present, Hye Won meets with Ji Eun’s mom to make an arrangement for the old house. She believes Do Woo is capable of protecting the house, so it has to be him to stay there and maintain it. And Hye Won is willing to let the house go to the foundation if there’s no successor after Do Woo. Ji Eun’s mom asks what to do about the alimony then.
Hye Won flashes back to that conversation with Annie. Hye Won had wanted to settle the argument by saying that this whole charade was for Annie’s sake, and Annie had said that she would believe that and would work hard to make sure Hye Won wouldn’t regret keeping her.
Hye Won looks back at Ji Eun’s mom and asks that she give her enough money to study and work the way that she wants. “That is my dream,” Hye Won says, handing over some papers with the details.
Suk lets Do Woo know that Hye Won is moving out, but Do Woo definitely doesn’t look as ecstatic as Suk does. Do Woo calls Hye Won, and they finally talk out their divorce. Before hanging up, Hye Won wants to ask Do Woo one last thing: “If Annie hadn’t appeared, would you have accepted me? It was because of Annie, right? You can tell me the truth now.”
Do Woo tells her that he’d been watching her even before Annie showed up. We flash back to Do Woo finding Hye Won still working late at night, and he’d smiled, appreciating her determination. He tells her now that he never would’ve married her if he didn’t really love her. And now, he only wishes for her to live at ease. He suggests that she also consider visiting Annie.
Hye Won says that she’ll think about it and hangs up. But we see that she’s already in front of Annie’s columbarium. She thinks back to Annie’s final words of the conversation that day: She’d wanted everyone to live happily as a family. Hye Won stares at her daughter’s picture, murmuring that maybe she should’ve just lived as Annie had said. Gazing out at the water, Do Woo hopes that Annie is able to console her mother.
As she rides the bus back, Soo Ah is flooded with the conversations she had with Jin Suk earlier. And as she steps down from the bus and walks along the road, the conversations stop at what Kevin said earlier – to finish what needs to be finished.
She stops walking and pats her imaginary overhead bins closed one by one. She shuts the last bin with purpose, telling herself, “Final check finished.”
Do Woo jumps up after getting a text and drives to a bus stop where Soo Ah is waiting for him. As they drive the rest of the way to Soo Ah’s house, Soo Ah assumes that Do Woo must have many questions for her. Soo Ah asks him if she can now ride in the back of the truck, and he, of course, nods yes. She hands him her phone, telling him that when she moved here, she always texted herself as a way to talk to him, and that all his questions will be answered there.
Soo Ah climbs into the back while Do Woo reads every single text that was meant for him. He reads about how ever since they first met at the airport, she’s been having the same dreams and has been saying the same things. And we cut to just moments before when Do Woo met her at the bus stop. Before he approached her, she’d quietly said, “I missed you.”
After Do Woo reads her texts, he takes off again, with Soo Ah enjoying the fall air in the back. The feeling is so great that she closes her eyes and spreads her arms, the biggest smile on her face.
The feeling between Choi Soo Ah and Seo Do Woo is not easy to be taken down now, because the feeling of being loved for them is the source of strength which they may not get easily anymore at their stage of life. Meanwhile it's hurting for me to see how Jin Suk treats Soo Ah that way, as if it were me. He's treating her like a douche bag which can be push here and there. Soo Ah is his wife legally but he treats her like nothing at all. Even it's obvious to her that her marriage couldn't be saved anymore.
I hope this drama is gonna be a healing for everyone who has a painful past on relationship, like it did to me. I like the background song so much and I think it fits the theme of this drama perfectly. Though I don't really care for the rating, but I am keeping my eye on this drama much because of the storyline.
