Time of Fever (Donghee/Hotae story recap) #1
Since this movie (Unintentional Love Story's spinoff, prequel about Hotae and Donghee) is currently shown only in cinemas in Korea, I went and watched it :D And for people who don't mind spoilers or want to know what's their story without waiting until it becomes available and translated online, I wrote a recap!
It turned out to be... uhh... quite lengthy so I'll make several posts or comments :] Let me know if you want to be tagged in them!
Disclaimer: I'm putting everything under 'read more' so people won't catch spoilers accidentally! Screenshots are from the trailer, I put them along the scenes I described. Disclaimer #2: I'm not fluent in Korean (especially listening to it by-ear) and some characters had accents/satoori so some details can be missed. But I tried my best to write down what I was definitely sure about :D I'm re-listening to my audio recording so it won't be that far away from truth.
Enjoy!
Hotae is standing outside, dressed in a suit, looking far away as kids shout around. The camera pans out, and it's revealed he's dressed in a funeral-attending suit (seems like his father has died). The kids' ball rolls to his feet, and they ask Hotae to pass them the ball back. Hotae leads the ball and plays the football with kids, starting to smile.
Hotae moves to the big cottage-like house with backyard and peach trees where his mom (and also Donghee) has been living. He is eager to rush into the house, calling out 'Hyung!' but Donghee isn't at home. Hotae is looking at all the old shelves, childhood books and sport trophees.
He texts Donghee "Hyung, I arrived! When are you coming?". Donghee hasn't responded but he was coming after school, hesitantly walking along the house outer wall. Hotae notices him and sneaks to hide in bushes, jumping over and surprising him. I think they haven't seen each other for 2(?) years. They bicker a little. Then Hotae says: "Hyung, you haven't changed at all". Donghee replied with: "You grew up well, Go Hotae."
Their moms are chatting and suggesting Hotae goes to Donghee's school, while Hotae is taking out books outside and Donghee is studying inside the house. They steal glances at each other through the window.
Donghee and Hotae go through school's gates, Donghee is grabbed by a friend and Hotae is stopped by the guard (because of his improperly looking uniform). Then we're at the swimming pool, Hotae is in the team, getting scolded along with other late students. The head(?) of the team is Donghee's friend who said Hotae better be working hard, if he wasn't Donghee's younger bro (not specified meaning sibling or just junior) they would've kicked his ass. Hotae bites back that he's not Donghee's younger bro.
Donghee came home late, Hotae was waiting for him. He speaks to Donghee very informally and disrespectfully, 'You know what hour it is? Don't you hear me? Hey, Kim Donghee!' Donghee: "Are you out of your mind? Why aren't you calling me hyung?".
Hotae asks Donghee if he got 1st place in competition and says that he has to also earn 1st place then. He asks Donghee to come see him, even if it's just evaluation and not competition. Donghee responds that he'll come see Jisoo (his friend on the swimming team), Hotae is annoyed. "Say it once again! Who you'll come to see?! - Yoo Jisoo. - Again. - Who?>:(( - Aaah damn it, fine. You, I'll come to see you, happy?" Hotae is, indeed, happy and promises to get 1st place.
The swimming competition starts, Hotae starts well but fails. Donghee's standing outside waiting. Jisoo comes to him offering to come get some food, but Donghee declines. Jisoo's like ah, you're waiting for your guy, alright.
Donghee goes to search for Hotae. Hotae is sitting near the wall in his swimming suit, towel on his shoulders and head, he's trembling while crying. Donghee sits in front of him and says: "Wow, you're really ugly :D Get up, let's go grab some food. No? Alright, just cry out as much as you can then. I won't tell anyone."
They walk back home down the train road, lit up by the sunlight. Hotae: "Aah the sun is so bright, my eyes hurt." Donghee: "Isn't it because you cried so hard?" Hotae: "No!>:(" They bicker a little, and Donghee laughs at Hotae's face expression again. Meanwhile, Hotae was emotional but now he's in awe because there is someone watering bushes behind Donghee, and there are droplets of water and bright warm sun, and Donghee looks so beautiful. They walk back home together.
