Chapter 13: she is the girl I like 1
Joon-young finally tells Eul that he loves her, but she doesn't believe him. Her brother warned her not to be drawn in by him again, and Eul cries, knowing she's already falling. She screams that she's crazy, and Joon-young kisses her.
Listening from the other side of the wall, Ji-tae nearly bangs on it to let Eul know he's there. But he stops himself, and instead he just leans his head on the wall, defeated.
Joon-young pulls back and, looking Eul right in the eyes, says, "Never once did I use you or toy with you. Focus on me. Listen to my heart. I love you, Eul-ah." Eul doesn't say a word, but turns away, and Joon-young calls after her not to go. His voice chokes up with tears, and he begs her again, "Don't go, Eul-ah." She stops for a moment, then walks away.
She only manages to get past his outer door before she starts to cry, and Joon-young is left alone, fighting back his own tears. Ji-tae follows Eul home from a distance, unseen, and he witnesses how shaken she is by Joon-young's confession.
Yuna, the actress that Joon-young's agent Namgoong told the reporters he's dating, does a television interview in which she confirms the rumor. Eul hides in bed while her friend Na-ri glares at the TV when the actress claims that she knew all about the supposed "distraction" ploy using Eul.
She asks Eul if she was in on this plan, and Eul brightly says that she played along on Joon-young's request. Eul gets a good scolding for not telling anyone it was all an act, and scaring her brother and friends by disappearing.
Agent Namgoong also watches Yuna's interview and jokes that she's a better actress than she gets credit for. Gook-young is uncomfortable with lying to the entire nation, but the fans are turning back around to support Joon-young, calling his behavior chivalrous and thoughtful.
Gook-young asks what Yuna is getting out of lying like this, and apparently she's getting a lot of offers now. Her career had been tanking, but now she's gaining prestige just from "dating" Joon-young. Even Eul's reputation has improved — when it was thought she was dating Joon-young, as a commoner, she was being criticized as a gold-digger. But now she's being praised for sacrificing herself to help a friend.
The really strange thing is Joon-young's silence on the matter. They expected him to be furious, but he hasn't said a word to anyone about it. It makes his team nervous that they haven't heard from him.
Jik's entire class at school is treated to burgers, apparently by Jik's hyung, but Jik is mystified and can't think who would have done this. He's called to the principal's office to find Joon-young there signing autographs for the teachers, but he doesn't look pleased to see Joon-young.
They go to the roof to talk, and Jik refuses to shake Joon-young's hand. He mentally adds up how much it cost to feed the entire school and promises to pay the huge sum back when he can, but Joon-young refuses to give his account number.
Looking much less guarded than usual, Joon-young simply says that he likes Eul, so much that he's going crazy. He can't eat, he can't sleep, he can't even breathe. He asks for Jik's help, wanting him to tell his sister not to run away from him, and to trust him. Oof, he's being so nakedly sincere, it's almost hard to watch — but Jik just says again that he'll repay Joon-young's money as soon as he can.
Despite her claims to Na-ri, Eul can't stop thinking about Joon-young's confession and the kiss from last night. Ji-tae is also distracted at work, recalling the previous evening's events, and his assistant notices and asks if he can speak as a friend for a minute.
He tells Ji-tae to stop — he's already gone too far with this, and it's time to apologize to Jung-eun and give up on Eul. If Eul finds out who Ji-tae really is, or if his parents or Jung-eun find out who Eul is… but Ji-tae interrupts, saying that his minute is up.
Joon-young is sitting in his car outside Eul's apartment when Ji-tae arrives, dressed as Hyun-woo. Ji-tae goes up to Eul's door and reaches for the bell, but Joon-young runs up and rings it first. Heh.
Eul opens the door and immediately tries to close it again, but Joon-young's foot wedges it open. He gives her a cute little Yeah, not gonna work squint when she keeps trying to slam the door, and she has to let him and Ji-tae in.
Ji-tae has brought food, and Joon-young objects to his trying to feed Eul. Eul sighs that she's fine, but Ji-tae is in full-on papa mode and tells her that she looks like she's about to expire from hunger. He holds out the spoonful of porridge again, but just as Eul is about to eat, Joon-young swoops down and snaps up the bite like a hungry raptor. HA.
