Here are my reasons.

1. As much as I feel Dr. Ye’s inner struggles, he doesn’t win points for inertia. He actually loses points because in this episode, he did nothing to get her back.

I’ll give a rundown of his actions in this episode.

Day 1 after he rejected her:

At 4:00 minute mark, he walked in and was greeted by BoYoung with her mouth stuffed with bread. She asked him if he wanted some and he said, “No, that’s okay.”

That was all he said to her the morning after his rejection. At the very least, I expected small talk from him to see how she was doing, to say something like “Oh that looks good but no thanks. I’ve eaten. Enjoy your breakfast.”

At 6:00, Chief Wang told him BoYoung had found out that she didn’t get the fulltime job during the dinner the previous night. Dr. Ye didn’t go in search of BoYoung afterwards to just check on how she was feeling.

At 15:08, Chief Wang informed him that BoYoung had been crying all morning, during lunch, and after lunch. He had felt so bad for making BoYoung depressed that he treated her out but Boyoung reassured him that she was crying not because of the job, but “personal reason.” Dr. Ye knew it was about him. He told the Chief, “Don’t blame yourself. Maybe something did happen.” In stark contrast to his stoic reaction, Chief Wang said, “My heart is crying tears of blood right now.” Dr. Ye just sighed and looked disturbed.

At 24:30, they met by accident on the way home. They ended up going to a café.

Their dialogue:

Ye: I’m sorry, Dr. Woo. I heard about if from Chief. You must have been excited to get a full-time position so when you found out that that wasn’t happening anymore you must have had a hard time. But I made it even harder for you.
BY: That’s okay. I would have had to hear it sooner or later. To be honest, I wanted to pretend like nothing happened but I couldn’t help myself. But I plan to actually be okay, instead of pretending that I am. There are people who lose their partners, whom they’ve loved and shared their entire lives with. So this is nothing in comparison. I’m going to overcome this. So please don’t treat me well from now on. Don’t take care of me when I look upset and don’t comfort me when I have a hard time. I’m begging you.

What does this tell me?

• BoYoung’s encounter with the grandfather gave her much-needed perspective on her pain.
• She required time to get over the rejection but she would soon be fine.
• I don’t know if she was being ironic here when she told him, “Don’t treat me well… Don’t take care of me… Don’t comfort me.” But she knew that she had been crying on her own all day but he didn’t seek her out to check if she was fine. It was Chief Wang who bothered to comfort her during his free time and to check if she was eating fine.
• If they hadn’t chanced to meet on their way out, they wouldn’t be sitting across each other in that café.

This is the poem that followed after the cafe encounter, narrated by Dr Ye.

It Only Rained After You Left
by Yeo Rim

It only rained after you left.
The rain turned into heavy rain.
And I pictured you
Sitting in the bus with an upset expression on your face.

I felt my heart becoming sore.
There are times when people can’t be comforted by words.

I sit blankly while looking out the window
And even when I close my eyes as if I’m tired
A part of my consciousness becomes that much clearer.

It only rained after you left
In every street corner where I send you off.

So appropriate for his character. lol. One, the poet didn’t do anything but “picture” the girl elsewhere, “sit blankly” and “close” his eyes. Two, it talked about his “heart becoming sore,” while the girl only had an UPSET EXPRESSION on her face. And third, (I’m not sure if the translation is right but…) HE was the one who sent her off. Shouldn’t the girl be feeling more than “upset”?

Day 2 after he rejected her:

At 41:08 minute mark. He gave his lecture, and he played his demo with BoYoung as his assistant. lol. He didn’t remember that he had BY on the demo and he was surprised to see her face up there on the big screen. For 15 seconds he stared at the image. He apologized to his audience and continued with his lecture.

At 51:34, he went drinking with Dr. Park and Chief Yang. Dr. Woo was mentioned.

Park: She said she really wanted to hear Dr. Ye’s lecture
Chief: What do you think? I guess she wanted to avoid one of us.
Park: Pardon? Avoid one of us? Who?
Chief: I guess she didn’t come because I made her cry. Geez, I really did something horrible to Dr. Woo.

Dr. Ye was quiet the whole time, probably feeling guilty.

Park: Why are you drinking so much today? Are you upset about something?
Ye: No.
Chief: I’m the one who’s upset. I don’t know how I’ll face Dr. Woo from now on.

