Coffee Prince Episode 12

Eun Chan still comes to work despite being told to quit. She approaches the still-angry Han Gyul, who gives her three minutes to talk. After that, she’d better leave because she’s fired.
Eun Chan: “In the beginning, I never thought you’d like someone like me. It seemed like you liked Yu Ju. She’s so beautiful that I can’t compare with her, so I thought I was better off being seen as a man. When I asked how you would feel if I were a woman, you said you weren’t going to date around anymore, that you’d marry a nice woman from a nice background, someone your grandmother and mother approved of. I’m not womanly or pretty, but if we were sworn brothers, I could be with you all the time. When we goofed around, and you treated me so well… I liked it so much I couldn’t tell you the truth.”
Han Gyul: “I really hate this. Why am I always betrayed by loved ones? Why didn’t my father tell me about my birth mother? Why couldn’t you tell me the truth? I thought about it so much my head felt like it would burst — it was because you couldn’t trust me. My father and you both. And I loved you so much. But you couldn’t trust me.”
Eun Chan: “It’s not that I couldn’t trust you, I couldn’t trust myself.”

Han Gyul: “When I said I liked you even as a man, I didn’t care what the world would think of me, disregarding my friends, family. I went through a lot of pain getting to the point where I decided those things didn’t matter. Go Eun Chan, I need someone who trusts me. Even if everyone else curses at me for being useless, I needed someone who’d believe: ‘Choi Han Gyul just didn’t have the opportunity to show himself. He’s a guy who does what he puts his mind to. He’s just someone who hasn’t yet found what he wants to do in life, but he truly can accomplish what he sets out to do.’ I needed someone to have that kind of faith in me. Not like you, who deceived me even in love, worrying over being found out.”
Eun Chan: “I didn’t have the confidence. I didn’t want that to happen… I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you’d wouldn’t see me anymore. But the reason I’m telling you this now… is because I want you to see me as a woman. If you hate me, I can’t do anything about it, but I’m so sorry, and I know I was so wrong… But I like you. I love you. If you tell me to quit, I will. If you don’t want to see me… couldn’t you still see me anyway?”
Han Gyul: “I don’t have the confidence to continue. I don’t know who you are. The Go Eun Chan I knew was always honest with me, who trusted and liked everyone, facing the world just as he was. I wanted to be like him. But you… You aren’t the Go Eun Chan I know. Let’s not meet again.”


Phew, way to reduce me to a sniveling mess in the first five minutes.

Han Gyul tells Mr. Hong that Eun Chan will be leaving, and Mr. Hong scolds him for his behavior. Yes, he gets that Han Gyul went through a harder time than Eun Chan, but why is he so angry? She’s a girl, and they like each other — that’s a cause for celebration. Mr. Hong can’t stand working there like this, so he leaves. Ha Rim tries to convince him to stay, and Han Gyul tells him he’ll be gone in a month anyway. Mr. Hong says, “Fine, then I guess I’ll be back in a month,” and walks out.

Eun Chan packs her things and leaves. Han Gyul watches her go.

Han Gyul has no desire to talk to his cousin, but Han Sung calls and says all he has to do is listen. He explains that he first met Eun Chan when she delivered milk to his house, and yes, she was the girl he took to Yu Ju’s exhibit.

Han Sung: “That day, she was really beautiful. But by the time I started to see her in that way, she already had feelings for you. She cried as she told me how much she liked you.”
Han Gyul: “This is annoying. How long do I have to listen to you?”
Han Sung: “She wanted to tell you, but she had no confidence in herself, because she felt like she wasn’t a woman or a man. She sobbed her heart out. I’ll be honest with you. I was swayed toward her. But since she liked you, I decided to just be friends. I’m not even sure why I wavered. That’s really all there was. The fact that Eun Chan told you the truth even at this late point is because she has faith in you.”

Yu Ju apologizes for not telling Han Gyul about Eun Chan, and explains that she’s leaving. Han Gyul asks if it’s because of Eun Chan. Was the relationship between Han Sung and Eun Chan serious enough to drive Yu Ju away? Yu Ju explains: “Their relationship wasn’t a matter of how far they went. It’s just that Han Sung’s feelings swayed toward her, and even then it was just a short while. So forgive Eun Chan.”

Han Gyul asks why she’s leaving, and she answers they’ve got a lot of issues between them. Yu Ju was always the one depending on Han Sung, and he was the one to comfort and accept her. She’d thought his anger was something exclusive to her (born of love): “But I realized that’s not true. I know I’m not being mature about this, and I can’t be cool either. I’m really horrible, I know. But my feelings don’t listen.”

Han Gyul wonders how Han Sung felt, knowing how he liked Yu Ju all this while, and concludes that Han Sung didn’t worry about losing Yu Ju to his cousin because he trusted her — so much that he waited for her even after she left for another man. Yu Ju: “Then you don’t have faith in Eun Chan.”

Han Gyul says he’d always felt that Yu Ju and Han Sung were so rock-solid that he never had a shot of squeezing himself in between them. For Han Sung’s sake, he asks her not to go: “If you do, I think I’d hate you.”

Eun Chan and Han Gyul spend the next several days moping. Han Gyul recalls Eun Chan’s words from the first scene, and also thinks of Mr. Hong’s words: “Ask yourself carefully if you can live without Go Eun Chan.”
Han Sung drives Yu Ju to the airport, and tries to convince her one last time not to go. Their argument spills over onto the sidewalk when Yu Ju tells him to pull over. Han Sung yells: “You strayed too. Why is it okay for you, but not for me?!” He put up with so much — he knew she was lying about DK even before they broke up — but he forgave her.

Yu Ju counters — if he’d been so accepting all this time, why is it now that he faltered? She watched him lie to her face when he said Eun Chan was merely a cute little kid. Han Sung admits that he made a mistake, but it wasn’t love. Yu Ju can’t tell the difference.

As she turns and walks off, Han Sung begs her not to leave, shouting after her, “Don’t go. Don’t go!”

[Side note: The scene was okaaay, but felt a little... acted. Usually this series does amazing things with letting scenes breathe (like in Episode 7 when Yu Ju waited all day in Han Sung's house, and Han Gyul dealt with the aftermath of his fight with Eun Chan), but this felt suffocated. The emotions seemed prepared, not in-the-moment (which is what I loved about their fights in Episode 11). And perhaps a little overacted. Okay, criticism over.]

At the airport, Yu Ju finds DK waiting for her — but stays at a distance. They have a wordless exchange — and, realizing Yu Ju’s not leaving, DK goes alone with a rueful wave. Han Sung races to the airport to find her, but he’s too late, and thinks that she’s already gone.
Now jobless, Eun Chan keeps herself occupied peeling chestnuts and sewing doll eyes. Taking a break to go to the convenience store, she runs into Han Sung, who can tell she hasn’t been doing so well.
Han Sung: “It’s because he likes you so much. That’s why he’s so angry. Although he doesn’t look like it, he’s someone with deep affections, and once he gives you his heart, he gives it all. So just wait a little.”

Han Sung assures her Han Gyul will understand, but tells her not to tell Han Gyul about their kiss — because he’s found that when you tell someone something to ease your own guilty conscience, sometimes it only brings the other person pain. She thanks him and tells him again that he’s like Santa, and Han Sung responds,

“I’m the one who should be thankful, for being able to be Santa to you. So even if it’s difficult, be strong. Han Gyul has really fallen for you.”



At the cafe, Han Gyul is confronted on all sides with appeals to forgive Eun Chan. No matter how mean Ha Rim was to Eun Chan, when talking to Han Gyul, he plays the part of pacifier, asking to hire her back. Min Yub has heard from Eun Sae how poorly Eun Chan is doing these days, eating badly, not sleeping well. Sun Ki tells him, “The way I see it, it was really hard on her too. She’s young. And don’t you think she was afraid things would end up like this?”
Han Gyul goes to see his cousin. At first, the mood is strained, as Han Sung asks Han Gyul to forgive him for having feelings for Eun Chan: “If you really don’t want me to see her anymore, I won’t. I’ll do my best so that we don’t even happen to meet by chance.”

Han Gyul apologizes for hitting him, for overreacting to learning the truth about Eun Chan, and also for passing off his feelings for Yu Ju as mere friendship. He invites Han Sung to hit him if it’ll make him feel better.

Han Sung informs him of Yu Ju’s departure: “But don’t worry too much about us. Yu Ju and I have ten years of history. There’s something between us that you wouldn’t even be able to imagine. We won’t just end like this.”

Han Gyul: “Yu Ju really loves you. She’ll come back to you. It was a really good thing it was you that she loved. If it were anyone else, I’d have stolen her away. I held back because it was you. I like you a whole lot more than you think I do, you know.”
That night, Han Gyul goes to Eun Chan’s home, looking up at her window. After staying there for a while, he drives away.

At the same time, Eun Chan waits outside Han Gyul’s apartment. It’s getting late, so she starts wheeling her bicycle away, unaware that her burlap sack is leaking chestnuts.

When Han Gyul arrives home, he finds the chesnuts on the ground, leading him like a trail of breadcrumbs. He follows the trail, and starts to pick them up, just as Eun Chan discovers the torn bag and starts collecting the chestnuts from her end.

And thus they meet in the middle.
Sitting side by side on a park bench, they remain silent for a while as they try to decide how to handle this. But Han Gyul’s anger has been slowly subsiding over the course of the episode, and he tells her to come to work tomorrow.

“I’m still angry, I still feel resentful and I can’t completely understand… And so, I asked myself if I could live without Go Eun Chan. Could I separate from her like this? And it turns out I can’t.”
He sees her tearing up and chides her for crying so much: “From now on, you’d better only cry in front of me. Don’t you dare cry like this in front of other men, or you’re dead.” He reaches over and wipes the tears from her eyes.

Eun Chan apologizes again:

“When we played around, when I acted as your dongsaeng, that must’ve been so awful for you. I only tried to keep myself from being hurt, and looked for a place to run away. I didn’t understand how you felt when you made me those toys, how much you were hurting. When you said let’s go as far as we could, I was just happy, and didn’t even think of your struggles. I’m sorry.”

Han Gyul apologizes too:

“When I kissed you at the cafe and said it meant nothing, I did that to hurt you. It was because I was angry — but I absolutely didn’t mean it. I’m immature for not thinking of how hard it was on you. I’m sorry. I apologize. Forgive me.”

Eun Chan tells him it was her mistake from the start, so it’s okay.
Han Gyul rests his head on her shoulder, saying:

“Go Eun Chan… I’m glad you’re a girl.”

Eun Chan quickly turns her head to kiss him, and they stay like that, together in silence.
The next day, Eun Chan’s back at the cafe, and Ha Rim, for all his bluster and aggravation, is genuinely happy to see her back. When Han Gyul arrives, they all watch with bated breath, not quite sure of the situation.

Han Gyul pretends to ignore Eun Chan, although he steals looks at her while the others are too busy speculating over the status of the relationship. They ask Eun Chan if something happened the night before to cause the change, and with a shy smile, she nods. The Princes whoop in glee.

They accost her for details, and Ha Rim jokes that they should use her phone to send Han Gyul lovey-dovey text messages. Ha Rim says they don’t even need her phone since they can send it with his, and starts typing a message. Eun Chan stops them — and hands over her phone: “Send it with mine.
The Princes watch Han Gyul receive the message, which reads: “Thank you ♥.” He smiles (and the Princes are thrilled).
After going on their coffee bean deliveries, Han Gyul and Eun Chan enjoy a walk through the park, and Han Gyul is adorably playful. As he walks hand in hand with Eun Chan down the street, he excitedly turns to strangers to tell them, “She’s a girl. She’s a girl. A girl!”

Han Gyul: “See, you should’ve told the truth from the start, so we could’ve held hands like this.”
Eun Chan: “I really didn’t know you liked me.”
Han Gyul: “Are you kidding me? I even went to the hospital because of you. Are you a dummy?”
Eun Chan: “Hospital? I thought you just saw me as a cute younger brother. And I had nothing to assure me you’d like a girl like me.”

She tells him when she first saw him, she thought he was incredibly good-looking. He’s pleased to hear it, until she clarifies that their first meeting wasn’t at the purse-snatching, but when she delivered food to his apartment. Han Gyul exhibits a belated sense of modesty.
Han Sung finds out about Yu Ju not going to New York from DK: “I thought work was the most important thing to her, but it seems there’s something you have that’s more important.”

