#janejaab

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Day 3: Side Dish That Should Have Been the Main Course

I love a good side dish. So often they are so much more interesting than the main course. Or at least I wish they could have had more screen time, like Aran and Tattoo from Jack and Joker. They deserve more. But for this challenge I choose two other side dishes. Two that I have still not been able to move on from.

Jaab and Jane from Step by Step.

I guess it is no secret that I didn't like the main couple that much. I was more interested in the story of Jaab and Jane and how this all worked out in the end. We never got any real closure. Just a hint that Jaab visits Jane. But did Jane know about it? Was it arranged and desired? Are they together? What else exactly happened between them? Maybe I'm just a little pining-girlie and I like this slow-burn, the cheating and the hurt, but in the end I need some fire! That was so unsatisfying! But still, I found their scenes so much more interesting than the main couple. I realised that I was more bothered by the fact that there was no real conclusion.

My second answer is RamKing from My Engineer.

While I've already forgotten who the main couple actually was, these two have stuck in my mind and again we have this unsatisfying, half open ending. These two deserved their own series. They were cute together and their story was interesting, the dynamics and the script were just right for them. I love them and I will never be not angry that we didn't get their own series.

Pat and Jeng sharing one bed, back to back, but both absolutely thrilled and smiling to themselves and enjoying the closeness while still with a visible distance between them.

Jaab and Jen in two beds but beside each other and Jaab reaching out to him, turning to him, constantly seeking like a desperate flower trying to sneak peeks at the sun.

Put alone in a bed that is sealed against him, keeping him far from the softness and comfort a bed should provide.

(And a memory of Pat and Putt when they were happy together, joyous together, when they laughed and loved and before they lost whatever they had.)

It's so many moments illustrating not just where their relationships are but also the problems.

Two beds because there's an entire relationship between them.

One bed but backs to each other because they don't yet see each other.

A sealed and cold bed because loneliness is freezing him out of his own life.

Right person, wrong time is tricky to do and easy to fuck up and damn does that suck because it is so good for a couple like them.

Jaab catches feelings for Jane while Jane is still dating Mon, to the point where he is complicit in helping Jane cheat on Mon when they kiss. So Jaab, young and immature, pushes Jane away, even after he breaks up with Mon. Jane, being older and a little more mature, sees this as a sign that the feelings he thought Jaab had for him are fleeting, so he gets angry, which in turn makes Jaab angry. Then Jane leaves and while Jaab clearly isn’t happy with that, there is very little he can do about it. So in the months that Jane is gone, he tries to move on thinking that that is the end of his relationship with Jane.

But then Jane comes back and Jaab works up his courage to talk to him, only for Jane to bring up that he heard that Jaab has a new partner. Cue Jaab’s world coming crashing down because there is no way Jane will want to be with him now.

I get the feeling that Jaab and Paint’s relationship is pretty casual, since Paint never appeared during the montage, hasn’t appeared on screen at all and is only mentioned by Kanoon and no one else.

Maybe it’s because I’m still seeing this story through the lense of being a partial Pride and Prejudice adaption or at least taking inspiration from it but this feels like when Jane goes to London to find Bingley after they leave Meryton. She (Jane) goes, only to be told by Caroline Bingley (unnamed off screen person) that Mr Bingley (Jaab) has agreed to marry Georgiana Darcy (Paint…?). So Jane backs off and it’s only when Bingley finally works up the courage to come and talk to her again do they agree to be together.

...

...

wait motherfucking what.

Jaab had a partner that we never see? He is pining after Jane while in a relationship with someone else and we don't see any of that? Not a single bit? Not even a hint of what is going on?

ajgklsdfgsfg

THIS IS NOT HELPING WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

This is a punishment for me liking side couples, isn't it? This is a direct punishment to me for liking them. Why am I being punished?! What did I do, damnit? Why do we deserve this?! WHAT EVEN IS THIS!?

(It's honestly fascinating and I'm a little confused about why he turned down Jen after Jen chose him over Mon but I suspect it's because of the idea of cheating but I also suspect that Jen broke up with Mon before the kiss... I have so many questions about my beloved pining friends.)

I also seriously think that Jen has been pining just as long as Jaab but thought he had no chance (just like Jaab) and so turned to Mon because he had a chance... only to find out he had a chance with Jaab he wanted to jump at only to now have lost everything.

Oh, Jaab and Jen's fight is just painful because they've been friends forever and when you add love to friendship... sometimes it explodes.

Jen resigns to go back to his family because Jaab is pushing him away and won't even talk to him because Jaab is terrified of what their actions mean, what this love might mean... but just as scared of losing him as a friend.

Jaab is one of the least mature characters in the show. Because he's used to pining and hopeless love and suddenly he's got a friend kissing him back but a friend who had a boyfriend, who cheated with him and now the whole world is just scary when you think about it.

He might accept that kiss in the night and he might love Jen with all his heart but he won't be the reason someone else's heart was broken. He will love but he will also break his own heart.

Pining isn't enough to let him be part of something he doesn't feel is right. He wants Jen to choose him.

Is he doing everything right? No. But will he stop himself when he realizes he's doing something wrong? Yes.