Hotae watches his mother dot on Donghee as he leaves home again. Hotae follows Donghee and discovers he's often staying in the old art workshop schoolroom. There are old drawing easels and canvases, books everywhere and two plaster busts. Hotae wanders around and tries to peek into sketchbooks, Donghee rushes to him and grabs the dark blue sketchbook out of his hands, scolding him not to open it.
(screenshot not from this scene but this is the view of that school art studio~)
Hotae discovers some book lying around and opens up to read it. It's a story about man turning into an insect (I didn't see the cover but I can safely guess it's "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka?). Hotae is confused what kind of story is this. Donghee is like "If one day I get turned into an insect, (will you still love me) am I Kim Donghee or am I an insect?". Hotae is still confused about his question and the book.
Hotae falls asleep, napping in the studio while Donghee studies. Donghee walks away without him but slams the door loudly so Hotae wakes up and runs after him. It's raining outside, they are covering their head with hood (H) and backpack (D). In the middle of rain pouring, Hotae stops giving any fucks and spreads his arms, shoving his face under the rain. Donghee looks at him, smiles and does the same. They both enjoy the pouring rain and play in it, until they run to hide in the tunnel.
Hotae laughs, they remember their childhood. Donghee asks why Hotae doesn't call him "hyung". Hotae doesn't answer but comes to him and helps squeeze out the water from his orange fluffy sweater. Romantic mood, cue~
The rain turns into thunderstorm when they are already home. They sleep next to each other on different futons. Donghee's back is turned to Hotae, he's facing the window. He's trembling under the blanket. We get flashback to an angry man (his dad) punching and hitting Donghee to the ground amidst lightning and thunder.
Hotae stirs up and asks whether he's cold or scared. Donghee tells him to just go to sleep, but Hotae refuses. Then he's like 'aah whatever, move!', gets up and lies right next to Donghee (back to him). After a while, Donghee turns and scoots closer, clasping his shirt in his fingers, asking Hotae not to mind it.
Hotae asks: "You weren't like this before, what happened? - Everything changes, so I have changed too." Donghee almost noses into him. Hotae feels the breath from his lips on his back, gets shivers and remembers it next morning as well.
They sit on a porch of the house, Donghee brought Hotae some cut up tomatoes to eat. Hotae whines that it's too hot. He grabs tomato, bites in it and the drop of juice escapes down his arm. Donghee fixates on it and reaches out to wipe it with his fingers. Hotae freaks out about it, gets a bit rude and leaves.
He's swimming in the pool alone, full of thoughts about Donghee that obviously bother him. There's a random girl who meets him after his practice, she confesses to Hotae and asks him out. Hotae: "Well, alright".
They walk together, but Donghee was playing basketball and now is going home. Hotae tells the girl he'll be leaving and runs to Donghee, putting an arm around his back that Donghee says to keep to himself. Girl, frustrated, yells after him. Donghee is confused but Hotae tells him not to mind it and offers to go grab some food.
Days go by, Donghee keeps texting Hotae to help him with something (like 'buy some eggs on the way home', or 'bring me earphones' etc), Hotae ditches his new girlfriend because of "urgent thing", and rushes home with eggs.
Donghee is cooking and is surprised to see his face (there is a small wound). We learn that girlfriend cursed at Hotae and slapped him for not giving her any attention and constantly ditching her. Hotae says it's nothing, he just broke up with his girlfriend. "Why? - Because I bought eggs. - What even is this…"
Donghee walks home from school, he sees Hotae and goes to him happily but Hotae's with another girl who confesses to him and asks to become her boyfriend, and Hotae once again says "Alright then". Donghee is upset.
He returns home late, and Hotae yells at him because he was worried and Donghee wasn't responding to any texts, yet he was holding a phone in his hand (idk why but he had two in the movie xD). They bicker again about Hotae addressing him impolitely. "- Ya! (Hey) - Ya? Ya?! Hey, are you really not calling me hyung, you–"
Hotae looks at Donghee. "I can't (call you hyung). I won't!"
He walks away from him, but after awhile stops and turns back. "Go faster!" He returns and grabs him by the wrist, dragging him towards the house. Donghee smiles. Even when he tells Hotae to take his hand away, Hotae won't.
