eyelonah - Tumblr blog

[eyelonah]

It’s never just about a pain relief patch.

It’s about remembering that, the last time she sat in the back seat when there were five people in the car,

her neck started to hurt immediately afterwards,

and making sure that, in the next five-people-one-car situation, she gets to sit comfortably in the front.

It’s about being ultra aware of the illness that she suffers from, to the point of giving strangers tips on how to avoid it.

It’s about trying your best not to lean on her shoulder, even when you are completely drunk.

It’s about trusting her decisions and prioritizing her wellbeing.

Of course, having a pain relief patch at hand just in case she might need it is also quite nice.

[eyelonah]

Skyline // Music Core 200411  

[eyelonah]

200816 - clean_0828: 더워지는구나아

[eyelonah]

“Find someone nice and get married.”

“You get married.”

[eyelonah]

buddha and mother teresa

[eyelonah]

Songhwa’s visitors

[eyelonah]

When the guys came to check on Songhwa

She stopped working for only one of them ;)

[eyelonah]

Off-screen bits and pieces

[eyelonah]

Songhwa willingly shared the details of her diagnosis with one of her visitors so that he would know as much as someone who attended her result meeting uninvited.

Bonus: Songhwa’s reactions when her visitors left

[eyelonah]

Songhwa’s day-to-day mugs:

Everyone gets to use Songhwa’s day-to-day mugs.

Songhwa’s beautiful gold foil couple mugs:

Reserved for brewing hand drip coffee

For treating herself

Or treating someone special

Sorry, Junwan.

Read more of Songhwa’s coffee rules @ourpsychicfg

[eyelonah]

Songhwa-Jeongwon parallels seen from another character’s POV ②

A surprising side, witnessed by the twin interns

Caring for children that are not their own, witnessed by Ikjun

Coming together, witnessed by Seokhyeong

[eyelonah]

This is the story of a pink plastic lighter.

Remember this scene in episode 10 when Jeongwon was agonizing over a certain decision? By first glance, it seems that he was crushing a cigarette. However, a careful review would suggest that what he was really doing is holding tightly in his palm a pink plastic lighter.

This pink plastic lighter was returned to him by Ikjun, who in episode 9 asked to borrow it, together with 10,000 won and four cigarettes (cue Parasite jingle). Notice that Jeongwon took out cigarettes and the lighter from separate pockets: cigarettes from the inner pocket, the lighter from the outer pocket. For a smoker, it is rather unnatural that he put the lighter not in the same pocket as the cigarettes. Why would he do that? Perhaps he needed the lighter even when he was not smoking. But for what?

A clue to answering the last question is Jeongwon’s line that gave rise to that now famous Parasite-parody. In fact, Jeongwon said that line twice to Ikjun and, both times, he put the emphasis on “one lighter” — not 10,000 won but a plastic lighter that worth much less in pure monetary terms.

Jeongwon put the pink plastic lighter separately from the cigarettes, in the outer pocket of his jacket—a place he can easily reach. He also went extra length to make sure Ikjun remember to return the lighter. Perhaps the lighter is not just any lighter. Perhaps it carries special meaning to him, something he holds onto from time to time, as a keepsake, a reminder of some sort. Now the question becomes what is the significance of this lighter? The scene in episode 10 is not the first time we see Jeongwon in the smoking area of the hospital. We also saw him there in episode 1, together with his older brother.

To be precise, we didn’t really see Jeongwon, we heard him. We heard him light a cigarette with a lighter—the sound it made can only come from a metal lighter with flip lid, not a plastic one. (Go listen, the details of this show are mind-blowing.) It is likely that, the night his father was hospitalized, Jeongwon was not carrying that pink plastic lighter with him...yet.

The thing about lighers is that they don’t just light cigarettes; they light other things too. Such as candles, such as birthday candles, such as the birthday candles for a little girl whom Jeongwon had been treating ever since she was born — Kim Minyeong, after spending all of her three short years with her doctor Ahn Jeongwon, left this world on March 29th, 2019.

Min-yeong’s death had a tremendous impact on Jeongwon. It is not difficult to imagine that he would keep the pink lighter with him — as a reminder of all the birthdays they celebrated together and, perhaps more importantly, all the birthdays that Min-yeong never had the chance to celebrate.

The struggle of Jeongwon has always been the conflict between his two identities: he is God’s child Andrea; he is also one of the only 48 pediatric surgeons in the entire country. The agony that we witnessed him experiencing in episode 10 wasn’t due to any romance, but the choice between his longtime dream of priesthood and the urgent calling of his profession. That pink plastic lighter is a promise he made with himself: to save the next Min-yeong, to make sure that that child will have many many more birthdays to celebrate, healthy and happy.

That is why he chose to stay, as Dr. Ahn Jeongwon.

[eyelonah]

Songhwa (raising eyebrows): Something in your freshman year that I don’t know about?

In that year, someone’s eyes lingered.

Someone was observing from afar.

Someone attempted establishing eye contact.

Someone had a similar reaction as someone else.

Someone ignored the presence of the third person.

Someone tried causal hand-touching.

Someone practiced hard.

So did someone else when she wasn’t trying to casually look back.

So, what else happened in that year?

[eyelonah]

It’s never just about a pain relief patch.

It’s about remembering that, the last time she sat in the back seat when there were five people in the car,

her neck started to hurt immediately afterwards,

and making sure that, in the next five-people-one-car situation, she gets to sit comfortably in the front.

It’s about being ultra aware of the illness that she suffers from, to the point of giving strangers tips on how to avoid it.

It’s about trying your best not to lean on her shoulder, even when you are completely drunk.

It’s about trusting her decisions and prioritizing her wellbeing.

Of course, having a pain relief patch at hand just in case she might need it is also quite nice.

[eyelonah]

How to love a strong independent woman?

Especially a strong independent woman who can set up a tent all by herself, in heavy rain;

who, after discovering a breast lump through self-examination, went to get a biopsy test on her own;

who is well respected in her professional life.

Do make sure her opinion is heard in group talks.

Do ask for her explicit consent.

Do take her no as a no.

Don’t patronize her.

Don’t disregard her will of dealing with things alone.

Don’t question her way of living her own life.

At the end of the day, there really are very few things that such a strong independent woman cannot handle on her own. Hence, loving her is not about what you want to do for her.

It’s about what she let you do for her.

[eyelonah]

“Small things” that are kind of a big deal to Songhwa #3

Camping

An altruistic person tends to cut her/his personal desire down to the minimum so as to avoid potential conflicts between self interests and serving others. For Songhwa, the one thing she does for herself is camping. When asked if she has any selfish or materialistic wish, her reply is a good camping spot.

More than a hobby, camping ties to the core of Songhwa’s identity: being an independent individual. Camping allows her to build a small world of her own, in the midst of the great nature. A small world over which she has total control, where she can temporarily escape into, unwind and be healed.

Building this small world of her own piece by piece brings Songhwa so much joy

and she’s unapologetically proud of it.

If you truly understand her, then the necessity of a wood stove or log racks should be self-explanatory. She shouldn’t need to explain it to you — it’s her own world after all.

So it’s never just about picking up a package. Songhwa can certainly live a fulfilling life on her own. However, if she finally decides to walk this long journey called “life” with another person, I cannot envision a better scenario than the one below.

Here, she’s setting the pace, both hands in her pockets. She’s comfortable, confident. That little world of her own, represented by a wood stove too heavy for her to carry, is being held carefully in the arms of someone who knows her so well and she trusts so much.

[eyelonah]

Plant + Skyline // M Countdown 200409