Worried, Han Sung tells Han Gyul that he hasn’t been able to locate her. Far from being angry, Han Sung realizes he didn’t know as much about her as he should have: “I don’t know where her mother’s house is, or have phone numbers of her close friends.”



Later that night, Eun Chan and Han Gyul talk on the phone, and he wonders why she’s so interested in Han Sung’s business. He tells her Han Sung had liked her — and she, remembering Han Sung’s caution, pretends not to know: “No, that can’t be.” He asks if she’d had feelings for him, and she admits that at first, she did like Han Sung, but then she started liking Han Gyul more.

Han Gyul pretends to be miffed, asking why she picked him over his cousin, who’s nicer and warmer: “Be honest. You like both of us, right?” Eun Chan takes his teasing for real and insists, “Han Sung is just a nice ajusshi, and you — I don’t really know the reason, but I just… like you.”

Han Gyul enjoys her reaction while carrying on his mock indignation, telling her he’s still upset: “My anger just won’t go away.” Left with nothing else to say, Eun Chan says, almost defiantly: “I love you. I love you! I really love you!”
That catches Han Gyul totally off guard, and in an instant, he goes from playfully happy to completely stunned. His legs give out and he sinks down on the couch, catching his breath.
He covers, accusing her (in bluster) of playing with words and being a smooth talker:

“Hey, you jerk! You could’ve said so openly, comfortably, and we could’ve been insanely happy together. Why didn’t you tell me, and put me through all that suffering? Bad Go Eun Chan! You punk!”

Eun Chan smiles in relief, and then he tells her sternly, gruffly:

“Listen to me carefully. I love you more.”

Both are stunned at their mutual admissions — you can almost feel their visceral reactions to their words — and then, overcome with giddy happiness. Eun Chan jumps around her room, yelling, “He says he loves me! He loves me!”

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Coffee Prince Episode 11

The night of their kiss, Eun Chan and Han Gyul have their first giddy new-lovers phone call. She has to forcibly calm herself down before answering, and the conversation starts slowly and awkwardly. But now that Han Gyul has accepted his feelings, he seems much more willing to admit them to her, and says, “I miss you.” Eun Chan thrills at the sound of that, but tries to sound normal as she answers, “We just saw each other, what do you mean…? …me too.”

Eun Chan asks, “Tomorrow… will we be able to laugh together? We won’t fight anymore, and we can talk… right?” He answers yes. Although Han Gyul wants to stay on the line longer, her fluttery heart can’t take too much, and she has to make up an excuse to hang up. Before going to bed, Eun Chan takes out the Lego toy Han Gyul gave her, and tells it, “Now I have to tell him. Right?”

Han Gyul receives a request to meet from the mysterious stranger, Lee Myung Jae. Han Gyul has been told that he used to really like the man when he was young, but admits he can’t really remember him. The man’s comment that Han Gyul must have inherited his stubbornness from his mother leads him to the realization: “Did you… know my biological mother?” The man gives Han Gyul a photo of her.

[Note: The following is explained much later in the episode, but I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the recap (as if that should be a concern) so I'm explaining here. Lee Myung Jae is Han Gyul's blood father, and his (adoptive) family have kept it secret all these years. They're worried that Mr. Lee will cause problems even as they understand a father's natural desire to want to claim his son. The 'why' of the matter is not disclosed, but I presume there's a big reason hidden somewhere.
Eun Chan arrives for work dressed as a girl, mentally prepared to tell Han Gyul everything. Ha Rim is still angry with her, and accuses her of being cunning — now that everyone’s found out the truth, her dressing as a girl is just a ploy at damage control. He sarcastically congratulates her on such wily thinking.

He sneers at her apology, asking about Han Gyul: “Do you know how much he suffered? That was the first time I’ve ever seen him so broken-down, do you know that?” He accuses her of playing around with people, saying she’s gone too far. Frustratedly: “I can’t even hit you, seriously!” Ha Rim takes a look at her teary eyes and scorns her for using tears to manipulate.
Han Sung arrives home to find Yu Ju packing her things. He asks what she’s doing, and she says she moved up her departure date. He tells her not to go — he’s serious about getting over his feelings for Eun Chan, if she just gives him some time.

Yu Ju: “What should I do while I wait? Pray? ‘Please don’t let him waver any more. Please don’t let this man be drawn further to that girl. Since that girl is in love with his cousin, he’ll have to come back around to me, so please give me the patience to wait that long.’ Should I say that kind of prayer while I wait?”

Yu Ju acknowledges that she did the same (or worse) to Han Sung and he took her back, so he must be wondering why it’s so hard for her to accept this:

“I know I don’t have the right to say this to you. That’s why I have to leave. I don’t want to become a burden to you. Don’t force your feelings because of me. Han Sung, follow your heart, because that’s what I did.”
And I really like this scene, not merely because the acting is so in-the-present, but because you think they’re talking about one thing, but suddenly they’re talking about something else altogether:

Han Sung: “Why don’t you speak honestly and just say it’s because of your work! You don’t need to fake an excuse. Whether my feelings wavered toward that girl or not doesn’t matter to you. Don’t you have another reason? That you’re bent on doing your work, or maybe you’re going back to that guy. Why? Do you feel too guilty to just leave me again? Is that why you’ve blamed this on that girl, like a coward?”

Yu Ju doesn’t say a word, and leaves in tears.
Han Gyul arrives at the cafe and immediately looks for Eun Chan. As she’s dressed in her work clothes, he doesn’t notice anything different, and she tries to work up her courage to tell him the truth. He tells her about meeting the man who knew his mother, and says, restlessly, “On a day like this, I really hate to work. Comfort me.” He describes feeling like a lump of ice is wedged in his chest — heavy and cold.

“Go Eun Chan. Why are we both men? What do you think, should we just run away to America?”

Sensing an opening, Eun Chan tries to speak, but can’t get the words out. Ha Rim interrupts, startling them both. Assuming Han Gyul already knows the truth, Ha Rim wonders to Han Gyul (when Eun Chan isn’t there) how they could’ve been so fooled. Han Gyul can’t believe it, but Eun Chan appears just as Ha Rim is going on about they should have known.

[Side note: I think it's really freaking cool of Han Gyul that, when Ha Rim first says Eun Chan is a girl, he laughs, "However much I might like that guy, how can you just turn a guy into a girl like that?" This is the day after he's decided to be happy with (a male) Eun Chan, and doesn't have a problem saying that in front of everyone -- which shows that he really was ready to go for it, and without shame.]

In disbelief, Han Gyul asks, point blank: “Ha Rim says you’re a girl. Are you really?” She can’t look him in the eye, so he asks again, “What, so you really are a girl?” At her continued inability to speak, he demands an answer, and yells at her to say something. Holding back tears, she nods yes, and Han Gyul walks out. She runs after him, but he drives off.
Han Gyul recalls all the little details that should’ve tipped him off — his initial impression that she looked like a girl, her identification number with a female designation (which he assumed was her error), why she didn’t grow facial hair, her asking how he’d feel if she were a girl…
Worried, Eun Chan calls him, and he demands to know who else knows the truth. Mr. Hong? Sun Ki? Ha Rim? And then, his face darkens when he thinks of Han Sung — “Does he know? Does Yu Ju know too?” Eun Chan’s afraid to say yes, but he barely contains his fury as he demands, “Answer me, you bastard. Does Choi Han Sung know or not!?” Looking sickened, Eun Chan admits he knows.

He shows up at Han Sung’s house and jumps right in: “Why didn’t you tell me Eun Chan was a girl?” Interestingly, Han Gyul still refers to Eun Chan as “that guy”: “Don’t you know how much I agonized because of him? And you still didn’t tell me?” Han Sung says that Han Gyul never asked him — if Han Gyul never brought it up, how could he say anything?

At that, Han Gyul punches him in the face.
Han Gyul: “Who the hell are you? Do you like that guy [Eun Chan]? Is that why you backstabbed me?”
Han Sung: “Why are you so angry? If Go Eun Chan is a girl, isn’t that a good thing for you? If Eun Chan likes you, what’s the problem?”
Han Gyul: “So you knew all along. You knew what was going on between us. And you still didn’t tell me? Han Yu Ju said you’d found another girl. That’s Go Eun Chan, right? The girl you took to the exhibition — was that her? Is that the reason you hid it from me?”
Han Sung: “Eun Chan had her reasons…”
Han Gyul: “What reasons?! If I found out she was a girl, would the sky fall? Would the earth crumble?!”
Han Sung: “You’re right. I’m sorry. I must’ve been thinking whatever was easiest for me. But I didn’t want to make things difficult for her.”

Han Gyul tells Han Sung to give him a straight answer: “When Yu Ju said you’d strayed, who was the woman?” Han Sung declines to answer (”That’s my business. Don’t involve yourself”), so Han Gyul calls Yu Ju:

“Hyung won’t say, so you tell me. The girl he took to the exhibit was Go Eun Chan, right? The girl that made him stray was Go Eun Chan, wasn’t it?!”

Han Sung grabs the phone, and levels with him (with Yu Ju still listening):

“Fine. I liked Go Eun Chan. But she wasn’t interested in me. I’ve already gotten over my feelings, all right?”

Han Gyul arrives home to see Eun Chan waiting outside his door. He tries to ignore her, but she has something to say.

“I didn’t mean to deceive you from the start. At first, it was because of money. The Taekwondo school closed, and I had nowhere to work. Then I liked working at Coffee Prince so much, I wanted to keep working there — but if I revealed I was a girl, I thought I’d have to leave. So I couldn’t say anything. I’m really sorry. I tried… I wanted to tell you… but I wanted to spend your remaining time here [before leaving for the US] on good terms. If I told you the truth, I was afraid I wouldn’t ever see you again.”
Han Gyul grabs her suddenly and pushes her against the door. He says, in a pleading tone:

“Say it’s not true. Please, say it’s not true. Eun Chan. I won’t get angry, so tell me the truth, okay? You didn’t lie, right? No matter what, you couldn’t deceive me, isn’t that right? Not just for a day, or two, but for several months… that’s not what happened, is it? Say you’re not a girl… say that you’ve never deceived me… that this can’t happen between two people who love each other… Tell me everything’s a misunderstanding, quickly, SAY IT!”

All she can do is weep and say sorry. Hearing those words, Han Gyul deflates in disbelief, barely whispering:

“You… lied to me? You did? You deceived me?”
He goes inside in a pained daze. Overwhelmed, Eun Chan cries outside his door.

She tells Eun Sae, “Even if I can’t see him anymore… even if he refuses to see me… I want to tell him. That I really, really love him.”
Eun Chan still comes to work every day, to Ha Rim’s ire, and he takes every chance to sarcastically make her feel bad, calling her shameless. It’s kinda mean, but kinda understandable. Ha Rim: “I don’t understand you at all.” Sun Ki steps in to defend Eun Chan: “Then don’t understand. What’s the problem?” Sun Ki’s perspective is that the two like each other so there’s no problem. Ha Rim sees things differently: “Liking each other isn’t everything. She deceived him and destroyed his trust.”

Min Yub apologizes to Han Gyul for his part in keeping the truth secret, offering a rather weak excuse that it was because of Eun Sae. Han Gyul calls him out on his selfishness, asking, “Is your love the only thing that’s important? You act all innocent, but you sure know how to lie and stab someone in the back.”

Mr. Hong casually-but-on-purpose tells Han Gyul how rough Eun Chan’s had it, providing for her family since she was sixteen, after her father died. It was easier not to worry about acting feminine, with so much else to worry about. Han Gyul tells Mr. Hong to fire her; Mr. Hong counters that since Han Gyul hired her, he should do the firing.

Han Sung visits Yu Ju, once more asking if work is truly the only thing that matters to her — can she live happily without him as long as she has her work? What does she really want? He says earnestly that he’s settled his feelings for Eun Chan.

Yu Ju isn’t buying it, though:

“Are you really over her? When I said I was leaving, you asked for time. I thought you’d tell me not to leave because you’d already settled your feelings. But you asked for time to get over her. I know you’re not one for saying empty words, but in that moment, you should have said them. I hoped you’d tell me, ‘I’m over her, she’s nothing to me. Han Yu Ju, I only want you.’ This means you’re not really over her.”