[to be continued–]
Second part is here~ I've only retold half of the movie, oops xD
But we're getting first romantic scenes here~
When Hotae is asleep, Donghee gets up and puts healing balms in his own school uniform and penal. To make sure he'll always have them ready because Hotae keeps getting new wounds (from his 'girlfriends' who break up with him and fight him lol)
[I think there is some important scene but I don't remember it clearly anymore sorry… x)] If I'm not wrong, Hotae came to Donghee's art studio, caressed his clothes and name tag, and saw that sketchbook he didn't let him see before. He scrolled through (very beautiful!!) black and white sketches, and then on the next pages he suddenly saw his own portraits. Hotae's face, his eyes and mouth separately like an artist's studies.
Donghee comes in and Hotae barely manages to close and turn away from the sketchbook. Donghee comments about how the wound on Hotae's face still hasn't healed. He goes to his desk, opens penal and gets the balm out. While he puts it on Hotae's face, the tension is palpable.
Hotae asks him if he likes drawing. Donghee realizes he's seen his sketches. He says he draws everyone. Hotae asks why did he draw him. Donghee pauses, puts a bandaid above his eyebrow and then answers that he always has been drawing people that look like Hotae. He points at one of the busts (Agrippa) and says he looks like Hotae.
Hotae adds he was just curious, and then points at the second busts, telling that this one is Donghee then (bust with more delicate features and sharper nose). Donghee laughs and sends him home, saying he can't study while Hotae there.
Donghee gets a flashback about the first scene. Turns out, he was watching Hotae play football with kids in a funeral suit. "Your dad has passed away, but for some reason my heart was beating so fast".
He tells Hotae that he'll do anything for him (I think it was because his dad is not around to guide and care for him). "- Anything? - Yes. Should I teach you? Just let me know, I'll teach you everything." Hotae brushes it off and reminds that tomorrow is Donghee's birthday. Even if he doesn't read books, he's not a fool to not remember. He invites Donghee to go somewhere tomorrow together.
They go to a beach. Hotae sulks that they could choose something fun but they came here. It's not even fun since it's too cold to swim. Donghee says it's the most fun place for him. He used to come to a beach every birthday with his parents, eating food and taking photos. He tells Hotae to stand and take photos but Hotae refuses.
They want to walk but Donghee gets a phone call. His mom tells him to come home to eat some seaweed soup (birthday tradition). She says the father is not home and Donghee hasn't come home in a very long time. Donghee agrees, and he and Hotae have to part ways. He wants to walk for a bit longer with Hotae, but Hotae sends him home to the waiting mother.
Hotae and his mom prepare birthday dinner at home with cake, wondering if Donghee will return tonight since it's already late. The mom goes outside and notices that Donghee is sitting outside of their walls. He has bruises and his lips is broken and bleeding. She asks gently if it was his father's doing. She helps bringing Donghee home. Meanwhile Hotae is lighting up candles on a birthday cake and starts singing a song, but immediately is silent when he notices Donghee's condition. He's very angry, but his mom scolds him and tells to go treat Donghee's wounds.
Hotae and Donghee sit on a bench outside of the house, under the tree. Hotae spits threats towards Donghee's father. He puts balm on his finger and reaches out to put it on Donghee's lip wound. He feels feelings and is like "Oh, so this is how it feels to rub a balm on someone's face…" Donghee: "How?" Hotae, staring at his face and lips: "I don't know. A little bit… strange." Donghee replies to him that if he knows it now, he should stop getting hit then xD
Hotae goes back to rub the balm in his lip, and Donghee flinches, saying it hurts. Hotae apologies but notices that he's shaking. Suddenly, Donghee is crying and he is freaking out, not knowing what to do. Hotae sits there, Donghee's head against his shoulder while he wails. The mother is looking at them from inside of the house through the window with the sad look on her face.
Next day, Donghee walks away to school without Hotae. Hotae runs after him and complains, Donghee says he follows him fine anyway. Hotae's like "Am I a stalker to follow you?" :D
They go inside the school, Donghee walks to the corner of the corridor, then sees something and suddenly changes direction. Hotae is confused and asks him where he's going. Donghee says, he'll be in the infirmary. Hotae is worried that Donghee is hurt somewhere, but Donghee says Hotae is the one who needs to go to infirmary. Hotae says he's not hurt. Donghee replies cheerfully: "You will be very soon! So I'll go."
