I’m glad that the writer organizes the story around a theme and that theme is made clear in the title. For this episode, the title is “Secret Love: Anemone”.

1. King’s secret love

This is self-explanatory. Lee Soo loves Gaedong but he’s keeping it a secret. He knows very well that to reveal her identity is to endanger her.

Soo: But what about GaeDong? Where is my Gaedong? I went home. But she wasn’t there. But you know where she is, don’t you?
Hoon: Your majesty, Gaedong…is with me. Not long ago, assassins entered your house so I couldn’t do anything else but take her with me.
Soo: Assassins? Did she get hurt?
Hoon: She’s fine now. But I cannot guarantee she’ll be all right in the future. We can’t identify the assassins but if it’s discovered that the man she was intending to marry is the King, would Gaedong be all right? So please just consider her as someone dead, and please forget her.

I like that Hoon’s priority is Gaedong’s safety here. The king? He acts obsessed. He’s focused on having Gaedong at his side.

Hoon: Because I’m responsible for indiscriminately accepting this marriage, I’ll be responsible for Gaedong. I’ll take care of her marriage and find a good husband for her. (he bows to leave)
Soo: Why are you like this suddenly, Matchmaker? Didn’t you make an agreement with me to make sure we can get married? What do I need to do?

Crouching, he looks pathetic and un-kingly. He’s beseeching Hoon instead of thinking this through. He clings to Hoon and Hoon removes his hand. And I find that funny. The king is the one who shouldn’t be touched but here, it’s Hoon who removes the king’s hand from his body as if he finds the king’s touch distasteful.

Hoon: Is there anything you can do? Are you not the current king who must be met secretly like this?

He means that Lee Soo is already the king YET he still has to meet a matchmaker clandestinely because he fears being caught. If he’s already living in fear – and he has only to think of his survival – then, how can he expect to care and protect another person, Gaedong? Hoon is pointing out how powerless and impotent Soo really is.

Hoon: (continuing) What will you do with Gaedong? Do you intend to make her your concubine?
Soo: (outraged) A concubine! How can you face me saying that? You know better than anyone that Gaedong is the only woman for me.
Hoon: Our relationship ends here. I pray the king seated on his throne will be a good and wise king. (moves to leave again)
Soo: (defiantly) I will bring her to me. I will keep her at my side.
Hoon: How will you do that?
Soo: I will make my power grow. The power to keep her at my side, and to prevent anyone from hurting her. (holding Hoon’s hand again) So, until then, please protect her for me.
Hoon: (removes his hand) How can you trust me and leave her with me?
Soo: If it were some other person, I couldn’t be sure, but Matchmaker, I can leave her with you.

Hoon exhales. As a result of the king’s secret love, he drags Hoon into a secret, too. He wants Hoon to take care of Gaedong until he can come and “claim” her. His request is an imposition on Hoon and will obviously pose a dilemma for Hoon later when he, too, falls in love with Gaedong.

Walking home, Hoon thinks that it would have been better if he just ran away with the money. He’s right. Lee Soo is a bigger headache to both him and Gaedong because Soo will get them killed.

2. The side story

The side story is also about a secret love.

JiHwa’s provincial cousin, has come to Hangyan to prepare for a marriage match.

JiHwa’s father, the archrival of Hoon’s father in the King’s court, plans to marry off his niece to Scholar Lee, the top scorer in the last state exam and the class president of Sungkyunkwan, in order to establish connection with the Confucian scholars. (phew! too many descriptions there)

Hoon knows about this political realignment by way of marriage alliances. It’s a behind-the-scene power play.

From the tea meeting in Episode 4:

At that marriage meeting, JiHwa’s father, the Vice Premier, was very much impressed with Hoon’s astuteness. He said, “If only you weren’t the Lord Prime Minister’s son, I would have wanted to give you my daughter.”

lol. It’s clear that the Vice Premier detested Hoon’s father. No way was the Vice Premier going to link the two houses in marriage. Even the cinematography showed his distaste for Hoon’s father.

Here’s Hoon’s father having tea with the Vice Premier. They were seated at a distance. They had their own tables.

Here’s the Vice Premier again with Hoon. He was serving Hoon tea, like a guest.

So, the Vice Premier’s statement was an attack on Hoon’s FATHER. It was a back-handed compliment and Hoon replied in kind. He said, “Well, I too have eyes and standards.” lol. He attacked the Vice President’s DAUGHTER.

He was looking down to show proper diffidence but his words were sarcastic.

The Vice Premier was shocked of course to know that his daughter wouldn’t measure up to Hoon’s standards. But Hoon suavely smoothed over the (hidden) insult and explained that JiHwa’s husband must be at least that of a vice premier, handsome, and he must have ranked at least 3rd place at the state exam.

Hoon implied that such a lowly matchmaker like him couldn’t possibly fulfill the “lofty demands” of the Vice Premier. Well! In manner and in words, Hoon sounded self-deprecating, when in fact, he was condemning the Vice Premier’s political ambition.

Hoon agreed to ask Scholar Lee about the marriage proposal from the Vice Premier for his niece.

