Reserved [Book V]

MISCHIEVOUS

Period
2nd semester, junior year of high school

Main
Park Chan-yeol, Song Ha-eun (played by Kim Ji-won, girl with the bangs in the Heirs, military doctor in Descendants of the Sun - she was amazing in this drama)

Synopsis
The school's biggest prankster and the smartest student mix worlds. Although deeply annoyed with their set-up at first, they both learn there's more to each other than what appears in a series of sometimes wacky and mostly boring tutoring sessions.

Commentary
Still full of fluff but better writing, I guess. I would've made a better transition from special friends/courtship to lovers when they were in the island scene but I was compressing everything in limited words per chapter. All books contain only 30 chapters, by the way.

I should've handled the topic of domestic abuse and substance abuse better (Haeun's father hurting her and his use of alcohol) and I apologize for that. I feel like some of the scenes were kinda careless and the trauma it gave Haeun was surface level. I admit that I didn't understand the topic enough back then. Sorry. On that note, mental illness is serious and I hope you're all taking good care of your mental health.

Junmyeon financing Haeun and Chanyeol's trip is a little nod to how loaded he is, and this plays an important part to his own book. Also take note of the conversation Chanyeol had with Junmyeon's brother when they were travelling to Jeju.

Favorite part of this book was that one scene where Chanyeol already knew that Haeun was leaving and spent all available time with her, and then they were laying in bed and he waited for her to fall asleep first so she wouldn't have to see him cry. I bawled my eyes writing that bit because I was a single and overdramatic teen who easily succumbs to the effect of hormonal imbalance.

Haeun will come back, of course. Her return plays a VERY crucial role to Yifan's story (Book 9).