Eul gets annoyed and tells them both to leave. She grabs her coat and exits the apartment herself, while Joon-young hollers petulantly that "Koreans should eat
rice!! "
Still inside, Joon-young eats the porridge and says that Ji-tae is weird, rejecting Eul but still hanging around her. He wants to say something about Ji-tae claiming he has no right to love Eul, and argues that he can love whoever he wants. Ji-tae smiles and says that he's correct — there no such thing as "having the right" to love someone.
He actually thanks Joon-young for clearing that up for him, and Joon-young asks, "Who are you?" He points out Ji-tae's luxury watch, which would belie his claim that he's poor and unemployed. He asks if Ji-tae is a scammer, but Ji-tae says that it doesn't matter who they are beyond two men who happen to love the same woman.
Ji-tae checks his phone to find a message from Haru, who's frantic because their mother just collapsed. He rushes to the hospital to find Jung-eun already there, and she explains that she and his mom were at the sauna when Mom collapsed with chest pains.
Ji-tae accuses her of doing something to his mother, but Haru says that Mom is alive because Jung-eun got her to the hospital so quickly. Jung-eun apologizes for not taking better care of his mother, and Haru bursts into tears because she was so scared when she couldn't reach Ji-tae.
Jung-eun tells Ji-tae that his mother should be fine, her collapse was just a side effect of her recent kidney transplant. Ji-tae doesn't acknowledge her and Haru threatens to tell their father when he gets home from his business trip, but Jung-eun calms her.
Joon-young goes looking for Eul and finds her in a restaurant stuffing her face, and HA, she looks so guilty when she spots him. He waves at her to finish and come outside, so she eats slowly and even orders seconds, to put off a conversation. She's sick by the time she finishes, and Joon-young drags her off to see a doctor.
Eul snaps at him that she's not easy or a pushover, and poor Joon-young just looks confused at her anger. He says that he just saw that she looked sick and felt responsible, so he wanted to help her feel better, that's all. He covers his face again and warns her not to make a scene when they just got the press off their backs, and Eul tells him to stop worrying about how she feels.
But Joon-young has no intention of doing that, or of letting her go. He gets her to his car and asks if she wants to avoid him so badly that she'd make herself sick, and Eul says that she does. She tells him to drop her off at the hospital and get lost, and she's surprised when he quickly agrees.
He says cryptically that he'll disappear from her sight and she'll never see him again… but not quite yet. He'll do it in about three or four months. Eul just says that she plans to cling to Ji-tae again, to harass him until he accepts her, but she doesn't get the rise out of Joon-young that she's trying for.
They arrive at their destination, but it's not a hospital — it's Joon-young's mother's restaurant. He tells Eul to just say she hates him if his mom tries to run her off, but swears that mom is great at folk remedies.
Awww, Mom is definitely not happy to see Joon-young enter her restaurant, though she immediately clocks that Joon-young is holding Eul's hand. All of the customers are ushered out of the place, and the restaurant is closed so they can talk.
Joon-young refuses to let go of Eul's hand until she promises not to run off, and when he does, she formally introduces herself. Ajusshi recognizes her as the "gold-digger," so Eul launches into the cover story cooked up by Agent Namgoong. Joon-young asks his mother to prick Eul's thumb (a folk remedy believed to settle upset stomachs), and Eul tries to beg off while Mom just looks at her searchingly.
Eul promises that she's really not a gold-digger, and that she and Joon-young aren't dating. Ajusshi says that's obviously not true — she's the first girl Joon-young has ever brought to meet his mother, so there must be something between them. Joon-young just nods and says that this is the girl he likes. Hee, he looks so proud to show her off to his mom.
Eul pipes up that Gook-young says he's not in his right mind lately, ha, but Joon-young just says that he can't stop thinking about her — for the past nine years. He realized that he's in love with her two weeks ago. Eul says his name in a warning tone, and he just smirks at her.
Eul speaks out that she knows where she stands, and promises Mom that she'll avoid Joon-young no matter what he does. She even offers to put in in writing, which alarms Joon-young, but she keeps burping from her indigestion and Mom softens enough to come over and pat her back.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
LaurenThunderbird
LaurenThunderbird It’s Eul’s turn to run scared from her feelings — but as much as she wants to hide from what’s happening, Eul can’t hide from her own emotions. Luckily Joon-young is even more stubborn than she is, and it will take more strength than Eul’s got to keep denying that there’s something between them.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone