The Pursuit of Happiness Ep 8 Rewatch

 

Laws of diminishing returns?  Not applicable here to begin with.  I am basically rewatching the episode perpetually spotting this stunned  ‘*SHOCK! This is SO GOOD! TOo good to be true. Was it this GOOD?!?  Don’t snap me out of it! ‘ face of LL on mine.  This is the episode that tests one’s resolve to not press on the next episode and heck real life.

 

On the Ninth day YiKang is by LeiLei’s side, they started the bright morning sleeping on the streets.

To be exact, LeiLei was sleeping on YiKang’s lap and he lets her.  Not just let her, look at his face looking at LL as she is waking up; when she yawns, he offers her a breath mint,  telling her she needs not be sorry.

I got to see a different you…

And right when LL whines about her head about to burst, he offers to call in sick for her.  Just one of a million things YK has his radar blaring for LL’s every whim.

 

I love Helen, how genuinely she cares about YK as a friend, happy for the guy obviously happily falling in love.      Even if I can not get myself a YK, who could resist a smile from ear to ear seeing him gloating just because you throw him a compliment he is so good at taking care of LL?

And like any concerned friend, one would want to poke at the other side of the equation, how LL is treating our dream guy.  Though YK is absolutely not getting there is a friendly agenda going on with Helen, he opens up like a chatterbox on how LL has changed, she would cook for them and ask if he wants to go for dinner together when she started out not even giving him a glance, nor wanting a thing to do with him except for her long list of their rules of disengagement. Helen throws in the rhetorical, ‘So you are very happy now, huh?!’

‘Happy….’

Very.  Almost.  When you are beginning to realize you are harboring a crush on someone, and you are ‘lucky’ like YK you can spend most of the waking moment doting on her however much you desire, under the protective guise of a friend, a roommate under one roof.  It is a strange precious mix of happiness to go so freely along with your heart without all the jitters of how it would pressure her without her noticing anything more to it.

 

It brings me joy every time Tiffany would not let any outrageously sweet thing YK did for LL go quietly.  ‘Oohhh~  You spent the night with YK!!!  Passing out on the street!  On his lap!!!’  Yes, we can always trust you to make it more obvious for LL, Tiffany!  We love you, even though LL is slow and hangover further hurting its function in that department.  As I said, the top priority of stuff I need to steal of LL is 1. YK 2. Tiffany and JiaYi.   There is no better gfs than those who would nurse your hangover by grabbing you to a glorious spa.

The bffs did not set out to just wiggle in the pond, they are going to stir up whatever ripple they can, first on WT being jealous, then quickly zooming in at YK has feelings for LL.   LL immediately jumps to the dealbreaker,  their age difference of 4 years.  Tiffany uses her hands to remind LL YK is now a delicious handful of full grown beefcake she is missing.  As Tiffany covers the physicality, JiaYi nudges YK has been so sweet and considerate taking care of her when LL was drunk.

Tiffany gives a K.O.  A man and a woman, who can talk about anything, can progress so naturally from a fluttering of heartbeat to a falling with one lapse of off guard.

Doggie!  SO.  CUTE.

He looks so soo yummy…and he is so good to you
…Gives you a sense of security.

This is the worth of a limited edition.

This hits that sweet spot for me.   It is a cliche the gfs would push our heroine to fight for a guy1, or guy2.  Things are never that simple of pick and choose and I doubt LL needs the nudging.  But for them to keep pitching it, this time encouraing LL to kill either bird with one stone by LL stirring up jealousy in either WT or YK or both, that is when all they are focusing on is the happiness of LL, not just servicing the plot one way or the other.   Throw in a reference of LL’s marketing expertise, talking her lingo. packaging LL as a limited edition hard to get commodity so desirable a guy needs to fight for?!  I love you so much, Tiffany!

Helen sets them up for dinner.  Funny that awkwardness suffocating LL eating together in this company is now almost entirely gone, as we call it…moving on, letting go:

The restaurant is famous for its beef bourguignon, especially for the scrumptious carrots in it, Helen suggests.   This led to WT marking his territory of knowing LL the best of her not eating any dish with carrots in it. just to be upstaged by a bickering between LL and YK unbeknownst to them how cute and couplish they are, over some cooked carrots.

