while this love triangle was frustratingly poorly written (haeyi has made it clear many times that she holds no romantic feelings towards sunho and the narrative suddenly pushed the idea that, somehow, she did) it did well in the sense that it showed the viewers exactly why jungwoo is the one for haeyi, and why sunho isn't. during their date, everything sunho said to haeyi was planned and unnatural, and he continually tried to maintain a sort of control on the conversation so that everything would go smoothly for him. various times he remarked how 'fun' it was to be with haeyi. whereas jungwoo let haeyi take initiative and tried to understand her — taking part in meaningful conversation. while their date was clearly fun and haeyi enjoyed it (as he had hoped she would), jungwoo was striving to connect with her and make her happy rather than simply have fun (see his seashell gift to her referencing back to their conversation about her father — reaffirming the fact he actively cares about her and what is important to her is important to him) showing a real commitment to and appreciation of haeyi as a person, that sunho didn't. sunho isn't a bad person, but he hasn't realised yet that he isn't good for haeyi and can't understand her or love her the way she deserves. until he realises his problems cannot be solved with a girlfriend he won't be good for anyone, because he does not understand what a healthy relationship truly is (and i cannot blame him for that seeing what he has grown up with, but that does not change things).

eddie munson +