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As much as we chuckle at Sun-Jae for being a lovesick fool and affectionally call him the 'biggest loser in love'.... he genuinely is "pure like oxygen"

He looked up suitable restaurants for going on a date. He earnestly listened to In-Hyuk about the importance of 'timing' and tried to confess multiple times, to no avail. He fretted over Sol's injured knee and worried about the possibility of her being bullied.

He memorized an entire vocabulary book just to get Sol to hang out with him. He studied hard to get into the same University as her, even though he had never focused on academics before.

He helped her learn how to cycle and bury her time capsule. When she requests him to meet her 15 years later, he immediately starts memorizing the details needed to show up for their reunion.

He saves every little token she'd ever given him. The white candy jar. Their photo-booth picture. Her time capsule. Everything that reminds him of her is precious in his eyes.

He can barely keep himself from kissing her, yet wordlessly waits for her consent. He quietly relishes the sound of her voice and without a trace of self-consciousness, offers to blow off his work to spend time with her.

Once Sol accepts his confession, he does the sweetest, cheesiest things. Like buying matching couple keychains. Bombarding her contact with hearts and saving her number on speed dial. Attending college on his day off, just to spend time with her.

Using every opportunity to hold her hand. Letting her sleep on his shoulder all night long. Carrying her books. Sweetly stealing cuddles and kisses.

Seeing as how the present-timeline version of him had looked up 'What does it mean to imagine kissing a girl?', I 100% believe that college-era Sun-Jae would have researched 'How to be the perfect boyfriend'

I'd mentioned in my last post about how Sol had not one selfish or unkind bone in her body. Sun-Jae is the same; he is honest, guileless and innocent. He does not know how to be anything other than his pure, earnest self.

He is just so gosh-darn sincere and transparent when it comes to his feelings for Sol. And it is an insanely attractive look on him <3

I wish this deleted scene had been included in the final cut, it's so adorable and totally in-character for our lovesick loser; to blurt out his confession while playing a kid's game because he simply could not help it. And then cursing himself for not being cool about it, of course.

I imagine present-timeline Sun-Jae sheepishly telling Sol about how it hadn't been part of the game and Sol teasing him about it.

And the next time they play that game, I can picture Sol deliberately using terms like "I like you", "honey", "I love you", "perfect husband" and Sun-Jae trying (and failing) to keep a straight face, looking away and grinning over how cute his wife is <3

there i said it

like

look at this

constantly looking like he’s on the brink of tears even though it’s been 15 YEARS

recalling the past, in his own world as he sings this song that is so so so personal to him for the entire world to hear one last time

LOOK. AT. THIS.

the heARTBREAK THE LONGING THE HEARTBREAAAAKKKKKKKKKK THE PURE DESPERATE ANGUISH AAAAHHHH

and then ending the performance with this sort of…empty stare. a dejected acceptance. knowing he’ll never have the Sudden Shower moment with sol again. knowing he doesn’t deserve it, and never will

it’s like his farewell to the world, to her

+ bonus:

she’s there. listening to him pour his heart out one last time. to her. and she doesn’t even know. 🥲.

Imagine him being insanely in love with Im Sol, and having had the opportunity to kiss her (that original timeline Sun Jae didn't have).

Imagine having happy memories WITH her (again, something original timeline Sun Jae didn't have), and Imagine having confessed to her only to get rejected.

Imagine hearing her say to him "Listen. Thank you. I'm so grateful for what you've done, but I'm reminded of that day whenever I see you. It's scary. I can't even look at you." You can just see his heart breaking just by the look in his eyes. The person he loves most in the world, the one who he'd fought to protect, the one he will always fight to protect tells him she can't even look at him without being scared. It's the most devastating thing.

And then imagine, having experienced all of this, he's still in love with her. Like a mad man. He would run through crowded areas to find her, he would go to Hangang bridge in the hope she would be there, he would behave like an absolute loser in love, like he always does.

