Highlights: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Episode 9 and 10

I've exercised the greatest restraint to wait until the weekends so that I can savor Episode 9 and 10 when I'm less occupied with real life. And it's so so worth it. It's a great week regardless of who you ship, because you alternately squeal and hurt for them both. This has got to be one of best love triangles I've seen in a while.

Episode 9

There's a cute cameo by Gong Hyo Jin effectively integrated in to the scenes leading to the moment Kang-hyeok punches Chi-soo in the toilet.

 Eun-bi is understandably confused by the actions of both men. She concludes that both men likes her and gets real anxious when both men crosses path in the ramyun shop. The boys play nice in front of her, being icily civil to each other.

 Eun-bi tries to confirm her suspicion by using her amateurish seduction skills on both, but fails on both accounts.

Chi-soo does eventually asks for compensation from Kang-hyeok but gets unsettled by his probing observations.

 Chi-soo is still trying to sort out these very foreign feelings he has for Eun-bi and naively tries to identify them by using a random playlist compiled by Soo-i in a tablet. He's relieved when he realized what he feels are just indignity.

Meanwhile, Eun-bi tells Kang-hyeok to drop the hubby-wifey act, thinking it's just him honoring a promise to her father to protect her. Kang-hyeok then almost-kisses her, seemingly freed by her permission to stop acting as her guardian angel. OMG. About time too.

Episode 10
Chi-soo sees the entire scene and gets jealous. He spends almost the entire episode figuring out what jealousy means (literally, since he has to consult a dictionary at one point LOL) and faces difficulty coming to terms with this new emotion.

Meanwhile, Kang-hyeok finally ups his game, albeit adorably. His interactions with Eun-bi for the entire episode is so sweet. I also find it sweet when he declares that he genuinely likes Chi-soo and hopes that they get along. Dude, he likes your wifey for goodness sake, it's not the best of move to give them oppportunities like making them work together for a new recipe.

Eun-bi has finally gotten around to seeing Kang-hyeok in a romantic light and these two goes on a date.

When Chi-soo finds out, he gate-crashes their date and kisses Eun-bi senseless. The cliffhanger kills me. Dang. It's just like kdramas to do this to me.

Thoughts

It may be a case of too little too late, as is the case with all second male leads *rolls eyes* for Kang-hyeok with respect to winning the girl but I'm glad to see his character showing hints of some intriguing backstory.

I may be reading too much between the lines but I'm thinking there may be some sort of link between Chi-soo and Kang-hyeok. And I'm very curious about Kang-hyeok's genuine surprise by the intensity of his displeasure with Chi-soo after the punching scene.

It's one of the rare times he's not goofy and we catches a glimpse of his true emotion. To me, he's still very much an enigma and I look forward to how the writer plans to flesh out his character.

As for the cliffhanger. Sigh. Second lead shipping is always gut-wrenching business but I'm glad that the story has not comprehensively swayed in favor of the male lead, yet. Chi-soo is still an unpolished gem at the moment and I have no doubt he will turn out good and deserving of Eun-bi by the end of the drama. But I gotta be honest and admit that it's always been difficult for me to maintain the same level of interest once the OTP becomes a foregone conclusion.

Here's the preview for Episode 11:

Continuation of the hot kiss and Kang-hyeok's heartache begins...