Han Sung asks why she can’t trust him, and Yu Ju tells him to look straight into her eyes and tell her Eun Chan means nothing to him. He can’t.
Yu Ju: “I can change quickly and end things quickly, but you can’t. Your feelings can’t change direction quickly, and once they have, it’s difficult for you to change them back. You’re different from me. That’s why it makes me more frightened and more angry. From the time I met you, until you met Eun Chan, there was nobody but me in your eyes. There were plenty of suitable women around you, but they were nothing to you. You wouldn’t even have a cup of coffee with another woman! When I needed you, you were always by my side, and whatever I did, you’d forgive me and accept me. I was always number one. But now, you’ve given me too many expectations.”
Han Sung: “Nothing’s changed.”
Yu Ju: “No, so much has changed, because I can’t trust you anymore.”

Han Sung says that if she wants to break up, this is the last time. Yu Ju bursts out that she can’t even stand to see him, and Han Sung replies:

“So you really want to break up again? You don’t give me any chances, and decide everything by yourself. What did I do that was so wrong? Both then and now… you sure do break up easily.”



Han Gyul’s mother drops by to make him dinner, and although Han Gyul accepts her presence without suspicion, it seems her real reason for being there is to find out about his meeting with Lee Myung Jae. (I’m not sure whether she’s a nice woman or someone to distrust.)

Han Gyul sinks into quiet thought, then tells her: “I think you’re the only one in the world who has faith in me.” (Ouch, that’s gonna hurt later if my instincts are right.)
Mr. Hong drops by to give Han Gyul some roundabout advice. He relates the story of a woman he once loved, a long time ago. She always lied to him about everything — she’d say she was meeting friends but go drinking; or that she was going home but then go dancing. Han Gyul: “You really loved someone like that?”

He asks why Mr. Hong laughs when it should make him angry, and gets the answer: ”Whenever I think of her, I laugh.” He figures the girl must’ve really liked him, though, and lied about those things for fear that he’d think less of her. “How much must she have liked me to have lied for so long?” He explains that he never once fought with her, because whenever he got angry, he would ask himself: “So you’re angry, but can you really live without her?”

Han Gyul gets the point (”So you’re saying if I’m not going to break up with Go Eun Chan, I should let this go?”) but doesn’t seem to be buying it.

Eun Chan looks at her Lego toy while repeating Han Gyul’s words to herself: “Whether you’re a man, or an alien…” Eun Chan tries to tell herself she hates him, but ends up saying, “I miss him… I miss him.”

At work the next day, Han Gyul briefly argues with Sun Ki and notes that everyone seems to be on Eun Chan’s side. She hangs her head and once again apologizes: “I should have told you from the beginning. I didn’t know things would come to this.”

Without sparing her a look, he tells her to pack her things and leave. She grabs his arm, and he flings it off harshly. He tells her it must’ve been fun for her — she got him to hire her, and admit he liked her thinking she was a man.
Han Gyul: “Miss Go Eun Chan, when were you planning on telling me? You must’ve had plenty of opportunities. When I said we should be sworn brothers, didn’t you understand my feelings driving me to say that? Couldn’t you figure out how I felt toward you? Do you know how hard it was for me when we were at the beach, and why I didn’t come to work for days? Did you really not know, you bastard?! Tell me. Did you really not know?”
Eun Chan: “I couldn’t say the words. I didn’t know how I’d act if you got this angry, and I thought I might not be able to see you ever again. I was wrong, truly wrong.”
Han Gyul: “You were only thinking of yourself. You didn’t care about how much you were putting me through. When I said I liked you as a man, when I said let’s go as far as we can go, you knew and still didn’t say anything? Was it fun?”
Eun Chan: “It wasn’t fun at all! I liked you too much, so I couldn’t say it. You said you were going to America in a month… we’d have to separate in the end anyway… So I tried to pretend not to know.”
Han Gyul: “Here I was, even thinking of taking you with me to America, but you were already thinking of sending me away. What was I to you?”

He turns to leave, and Eun Chan says to his turned back: “You said you wouldn’t like me as a girl. You said it was a good thing I was a guy. So what could I do, when I wanted to see you—”

He grabs her and shoves her against the wall, and assaults her in a kiss.

It’s harsh and unsexy — angry, and kinda almost ugly.

Eun Chan shoves him off — and he grabs her forcefully for a second kiss — and she forces him away again —
“The kiss was better when you were a guy. What’s left between us? Was there ever any trust there? I’d abandoned so much in my life just to have you. But you, you calculated everything to make sure you wouldn’t get hurt. Without a care for me.”
He stalks out, leaving Eun Chan in shock.

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Coffee Prince Episode 10

Eun Chan runs into Han Sung at a neighborhood convenience store, and they sit down for an awkward talk. Han Sung apologizes to her for startling her with his kiss, and she says she’s been having some trouble with that, too: “Should we just forget about it?” Han Sung replies he has a good memory, and she revises: “Then, should we pretend we’ve forgotten?”
Han Sung asks why they need to forget, and seems disappointed in her answer that they should, in order to be friends again. Han Sung: “Friends? You want to be friends with me?” Eun Chan readily answers yes, so he says (not totally convincingly), “So I’ve made another good friend. It feels great.”

Eun Chan tells him about Han Gyul wanting her to quit the cafe. “I guess I like him. No, I really do like him, a lot.” She asks if he’s surprised, and Han Sung says he’s not — he already sensed it. “But things are bound to get complicated, since he thinks you’re a guy. Are you going to confess to him?” Eun Chan answers, showing her insecurity: “I think it’s better to get along as a male than to be rejected as a female.”

Worried about Han Gyul, Ha Rim goes to his place and is concerned to see the place in such a wreck and Han Gyul looking so rough. Ha Rim asks what’s wrong, persisting until Han Gyul responds.

Han Gyul: “I… I like him. Go Eun Chan.”
Ha Rim: “My Chan? Come on, I like him too…”

Ha Rim trails off, realizing the implication. Stunned, Ha Rim asks if Eun Chan knows, and Han Gyul just says, “What’s there for that guy to know? Don’t worry. I’ll get over it soon.”
Ha Rim’s concern for Han Gyul puts him in an irritable mood. He sees Eun Chan’s (feigned) indifference to Han Gyul’s continued absence, and snaps at her. Doesn’t she care about their boss at all? Without knowing the full story, Ha Rim assumes that Han Gyul is alone in his personal torment, and that Eun Chan is blissfully unconcerned, so her attitude fills him with indignation. Just as Ha Rim’s accusing Eun Chan of being rude and uncaring, Han Gyul arrives. He greets everyone but Eun Chan, whom he ignores and won’t even look at.
Eun Chan fights back tears as she tells Sun Ki, “He looks like he went through a lot of pain.” Sun Ki agrees: “Yeah, looked like it.”


Yu Ju’s considering going back to New York for work. Han Sung asks if she’s decided yet, and she replies, “Choice one, I go. Two, I wait. Three, I don’t go or wait, but we break up. Which number will it be?”
Han Sung: “Can you give me some time?”
Yu Ju: “How much? A week? Ten days?… Looks like you’ll need more than that.”


While cleaning up that night, Han Gyul and Eun Chan steal glances at each other, but Han Gyul looks away immediately every time. Ha Rim asks him: “Is it that hard just to look at him? It’s written all over your face — you’re so tense you can’t even turn in that direction.”

Eun Chan waits for him outside, but he keeps her firmly at a distance. He tells her not to hang around him, to stay away (physically), and not to concern herself with his affairs: “If you don’t like it, you can pack up and leave.” Eun Chan bristles at his coldness, and rides her scooter in front of his car, forcing him to look at her. Unable to move, he angrily honks the horn. Throwing a resentful glare his way, she leaves.
Still thinking that Eun Chan is ignorant of Han Gyul’s feelings, Ha Rim asks her what she thinks about homosexuality (she doesn’t really have an opinion on it). In a misguided attempt to help, Ha Rim prepares to go on a coffee delivery run with Han Gyul, then fakes a stomachache and calls Eun Chan to take his place.

Eun Chan keeps trying to smooth things over to maintain a friendly conversation, but that just makes Han Gyul angrier. Upset that he won’t talk to her, as soon as she gets in the car, Eun Chan turns on the radio, which he turns off. That fuels her mood, and after a brief battle over the radio dial, Han Gyul orders her out of the car. When she won’t leave, he walks over to her door and drags her out by the arm.
She glares at him furiously, and asks why he’s toying with her.

Eun Chan: “You said you liked me! You said you wanted to be sworn brothers!”
Han Gyul: “Do you really want me to be your brother? Would you really like that?”
Eun Chan: “I don’t like that either. Do you think I do? You said you wouldn’t like me as a girl, that you liked me as a guy. And in a month, you’re going off to America. What do you expect me to do?”

Starting to blink back tears, she goes on: “I really liked being at the beach… I was doing fine all on my own, and you came and made me into this…” Han Gyul reminds her of the time she asked him to leave her alone so she could get over her feelings for him: “Let me borrow those words. Leave me alone.” This time, when she doesn’t follow him back to the car, Han Gyul grabs her and drags her back.

Han Gyul: “It’s only a month at most. In one month, it’s over. I’ll bear it till then, so you do the same.”
Eun Chan: “It’s over for you as soon as you leave, isn’t it? You don’t bother thinking about who you leave behind. Fine. Let’s get along for the remaining month.”

Barely able to control himself, Han Gyul tells her to shut her mouth. One more word and she’s asking to be hit.
They drive in silence. Han Gyul looks over surreptitiously while Eun Chan wipes away angry tears. In a small gesture of remorse(? compromise?), he turns on the radio.
Eun Chan tells her sister (who’s annoyed that Min Yub is ignoring her, which is driving her crazy) that she and Han Gyul had a huge fight. But:

“He says I’m making things hard on him. Why am I so stupid? Thinking about it, he’s the one who’s been wronged. What did I do that gives me a right to cry, or yell? What do I do now? It really seems like he’s hurting because of me.”

Eun Sae tells her to tell him the truth.

Eun Chan: “If I tell him… I might not see him again. I’m afraid of how angry he’ll be that I lied to him. It might not be the right thing to do, but he’s going to America in a month anyway. Just for one month… just… I’ll just…”


Over the next few days, the Coffee Princes prepare for their public performance (meant as a promotion for the cafe). They start off haphazard and unskilled, but gradually manage to pull it together.

Han Gyul and Eun Chan continue not to talk. The most they can do is look at each other.
In a nicely poignant, wordless scene, Han Gyul carries dirty plates to the kitchen, where Eun Chan is washing the dishes. Slowly, he moves next to her, first washing alongside her, then using the dishes as an excuse to reach across her for closer proximity. And finally, they both reach into the soapy water — and freeze completely still, alarmed, unsure how to react to the accidental touch. Han Gyul quickly withdraws his hand from the sink and leaves.
While setting up for their performance, Eun Chan is greeted as “oppa” by a flock of girls (Eun Sae and company). Han Gyul witnesses the scene from above, disturbed to see Eun Chan receiving so much female attention. He’s even more bothered to see Han Sung arrive to give Eun Chan congratulatory flowers.
The performance gets off to a lively start with Min Yub as the MC. They use instruments made of coffee-related implements (beans, crates, utensils) in keeping with their coffee theme, as well as singing and dancing. Even Eun Sae is impressed to see Min Yub onstage, getting lots of attention. One of the songs they sing is “Java Jive” (this is the song, although this track itself isn’t used in the show).
After the performance, Han Sung sits with Han Gyul while the Coffee Princes dance around energetically. Han Gyul fights his jealousy when Sun Ki grabs Eun Chan to dance (Min Yub intervenes, taking Eun Chan’s place).

It worsens when Eun Chan gives Han Sung a present — her first attempt at roasting coffee beans. Han Sung happily accepts: “How can I drink this coffee? I’ll want to save it.”
Unable to contain his jealousy, Han Gyul needles them both, telling Han Sung he’s treating Eun Chan like she’s a girl. Han Sung merely smiles knowingly while Han Gyul keeps picking on her. He asks Han Sung how he can stand Eun Chan’s attention — he couldn’t. “Ugh, I can’t look at you guys — you look like a couple.”