If you did not cook it so deliciously, I would not be fooled by you! 

Sounds like you are beyond happy to be fooled by me!

In rewatching, I am not 100% sure YK is oblivious as to what his every word is suggesting.  Innuendo keeps dropping off his tongue.  Helen paints YK in his perfection again for being so sweet, writing LL’s letter of excuse for her sick leave.  YK says it is no big deal considering how compromised LL was last night, after all the ‘exertion’ she won’t be able to physically work.  Either you truly think it is the most natural thing: ‘last night we sleep tog….’ or you are trying to mark your territory like WT has no place to AT ALL.

  Huang~~Yi~Kang~!

She said it to shush him on their sleeping arrangements, but to my ears, it might as well be hearts in the form of his name off her tongue. MUAHAHA

‘Why are you still denying?’

With the horrible lying of whether YK slept on the sofa, the floor next to the sofa…in his room,  Helen is so sure she calls out YK as LL’s boyfriend and them being so obvious.  Instead of flat out denying, YK quips what makes him so obvious he is LL’s boyfriend.  WT hollers at YK why is he not manning up to the fact they are going out?!  YK, our most nommy horrible liar is about to  frankly admit, they are at the feeling each other out stage, wearing his hearts out, when LL cuts him off with her lying a fake confessing of they are at the early stage of dating, on getting to know each other.

…which breaks YK’s very sensitive to LL’s everything heart a little.   Here he is seeing no wrong in admitting his honest feelings for LL in front of the company: yes, he sees her a bit more than friends, he’s open to them developing to the next stage, and LL snuffs it by lying things are speculative but towards that direction between them, not even blinking of using him for a little feel good, when they are not yet there according to her and she assumes YK knows and yet… she lies, in his face.  He is not hurt she is using him for her own pride, but it is obvious to him she does not really think of him like the way he thinks of her (yet), to make light of it on a lie and weighing her pride higher than his feelings atvm.  LL is not totally heartless, she is hit by shame as YK is making an order for her, so winning as to know what she must like the best out of the menu, when she is still gathering herself.  His tone, deflated, clearly not in the bright mood he was before.

Even though I can’t make myself to post a WT cap, I need to give Helen a pat for feeling a bit bad for dragging LL and YK out just for her curiosity, soothing her own guilt, desperate to see LL and YK happy, as if this would lessen the burden she has ‘stolen’ LL’s happiness in the form of WT.

BRAVO YK.  He pushes perfect romantic hero to another level of wit.  Even though his feeling is a bit bruised by her using him, he does not stew on it but be proactive instead, asking LL frankly what she meant of the ‘we are still getting to know each other’ stage, which usually denotes things are developing.  Simply put, YK wants to know if that is LL telling him indirectly he does have a chance.  And if LL is picking up all the pings, this is a guy ready and available.

LL tells him she is just saying it so WT won’t pity her too bad, which is exactly what YK expected, all on his face.   However, when LL makes light of it, saying what is the big deal of her using him as there should be no nuance:  she is not his type anyway.  YK is not letting a chance slip to speak his mind, truly letting LL knows him better.  LL assumes, without a hesitation, YK’s type must be like a Helen, young, romantic, innocent and straight forward.   YK corrects her, yes he likes a woman not obsessed with being manipulative, but she does not need to be ‘young’, we lost our greenness, our naivete in order to blend into society as we grow wiser.  ‘OK?!’  He stops and emphasized.  LL still did not make much of a notice of his point.  YK knows it, and he is relentless.

Take note guys, this is how you go about testing waters for a love confession in brewing:  YK starts off telling LL how happy he is getting the chance to really get to know her, last night, while not a miser with his loaded I<3U glances.  His eyes,  did not break from staring at her,  except perhaps for when he needs to tell himself to breathe.

You are quite…simple/guileless

LL: Thank you, it’s still very delightful to be given such praises as an old woman.

Gosh.  LL.  Take one serious look at that face of YK!

You are not old, at all.
I am serious.