And then she comes back. She comes to him, 15 years later, on the hangang bridge just as promised. He sees her. Like he saw her for the first time. With the yellow umbrella. And he's so emotional. You can see his eyes get red. It's her. It's her. It's her.

And then when he drops her home she tells him she feels the same. She's always felt the same. She liked him too, and she had no choice because it was painful for her too (which he misinterprets the meaning of, but so did all of us in the first watch). And he's running again. To her. Because it's always been her. And when he goes to her house, and confirms that she still likes him, he can't believe it. It's his dream. He's lived through 15 painful years, only to see his heaven in front of him, telling him she feels the same. Finally, it's time.

Some of the ways in which Sol and Sunjae are similar ✨

The standout scene has to be Hui-ju’s confession. I thought the Grand Prince's confession was well-written, but this dialogue is on another level. It treats both characters like intelligent, emotionally mature adults who are completely in sync. The writer doesn’t resort to cheap, manufactured misunderstandings just to drag out the plot. That one line, "I know you’re not confused" is the absolute heart of their dynamic.

In most rom-coms, that scene would devolve into the typical "you don’t understand" back-and-forth, with the characters frozen in place for a dramatic pan-out and cut. It usually leaves the audience hanging with unresolved tension. But here, Hui-ju refuses to play into the "misunderstanding" trope. She identifies his emotional state better than he can articulate it himself. When he claims he’s confused, she immediately reframes it: "No. You understand perfectly. You’re hurt." It’s such a psychologically intimate moment. She bypasses the surface level to name the core wound. Real intimacy looks exactly like this, not explaining facts, but recognizing motives. The Prince isn’t angry because he doubts her feelings; he’s angry because he understands them perfectly.

Also, notice how her sacrificing herself to protect him wasn’t dismissed as random martyrdom. The show has already established her as strategic, proud, and deeply practical in her love. Because of that consistency, everyone (the Prince and the court included) immediately understands: "If she’s doing this, it’s for him." That’s excellent character continuity. You can see how disciplined the writing is because the conflict doesn't rely on the "idiot plot" where characters lose their brain cells to preserve the drama. The audience, the Prince, and the court all read the room correctly. The drama stems from the meaning of her sacrifice, not a misunderstanding of the facts. Peak romance writing, honestly.

Honestly? The kiss only lands because the silence before it does so much heavy lifting.

When she asks, "Don’t you want this?" she isn't questioning their physical chemistry. They both know the answer to that. She’s actually asking: "Are you going to keep punishing me even though you know why I did it?" His response is equally heavy: "I want this, but I’m confused." That basically translates to: "I love you, but I don't know how to reconcile that with the fact that you shut me out." It grounds the scene and keeps it from feeling like a typical soap opera. When she tells him he's only mad because he knows she likes him, it’s devastating. It's not just drama for the sake of drama. Hui-ju knows he’s only this angry because he’s actually vulnerable. It’s not about his ego, it’s about his heart.

He’s hurt because she carried the burden alone: she underestimated him and chose self-sacrifice over partnership. This is how you write "power couples" properly. Instead of falling back on tired tropes like noble idiocy, the show keeps the tension rooted in their psychological profiles. They feel like autonomous people rather than puppets doing the writer's bidding. Their choices are a direct result of their personalities and emotional baggage, which is why their dialogue feels almost uncomfortably real. The writer actually respects the audience enough to use subtext. The characters are allowed to actually read each other instead of spelling every little thing out.

Even the transition into sex afterward makes perfect narrative sense because it isn’t framed as some cliché "passion took over" moment. It’s reconciliation through mutual recognition. They finally arrive at the same emotional truth: he wants to protect with her, not from her, and she’s finally done pretending she’s in this alone. The intimacy feels like an extension of that emotional clarity rather than just a "reward" scene for the audience. That’s what makes it feel so adult.

ilysm: I love you so much