I enjoyed it less than I assumed I would. Slice of life is my jam and I was looking forward for this show. The initial 6-7 episodes were the best and I didn't want to stop binging. From there onwards, the show became a big nothing. The middle section was still bearable with few draggy scenes which can be saved by ff. Towards the end, particularly 13-15 I lost interest.

For the MC, I liked the premise buildup. A FL captured by her past with spunky attitude and a ML , kind and caring, who would suffer in silence rather than lashing it out on others. The mood was intense whenever they were on screen and I couldn't wait for them to be together already. To some extent, i was able to relate Dong Jin with my experiences and how I am on some level similar to that. His stooped shoulders spoke about him more than his dialogues. I am sucker for still scenes. Scenes with silence have a certain healing element to them. And I have no complaint about the slow burn. But I was frustrated when the show went from a healing slice of life to what would happen if the secret is out. Also, I saw some comments on them being step siblings and its gross. Well I think it would depend on the culture itself. There are a certain section of culture where cousins are allowed to marry each other. Similarly, I think in Korea its not of a big issue if they are from different family registers and different surname. It could my understanding gap though.

Different from the comments on the second couple, I enjoyed them more than the leads and was got interested in their story in latter half. Their dynamic was organic and I wish it could have been explored more and in a better way. I liked how the communication flew naturally between them with no lies, Perhaps this is the best kind of relationship in my eyes, two people who have nothing to hide and can work it out with communication.

Also, there was less romance scenes. By that I mean not skinship moments rather the vibe you get when two people are in love. The smile, heart fluttering excitement when you see your partner, all that was lacking. Even after the couples getting together we get more sad vibes with scenes like them walking--standing staring at each other--crying -- or random scenes from office with them just sitting and working.

To add to the dragginess, the remaining set of characters bought nothing to the table. Heeja was insane beyond comprehension and my brain wanted to just skip her scenes, Minyoung had some depth in the middle when they were exploring why she broke up. I was not entirely convinced with arc, I understood where she was coming from and Hani did okay yet I didn't find much depth. The office politics was a yawn fest. The drama with FL mother was another cliche low value addition to the story. For somebody who was supposed to be sick, she was quite energetic and ignorant on her children's well being. Left them to survive on their own then coming and demanding they consider her feelings in all their decisions felt selfish because of which I was not able to sympathize with her. Sunwoo was a good though and I liked the friendship displayed.

As I said, my biggest complaint is that most of the scenes were bland and filled with will-he- find- out the secret and guilty FL which served no purpose, From meaningful conversations it became a crying fest soon. And the breakup was forced just to manufacture the feeling of longingness in the viewers.

I know a lot of people enjoyed the show but it didn't gel with me. Like I understood in a logical way yet it didn't hit me on an emotional level. For the first half it would be 8/10 but the second half is more like 2/10.