He deliberately brings up the name Yu Ju to provoke Eun Chan, and she gets the message, leaving right away. Han Sung walks her home as she tells him despondently how Han Gyul wants her to quit work. Starting to cry, Eun Chan explains:

“But I don’t want to quit… because I need to earn money. No, that’s an excuse. It’s because I like coffee… another excuse. He’s so warm, and fun, and I like him. I like him so much I wish I could forget about the lie I told… I know I was wrong… but still…”
Now crying in earnest, she continues, in between sobs:

“I wish I could have him by my side… that he’d like only me… that he wouldn’t go away to America… But what is this? I’m not a man or a woman. And I’m so scared I can’t say a word.”

Han Sung can only offer her a silent pat on the back (and he seems to see that there’s no room for him in her heart). As they near her house, Eun Chan regains her composure and thanks Han Sung for his comfort.

Han Sung: “I don’t really know what this is… but I’ve found I like being with you, whether you’re laughing or crying. Promise me something, that in front of me, you’ll act however you want. That you won’t hide your mood or your emotions. What do you say?”

She promises.
Han Sung talks to Yu Ju on the phone while she’s with Han Gyul, who tries not to notice when Yu Ju mentions Eun Chan. Han Sung tells her that Han Gyul and Eun Chan both like each other.

Yu Ju doesn’t know what to do with that knowledge, but tells Han Gyul she’s sorry, though she doesn’t explain why: “I wish nobody would get hurt… but that’s too much to ask for.”
At work, Ha Rim asks Eun Chan if she’s good friends with Han Sung, and she says yes — they meet often, hang out, ride bikes, eat and drink together. Around the corner, Han Gyul overhears this with dissatisfaction.

Finally, Han Gyul looks up to see Eun Chan, and notices the belt on her apron has come undone. Without warning, he goes up her, putting his arms around her to retie it.
Uncomfortable, she takes over. Min Yub rushes in, elated that Eun Sae has texted him to meet for dinner, and grabs her in a huge hug. Unable to stand watching that, Han Gyul immediately breaks them apart.
Later, Han Gyul overhears Eun Chan talking cheefully to Han Sung over the phone as she does the dishes. Ha Rim brings in an improperly washed cup (a customer complained), and Han Gyul vents his jealousy by scolding her. She apologizes, and offers to do the after-hours cleaning.

Yu Ju tells Han Sung she’s decided to leave for New York and start over with DK. She tries to make it sound like she’s leaving him (like she’s cold and flighty), but she’s merely pretending to be. Alarmed, Han Sung tells her not to go:
Yu Ju: “Thanks for saying that.”
Han Sung: “All right, like you said, I wavered. No, to be frank, I still am. But don’t leave. I know I’ll come around soon, so don’t go!”
Yu Ju: “You’re not just wavering. You’re in love with her. How foolish of you, not to realize you’ve found a new love.”


Done for the night, the Coffee Princes leave without Eun Chan, to whom Han Gyul has given instructions to clean the entire cafe as punishment for her carelessness.

Ha Rim: “He’s leaving My Chan alone to suffer by himself.”
Min Yub: “Yeah, no matter how strong he is, it’s too much to make him do it alone.”
Ha Rim: “How much nicer would it be if he were a girl?”
Mr. Hong: “Leave them alone, if they like each other, what does it matter if they’re men or women?”
Ha Rim latches on to Mr. Hong’s words —

Ha Rim: “Do you know something?”
Sun Ki: “There were people who didn’t know? What’s wrong, they’re good together.”
Ha Rim: “You talk so easily about other people’s—”
Sun Ki: “Eun Chan’s a girl. Where’s the problem?”

Ha Rim can’t believe it (Min Yub carries him inside before he can react), and becomes angry with Eun Chan for tricking Han Gyul. He’s also upset with the others for keeping it a secret, though they’re of the opinion that it’s not their decision to say anything. Ha Rim has seen Han Gyul’s suffering up close and feels how unfair it is to him, but Sun Ki says he can understand Eun Chan, needing to take care of her struggling family — “Do you think she found it easy to lie?”

Ha Rim tries to call Han Gyul immediately, but is stopped. He yells out furiously when Min Yub snatches his phone and shoves him in a room to prevent him from going to Han Gyul.
Han Gyul drives home, assailed with memories of Eun Chan along the way. How she cried in his car earlier that day… how he tied her apron… how she blew air in his face while he slept…

Coming to some kind of decision, he turns around and heads back to the cafe. He runs in to face Eun Chan, staring intensely at her face…

Startled, Eun Chan starts to explain that she’s trying to fix some damage to Yu Ju’s mural drawing.

Still silent, Han Gyul swoops in purposefully —
After a brief kiss, Han Gyul backs off, and this time Eun Chan grabs him and initiates another, longer kiss.
Breaking apart, Han Gyul tells her, “I’ll say this just once, so listen to me. I like you.”

As a small smile appears on his lips: “Whether you’re a man, or an alien… I don’t care anymore.”

And, continuing as Eun Chan absorbs this: “I tried getting rid of my feelings, but I couldn’t… So let’s go, as far as we can go.”

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Coffee Prince Episode 9

Now that they’ve agreed to be like brothers, Han Gyul starts off the next morning goofing around and making Eun Chan breakfast. Eun Chan wonders what’ll be different now that they’re acting as brothers (in a “hyung-dongsaeng” relationship), and asks, does that mean she’ll be treated with more love? Han Gyul awkwardly mumbles at the mention of love, and Eun Chan asks, then will he treat her better? That he can do, and to show it, he heaps food in Eun Chan’s bowl.

Eun Chan tests out the word hyung, joking around as she calls him that repeatedly. It also appears that at some point, they’ve pierced Eun Chan’s ear and marked it with one of Han Gyul’s earrings as “proof” of their sworn brotherhood.


At work, the two continue their happy, giddy new relationship. Seeing the two of them getting along so well strikes the others as strange.

Sun Ki: “Wait, were you together this morning? Do you like each other?”
Eun Chan: [shushing him] “Say something that makes sense! What would he think of a guy like me?”
Sun Ki: “But you’re a girl. Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman. The important part is a person liking another person.”

Sun Ki uses the fact that he knows she’s a girl to blackmail her into promising to help clean out his (Mr. Hong’s) home. Min Yub notices that she’s wearing Han Gyul’s earring. And Ha Rim is put off, grumbling that he’s known Han Gyul much longer than Eun Chan. If anyone should be such a close hyung-dongsaeng relationship, it should be Ha Rim, not Eun Chan.

Sun Ki to Ha Rim: “You’re so unperceptive. Can’t you see the boss likes Eun Chan?”
Ha Rim: “What are you talking about?”
Sun Ki: “They like each other. Is that strange? It’s not a big deal in Japan.”
Yu Ju asks to meet with Eun Chan after some hesitation. Her relationship with Han Sung has hit a bump after she ran into Eun Chan after Han Sung surprise-kissed her. Han Sung understands that Yu Ju’s upset, and tells her he’ll wait until she’s ready to talk to him. When Yu Ju meets Eun Chan, she doesn’t quite know how to begin, but Eun Chan answers the questions before they’re asked.

Eun Chan: “Actually, I did like Han Sung before. That was before I knew you were Girl B.”
Yu Ju: “What about now?”
Eun Chan: “I like him now too, but not in a romantic way. Because there’s someone else I like.”
Yu Ju: “Han Gyul?”

Eun Chan tries to deny it, sees Yu Ju’s perceptive look, then admits, “Yes.” Yu Ju asks why she doesn’t tell Han Gyul she’s a girl, and Eun Chan replies: “I’ve thought a lot about it too. He suggested I be his younger sibling. If he knew I’m a girl, I couldn’t be with him like now. And things aren’t bad, they way they are now.” Eun Chan tells Yu Ju that she doesn’t have to worry about her (regarding Han Sung), and Yu Ju sees Eun Chan’s response is sincere.
Yu Ju asks if Han Sung’s feelings wavered because she’d made things hard for him, and he answers no. Yu Ju: “It would be easy if it were because of me. Since then I could just fix myself.”


(The song posted up top, Arco’s “Perfect World,” plays.) Han Sung tells her he’s in the middle of thinking over what happened, figuring out what it means. Yu Ju: “So you’re saying it wasn’t a mistake, but that you love her?”

Yu Ju: “What do you want me to do?”
Han Sung: “I’ll get over my feelings.”
Yu Ju: “I worried that you’d be hurt because of her… but it seems I was hurt more.”

Han Sung suggests, in a somewhat urgent (last-ditch-effort?) tone, that they go on a trip together.
Everyone goes to Mr. Hong’s place to clean the place up, and Eun Sae keeps sending Min Yub away to do chores so she can be alone with Sun Ki. Although Min Yub knows she’s not treating him well (as does everyone else, including Sun Ki), he still follows her orders, doing the laundry, taking the trash, doing the dishes — until finally she’s so dismissive that he can’t take it anymore.

He stands up to her — just because he likes her, she shouldn’t use him like that. Eun Sae: “Who asked you to like me? Just give up! I really hate you following me around too! You’re ignorant, and all you’ve got is brute strength. I was really embarrassed showing you to my friends, you know!”

With no other way of venting his aggravation, Min Yub growls and runs around the neighborhood — trying to climb poles, lifting furniture, and at one point running around with a refrigerator. HA!
Eun Chan tells Eun Sae to apologize to Min Yub, figuring she doesn’t really hate him: “People fight as they grow attached to one another.” Eun Sae asks, “Like you and your boss?” Eun Chan sighs with satisfaction: “I get to see him everyday, we spend time together, play around, have good conversation. It’s great.” But Eun Sae says she’ll start wanting more — that’ll lead to wanting to hold hands, then wanting to hug, and then wanting to kiss.
Han Sung and Yu Ju go on their trip, and seem to have regained some semblance of their former relationship, but Eun Chan is still a barrier between them. Yu Ju sees that he’s not answering Eun Chan’s calls and tells him that he’s the adult; he should be mature and talk to her first. Han Sung says he will when he’s gotten his feelings in order. He gets a text from her, an awkward message that asks: “Ajusshi, you’re doing fine, right? I’m all right. Please give me a call when it’s convenient. Bye.”
Sun Ki, meanwhile, sees a woman with a young child and chases after her — looks like he’s found the one he’s been searching for — but is unable to catch up. He manages to see the name written on the van, and urgently tries to find out more about it over the phone. At the same time, a pissed-off Min Yub tries to pick a fight, asking if Sun Ki’s enjoying Eun Sae’s attentions. He provokes Sun Ki, and the mood turns dark as they nearly come to blows.
Okay, here’s where they start to lose me a little, because they introduce a new character who hints at mysteries to come. But I’ve only just met the character, who’s connected to the story via one minor (in air time) character (Han Gyul’s father) — so I’m not really all that invested. He’s an older man who speaks quite familiarly with Han Gyul’s father, and of whom the father is very wary. (He asks about “Mother,” and I wonder if they’re brothers despite having different last names.) The man, Lee Myung Jae, is in Korea on business and asks if Han Gyul is doing well.

Then, Han Gyul has lunch with his father. He asks his father to not mention to his mother that he knows about his birth secret, and also inquires about his birth mother. Han Gyul knows his father had an affair, sent him to an orphanage, then later adopted him back. Han Gyul’s father describes his birth mother as a warm, affectionate person, a middle-school teacher. Han Gyul cuts in to ask, “Did she leave you? Or did you abandon her?”

Han Gyul’s father admits he left her — at that point in his life, he wasn’t ready to be responsible for anyone. She died in a car accident before Han Gyul’s 100-day birthday (a big event for Korean babies). Han Gyul’s reaction to his father’s cowardice may be best described as disgusted — it might’ve been disappointed, but he’d have to have had faith in his father in the first place to be able to lose it now.

In a despondent, pensive mood, Han Gyul calls his mother to tell her, “Mom. You know I love you lots, right?… Thanks, Mom. Thank you.”

When his mother hangs up, Han Gyul’s father’s and grandmother’s reactions indicate that they know the full story, whatever that is. They’re suspicious over the reappearance of Lee Myung Jae, and Han Gyul’s mother warns her husband to be careful: “I can’t allow our Han Gyul to meet that man.”
Han Gyul then drives over to Eun Chan’s house, still in his quiet, reserved mode. He parks outside and wakes her from sleep with his call.
Han Gyul takes Eun Chan to the batting cages to relieve some tension, and suggests they go to the beach. He lets Eun Chan drive his car (complaining all the while at how fearlessly she drives), and they arrive at the ocean in the middle of the night.
With Han Gyul’s mood much lifted at Eun Chan’s antics, they laugh and goof around on the beach. Han Gyul asks about her birthday and blood type (December, O) and Eun Chan jokes around by telling him (with a straight face) that she doesn’t like guys with his blood type, B — they’re fussy and uptight. Han Gyul protests that he’s not like that at all, defending himself, before realizing Eun Chan’s teasing.

