-OR- Not-So-Secret Love Affair.
Really, that's what it should be called. Who doesn't know by now?
The episode starts with Seon-jae looking through the little window above his computer desk, thinking he never realized before how small it is. And by extension, how little he knows. Hye-won's house and office have windows but no view; they are all blocked by blinds and curtains. There are no vistas and no perspective.
Seon-jae goes to see Prof. Jo to ask about Hye-won. Jo gives him a concert program with a picture of her at 20 and says it is the real her. What she is now is a variation, and he tries to be understanding.
That program revealed that 20-year-old Hye-won had
played a very difficult piece by Schumann. He is supposed to have
injured his hands by over-practicing that piece trying to learn it. A
repetitive-motion injury like tennis elbow. We have been told that
Hye-won had wanted to be a concert pianist but injured her hands and had
to stop playing. Perhaps she got a similar injury to Schumann. She can
only practice with Seon-jae every-other day, and has him practice with a
recording the other days. Maybe one thing that makes her care about him
is that he has a chance to live the dream she had to give up.
Hye-won skips out of the Chairman's house to go meet Seon-jae at a nearby construction site. He is angry at the graft she is involved in and can't just watch her and try to understand, the way Prof. Jo does. He can succeed as a pianist and wants her to go away with him. She says not yet, that they shouldn't see each other for a while and gives him her secret phone. She gets a threatening text and leaves but he takes her hand to go down the stairs because they are dangerous. Ah. More dangerous stairs.
Back at the house, Bad StepMom and Daughter try to take a high tone with Hye-won but she shuts them up quick by reading the text, saying it was one of them, and that they just lost half her loyalty. She has told Seon-jae that she is clever and can control things, but usually is subservient. This is our first look at her being controlling.
Da-mi and Jang-ho come to try to talk Seon-jae into giving up on the rich pickers who just toy with people's lives. In response he plays the piano for them. It's his go-to method of convincing people. They are touched and give up on him and leave.
43:15 - The Rachmaninoff with flashbacks of practicing and playing in concert.