He leaves Hotae, Hotae walks further and then finally sees two of his ex-girlfriends are waiting for him. They see him and scream, running after him.
Cue to the infirmary, Hotae is storming in while Donghee is preparing. "- You left me?! - What, you wanted us to die together?" Donghee is treating his wound. The girls are trying to break into infirmary, the door is closed but one of the girls picks the lock xD They act like serial killers in a horror movie. Hotae drags Donghee away to hide. It looks like they are behind the curtain, girls pull it away but there's no one.
They leave, and Hotae with Donghee stay behind the second curtain. They stand very closely, their hearts beating. Donghee tells Hotae to move but Hotae pins him against the window. Donghee is staring at him. "- What are you doing? Are you crazy? - Kim Donghee. Have you ever kissed?" Donghee is taken aback, meanwhile Hotae is very fixated and asking again. He says he wants to try kissing for the first time. "Answer me. - To what. - Have you kissed? - …Yeah."
Hotae is surprised by his answer. "You kissed someone?! When? Who?!" Donghee is glaring at him. "What are you going to do if I tell you?" Hotae is gathering courage and asks Donghee to teach him then. "- How can I teach you that? - You can just kiss me. - Are you crazy? - Why not? Just think of it as a problem solving task. - Solving problems and kissing someone is different. - You told me to ask you anything I didn't know."
Donghee is silent. Then he says "Call me hyung then." The pause is long, and it looks like Hotae won't say it so Donghee wants to scold him not to joke like that, when Hotae finally calls him hyung. "Hyung. Please, teach me how to kiss." (very politely language-wise!!). Romantic music plays, and they slowly lean in together, having their first kiss.
Part 3 comes in! I'm so sorry, I got new project at work and I had few hours of sleep at dawn and some time for food for a few days while I was adjusting x) But I brought an update! (even though I slowly start forgetting how the scene looked like exactly, so some of the montage scenes without dialogues are not described perfectly ^^')
Follow the story under read more>
After a while, the school bell rings, and they pull back from the kiss. They breathe and Donghee sends Hotae to the class, himself standing and taking it all in, his broken lip hurting as well.
After some time, Hotae keeps calling Donghee but without any success. When he finally sees him on the way home, he's like "Are you avoiding me?!" Donghee is responding with "Why would I? I didn't answer your calls because I had a lot to think about." Hotae asks him if it's because of their kiss. Donghee is avoiding: "Are you crazy? Do you think it was such an important thing?" He is acting cold towards Hotae who was worried about him.
Hotae sincerely pleads him: "It must be because of me. What should I do from now on? Just tell me, and I'll do anything. What should I do?" Donghee is touched. He shoves his backpack to Hotae. "Take this and let's go home. Just keep being yourself." Hotae is warning him if he'll keep acting like he does, he's going to ask Donghee everything he's curious about and follow Donghee. Donghee's like "Do whatever you want." Hotae: "Will I be able to hang out with you 10 years later as well?" Donghee: "Do you have separation anxiety or what??" Hotae: "What is this?"
Donghee brushes him off and says even if he wanted to go away, he doesn't think he can. That answer satisfies Hotae. They go home happily, chatting about this and that.
Hotae is studying in art studio. Donghee comes up to him and looks at his workbooks. "Wow, you didn't even get one answer right. Even if you put answers by random, you'd get at least something. It's fascinating." Hotae is upset. They talk about universities they want to go, and Donghee was thinking about going to Seoul but probably he'll stay in the nearby universities. Hotae is happy about this and is back to studying.
[Might be wrong about the placing of this scene] They both go to the bookstore, Donghee is reading up all the books and after time, finds Hotae asleep, leaning on the book shelves. He smiles and sits right next to him, letting Hotae sleep on his shoulder. After a while, Donghee sneaks his hand in and interlocks the fingers with the napping Hotae, while smiling to himself.
Later, they put a rug, bring electric heater and bring snacks to their house to make one room a cozy place to study. They both read books, Hotae watches something while eating tangerines. Absentmindedly, he takes one tangerine piece and brings is to Donghee's mouth who is lying on his back on the floor next to him. Donghee lets Hotae feed him.