Eun Chan asks when he started liking toys so much, and he says he played with toys since he didn’t have many friends. Kids disliked him because he has a rather unfriendly personality — he’d get angry and annoyed easily.

“Last Arpeggios” by 푸른새벽 (Blue Dawn) plays. The mood of this segment is so tense and pregnant with meaning that I wish I could convey it in words. You’ll just have to watch. Basically, they both skirt around the topic they both want to broach but are too afraid to — and both tentatively draw closer with the words they want to say, then pull back in skittish fear, covering up with their excuse of being in a brotherly relationship. It’s all nerves and hope and fear.
The ambiance grows more serious when Eun Chan faces Han Gyul, and steps closer and closer, while he backs away, unsettled. She asks, “Do you really just like me as a sibling? What do you like best about me?” Han Gyul tells her uneasily to stop joking, then asks what she likes about him, and she answers, “Everything.” Having laid one truth out plainly, she retracts it a bit as she walks ahead of him, adding, “But of course, as a hyung.”
After staring at Eun Chan for a long moment, Han Gyul walks up to her and casually takes her hand. Without looking at her surprised reaction, he explains, “As hyung and dongsaeng, we can do this much.”

And then, Han Gyul takes the hand he holds and intertwines their fingers together. They walk along wordlessly.
Eun Chan uses the same reasoning to lay her head in Han Gyul’s lap as they sit on the sand: “As hyung and dongsaeng, we can do this much.” She snuggles into his side and falls asleep.
Azure Ray’s “Across the Ocean” plays some time later, as Han Gyul looks over at the sleeping Eun Chan. He hesitantly draws nearer to her, lying close to her back, touching her hair, tentatively cupping her hand in his.
After resting like that for a moment, he rises abruptly, disturbed and conflicted. He looks over at her, sleeping soundly, and says, “Go Eun Chan. I can’t go any further.”

He drives her home, and she awakes with her usual cheer, unaware that anything’s the matter. Han Gyul tells her quietly, coldly, that he’s decided he can’t be her hyung; they’re over. “Let’s stop meeting.” Eun Chan assumes he’s joking, and goes to work eagerly anticipating seeing him.

When he won’t look at her, or talk to her, Eun Chan asks what the matter is — did something happen? Did she do something wrong?
He tells her curtly to stop coming to work; he’ll forgive her debt. She doesn’t understand, and insists she’ll keep coming, and he says, “Fine, then I’ll leave.” He reminds her of what he said that morning, and Eun Chan realizes he meant it — but how can someone change so much in one morning?

Han Gyul: “I’m that kind of guy. Didn’t you know that?”
Eun Chan: “You’re right, I didn’t know. How can you treat someone like that — are you playing around?”
Han Gyul: “I don’t like you. I’ve come to dislike you. So stop bugging me, it’s annoying.”
Eun Chan: “So you just change whenever you want, since you do that so well. First acting one way, then the opposite.”

Han Gyul tells her, in a wearied tone, “I really… dislike you.”
Eun Chan responds, as though in challenge: “Why? Because you love me?”

Han Gyul doesn’t object, he just laughs a small, rueful laugh. At this point, both have traces of tears in their eyes — Eun Chan’s indignant, Han Gyul’s regretful.

Eun Chan: “Why are you laughing?”
Han Gyul: “Is this easy for you? Ah, I guess it is. It’s no big deal for you. This is just difficult for me.”

Han Gyul walks out and drives home, where he idles his day away in frustration.
Likewise, Eun Chan spends her day listlessly going about her daily work, her heart not really in anything. Mr. Hong wonders how long she’ll keep her gender hidden from Han Gyul, and she answers: “If I tell him the truth, everything’s over. He said he was glad that I was a guy.”
Kim Yeon Woo’s “나는 사랑이 뭔지 모르나봐요” (”I must not know what love is”) plays as they go about their day. Han Gyul doesn’t respond to her messages asking him to come in to work
Han Gyul ends up trashing his apartment, throwing things, beating his head into the wall.

Finally, Eun Chan arrives outside his place, pounding on his door. “Boss… Boss… Please don’t be like this. Okay? Boss…”
Getting no response, Eun Chan returns home, and writes (but can’t finish) a series of text messages: “I miss you…” “Where are you?” “Please call me.” “I love you…”

Thwarted at every turn, Eun Chan shouts in bitter frustration, “Hey, you jerk! Why won’t you call?!” as she cries.

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Coffee Prince Episode 8

As Eun Chan and Han Gyul kiss, Han Gyul closes his eyes for a moment… before he pushes Eun Chan away, alarmed. Eun Chan’s unbothered — she says the kiss worked in reviving his energy. She reminds him of his blind dates, how Han Gyul kissed Eun Chan in exuberance. Han Gyul blusters in denial, and Eun Chan mutters, “So why’d you close your eyes then?” and makes a face imitating him.
But thankfully, that doesn’t ruin anything between them, and they drink together outside. Eun Chan makes kissy noises to annoy Han Gyul until he threatens her into stopping.

Eun Chan: “How Han Gyul-ian of you. Do you know what that means? To preserve appearances, you won’t admit you’re going through a hard time when you are. You can’t say you like something when you do.”

Han Gyul wonders how to act around his grandmother, and Eun Chan relates a story about her father, who was sick for a long time before passing away. She’d lay beside him in bed while he slept, or go to him when she got scolded by her mother. The day he died, as she was leaving for school, she thought: “When I come home from school, dad might not be here.”

Eun Chan tests the waters by asking Han Gyul, “What if I were a girl?,” and he looks at her curiously. “If I were a girl, could we date?” Han Gyul answers it’s a good thing she isn’t; if a girl like her pestered him to date, it would be a headache.

Han Gyul tells her his time for playing around has passed: “I’ll have to get married, so I should meet a good woman that my grandmother and mother would like.” Eun Chan figures that means a daughter of some corporate family, and Han Gyul says that’s the kind his grandmother likes.

Talking it over with Eun Sae, Eun Chan wonders if she should just reveal that she’s a girl.

Eun Chan: “The other day at work, I had this thought: Even if I could just be by his side, that would be nice. Then I wouldn’t have anything more to wish for.”

Eun Sae lays out her two options: either she tell him the truth, or forget about having a romantic relationship and just go on acting as a male to be near him.
Eun Chan tags along on Han Gyul’s visit to his grandmother. While playing Go Stop, Eun Chan sees grandmother and grandson conspiring, and accuses them of scamming. Although the grandmother acts like she’s annoyed, she likes not being treated specially because of her illness, and Eun Chan does just that.

Also visiting are Han Sung and Yu Ju, and because I’m feeling a little more generous to Yu Ju these days, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt in this scene. Yu Ju marvels at Eun Chan’s ability to be comfortable around everyone, and Han Sung answers that Eun Chan treats everyone well — if he had the opportunity, he could do anything he put his mind to: “He’s a unique guy.”
Yu Ju offers her shoulder to lean on for comfort, but Han Gyul prefers her lap. He lies down, admitting how bad he feels for not spending more time with his grandmother.

However, Eun Chan and Han Sung see the scene, and Eun Chan feels the blow of seeing them together. Han Sung looks over and reads the expression on her face.
Driving back to work, Eun Chan is pissy and short-tempered, causing Han Gyul to wonder what’s with her. She uses Han Sung as the reason to vent her own hurt, saying he’s really got some nerve laying in the lap of another woman, knowing she’s his cousin’s girlfriend.

The mood thus soured, Eun Chan arrives at the cafe in an awful mood. Alone in the dressing room, she wipes away angry tears:

“I even kissed him. I went to the hospital with him. I made him laugh. And still, it’s her?”
Yu Ju asks Han Sung what she was like in her twenties (which I guess means she’s in her thirties), and he tells her: “Busy, dizzying, hurried. It was like something was always chasing you, but you didn�t know what.” Eun Chan makes Yu Ju think of her own younger days, wondering why she wasn’t as lively and exuberant.

Understanding the subtext of this conversation, Han Sung assures her, “She’s cute and pretty, but that’s all.” Yu Ju half-seriously tells him she’s not going to let it slide anymore. (As in, he’s paying Eun Chan a lot of attention, and she wants to be understanding, but there’s a limit.)



At work, Min Yub swears to Sun Ki that he’ll keep his secret (about his devotion to his former love), and Sun Ki, warming to him, asks if he wants to know another one. He’s actually Japanese (later we find out he’s half-Korean). Min Yub feels so grateful to be trusted with a secret that he wants to give something in exchange… so he whispers one of his own to Sun Ki: Eun Chan’s really a girl.

Eun Chan is still feeling upset with Han Gyul, and avoids him while working. Since she won’t speak to him, Han Gyul tries to engage her attention by giving her tasks, but no matter what he says or how he provokes her, she makes no response. Finally he brings up the subject directly. Her comments about his behavior toward Yu Ju must have connected with his conscience, because he stumbles over his words as he explains: “The thing about me and my cousin’s girlfriend… well, about me and Han Yu Ju… so we used to… now, we’re…” But Eun Chan just walks off.
Eun Sae goes on an audition amongst some truly terrible acts, and although they like her telegenic appearance (but what’s with the phallic wand?), her singing is pretty awful. She sings the Korean remake of Blondie’s “Maria” from 200 Pound Beauty and cracks on the chorus.
Finally, Han Gyul takes Eun Chan aside to ask what’s wrong. She says it’s nothing, but he has too much to worry about — just say it: “What’s the problem?” And without missing a beat, Eun Chan tells him: “I like you.” That stops him short, and she repeats: “I like you. But that can’t happen, right? Since we’re both men.”

Han Gyul tries to brush it off as a joke, but she continues: “That’s why I’m trying to get over you. So just leave me alone.”

While in the hospital, Han Gyul sees a sign for psychiatry and consults with a doctor. He answers no to the questions of whether he’s ever wanted to be a woman, or use makeup to look like one. But the doctor, who’s clearly unhinged, doesn’t listen to his response and jumps to the conclusion that he’s attracted to all men, and gives him a few days’ worth of medication. Ah, Korea, aren’t we progressive. They revised the DSM-III in the ’70s, you know.
Min Yub presents Eun Sae with a bouquet of flowers, but she’s in a foul mood due to her failed audition, and is feeling no desire to be nice. She insults Min Yub, saying she hates ignorant guys like him, and when he won’t leave her alone, she throws his flowers to the ground. Aw.
That night, Eun Chan tells Eun Sae it really seems it can’t work with Han Gyul, but she still likes him. Eun Sae tells her to get over it, rather than being strung along. Hearing Eun Sae’s choked voice, Eun Chan comforts her sister, who cries over her failed audition.

DK (I assume) arrives at Yu Ju’s gallery to recruit her services for a restaurant he plans to open. He wants her to design everything.

At work, Sun Ki looks pointedly at Eun Chan’s chest and asks how she managed to flatten it. Eun Chan realizes Min Yub has told, and goes to give him a piece of her mind. He’s feeling depressed over Eun Sae (Ha Rim offers to help him win her over), but their confrontation is cut short by Han Gyul, who orders them to stop disturbing customers and get back to work. Eun Chan retorts that Han Gyul’s being more disruptive with his yelling, and he talks to her sternly — but as he’s finally gotten Eun Chan to talk to him again, he smiles to himself.

Han Gyul asks her if she’s gotten over her feelings for him, and she answers that she’s almost done. She’ll let him know when it’s complete.
At Han Sung’s house, playing around with the instruments, Han Sung notices that Eun Chan looks good today. She answers that she’s found it’s better to follow your heart, even if it’s difficult. (I infer that she’s talking about confessing her feelings for Han Gyul.)

She compares Han Sung to Santa (”Whenever I see you, it’s like I’m getting a Christmas present”), and they play “Heart and Soul” together on the piano, side by side
Bringing Eun Chan along as he takes his grandmother for dessert, Han Gyul watches as they get along. He promises his grandmother he’ll work hard to succeed.
Meanwhile, in a park at night, a couple of thugs harass Eun Sae. Look closely and you’ll recognize them.

