“Love Your Enemy” keeps up the momentum, giving us an interesting play of dynamics and an immersive narrative as bitter memories of the past are revealed. But the present comes charged with several cute moments and laughs aplenty.
In this week’s episodes, preparations are in full swing for Seok Ji Won’s (Ju Ji Hoon’s) inauguration as Chairman of Dokmok High School. Yoon Ji Won (Jung Yu Mi) has been assigned with the task. Memories of their shared past and secret romance are revealed as both revisit a familiar spot, but it seems Yoon Ji Won has long buried her feelings for Seok Ji Won. And he seems to be a step ahead of her in this heated clash of love and hate.
Warning: spoilers from episodes 3-4 ahead!
1. Seok Ji Won rejects Cha Ji Hye
Seok Ji Won is visited by Cha Ji Hye (Kim Ye Won) in his office. She is member of the school’s faculty as well as his and Yoon Ji Won’s former classmate. She chides him on his crazy bet with Yoon Ji Won, that they would date once the lilacs bloom. She also confesses her feelings for him, reminding him that in the last 18 years she has constantly kept in touch, especially the one time he was down and out. He acknowledges that she has been there, even when he had made it clear he didn’t want her to waste her time on him. When she tells him that she knows the truth about his and Yoon Ji Won’s past and how the two dated for three months and broke it off, she implies that Yoon Ji Won had confessed it was nothing but a casual summer romance. This irks Seok Ji Won, who can’t believe that Yoon Ji Won had trivialized their relationship 18 years ago. His irritation with Yoon Ji Won peaks, and it’s cute when he gets all riled up by the statement.
However, we learn that Ji Hye had a large role to play in why both the Ji Wons had stopped contact with each other. Ji Hye is frustrated as she recalls how she had betrayed Yoon Ji Won, who had confided to her that she was wracked with guilt for hurting Seok Ji Won. Ji Hye had used it to her advantage by deleting a message that Seok Ji Won sends to Yoon Ji Won, but it seems in the last 18 years she has not succeeded in making Seok Ji Won fall for her. Will her frustration and hatred for Yoon Ji Won cause more trouble for the couple? We’ll have to see how this frenemy deals her cards in the present.
2. Every step and move Yoon Ji Won makes, Seok Ji Won is watching her
Seok Ji Won sees the pond, which was their dating spot 18 years ago. He recalls how Yoon Ji Won had joked about a demon in the water. As he retraces his steps, Yoon Ji Won arrives with her colleague Gong Moon Soo (Lee Si Woo), whom she sends to get beer from the super market. As she gazes wistfully at the water, we are taken back in time when the two shared their first kiss at the pond. She remembers how she had asked him to stop calling her in a jealous fit of rage, the same night when she last saw him after his father was taken ill. She is shaken off from her reverie when Moon Soo arrives, and as she quickly downs the beers, she misses her step and falls into the water. Even before anyone can react, Seok Ji Won jumps into the water to save her, only to realize the level is not all that deep. He tries to brush it off nonchalantly by saying it was no big deal.
Seok Ji Won again fails to hide how much he still cares about Yoon Ji Won when he loses his balance on the ladder in the school gymnasium. He falls on Yoon Ji Won, and time stands still as their gazes lock. The moment is soon lost as Yoon Ji Won gains her composure, but it is not lost on those who have gathered. As Seok Ji Won is equally flustered as he walks out the gymnasium, he stares at the lilac tree with a faint smile and pours water at its trunks. It is obvious he wants the tree to bloom and get Yoon Ji Won to date him again.
3. Seok Ji Won’s jealous rage
As the new teacher in training at the school, Moon Soo works closely with Yoon Ji Won. He seems to have a crush on her, though she is oblivious to the attention. One night after dinner at her home, she asks him why he makes the trek all the way from Seoul to the school, which is quite a distance. Gong Moon Soo’s response is that “it’s tough, but you do it because you like it.” It strikes her as familiar, and she realizes that he is the boy she had met 10 years ago. The two had met at the hospital at the lowest point in their lives. Yoon Ji Won was dealing with her parents’ death and was in shock of what her father had done as well as her own anguish at being wrongly accused at work. Moon Soo’s injury had ended his swimming career, and he couldn’t cope with it. The two were on the brink of taking an extreme step, but start chatting, which saves them.
Cut to the present, Yoon Ji Won’s grandfather asks Moon Soo to stay the night in their own home, which is the staff quarters. However, during the weekend, they find Seok Ji Won barging into their home to meet Yoon Ji Won’s grandfather, only shocked to see Moon Soo walking down the steps.
He is consumed with jealousy, and even though he tells himself that it should not matter who she is with, it’s clear that it’s bothering him endlessly. It irks him to no end when the school staff says how fate has brought Yoon Ji Won and Gong Moon Soo together. It looks like Seok Ji Won may have just found himself a worthy opponent!
4. Seok Ji Won takes on his father
Seok Ji Won had decided to become chairman of Dokmok High School only to get close to Yoon Ji Won. He realizes his father, the chairman of Seokban Construction, is using him and the inauguration to humiliate Yoon Ji Won’s grandfather in front of the townsfolk and school. But that’s not all—Seok Ji Won is also a puppet in his father’s scheme.
Even though he keeps troubling Yoon Ji Won before the inauguration, the day of the inauguration sees an entirely different plan of action play out. Seok Ji Won has not only changed the venue but has packed the townsfolk off for an excursion. To top it off, he has made sure the sound system is faulty so that his father is unable to insult and talk down to the senior Yoon. Seok Ji Won has also covered his ground well by getting the media on site and making it difficult to have his father replace him as chairman. Yoon Ji Won is surprised to see the turn of events, and one sees a flicker of warmth in Seok Ji Won, despite him acting rather cool and unfazed about the entire thing.
As the Senior Seok is all set to disinherit his son, Seok Ji Won has gone a step further and has landed bag and baggage at Yoon Ji Won’s home. We’ll have to wait to see what unfolds when both Ji Wons come under one roof and the waves of suppressed emotions engulf them!
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Puja Talwar is a writer with a strong Yoo Yeon Seok and Lee Junho bias. A long time K-drama fan, she loves devising alternate scenarios to the narratives. She has interviewed Lee Min Ho, Gong Yoo, Cha Eun Woo, and Ji Chang Wook to name a few. You can follow her on @puja_talwar7 on Instagram.
Currently watching: “Love Your Enemy” & “When the Phone Rings.”