The episode begins with a woman standing in front of a car determinedly. She gazes with red eyes at the young man inside who also looks at her as both of them reminisce their memories. All of a sudden, the man starts the car, speeding towards the woman as if to hit her. We hear a screeching sound and then a flash back to how everything started.
The woman is Soo hyun, a successful writer, the only korean to win a Rosaline prize. She has a happy home, a loving husband and a son, a miracle child whom she birthed after four miscarriages. She has a happy life and in a voice over, she talked about a particular day which she thought was so perfect nothing could go wrong but it was a day that changed her entire life.
Soo hyun is having a nice drive with her manager Yuri. They stop at the airport and Yuri talks to her about her schedule but Soo hyun wants her to rest from her responsibilities, telling her not to call her. She is even kind enough to give her permission to wear a very expensive dress to a wedding. Yuri is grateful to her as they bid each other farewell.
The next scene cuts to Suho, Soo hyun’s husband in their living room. He gets notified about something and sees people saying negative things about his news report. He flashbacks to his time as a reporter when he was going against a powerful politician, trying to expose his corrupt ways but no one in the company was in support of him and his superior thought he could lose everything if he kept pursuing this. Disillusioned, Suho ends up quitting.
The flashback ends as he plays a video of Soo hyun during her fan meeting. As he’s watching, his son Gunwoo comes to him, happy to see his mother on the screen but then he asks to see his father’s videos as well. Suho says they are boring but Gunwoo insists, getting excited when Suho opens a video of himself. His son praises him, calling him the best. But as Suho hugs him, he notices that something is wrong as he feels his temperature.
Soo hyun is waiting at the airport for her flight when Suho calls to tell her Gunwoo is sick. He is scared because the last time they ignored his fever, he ended up in the emergency ward. Suho asks her for his medicine and Soo hyun tells him where it is. Moments later, Soo hyun is extremely bothered because she can’t get in touch with Suho. She calls her mom but no reply. She remembers that she had told her manager/sister not to call her. So, filled with fear, Soo hyun hurries back. She is relieved to see her son in the garden looking well.
He welcomes her sweetly and says he is fine after his dad gave him his medicine. He then tells Soo hyun that since her birthday is coming up soon, he wants to sing her a birthday song. He takes her tablet and shyly tells her not to watch him make the video. Soo hyun then leaves him in the garden and heads inside to see Suho.
He is in the kitchen and looks quite nervous but happy to see her but Soo hyun quickly notices he’s hiding something. When she finds out it’s depression pills, she feels terrible. Suho tells her he’s been taking it since he quit the news station. Soo hyun sympathizes with him feeling guilty for not noticing what he’s been going through this whole time. She tells him he was honorable for what he did back then. As they are hugging, they hear their dog barking outside. Feeling concerned, they both rush outside to find out what’s wrong but then they discover Gunwoo is missing. They search everywhere for him and Soo hyun falls into a devastating state when she discovers one of Gunwoo’s shoes lying on the corner of the street. Soo hyun and Suho search until night but there’s no sign of Gunwoo. The police cannot find him.
Soo hyun then sees a group of people and some police cars gathered at a distance close to the street. She goes over there and to her shock, sees Gunwoo all bloodied and unconscious as the police are wheeling him inside the ambulance. Soo hyun fights through the crowd to get to him wailing painfully at her son’s state.
Gunwoo is immediately taken to surgery. Soo hyun idles outside the surgery room scared and devastated. Her sister Yuri who is also manager is at the restaurant with their mother who just packed Soo hyun food for her birthday. Yuri then receives a call from Soo hyun telling her the news and she’s left in utter shock.
Suho is trying to comfort Soo hyun who is blaming herself for her son’s accident. Yuri and Soo hyun’s mother meet them at the hospital. They are both in tears and Soo hyun tries telling them to calm down, that Gun woo would make it. But then, the surgical room opens and the surgeons start coming out one by one looking exhausted. The main surgeon then calls the family’s attention and tells them that Gun woo’s situation is critical. If he had been brought to the hospital in time, he might have had a good chance of survival. She tells them to prepare for the worst. Yuri and her mother break down. Suho pleads with the doctor tearfully to save Gunwoo’s life. But Soo hyun is blank, as if all life has drifted away from her.
