It's not only me.Nevertheless,

The morning after this dream, Na-bi is embarrassed by her own desires and shrinks back from Jae-un when he approaches her in class. Then, that same morning, she gets her period mid-class, and has to slip out and try to go home and change before the situation gets worse.

After a pretty raunchy dream, Jae-Eon wakes Na-Bi up with another missed call (red flag girl, red flag!) and she hurries into school. She’s late for her class but Jae-Eon happens to be in the same lecture. He eventually parks himself next to her but she pretends to be asleep, especially when a spot appears on her face overnight.

Before she gets far, Jae-un follows her out, and intuitive being that he is, understands what’s wrong right away, and gives her his shirt to tie around her waist. I might have wanted to slap him for most of the scenes leading up to this one, but yeah, who can deny this gesture? Na-bi sure can’t.

Na-Bi’s presentation begins but things immediately go awry when she feels her period come on. Oh man, what awful timing. She hurries out class but Jae-Eon follows. He helps her out, promising not to tell anyone about her accident.

It only gets worse when Na-bi goes out drinking with a group of friends, solely because Jae-un is supposed to be there. Her ups and downs continue, feeling the tension of the room alter when he walks in, but at the same time seeing how he treats the other girls there; Na-bi remains in her hellish limbo.

Up on the rooftop, the rest of the group join together and arrange heading out for drinks. Here we learn Se-Hun has a crush on Sol and has decided he wants to open up and admit how he feels later that evening.

Na-Bi shows up too, although she’s immediately on edge when she hears the other girls discussing Jae-Eon’s popularity. Among the others in the restaurant, Na-Bi is sat next to Min-Sang and Eun-Han. The party really gets started though when Jae-Eon shows up.

As they head outside for some air, Min-Sang gets involved again. He asks outright about Na-Bi’s mood but Jae-Eon interjects. He nonchalantly claims there’s nothing going on between them. Poor Na-Bi, you can see the joy drain from her face.

Na-Bi heads off to the bathroom to cool off, where Bit-Na follows and encourages her to see the bigger picture. According to her, Jae-Eon does like Na-Bi, especially with the whole lime-drink gig. When they do talk again, Jae-Eon decides against them dating and queries whether they can just be close.

Eventually the party heads back to the dorms. The kids all loudly play spin the bottle but neighbours arrive to tell them to keep the noise down. When Na-Bi confronts them, Jae-Eon tellingly puts his arm round her.

In the midst of all this drama, the whole Sol/Se-Hun situation is complicated further by Ji-Wan’s inclusion. It’s very Obvious that she has the hots for her, and their spin the bottle game ends in disappointment when she’s not able to kiss her.

The thing that makes this internal tension for Na-bi compelling is the direct contrast between her narration, which seems to exist outside of (or after) the story we are watching. For instance, during the drinks and game of spin the bottle (ugh), narrator Na-bi says that night was the perfect opportunity for her to put her feelings to rest. But instead… well, we see how it plays out. Even though Na-bi knows that Jae-un was just fooling around with another girl moments before, she kisses him, and he kisses her back. And with that, narrator Na-bi tells us, the gates of hell were opened.

After the party, Na-Bi heads outside and notices Jae-Eon with another girl. He’s clearly seeing other people and Na-Bi catches him in the act. When they’re alone, he admits he wanted to kiss her. Eventually the pair do lock lips, as lots of question marks are left over where this one may end up next.

Either way, the pair do end up kissing by the end but it also feels like this one is going to end in heartache and disappointment. Poor Na-Bi, hopefully she gets a happy ending.

Seeing Jae-Eon’s hot and cold attitude to Na-Bi, including messaging her constantly, should be enough to run a mile. I get that the pair aren’t officially dating but seeing Jae-Eon off kissing other girls while acting so close to Na-Bi doesn’t feel right and it definitely makes him look like a player.

Everything about this drama is not a K-drama, but I can’t tell if I’m refreshed by this, or about to click my heels three times and wish myself back to the much safer, happier world of My Roommate is a Gumiho. The only things that remind me that this is a K-drama are: the fantastic sets (particularly Na-bi’s apartment), and the overt PPL in this episode (I counted four instances, but I’m sure I missed some).

While I’m finding the drama really well-executed — from the cinematography to the all-too-realistic scenarios, I also don’t leave it feeling very good. We know Na-bi is in for it big time. Like a butterfly to the flame our heroine doth go.

But a step beyond that, it’s the story that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Am I too old to care about the flirtations and sexual exploration amongst college students? Or is it just the uneasy tone this drama takes, leaving us breathless one second, and then a little queasy the next. Surely that’s the intention, so whether I’m enjoying the story or not, I can’t say this “hyper-real” genre isn’t working.

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