A prequel of Watch Me From Afar.
In the city of Suwon, Gyeonggi 1976, when South Korea was a complete contrast of what it is today,
an unlikely friendship started from the least expected circumstances between 16-year-old Yoon Ji Oh, and 12-year-ol...
One week has passed since an unprecedented tragedy at the tea house. The Sunday out they had planned was cancelled as she chose to stay in and process what had happened. And of course, the following days she showed up at school looking like she just fought evil spirit – swollen eyes, disheveled hair, pale face from loss of appetite.
Her circle of friends noticed, but at first she was reluctant to open up. Until her look got even more concerning every day, her friends finally cornered her after school, into some kind of 'intervention' for her to open up.
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She wasted no time to beautify an opening statement. She went straight to the point, that she and her dear boyfriend are going to be stepsiblings within barely a month. Which of course got all four girl friends of her jawdropped.
After series of disbelief reaction and painful confirmation, her friends finally moved on to another painful question: What have you done to cancel the wedding?
"We did talk to our parents respectively. I talked to my mom telling her that Jioh and I have been close friends, it would be awkward for us to be siblings. Still, I didn't have the guts to open up to my mom that we've been going out. And he talked to his father that we've been close friends and he sees me as a potential for courtship."
"And what did they say?" asked Hye-ji
"My mom said, so you want me to disregard his family and put my reputation at risk in order to make you feel 'less awkward'? And his father said something similar along that line. Which of course we failed to counter."
"So you guys gave up right away?" asked Seon-ah
"Not yet. After a long and slightly illegal process, we managed to locate the matchmaker's place and sat down for a talk..."
Heejin's mind revisited the moment in a flashback one week ago
Shielding themselves from the drizzles under Jioh's jacket, they stopped by house number 19.
"This is it," Jioh said, briefly looked at Heejin for assurance. He stepped forward and knocked the door. And as expected, a lady of familiar face opened the door. "Good Afternoon, madam. My name is Yoon Ji-oh. I'm the son of Yoon Yeong-il, one of your clients."
The matchmaker seemed a bit puzzled, so Jioh specified, "The one you found matched to Kim Hwa-ja?"
"Aah, we met last Saturday at the tea house."
"Yes, we did, ma'am."
"What is it that you need, son?"
As Jioh was about to answer, the rumbling sound of thunder got her concerned, so she invited them both into her house. And there, Jioh carefully rolled out why they need her help and how she could be helpful.
But then her explanation of how the service works, gave them a picture of how small her part is in their parents' decision to get married
"To find a match in the first place is not something that happen instantly. And if a client matched with more than one people, what I do is summarize the compatibility aspects according to the birth date and family composition. But the final say is always from the client. Your parents chose each other amongst many other candidates that they've matched with. It's their decision from the beginning. I did virtually nothing to direct their preference."