And you are worthy. (of all my love)

 

It is not entirely my fabrication if YK would finish on that note, but thanks to WT the toad interrupting, we’d never be sure.  *argh*

 

LL tells YK she needs to meet up a ‘friend’:

LL must’ve called ‘Huang YiKang’ close to a hundred times in their 9 days of living symbiotically and I bet YiKang can sense all the different intricacies in every one of them.  This is one where she is appreciative of his comforting praises, but she has more important business to attend to.  Tony gives out just the right lump of disappointment with all the right amount of TLC urging LL to be safe, but he did not take it calmly when he sees what this is all about.  WT.   He steps out, as if to make his presence known, if LL and WT could notice.

 

I can’t peruse what WT said (ok I FF’d) except a lot of self-entitled fake TLC.  IF me, all perfect me is still in your life, you would forever be in love with me and not give a chance to any guy, including a YK.

  ‘If you are not happy, I (MEMEMEMEME!) won’t be happy.’ 

ARGH.  You make LL cry!  AGAIN!  *HULKSMASH!!!!*

 

Good that there is a sweet dose of YK to chase that WT taste off.  Here he is, waiting up for LL, sitting at the dinner table straight view of the front door, babysitting her doggie (we see much more of YK taking care of doggie than LL) and he does not take his eyes off her with such concerned doting look on his face since.  If he is holding up his every fragile valuables and standing up, he would’ve dropped it all and not notice, every pore of him perceptive of LL’s feelings.   He asks her how she is doing, knowing she is not alright, hoping she could talk and lean on him if that helps.  When LL is not up for that, he offers physical comforts, to make her hot tea, warm bath, and she tells him to go to bed, a subtle nod acknowledging him waiting up for her.  Even though she clearly is not in the mood to talk, he hesitates but still put in a word if, if anything comes up, do not hesitate to holler for him.

This bunch of caps are titled:  Slay, slay. slay. slay. slay. slay, slay.  How to slay mookie a thousand ways.

And that is how he looks at LL door as she closes it.  Gah.   On one hand we have WT who needs a big nudge by his sensible gf  perhaps LL is not entirely open to accept YK yet because of him, ie he wasn’t THAT concerned on his own after dinner to initiate a heart to heart mostly still about himself.   Then we have YK, who has been in a way used by LL to ease the tension with WT just so they can stay friends without the pitying.  And there, just seeing LL cried, he is in distraught and we know he knows exactly what LL is going through without words.

And I love how drama is very straight forward with us as well, we have the visual of YK, sleepless on his bed, trying to settle his nerves by sketching, while we get to hear himself aware of how his heart is fluttering, roused and he connects the jolting to ‘her’, to LL right away.   Don’t we usually get to be the bystander, catching all these jitters and our hero is the only one slow on the uptake!??!

‘perhaps it is because of her…’

 

Any scene of LL and YK exchanging lovely looks at each other is my thing, but I am squeeing and dancing on the music choice alone:  the TPoH theme got a MNIKSS OST treatment, guys.   I am still not calm.

Riding on his bike side by side LL’s bus and keeping his eyes on her as much as on the road, asking if she wants to ride along with him instead, is YK’s way of expressing he cares, he is here for her before he can put his feelings into proper words. It is not easy to initiate conversation when she is not ready to talk, but it eats him alive, losing sleep wanting to know what is bothering her and everything that is on her mind…that is when you have feelings and she is now making up an crucial part of your life.  We can safely assume before the awareness of his feelings, YK won’t hesitate asking LL what is bugging her at work, what did she eat for dinner, would she want to go somewhere for the weekend because we have seen them casually eating together, hanging out making plans for a wkend shopping trip.

He needs to know what she had for dinner.  Like a concerned bf.

Now that YK is aware and honest of his feelings, he knows it will pour into his conversation with LL, no longer casual friendly chatter, but all Very Important Things he is desperate to know…like daily sweet nothings between lovers.

At our happening rooftop.

Let me take a pause… he offers to do her laundry for her ! ! !   And how his face just dropped a few shades of color seeing a man’s kerchief in her laundry, and it is WT’s.   If this is not LUB…  I have a special precious leaky faucet in my eyes just for LL/Sonia.  She is just so spot on terrific it is scary I still get misty eye when LL’s genuine emotions are bubbling off her face, every nuance so natural it is beyond acting now.