Eun Sae isn’t intimidated, and snaps a photo to send to the police. Alarmed that their simple plan to make Min Yub look good is going awry, Ha Rim and Sun Ki chase Eun Sae with the aim of getting her phone. That freaks her out, and seeing her reaction, Min Yub bursts in and goes overboard in retaliating against her attackers. As a result, though, Eun Sae is both thankful and impressed, which makes Min Yub adorably happy.
At Han Sung’s house, he plays another song for Eun Chan, and it looks like he’s starting — has been, over the last episode or two — to see her in a new light…
Shocked, Eun Chan pushes him aside and runs out, running into Yu Ju in the front yard. Yu Ju goes in the house, reads Han Sung’s troubled expression, and tells him simply, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

The next day, Eun Chan asks Ha Rim if he’s kissed before, and if people really do it so easily. Ha Rim jumps to the conclusion that Eun Chan has found a girlfriend and tells Han Gyul, saying they should all help Eun Chan along. Han Gyul tells Eun Chan to bring her by the cafe, then hurriedly goes off into the empty kitchen to take some of the doctor’s medication.
Like Eun Chan recalled doing with her sick father, Han Gyul visits his grandmother and lies beside her as she sleeps. On his way out, his father calls him over for a drink, and tells him to enter the company. He’s set aside a job in marketing for him. Han Gyul finally stands up to him, saying his father doesn’t know what Han Gyul wants. He’ll do as he promised his grandmother — in three months, he’ll return to New York.

His father sneers at his interest in making toys, and Han Gyul notes that whatever he does, his father gives him only silence: “If you were going to neglect me like that, you should never have taken me in.” (More on this below.)
Han Gyul calls Eun Chan over to lift his spirits, and tells her the story of his youth. He was born of an affair his father had, and his mother, being kind and generous-hearted, took him in as her own son. (His birth mother is dead.) He found out one day when he came home early from school and overheard the adults talking. His first thought was that he had to leave without revealing that he knew, and thus he lived till now… But today, the truth finally came out, and he regrets it.

After Han Gyul passes out from drinking, Eun Chan carries him in on her back, dropping him on his bed, his arm strewn across her torso. Lying next to him, she stares at his face, his eyes closed, for a long moment before getting up — but his arm suddenly tightens and pushes her back down.

Han Gyul asks, “You’re gay, aren’t you?”

Eun Chan tries to get up again, and he pushes her back down again. He continues: “But I’m not. So stop trying to tempt me.”
She mutters that he’s the one who called her over, and one more time, she tries to get up, and one more time, he pushes her down: “Let’s be sworn brothers.”

Eun Chan tosses his arm off, gets up, and sits at a distance while Han Gyul alludes to a story about sworn brothers who are closer than blood brothers. Understanding his meaning, Eun Chan says, “So that means… we wouldn’t have to separate till we die, then.”

Han Gyul: “Call me hyung from now on.” He suggests her getting an earring or something to be a mark of proof of their brotherhood.
She shrugs him off, but the mood lightens as Low-End Project’s song “연애를 망친 건… 바로 나라는 걸 알았다” (which translates loosely to “I know I’m why the romance failed”) plays as Han Gyul chases Eun Chan around, telling her to call him hyung, until she finally doe
Eun Chan’s voiceover: “And so, even if it was as a younger brother, I wanted to be by his side.”

Han Gyul’s voiceover: “And so, even it it was as an older brother, I wanted to keep him by my side.”

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Coffee Prince Episode 7

After hugging Eun Chan for a moment, Han Gyul suddenly pushes her away and laughs in relief, saying he worried over nothing. The hug, however, has shaken Eun Chan, and as Han Gyul leaves, Eun Chan feels its aftereffects.

However, the moment Han Gyul’s out of view, he tries to get a grip on himself. It wasn’t nothing after all.
The next day, without explaining the reason, Han Gyul takes Eun Chan with him to the bookstore. Although he’s quieter than usual, Eun Chan is pretty much her normal self.

Han Gyul carries the heavy books for her, and tells her they’re for her. She wanted to become a barista, so she should learn more about it. (The advent of Starbucks and franchise coffee stores has, in my opinion, diminished the word barista. But the word originally carries implications of higher skill level, kind of like a wine sommelier.)

Eun Chan is touched at the gesture and Han Gyul smiles at her appreciation, until she receives a call from someone with whom she’s very friendly. She listens as her caller plays her a song, and Han Gyul tries to suppress his curiosity, acting cool. He gets more irritated hearing that it’s Han Sung, who feels bad for interrupting her while she’s busy, and Han Gyul drops her books and leaves her to carry them.
Han Gyul scoffs at Eun Chan’s admiration of artistic people, still feeling annoyed. When the subway lurches, a crowd of people pushes Han Gyul into Eun Chan, who reacts in dismay when she pulls out of her pocket the toy Han Gyul gave her: It’s broken. Although he admonishes her for carrying it around, he seems pleased that she has it.

Eun Chan tells Han Gyul his stiff arm — holding him at a distance away from her — is making things difficult for the people behind him. She bends his elbow, which brings them closer together, and they both (well, more Han Gyul) try to ignore how much they enjoy the proximity.
Alone in his apartment, staring at a picture of Eun Chan on his computer, Han Gyul tells the picture firmly: “I’m the boss, you’re the employee. That’s it!” After a beat, he amends: “Fine, you’re a kinda pretty employee. But really, that’s it!”

At work, Eun Chan sees Sun Ki with a toy, which he identifies as souvenirs given by Han Gyul for the cafe’s one-month anniversary. However, she doesn’t find one for herself, and asks Han Gyul where it is. She guesses that he has another one for her, one that’s different (one with more meaning, perhaps, or that’s more valuable). But, she’s guessed wrong. He says he already gave her one, that’s it.

Han Gyul carefully avoids talking or looking too much at Eun Chan as he gives her permission to go home early for her father’s memorial (death anniversary). And then, he asks flat-out: “Do you like me?” That startles Eun Chan, and he continues, “Don’t. If you entertain your hopes, it’ll just end up hurting you.”

The moment he says it, he grimaces (keeping his face away) over his words.
That night, the Coffee Princes join Eun Chan and Eun Sae at home for their memorial dinner. Although Han Gyul doesn’t join them, he sends her a box full of action figures with a note telling her (”Steel Arms, Steel Legs”) to buck up and be strong. Excited over the thoughtful gift, Eun Chan wonders to her sister if he’s interested in her. Eun Sae tells Eun Chan not to confuse love and friendship; Han Gyul thinks she’s a guy.
Bubbling with good spirits, Eun Chan calls Han Gyul to thank him, and asks what the gift means, because it shows a lot of thought… Han Gyul cuts her off, overcompensating for his awkward feelings with brusqueness, saying it means nothing special, and hangs up.

When Eun Chan grumbles over Han Gyul’s capricious moods, Eun Sae says Eun Chan is worse. Eun Chan takes one of the toys with her under the bedcovers, giving it a kiss before going to sleep holding it.

But, all Han Gyul’s repression and frustration isn’t just going to go away, and it finally boils over the next morning, when Eun Chan drops by with breakfast. He’s out jogging, so she says she’ll meet him — and because of Han Gyul’s growing unease, he calls Yu Ju to come along, quickly.
Eun Chan is disappointed at Yu Ju’s arrival, but it’s made worse by Han Gyul’s reaction. Again overcompensating to push Eun Chan away, he dotes on Yu Ju (so much that she thinks it’s weird), and eats the breakfast Yu Ju has brought.

Han Gyul tells Yu Ju he disliked Eun Chan initially, thinking (s)he was a thief. But, he’s since learned that Eun Chan’s the head of the family and holds tons of jobs — food delivery, milk delivery, sewing doll eyes, Taekwondo instruction. Eun Chan feels like he’s betraying her confidence, and tells him not to make fun of how others live.

Eun Chan casts several dark, meaningful looks at Yu Ju and reminds him of his bad habit, spitting out: “Why don’t you fix your bad habits? Is it that hard? Since it’s been so long?” She accuses him of living an easy life, and he counters, charging her with putting on cute or pitiful acts all the time. She’s also so unperceptive that she can’t see that he wants to be alone with Yu Ju.

Having had enough, Eun Chan walks off, leaving them both in awful moods.
Sun Ki meets with the woman from earlier (who may be the mother to the woman he’s looking for, someone named Yuko, who I think is also named Hee Sun?). The mother encourages Sun Ki to give up looking; although he’s willing to take responsibility for Hee Sun and her child, it’s a huge burden. Sun Ki asks her to convey one message: he just wants to be by her/their side. If that’s not possible, he just wants the chance to meet occasionally.
Back at the cafe, Eun Chan has a hard time with a difficult customer, grumbling over her impossible demands. The friction between her and Han Gyul escalates when he takes her aside to scold her. What’s so hard about accepting a customer’s order?

Eun Chan: “That’s easy for you to say. You haven’t had to deal with it… It’s hard taking an impossible customer’s order, it’s hard delivering milk, it’s hard delivering food, and it’s hard sewing eyes on dolls too!”
Han Gyul: “Why are you bringing that up?”
Eun Chan: “When did I say you could tell everything about me to other people? Why tell them without asking me, why?!”
Han Gyul: “What about you? Bad habit? However dumb you may be, how can you not differentiate between what you should and shouldn’t say? And then you say I’m acting conceited over a cafe my grandmother set up?”
Eun Chan: “Who was the one who said I put on a pitiful, cute act? That’s humilating, you know! You ask why do what I do? Because I have to earn a living! How dirty, despicable.”
Han Gyul: “Despicable? Dirty? Who is? I am? To you?!”
Eun Chan: “I’m saying that about the way I live!”

Min Yub and Ha Rim try to calm them down, but they’re both too angry. Han Gyul yells that he took Eun Chan in because he felt sorry for her, and she tells him not to bother.

Han Gyul: “Have you lost your memory? You’re the one who asked me to take you in!”
Eun Chan: “Oh yeah? Then things’ll be fine if I leave, then.”
Han Gyul: “Are you scared to? Get out! I don’t need bastards like you around!”

Eun Chan storms off and leaves.


To cheer her up, Han Sung takes Eun Chan on a drive. I don’t know if there’s a reason for Han Sung’s car being foreign (steering wheel on the right), but this works in a nicely poetic way to punctuate the similarity of Han Gyul and Eun Chan’s emotions, sitting in the same seat, feeling the same downspirited aftermath of their fight. (The song is MNI 민재’s “For a While,” on the OST.)
Han Gyul remembers eating with Eun Chan as he eats alone, and tries to practice different ways to tell her to return to work. Both Han Gyul and Eun Chan obviously want her to return, but can’t actually say it. Han Gyul feels he can’t ask her back because he fired her; Eun Chan feels she can’t go back because she walked out.
Han Sung and Eun Chan have an interesting (IMO) discussion about a song he plays for her in his studio. As various instruments join in, he asks her what she hears, and what she thinks upon hearing them. Eun Chan thinks the rhythm of the drums reminds her of a thumping heartbeat, and when they get to the keyboard, Han Sung asks if she agrees that the keyboard’s a little annoying. Kind of bratty. Eun Chan: “You’re right. Like she’d be stick-skinny, only eat vegetables, and be sensitive.” I would take a swipe at Yu Ju normally but I actually liked her this episode.