Later when he was drunk, he admitted that –

Ye: I guess, I’m upset after all. I didn’t think it was right…I really didn’t think it was right which was why I declined. But… I don’t know why my heart aches so much.

Chief and Dr. Park assumed he was talking about declining the chief position. lol.

At 59:46, he arrived home and saw the book of poetry, “It’s Okay If You Don’t Love Me” she had given him. He remembered what she said about the book and what she said about overcoming the rejection. He received a text from Chief Yang. As he was about to answer he saw the new icon on MinHo’s cellphone number. It was a picture of them at the beach. He said, “Did they go there together?”

As you can see then, for two days, he didn’t do anything to get her back. This whole episode was ALL about his “inner conflict” to conquer his feelings. Booohoooo.

What-ev-uh!  I told you, didn’t I, that his major character flaw is his inaction. He gets caught up with his inner struggles that he becomes indecisive. He’s too caught up in his own pain, just like that poem in Episode 9, named “Height.”

Height
by Yoo Ahn Jin

I’m ashamed to say that until now
I only cried for myself.
My most painful cries
Still only come out for myself.
How much older do I need to get to grow a bigger heart
And how much taller does my heart need to get
Before I can cry for someone else?
My eyes can only see myself
On the most sorrowful days.
My ears can only hear my laugh
On the most happy days.
I’ve never realized how imperfect my heart is.
I’m embarrassed and ashamed.

lol. I thought he would realize, like MinHo did, that he acted selfish when he wallowed in his own sorrows.

Really, this is another dealbreaker for me. Young cried BECAUSE OF HIM. How could he not feel empathy when he was the cause of her feeling miserable? It didn’t need much for him to show some feelings here. All he really had to do was call up BoYoung and ask her how she was doing, and if she was feeling okay.

Even Chief Yang did much more. Chief Yang’s conscience bothered him so that he treated her out to her favorite restaurant and apologized. Afterwards, he couldn’t stop talking about BoYoung although BoYoung assured him her sadness wasn’t because of him.

As for MinHo? MinHo did more than Dr. Ye. It only took one look at her “sad back” for MinHo to galvanize to action.

2. That’s why INDECISIVE Defcon beat him. lol.

Do people really think that the stories of the minor characters are insignificant? They enhance our understanding of the plot because they highlight the good qualities without our “biases” for one male actor getting in the way of our comprehension.

For instance, Defcon may be indecisive. But in  important things, he comes through like a true hero.  He comes to the defense of his friends, like he did with Dr. Kim in this episode. His strong defense made Dr. Kim respect him.

This was precisely what Dr. Ye should have done for his ex-girlfriend when rumors started. He told BoYoung that he had been very distressed because people talked about them, but he didn’t DO anything to stop it.

Just observe what happened at the funeral. Again those people were talking about his ex but he walked away. Instead of coming to her ex’s defense, he complained to her. He said,

People will talk about us again…I really hate this. (Who doesn’t?)
I don’t like attract attention at a place like this. (Does he really think the ex likes it too?)
I don’t like your pain becoming nonsense. (So DO something for gawd’s sake. Tell those people to stop like Defcon did.)
I don’t like sending off Chief Park who’s precious to me with anything other than sad feelings. (Huh? How can he compartmentalize feelings like that?)

This was the same kind of “distance” he was trying to put between him and BoYoung. lol. He didn’t want to be involved in any “unsavory” conduct. Conduct that would compromise his principles.

Moreover, Defcon also knows how to use the phone to TEXT somebody.

Look, if Dr. Ye didn’t want to have a face-to-face contact with BoYoung because he wanted to end it, then he could still have texted “How are you? Are you okay?” to check on her wellbeing

lol. Sending 47 texts was ridiculous of course. But so was sending ZERO text to check on BoYoung’s welfare.

 

I have more reasons why MinHo’s ahead but I’ll have to do these tomorrow. Meanwhile, let me list them so I won’t forget.

3. MinHo.

4. The poem.

5. Her fantasy conversation

6. Her smile. She had been smiling the past few days but that was her first REAL smile. It’s her mischievous smile, like she was sharing a secret with MinHo again.

7. Her conversation with MinHo.

 

edited to add my interpretation of BoYoung’s hallucination. Next up will be the poem and her conversation with MinHo.

edited to add my interpretation and SyeraAisya’s interpretation of  “Old Flame”

Next up: MinHo.