Ho Wei Ting’s

You no longer have feelings for him?

YK is so so brilliant.  Things he desperately wants to find out from LL prompted by the WT’s hankie:  Is she still in love with WT?  What does she want from him exactly now?!  But he drags her back a flashback to her asking herself those exact questions, in hopes of she coming up with these answers setting herself straight…and him.   When a drama is perfect, even flashback are used with such a deft hand.  I want to ask LL, has her face ever been studied so thoroughly of every minute twitch with such tenderness under that warm flow of sunset?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?? ?!

 

I still can’t… (not have feelings for him)

LL is so cute and frank admitting her ‘weakness’.

I didn’t cap it, but YK gives little understanding nods on top of that slightest disappointment.  He knew it, it is as expected,  but I think he is fishing for a maybe she can.

LL:

When WT occasionally gives me a call,  I would suddenly be hit by…

Yes, I used to be in love.

I used to be…not alone.

I used to be brave enough to depend on somebody,

to fall deeply, madly in love with someone.

Perhaps, why I can’t let go of WT, is…

I want to get back that…

me.

LL pours all her feelings looking straight at YK as she leaves their rooftop.  And we know YK gets every word of hers, and on top of it, he is standing here, all he can do is staring at LL’s backside, forming his own picture of loneliness.

Helen, ie the powerful Team OTP, at work.  She opens about the office gossip of LL and YK dating,  giving it all the encouragements she can, teaming them up for the shoot.  Alas, Simon edges in as the third wheel to help LL out.  Helen asks Simon to hand them the tickets she is giving them for a Ferris wheel ride. (SWOON!)

It is a given YK would show all his concern on his face when LL is having a headache from overworking. YK takes notice he is not as attentive as Simon on how to soothe her pain and true to his words, Simon is a lot of help on set.  Almost like a test, he is very suggestive towards YK, furthering the rumors at work Simon has his eyes on him.  We all know better.  Actually rewatching the scene, every line Simon says fits that later twist. Simon asks YK straight up if he is an item with LL.  YK flatly denies.  Her heart is still caught up with WT even if she is trying not to.

Are you a couple with LL?

 

Back home, LL and YiKang are eating cup noodles LL’s style ‘Like the heroes and heroines of idoldramas’ says YK himself, you know it all, huh?!

‘Eating the cup noodle you make has….The taste of happiness’ 

You don’t say.

It’s nice to have a little romance in life

hmmmhmmmhmmm

LL piques she is not a romantic, perhaps that is why she can’t hold onto a 15 year romance.  YK sees it in the opposite light,  LL must have so much love contained to sustain a 15 year romance…just that she does not have the chance to express it all.  Chance is LL has 2 tickets to the ferris wheel.

Treat someone to accompany you on the ferris wheel,

who knows if that is not the start of your next romance. 

Oh you ask WHO KNOWS?!  MEMEMEMEMEME   I wonder how much of his suggestion really settles into LL’s psyche, as in, if you ask the guy to be the one going on the ride with you, isn’t it obviously suggestive of a chance of the budding of a new romance as he flat out said?!?

Back in her room, LL is caught in a reminisce of her last ferris wheel ride, she did not get on it, WT took in the view for her instead.

And it is the little touches that makes a drama perfect.  YK grabs LL’s dried laundry for her, a scene prior LL and us all has almost forgotten, but not a YK, and not the writer of this drama transitioning it into more interaction between the roommates.  Yes, they live under the same roof, they eat together and they are fast, close friends, but they have their own privacy in their own room and for LL to share a wistful moment of her memory of life with WT is awkward if YK just knocks and intrudes.

Even with the convenient basket of laundry, his sweetness is snubbed for his ‘dirty hands’ handling her undergarments, the intrusion.   We don’t even take notice how natural YK takes notice of her mood, and connect the dots it has everything to do with WT and his postcards prominently displayed on her wall, in her life.