Eun Chan: “You know what the most fascinating thing is? I haven’t listened to parts separately before like this… and I don’t know how to explain this well… but it feels like they’re all living. They thump, tingle, flutter. How wonderful.”
Meanwhile, Maximilian Hecker’s “I’ll Be A Virgin, I’ll Be A Mountain” plays (wonderful song) while Yu Ju waits at Han Sung’s house for him to come home. She looks around, plays dominoes with his CDs, but basically just waits.
Likewise, Han Gyul passes the time in his toy room, alone. It’s sad and poignant that he pretends to be playing as though Eun Chan is there (telling his toys to attack her), even as he’s by himself.
Leaving the studio late at night, Han Sung suggests that Eun Chan return to the cafe — he’ll talk to Han Gyul. She stops him: “Please don’t talk about me to other people. I’ve found that makes me feel really awful, and miserable.”
Yu Ju drops by the cafe (where the Princes are still pestering Han Gyul to bring Eun Chan back — even Sun Ki), and she’s starting to grow on me. I don’t like her, but I don’t hate her. For instance, she was gracious during Han Gyul and Eun Chan’s fight even though she got dragged into it, even though she knew Eun Chan’s situation. She brings up Han Sung’s new “girlfriend,” then follows that directly with, “Hm, I don’t see Eun Chan around.” The connection is too subtle, though, and Han Gyul just says he fired her. He’s not sure if he did the right thing: “It feels like I need him here, but also like I don’t.”
Yu Ju tells him if he really thinks Eun Chan’s better off gone, there’d be nothing for him to feel uncertain about. “Doesn’t your dilemma mean you need him?” Han Gyul feels he can’t just bring Eun Chan back after firing her like that.

Yu Ju tells a story of a huge fight she had with a gallerist once. She was so angry she thought she’d never talk to her again, but after a month, she got a call. The gallerist asked, “Is four o’clock good, or is seven better?” Yu Ju asked what it was for, and the gallerist replied, “A play.” So Yu Ju found herself answering, “Seven o’clock.”
Using Yu Ju’s advice, Han Gyul calls Eun Chan, and jumps right in: Let’s eat! Jajangmyun or soup? Surprised, she answers jajangmyun, and he tells her to meet at the restaurant they went to before, and hangs up quickly.
At the restaurant, Han Gyul watches Eun Chan stuff her face with sweet-and-sour pork, and starts smiling. When he asks why she’s smiling too, she says: “Because you are… so I am too.”

“Getaway” by Texas plays as Eun Chan and Han Gyul, restored to their former high spirits, sing and yell and play in the fountain.
Han Gyul tells her to punch him once, with all her strength. Then, in a more serious tone: “I’ve never once looked down on you. Delivering milk and food, peeling chestnuts, sewing doll eyes… It wasn’t an insult. It was because I really think the way you live is impressive. I know I couldn’t do that…”

She says she’s over her anger now, but he tells her, “No, if I don’t take the hit from you, I won’t feel comfortable. Hit me.” She does (she’s stronger than he expected), and Han Gyul apologizes for saying he took her in because of pity.
Naturally, the others are thrilled to have Eun Chan back.

And naturally, so is Han Gyul.

(Min Yub stands up to Han Gyul for picking on Eun Chan, but Mr. Hong tells Min Yub not to be a dummy — that’s not harassing, that’s playing around. Can’t he tell a lovers’ spat when he sees one?)

Han Gyul’s good mood is short-lived, though, as he gets news that his grandmother has collapsed.
Worried about him, Eun Chan goes to his place to see if he’s doing all right. His grandmother’s condition is pretty advanced, and things aren’t looking great. Lost in his remorse, Han Gyul says he should have guessed she was ill. He says he hates himself right now; he’d never worried about tomorrow, never once thought the way he lived was wrong. How selfish.

Eun Chan, feeling bad for him, asks: “Do you want me to make you feel better?”

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Coffee Prince Episode 6

At the art gallery opening, Eun Chan recognizes Yu Ju and runs off, trying to hide her face, afraid of being found out. Han Sung talks to Yu Ju while Eun Chan goes to the bathroom, and when Eun Chan sees them talking, she’s bummed to realize Yu Ju is Girl B. She mutters in dismay that Girl B was supposed to be ugly.
Seeing Han Gyul unexpectedly show up (he’d said he couldn’t make it), Eun Chan tries harder to hide (look at her scurrying behind him). I like that Eun Chan still acts in the same boyish way even when she’s dressed up prettily — despite the fact that she’s completely female, she’s not comfortable with feminine frills, and that makes sense to me.

Unable to escape the notice of the others, Han Sung drags Eun Chan over for introductions (he half-jokingly refers to her affectionately as his “girlfriend” and also his “kid friend”). But Han Gyul’s fixated on Yu Ju and doesn’t notice anything. Yu Ju doesn’t get a good look at her face, and doesn’t recognize her either.

Feeling uncomfortable, Eun Chan leaves early, and Han Sung apologizes for putting her in such an awkward position. He sees that she’s upset, and says he should have made sure she didn’t bump into Han Gyul. Although she’s mostly upset at seeing him with Yu Ju, I think she’s also partly disappointed that Han Gyul didn’t notice her, because she wonders how he could work with her every day and still not recognize her.

Han Sung tries to take her home, but Eun Chan insists on going alone, trying to fake cheer. He gives her money for a taxi, but Eun Chan walks along dejectedly and takes a bus anyway. Her feet hurting from the heels, she digs out a discarded pair of slippers from the trash, and cries.
“Guy A… Girl B… There’s no room for me… not even in my dreams.
Eun Chan crying in her fancy dress, taking off her long wig and messing up her makeup makes for a sadly grotesque sight, and I respect Yoon Eun Hye’s lack of vanity in her portrayal of Eun Chan. Most of the time, pretty actresses do their best to look gorgeous regardless of its place in the story (waking up with perfect makeup, or dressing a poor girl in the most fashionable clothes), so I always appreciate when an actor gives up his or her highly safeguarded image for the sake of the work at large. Actors have to be emotionally stripped bare to be genuine, and often their protective vanity interferes with their art. Sorry to sound all pretentious about acting as a “craft.”
Anyway, Han Gyul is suffering the same depression at seeing the happy A/B couple together, and mopes around the house. Finally, he calls Eun Chan for company (who has him entered in her phone as “재수없어,” or loosely, “pain in the ass”).

They eat pizza together on his porch, and he motions her over to test her coffee-smelling ability. She says if she gets it right, he has to show her the room in back that he didn’t let her see before.
Guessing correctly, Eun Chan is shown the back room, which houses Han Gyul’s collection of Legos (he used to work with them in the States); he marvels at concept of playing with toys: “Here, I can do anything I want” (Eun Chan retorts: “You do whatever you want outside, too.”).

They play with the Legos (in a cute moment, Han Gyul “corrects” Eun Chan for bringing a bulldozer toy into the mix, because it doesn’t fit the time period of his horse-mounted knight-era setup).
Eun Chan comments how sad Han Gyul is for his lingering crush on Yu Ju, and after a beat, he agrees that he’s dumb for liking a girl who’s unavailable. He wants to stop now, and Eun Chan tells him he made the right decision: “Goodbye, our unrequited loves.” Han Gyul asks what she means by “our” and she answers that it’s her business.

While Eun Chan falls asleep, Han Gyul muses: “Tonight, I really hated the idea of eating dinner alone. But on a day like this, why of all people did I think of you?”
Seeing that Eun Chan has fallen asleep, Han Gyul stares down at her face… and cautiously touches his fingers to her face, lightly… And then he realizes what he’s doing with an alarmed shake of the head, and gets up immediately, prodding Eun Chan awake and telling her to go home.



After a meal at home, Yu Ju tells Han Sung she occasionally has very selfish thoughts (only occasionally?): “I think, if it were always like this, I could get married. Then I think, Ah right, this isn’t all there is to marriage. I like how things are now.”

At work, Han Gyul gets a kick out of ordering Eun Chan around, enjoying her disgruntled expressions. That causes Min Yub to step in and take over (misguided chivalry = still cute), telling her she should pass on the heavy labor to him. (Aw.)
In fact, Han Gyul can’t take his eyes off Eun Chan, and at one point appears directly behind her to help her reach something on a high shelf. He’s standing way too close for comfort, and after he leaves, Eun Chan nervously smells her hair, thinking she ought to have washed it (since he must have been close enough to smell it). Hehe.

Han Gyul’s obvious attention toward Eun Chan is noted by Mr. Hong (who smiles knowingly) and Min Yub (who looks on worriedly). For what it’s worth, Ha Rim notices too but he doesn’t get it. Mr. Hong tells Han Gyul to just admit he likes Eun Chan instead of harassing her with work, causing Han Gyul to bluster that he isn’t doing that.
Han Sung drops by to talk to Eun Chan, worried that she’s been avoiding him. She makes the excuse that she’s working earlier, and is going to give up the milk delivery because it’s hard working both jobs: “I’ll miss Sseulja a lot.” Han Sung: “What about me?” She deflects, saying she can call him whenever she wants to see him.

He apologizes again for the day of the art show. With tears falling from her eyes, Eun Chan tells him: “Because you’re such a good person… because I like you… I didn’t know it myself, how much I really liked you… I went home that day and my heart ached. But I’m fine now. She’s pretty, and refined… so I’ll give up. I hope you two will be happy.” She puts on a brave smile and insists she’s okay. Han Sung looks on with a mixture of (I’m inferring) sympathy, pity, and maybe a little sorriness.

With that issue aired out, they resume their friendly relationship. At one point, Han Sung puts Yu Ju on hold when she calls because he’s on the line with Eun Chan. He takes a long enough time chatting happily with Eun Chan to get back to Yu Ju that she seems bothered.
Meanwhile, the cafe picks up business with the assistance of Eun Sae, who’s taken phone-videos from Eun Chan’s phone and her own and uploaded an amateur commercial onto the internet. Since the video prominently features the cute Coffee Princes, advertising them more than the cafe itself, it’s not long before women come in droves to the cafe to drool over them.

[A few small plot detours: Eun Chan's mother goes on a date with Mr. Gu the butcher, who asks her to go steady, then retracts it in embarrassment at her nonchalant reaction. Sun Ki seems to be in search of his ex-girlfriend from three years ago, from when he lived back in Japan, although at present he has no leads. Ha Rim is getting fed up living in such a pigsty with Mr. Hong. And Han Gyul's grandmother seems to be getting more ill.]


Increasingly bothered by his distraction with Eun Chan, Han Gyul tries to ignore his interest/attraction, acting cool around her. (Which annoys Eun Chan because she takes his behavior at face value.) When he sees Yu Ju for a movie (who’s feeling a little odd about Han Sung, preferring a friend to a boyfriend), he asks if he can give her a hug, and she complies.
Although at first I was worried that his interest in her was renewed, Han Gyul is actually hugging her to confirm he’s still attracted to women, and breathes with relief: “Thanks. I won’t have to go to a mental ward after all.”

Still, during the movie (Shrek the Third), Han Gyul sees Eun Chan’s face on the screen and laughs to himself, remembering all her cute antics.

Han Sung and Eun Chan hang out at the park, playing with Terry/Sseulja. He asks about work, and she says Han Gyul is making life tough on her at the cafe. Han Sung wonders: “Does Guy K like Girl N? Why would he be harassing her?” Eun Chan: “Nope. Guy K has a pretty other girl.” Han Sung asks what Girl N thinks of Guy K, and she answers it’s a boss-employee relationship. Smiling knowingly, Han Sung prods, “Just boss-employee?” She answers, “Yes, because Girl N has fallen in love with another handsome man.”

Going back to his place, Han Sung gives her a change of clothing and tells her to wash up (she’s sweat-soaked). So when Yu Ju shows up uninvited to bring him breakfast, she’s shocked to see Eun Chan there, and to realize her true gender.
The girls talk, and Yu Ju notes that she could’ve figured it out when Eun Chan said she liked her male teacher. Eun Chan apologizes for lying, and explains she had to because of her circumstances, and asks her to keep it a secret from Han Gyul, for now. She’ll tell him eventually. It’s wasn’t exactly her intention to come across as a boy; she just kind of looks like one. When she was a student, lots of girls would call her “oppa” as well. Eun Chan asks if she can call Yu Ju unni, and Yu Ju answers, “It sounds nicer than noona.”

After Eun Chan goes, Yu Ju teases Han Sung about liking Eun Chan. At his awkward reaction, she persists, teasing him while he tries to change the subject.
At work, Han Gyul sneaks glances at Eun Chan while piling task after task on her and enjoying her reaction (like a little boy picking on a little girl — or another little boy, I suppose — because he likes her. Or him). Eun Chan bursts out, exasperated, “Why are you acting like this to me? If you’ve got a complaint, just say so.” But in a hilarious bit, Eun Chan blows her bangs out of her eyes in frustration, but to Han Gyul, Eun Chan’s hair waves… i n … s l o o o o w … m o t i o n …

Unnerved, he tells her to stop that, and she does it more to annoy him. (Hysterically, both Min Yub and Ha Rim join in.)
Han Gyul drags Eun Chan aside, staring at her intensely, making Eun Chan worry that he’s discovered her secret. She tries to run away, but he holds onto her, still staring, and says, “Let’s hug once.”