After a while, Hotae gets restless, drops everything and hovers over Donghee. "Can you teach me again?" Donghee wants to move but Hotae pins him to the ground, staring down at him. "I can't. - Please, just one more time. Only once, mm?"
He leans down and they lock lips once again. It starts slow and sweet but after a while, their breathing picks up, Donghee also sits up, and they dive into a passionate makeout, surrounded by warm orange light.
Hotae gets too into it, even when they break the kiss, he's nuzzling and returns back to Donghee's lips, hungry for more, and then Donghee gets uncomfortable, tells him "Enough" and half-shoves-half-slaps Hotae's face away. They are both breathe heavily. Hotae is confused and taken aback.
[Might be wrong about this] We see them separately. Even in school when Hotae goes to Donghee's class, he can't find him.
Donghee is sitting and talking to Jisoo (his friend), sighing about everything. He is in his thoughts, saying "I don't think I can do this", talking about how he doesn't have enough qualification (referring to his talk with Hotae after the very first kiss, I think, but I wasn't able to translate that part clearly). Jisoo is confused because he thinks Donghee is talking about university. Donghee decides to just go to university in Seoul, after all. Then everybody will be happy. Jisoo: "Won't you regret it?" Donghee sighs.
Another sad montage of both of them brooding alone~ Donghee gets accepted in university in Seoul.
Donghee is sitting next to the water along with the aunt, having some talk about life with her. Seagulls are flying and calling, they peacefully watch them. She is giving him comfort. Donghee tells her he decided to leave for Seoul and asks her not to worry about him.
He returns home late once again, when it's dark, but Hotae is standing inside and asks: "Until when you will avoid me?" Donghee: "What are you doing here without any light?" Hotae, being upset: "Because you only come home when all the lights are off." Donghee tells him to go inside not to catch a cold, Hotae shouts after him that he won't do anything anymore now. For real. Donghee apologizes to Hotae silently and thinks to himself that it's better if he's the only one to stay hurt, so Hotae's life will be better. He doesn't know what else to do.
They are back on the beach, walking along the seashore. Donghee is once again asking Hotae to call him hyung. Hotae refuses and tells him to make any other request (referring to when he said he'll do anything Donghee orders). Donghee: "It's cold, let's go somewhere to eat. - Let's walk for a little bit more. - Huh? You told me you'll follow any order of mine. - Let's go further and take a picture."
Donghee makes Hotae to pose behind the typical 'Place Name' red photo frame with the sea view. Hotae is sulky, and Donghee keeps ordering him to 'move a bit to the right, more, more, a bit to the left now' and takes a lot of photos while teasing Hotae. The couple of older men walks past by, and they offer to take a photo of them together.
Back in their house. Donghee is cleaning books and items away from the desk and shelves. Hotae finds him and is worried, Donghee says the application for the university has passed so he can finally put everything away (but it's because he's leaving the city, of course). He tells Hotae to just stay and sleep in his room (they have two futons), to chat for a while and fall asleep together. Hotae is like 'NO TAKING BACK!' And immediately slides under the blanket with a smile.
Donghee scolds him for lying with a wet head after the shower, he takes out the hairdryer and makes Hotae sit up so he can dry his hair. Hotae says it won't be fun to attend school anymore, since Donghee will be leaving in a short time. He asks whether he can wait for Donghee tomorrow after school so they can walk back home again. "No answer means yes! :]"
Next day. Hotae is standing outside of the school, time passes, students come and go, but Donghee is nowhere to be seen. Finally, a car stops nearby and Donghee comes out of it.
He comes to tell Hotae that he's leaving to Seoul right now and that he won't come anymore. Hotae asks why did he suddenly want to go to Seoul so badly, since he said before that it's nice here and he could attend university here.
Hotae, absolutely upset and sad, asks "Can't you just stay here? I won't do anything, I'll just be quietly by your side, can't I?" Donghee is torn inside too. "Are you going to Seoul just to avoid me? Do you hate me that much? I told you I'm sorry! It's my fault, I won't do it again. - It's not because of you. It's because of me." Hotae asks to hug him once. Sad music plays, they both hug each other before the farewell :(
Donghee tells Hotae not to get wounds in the future, since he won't be here to put balm on his face anymore. Then he leaves, sits in the car, and when the car drives away, he breaks into tears.