Now, in his judgment, the niece is a better match for Scholar Lee, although he’s in love with Lady Choi. But three things stopped him from going with Vice Premier Kang’s niece.

One, the voice of GaeDong telling him, “I thought that even though it may be difficult, bothersome, and unprofitable, being a good matchmaker is trying to find the best destiny for his clients.”

Two, the memory of his brother telling him, “I’m alright, Hoon. If they’re happy together, it was worth it.”

He still doesn’t know how long those feelings will last, and thinks it will cool in time and change in an instant.

Three, competition. lol. There’s nothing like a business competitor to rev Hoon up. (lol. I’m looking forward to him competing with Lee Soo, the King.)

According to Crew #2, Hoon destroyed the woman’s business by discrediting her matches as flawed.

Look at Hoon’s face there. He doesn’t even look guilty. Crew #2 is upset that Sa Wol is going to snatch Scholar Lee’s marriage plans from them. Hoon replies coolly, “Who’s saying I will hand it over?” He means he’s not going to give it up without a fight.

He hatches a plan to match Vice Premier Kang’s niece with another man so Scholar Lee will marry his true love. He calls his plan “Gok-dol-sa-sin” meaning, to prevent fire before it starts. He explains, “To prevent the house from burning down, you must build a chimney that’s bent or get rid of all the firewood.”

And the look she gives him is a classic “what-the-heck” face. She isn’t impressed even though he’s trying to be impressive.

He explains:

FYI. Here in the US, the bent in the chimney is called “Witches Bend.” There’s a superstition that to keep witches (but what about Santa Claus?) from flying down the chimney, you bend the chimney. If you want to read about trivia, here’s a link:
Witches bend in chimneys

What Hoon means is remove Vice Premier Kang’s niece (i.e., the firewood) from a future love match with Scholar Lee, by diverting her attention (i.e., the bend chimney) to a love of her own.

Ingenious, right?

To do this, they must find out what the niece is interested in, and they can only rely on Gaedong to act as their spy. She finds out that the niece SECRETLY LOVES (remember the title) to read romance book. The title of the book is “An Officer’s Lover” and inside it is a picture of man. Gaedong discovers that the niece SECRETLY LOVES (the title again) men who look like that picture.

The Flower Crew do their job after Gaedong’s important discovery, and create an “accidental” meeting between an officer (guest-starring Choi Jin Hyuk) and the niece. She falls in love with him.

gif credit: hoyas-big-head’s tumblr

An aside:  Yah! Choi Jin Hyuk, I’ll never look at you the same way again after that disastrous “Devilish Charm.” Why on earth did you do that sophomoric romcom? 

The Vice Premier is informed of his niece’s betrothal and he realizes that he’s been played by the Prime Minister’s son. Hoon played him like a fiddle. Notice this: he doesn’t say Hoon’s name. Instead, he addresses his rival.

This whole side story is interesting to me for three reasons:

One, it shows me how devious Hoon can be. He actually killed three birds (not just two) with one stone. He foiled the Vice Premier’s ambition; he showed his rival who’s the boss; he pleased Gaedong’s romantic ideals.

Two, he’s competitive. When he learned that his rival matchmaker was about to step in and get his client, Hoon quickly set into motion his plan. If he’s this competitive with his business, what more with his romance? What if the King returns to take away Gaedong, will he proactive about keeping her to his side?

See this? I can imagine him saying this to Lee Soo.

Three, this side story is the catalyst for Gaedong’s make-over. To spy on the niece, she had to be converted into a noblewoman and she worked hard, from learning how to pour tea (lol, because that’s all it takes to become a lady in those days) and walking like a lady.

There’s this scene that I like: Hoon sees her sleeping outside, dead to the world, after working all day to learn the ways of a noblewoman. She’s removed her shoes and her tired feet are sticking up.

He comes back with a basin of water and he wets embroidered fabrics to put inside her shoes. I think these are the olden days version of a memory foam shoe insole. lol. He must have to wet the cloths so they’d mold to the shoes when dry. The fabric would make the shoes a tighter fit for her and more comfortable to wear.

She sees them and thinks of him. She searches for him in the library.

GD: Mr. Matchmaker. Is this from you?

Hoon: What do you mean?

This haughty look is so Mr. Darcy.  What a lying liar! lol.

GD: No. Just never mind.

His secret smile is so Mr. Darcy, too. lol.

Hoon: Why are you being so diligent? Did anyone offer you a prize for doing well?

Let’s take a few seconds to marvel at this beautiful shot.  The shelves!

His side: books and the hanging strips. Her side: tubes.

His side: rectangles. Her side: circles.

His side: organized. Her side: stacked.

Visually, we’re seeing the separation between them that’s created by the differences in their status, class, education, personality. Did you see it? Nice staging, director!

GD: If there’s another bride who cries, that won’t do, won’t it?

This reminds Hoon of his meeting with Lee Soo. Gaedong doesn’t really have to cry anymore because he knows where Lee Soo is, and Lee Soo still wants to marry Gaedong. But Hoon knows their reunion won’t be that easy because of Gaedong’s circumstances.