Trying to explain, he stammers, “I can’t think straight because of you. Let’s just hug, once. Then I think I can figure things out.”

Startled, Eun Chan asks what’s up with him and moves away. He grabs her in a hug…
…and from the expression on his face, it seems things didn’t figure themselves out the way he was hoping…
At first unable to react, slowly Eun Chan hugs him back, closing her eyes… and the subtitles onscreen tell us:

“He shouldn’t have held me… Because it made me want to tell him I’m a girl…”


The song snippet in the last scene translates to:

Now I know, how you were as lost and wandering as I was
How you hurt so much, it kept you from sleep
Hold my hand, I won’t let go again
I love you, for as long as I breathe…


Additionally, I don’t think Eun Chan’s secret can stay secret for the rest of the series, with more and more people gradually finding out. Min Yub alone is careless enough to let it slip accidentally, but now with Yu Ju aware, I can’t see her NOT using this knowledge at some point. I don’t necessarily mean in a malicious way; but I don’t expect her to sit on it, especially since she knows Han Gyul so well… At least, that’s my hope, that they don’t drag out the secret through the very last.

For now, though, it’s fun — and I want to see the issue linger long enough for Han Gyul to have to deal with his preconceived notions of homosexuality in a substantive way (it’ll be a wasted opportunity if they flirt with the idea, but discard it by revealing that she’s really a girl to stay “safe”). I’m really curious to how they’ll treat Han Gyul’s growing attraction to Eun Chan. On one hand, attraction is physical — pheremones, instinct, chemistry. On the other, the mind is a powerful thing, and although he may not be able to deny his feelings, I expect him to sure as hell try. I wonder at what point he’ll have to give up resistance — Han Gyul seems pretty gay-friendly by nature. Will he be able to accept himself as gay? Or, at least, liking another man, even if he doesn’t only like men?

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Coffee Prince Episode 5

Han Gyul awakens to see Eun Chan hovering right over him, but they’re interrupted by Ha Rim, who sleepily comes downstairs to ask what they’re up to, then teases them, asking if they’re dating. To which Eun Chan stammers that they’re not.

Han Gyul smiles as he reads the notes attached to the milk Eun Chan brought him:
(The note says: “This is a birthday present~ It’s three hours before its expiration date, so drink up quickly!”)
Ha Rim, Eun Chan, and Han Gyul go out for breakfast, where they wonder why Ha Rim’s sleeping at the store. He’s been kicked out from home because he doesn’t want to go into the family business. He mentions hating knives and blood, and Eun Chan perks up, asking if they’re butchers (everything’s meat-oriented with her, haha) — I wonder if maybe they’re doctors?

Seeing Eun Chan eyeing his food, Han Gyul laughingly gives up his kalbi (beef ribs) to her. Cute.

Eun Chan tells Ha Rim Mr. Hong has a free room, so Ha Rim goes to see him, and they find that the cool, detached pretty boy Sun Ki’s also there. He heard a room was available and needs one too. Both guys enter in horror, however — if you thought Mr. Hong was filthy at work, that’s nothing compared to the squalor of his home. It’s disgusting.
At work, Eun Chan hears from Han Gyul that Min Yub quit suddenly. She berates Han Gyul for being so disinterested, not caring to ask what the matter was. Feeling sorry for his situation, Eun Chan finds Min Yub working at a pojangmacha (a streetside food stall).
She doesn’t understand why he’d quit to take over the pojangmacha for his friend, but Min Yub says the friend is a good guy who fed and housed him when Min Yub needed help. He’s returning the favor, temporarily taking over the food stand while his friend is sick. He didn’t want to quit the Coffee Prince (it’s the first time he’s ever done something for himself completely on his own) but things just happened that way. Eun Chan helps him tend to customers (and drops the hint that Eun Sae loves to eat chicken feet).

At dawn, while Eun Chan’s out on her milk delivery, Han Sung waits by the gate with Terry (the dog) and wonders why she’s late. He gives her a call and says at first that Terry misses her, then amends it to: “No, I think I miss you more.”

Eun Chan tells him she’ll go over as soon as she’s done with her deliveries. He tells her he’ll be waiting, and Eun Chan happily pedals off, and sing-songs, “He’ll wait… he’ll wait… He says he’ll wait!”
Han Sung makes her breakfast, and afterward Eun Chan heads outside to play around on his decorative statues. He notes that she’s the first person who’s ever thought to sit on the horse — everyone else just looks at it.

Han Sung: “Isn’t it tiring, acting as a guy?”
Eun Chan: “No. I’m good at it. Don’t I seem like a boy to you too?”
Han Sung: “No. No matter how I see it, you’re a girl to me.”
Eun Chan: “On Valentine’s Day, I get lots of chocolates. But all from girls. And then I don�t get any on White Day.” [reverse V-Day] “I guess they can’t tell I’m not a guy.”
Han Sung: “How can they not recognize such a pretty girl? In my eyes, I only see you as pretty.”
Han Sung asks if she wants to go to a party with him, for the opening of an art show. She feels self-conscious about her appearance, figuring it’ll be a fancy event, and tells him he’d be embarrassed to go with her. He tells her she’s great as she is, and she agrees to go — she’ll do her best to look pretty, to not embarrass him.

As she leaves, he calls out, “You know, you have the ability to make people feel really great.”
Min Yub prepares chicken feet for Eun Sae, and waits outside to give them to her… but then realizes with a shock that Eun Sae and Eun Chan are walking out of the women’s bath together.

Ironically, one of Min Yub’s big grievances is having drunk-kissed Eun Chan (was he okay with that when he thought she was a guy? I suppose it could be an issue of his loyalty for Eun Sae, whom he really does seem to be infatuated with). Eun Chan begs him to keep it secret, dangling his affection for Eun Sae in front of him as incentive. She tells him she trusts him, and after all, he should be happy that she’s not Eun Sae’s boyfriend but her older sister — his rival has disappeared.
Yu Ju falls sick (fever and cold), and Han Gyul’s there to make her soup and tend to her. (When they spoke over the phone, he could tell from the way she said she was okay that she wasn’t really okay.) Wondering why Han Sung’s not there, he asks if they fought; she says she hasn’t heard from him for a few days, so it feels like they did fight.

Brief rundown of their relationship turns this episode: Han Sung reads a magazine article about Yu Ju, where she’s quoted as loving work more than anything and not wanting to marry. Later, as they dine with another couple, when asked if/when they plan to marry, Han Sung speaks up for Yu Ju and says she’s intent on remaining unmarried. Then, Han Sung watches as Yu Ju gives an interview, and overhears people mentioning how she’s still working with DK, even if they’ve broken up. So now, it’s been a few days and he hasn’t called her.

Anyway. Yu Ju looks at Han Gyul’s worried expression and wonders, “Were you always this handsome?” (She’s not worth my ire; I’ll just reiterate the “deliberately sending mixed signals” complaint and leave it there.) Han Gyul calls Han Sung to tell him Yu Ju’s sick; he should take care of her.
And so, Han Sung goes over to see the wino, who pouts about how sick she really was, although he points out the obvious, asking why she’s drinking wine if she’s so sick. She asks why he hasn’t called, and he admits it’s still hard for him to realize she loves work more than him. Yu Ju says although what he said about her remaining single is true, it felt bad hearing him say that to the others. But for the moment their relationship is back on track.

Han Gyul shows up at the pojangmacha, where Eun Chan is helping Min Yub. He asks Min Yub if he’s going to quit Coffee Prince or not, and Min Yub says he’d like to continue, but they’re interrupted by a customer. Neither Eun Chan nor Min Yub know how to make an omelette, so Han Gyul steps in with a resigned sigh and cooks.

When a customer’s dog runs into the street, Eun Chan instinctively runs after it, and Han Gyul sees her running into oncoming traffic with alarm. He grabs her to avoid being hit by a car, and they fall to the ground.
Seeing Eun Chan’s bleeding hand, Han Gyul takes her to get it treated, as well as getting acupuncture for his injured shoulder. Eun Chan tells him a story of how when she was eight years old, she was playing around on the balcony and fell from the third story. (Han Gyul: “Ahh, so you fell and that’s how you became so weird.”) Her father caught her, but fell and broke his arm — but in his worry for her, he rushed her to the hospital not aware of his own injury. “That’s what I thought of. You were pretty cool today.”

Han Gyul asks why she keeps stepping in to help other people, like Min Yub and Ha Rim. Eun Chan cites a sense of loyalty and humanity between people, and when Han Gyul admits he doesn’t know that feeling, she points out that he came to see Min Yub: “You have loyalty. Why else would you save me? It’s not like you love me.” He tells her to sleep, and they do.
Taking advantage of the severe lack of business, the Coffee Princes convince Han Gyul to take them on an employee retreat, which Mr. Hong arranges. When they get there, they find that Mr. Hong told his friend, the owner of an apple orchard, that the guys would help with the harvesting, and so they get roped into helping out. All in their special way: Min Yub shakes the apples out of the tree instead of plucking; Ha Rim takes photos; Sun Ki carves apple-o-lanterns; and Han Gyul gets talked into running the roadside stand.
Han Gyul gets a firsthand taste of how hard selling is, and gets really into doing a good job. He’s mighty proud of himself for selling off a huge amount of the inventory, until he finds out that he sold the prime merchandise for much less than their value. He feels awful, although the orchard owners are kind about it (it was the wife’s fault for leaving him there without instructions). To make up for it, he helps with the apple-picking…
…and is there to catch Eun Chan when she falls off her ladder.

After a long day of work, the Coffee Princes cool off in the lake. Han Gyul apologizes to Mr. Hong for his mistake, and Mr. Hong shoves him into the lake (in fun), shouting to the Princes, “Hey! This guy says he’s sorry to you guys!”
Cutely, Min Yub now finds himself watching over Eun Chan, knowing she’s a girl and interfering whenever the other guys act ungentlemanly in her presence. It could be because he wants to make a good impression on Eun Sae, but actually I think it’s just Min Yub’s blockheaded attempts at chivalry. It’s adorable.

(Eun Chan asks Ha Rim about the girl Han Gyul likes, and Ha Rim says he’s been in love with her for nine years.)
That night, after the guys disperse and go to sleep, Eun Chan runs into Han Gyul outside, and they lie down to look at the stars together. Eun Chan, seeing everything as food, muses that she’d like to pluck the stars to eat them. Han Gyul asks how she’d eat the moon, and she answers, “Since it’s only a half-moon, I’d wait for it to fatten up, then steam it and eat it.” Han Gyul gives her a little toy (looks like a Lego robot), and she says he must’ve had a hard time working today: “So if someone makes a mistake, understand them.”

He asks what her dream is, and she answers it’s to live well with her mother and sister: “I don’t know what my dream is exactly, but these days, I want to become a person who makes coffee well.” He says his dream is “To see only what I want, to not see what I don’t want, to live joyfully and happily.”

Eun Chan asks about his “habit” (Yu Ju): “When you were with her, you didn’t look very happy. What do you like about her?” He says there might be a million reasons to like her, but goes on: “There aren’t really a million reasons. I just do. Even if I try not to, it doesn’t work, so I can’t do anything about it.” Eun Chan says the phrase “not being able to do anything” is scary to her.
At home, Eun Chan talks with Eun Sae while playing with the toy given to her by Han Gyul, mulling over the phrases “habit” and “unable to do anything,” trying to make sense of them.

Preparing for her date with Han Sung (who tells her to dress just like she normally does), she gets help from Eun Sae and her mother… Oh man. Comparing her appearance as a made-up, dressed-up girly girl to her boyish behavior, there’s such a weird disconnect. (She reminds me of that Minho guy from High Kick, in the episode when Yunho draws lipstick on his face as a joke.)
You’d think Yoon Eun Hye finally getting to dress as a girl would produce prettier results, but thankfully (for the story) they’ve produced this awkward and horrible version of a girly Eun Chan, who looks like a manly hooker.

Han Sung reacts with good humor, but takes her to have her appearance handled a little more naturally… and even he’s amazed at the results.
Looking more like the real Yoon Eun Hye, he watches as she awkwardly makes her way down the staircase, and catches her as she stumbles in her heels.

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