LL admits, yes, you caught me red-handed, it is WT, again.  Her life has been very sheltered, she has been living vicariously through WT, as if she viewed the world only through his words and observations.  As if a sorry in disguise, an acknowledgement, a thank you of every drop of sweetness YK has offered her, with no judgment, she asks him if he is willing to ride the ferris wheel with her, trusting him to witness her being a wimp with her eyes closed throughout, in her fear of height.  Just the scene prior, we saw LL in front of her mirror, contemplating YK’s every word.  Subtly, YK’s relentless sweetness and care gives her the courage, she is offering her hand for YK to take for perhaps starting something new.

Sure!
Look at that grin he can’t hide on his face!!! :DDD

Sure…Under one condition, when we ride the ferris wheel together, you can not have him on your mind.

For her good to be freed of the entrapment, experiencing life on her own, with him.

And I bet a bit of a male’s pride.  No way YK is not taking it as essentially their first date!

LL makes the decision…she can start to…let go.  Starting from these postcards, loaded with visual memory of her romance with WT.  Her world as she knows it through his lens.  And it hurts.

♪ All I want is to find myself.  ♪ 

♪ I can not look back.  I can’t take it anymore… ♪

It’s been a while since, and we all remember this Ferris Wheel scene as the perhaps the first time we decide this drama has a place in our hard drives. I’ve seen so many romantic ferris wheel scenes and kisses  in almost all fluffy Jdorama and TWidoldramas it is the trope of confining our OTP in enclosed space, throw in the sweeping view of the city and it becomes obvious what to expect.  This is special, because we are treated with exactly what is going on LL’s head with that lovely juxtaposition of her fear of heights versus her crash and burn with love, of taking the leap, the fall, the unknown, the what if she won’t ever be able to love as she did with WT?!  What if she can’t find that happiness that came so naturally, so easily when in love but now as abruptly taken from her!?

LL, like us all, have heard of all the adage of how to conquer fear by facing it head-on, how to let go of a past relationship by starting fresh.  Reality is always easier said/heard than done.  As wise and levelheaded as LL,  this is not a fanciful abandoning leap of faith, she is aware it must be hard on everyone alike, and it must takes unimaginable strength and faith in the hope of the unknown, of a fresh start to wade through to the opposite bank of success of letting go.

I trust many must have cold feet,  but I…

have nowhere else to hide.

She is the one asking YK to come with her, to hold her hand and here he is offering her his hand, he has stepped into the moving car to take her on her first ride, feet off ground, with the door of opportunity closing.

♪ Love that you know me so well like the back of your hand, like your own fingers, your palm ♪

Seeing her fidgety, her eyes shut tight in fear, he tells her not to be afraid, engulfing her hands entirely in his palm:

😀 Ji AnLei! 

(HOW CUTE ARE YOU~!)

haha.  LL relates what she is experiencing as on Howl’s Moving Castle.

He shifts LL to her side facing him, cooing her to open her eyes, and just look at him.  And everything will be fine. Just looking at me, he says.   We all agree.

He focuses on distracting her (with his gorgeous face) with the sensory, the warmth of the afternoon sun hitting her, taking her on a flight of fancy: relaxing in the breeze on a meadow.  Kites flying, children laughing.

   We were so happy, so very happy without abandon when we were young.

So very happy we can forget all the worries, all our fears.

Your fear is a figment of your imagination.

And I am here, holding your hand, calming your fears,  the scenery is breathtakingly gorgeous, everything glowing in the sun.  What is there to fear?!

Thank you.  LL said and YK is also appreciative of this sight of LL glowing, smiling, taking in the view.

Ji An-Lei, do you remember me telling you, you are so beautiful when the sun is hitting your face.

  She does, and WE DO!  It took my breath away the first time he said those words, but ceasing the opportunity, at this perfect timing, speaking his mind, tying with that first moment he must’ve recalled, a spark in him for her.   Too much Win Huang YiKang.

-FIN-

The drama can end here and it is good and satisfying a ride.   But we know there is an ep9 hug, and an ep10 HOTNESS and…more.

I can not remember if they really kiss. in my head, they did, and it was tender and hot and as beautiful as this drama gives,  but that seems a bit too colored by my shoujo mind.  Haha, do not spoil me, I want to take this lovely ride, falling in love with the drama anew.