Hoon: Gaedong. How about using this opportunity to become a real half-noble lady? I could do that for you.
GD: (she laughs a most unladylike laugh) You want me to do this again? (raising her shoes?) No, thank you.
Hoon: You could dress well and live richly for the rest of your life.
GD: Then, how will I find my brother or Soo? If I become someone else, how could I find those two? Just in case they search for me, I can’t change my name. Even when I was hunted, I didn’t change my name. My brother told me would come for me. He said he’d make sure to come for me. So I want to live as Gaedong. Just as I am now.
Hoon: (inhaling) Yes. You’re Gaedong. How could you become a lady of a noble family?

He’s satisfied with her answer. I think it eased his conscience a bit because should Lee Soo insist on him training Gaedong to be a lady so she could join him in the palace, he could say, without lying, that Gaedong herself didn’t want a change in her station in life, and that she was satisfied where she was.

3. Gaedong’s secret love

So far, the two examples of “secret loves” have the same meaning. That is concealed and hidden. But there’s another meaning of “secret” that means unacknowledged or unrecognized. Gaedong’s secret love qualifies.

She doesn’t yet realize it, but she is beginning to love Hoon. He’s her secret love. She shows it when she waits for him worriedly outside his house.

When he greets her with, “Rock-head, what’s wrong?” she cries, “Where you’ve been?” and runs to hug him.

That was a rhetorical question, of course, but he misses it and answers her literally, “Just taking an evening stroll.”

She tells him that he must tell her because she was worried when he suddenly disappeared like her orabeoni and Soo. She’s afraid that he’ll disappear. He’s surprised that she was worried about him, and he reassures her.

Although he cautiously puts a hand on her back (but he doesn’t pat her, though), he tells her to let go of him. He says, “I’m not going anywhere. This is my home. Where would I be going? So how about letting go of me, Rock-head?”

lol. Why did he put his hand on her back then? He could have just left his hand hanging at his side. Mixed signals.

She realizes that she’s been hugging him all that time and stammers that she did unknowingly because she was glad. She goes back in and he calls her back. However, instead of telling her about meeting Lee Soo, he tells her that she can cook him sprout soup for breakfast to cure his hangover.

Also, this “secret” love of hers is the reason she rolls into his arm when she pretends to be asleep. She kisses him — not the other way around.

Gif credit: belsmultifandommess’ tumblr

I bet she did out of curiosity. She wanted to know curious how it felt like to kiss him.

Lastly, this “secret” love (or crush) is also the reason she misunderstands his words and takes them to be love confessions, for instance, when he told her to stay by his side. It’s projection. She’s projecting her unacknowledged and undiscovered feelings onto him.

4. Hoon’s secret love

This one is obvious, too. I’ll let you discuss it. Hahaha.

But don’t forget to consider the dog-and-cat conversation between him and Crew #3, DoJoon.

While Gaedong is the tea house with the ladies, Hoon nervously paces at home. DoJoon teases him that he looks like an anxious parent who’s sent his child to school alone. Hoon strongly protests that he’s no parent. To make up for his embarrassment at his outburst, he switches topic.

Hoon: Just…someone made me a request. That’s all.
DJ: (waits for him to continue)
Hoon: So, if a man has promised to marry someone but he entrusts his woman to another man. What does that mean?
DJ: What crazy guy would entrust his woman to another man? (they look at each other) Do you have a woman now?

DoJoon is correct in his interpretation. He knows that someone entrusted Hoon with a woman so he’s asking where (and who) that woman is.

Hoon: I’m talking about a customer. Flower Crew Record Rule Number 6. Information about a customer gained during the job should never be shared with others. Since it’s a rule, I cannot tell you.

Hoon quickly denies that this problem is about him. He’s talking about a problem of a customer who’s been entrusted to take care of another man’s woman. He then cites a rule which is silly because he was the one who broached the topic and broke the rule.

And to me, this is another meaning of “secret love.” Hoon’s suddenly being tight-lipped and guarded about his emotions. He’s also concealing his thoughts from his friends. He wants to keep them private and personal.

DJ: I didn’t know I counted as “others.” In any case, the intention of the man who trusts the other man can only be one of two possibilities. One, the trusted man is very trustworthy.

Hoon looks happy to hear that he’s considered trustworthy. He hides his grin.

DJ: Or two, there’s absolutely no chance for the woman to feel affection for the other man. But unless the two men are brothers, the first reason is very unlikely. So, it must be that the other man has absolutely no charms as a man. He can be entrusted with the woman without causing worry. Isn’t that the answer?

Hoon: I don’t think that’s right.
DJ: What are you saying? It’s like entrusting a dog with a cat. Try locking them in a house together, nothing would happen.

lol. DoJoon is messing around with him. He’s saying that no man would entrust another man to take care of his lover. No one’s that naïve and stupid to think that a dog and cat would innocently mind their own business when locked inside a house all by themselves.

Okay, that’s it for Episode 5. Let’s see if I can catch up with @agdr03 and @nrllee.