Days pass
Soo hyun’s mother Go Eun meets her sitting in the intensive care unit. Go Eun is heartbroken over her grandchild as Soo hyun refuses to give up on Gunwoo. She wants to take him to another hospital but her mother tries to convince her that it would be too much on Gunwoo. She pleads with Soo hyun to let him go. But Soo hyun refuses. Her mother then yells at her for being greedy. Gun woo is in pain, his body covered in needles. Still, he’s hanging on so Soo hyun can say her goodbyes to him. She begs her not to make Gunwoo suffer anymore.
Next, we see Soo hyun threading wearily towards Gunwoo’s ward. As she’s walking, she thinks of all her moments with him, as a baby, when he first learned to walk, her keeping late nights to soothe his crying, when she removed his broken teeth and then, celebrating his sixth birthday.
She finally arrives at his room and sees him in a terrible state strapped up to machines. She asks a nurse for a nail clip. Moments later, we see her clipping Gunwoo’s nails. When she’s done, she pets his hand and begs that he should wake up and come home with her, crying tearfully that they were meant to go to a picnic but as if Gunwoo was just waiting to hear her voice, the machine suddenly stops beeping and he dies. Soo hyun’s pain cannot even be described. Suho rushes in moments later crying out Gunwoo’s name.
Next, we see people gathered to bury Gunwoo. They are all crying soulfully. Soo hyun is on the ground clutching the urn containing Gunwoo’s cremated ashes as the grave diggers dig at the ground. She thinks about Gunwoo when they were together under the stars. He had told her he wanted to be a star and Soo hyun jokingly responded she didn’t like that because they would be far apart.( Note the symbolism here)
Now, Soo hyun is unable to let go of the urn but Suho and her mother calm her down before Suho takes the urn and cries bitterly, drops it into the ground. Soo hyun looks on in deep agony as the urn is buried while her mother wraps her arms around her.
That night, Suho, Soohyun and her mother are driving back home when they stop at the spot where Gunwoo was hit. People had placed a candle light procession there along with gifts and notes to honor Gunwoo. This only makes Soo hyun more emotional as she wails on the spot where Gunwoo’s body was found. Suho and her mother look on, also breaking down in tears as Soo hyun’s cries echo into the night.
Later, we see the news reporting on the accident. The man responsible is being arrested and led out of the station in cuffs. Apparently, he had hit Gunwoo in his car and then carried him before dumping him on the roadside thereby missing the golden hour to save his life. Now, people are on the streets protesting that harsher punishments be instilled for child related accidents.
During the court trial, the surgeon that had operated on Gunwoo testified that if he had been brought to the hospital on time, his life would have been saved. Then the opposing lawyer objects that the accused had wanted to bring him to the hospital but after finding out the boy wouldn’t make it, had abandoned him out of fear but still turned himself in. Soo hyun is then questioned and the lawyer paints her out as a neglectful mother who abandoned her sick son, forgetting to close the door when she got back home. If it weren’t for her carelessness, none of this would have happened.
Next, we see Soo hyun and Suho dealing with their loss. Suho is devastated while registering his son’s death and Soo hyun wanders around aimlessly, seeing Gunwoo’s mirage everywhere she goes.
At the final hearing, the accused is found not guilty but is sentenced only two years of which he will be suspended for four years meaning he will only serve his sentence after four years. Suho goes crazy after the unfair verdict. He rushes to hit the accused Suwoo but he is restrained by the police. Suwoo then makes a show of repentance, even kneeling in the middle of the courtroom filled with cameras to show remorse.
Meanwhile, Soo hyun just sits there blankly even as the courtroom clears up and night arrives. As for Suho, he’s been locked up in jail.
That night, Suwoo comes out from a cab. He’s on the phone thanking a certain congressman for getting his sentence suspended. We then see the congressman in a plain looking restaurant. He tells Suwoo that a captain has to take care of his crew on the ship while he’s watching a news report about the case on tv. The conversation ends and the Congressman pays for his meal. He leaves the restaurant to meet his escorts waiting for him outside.
In the next scene, we see Suwoo coming out of a cake shop. He is holding a cake in his hand as he talks to his wife on the phone. He tells his wife that he was freed and that he doesn’t want to bother himself about a dead kid. But he is shocked when Soo hyun suddenly appears before him with her son’s picture frame and with bloodshot red eyes. She tells him to apologize.
Suwoo, flustered, says he was already punished by the court but Soo hyun tells him tearfully to apologize to her son because he never did. Suwoo then laughs mockingly and tells her he is no longer responsible for what happened but offers to give her money saying she’s lucky to meet someone like him. But Soo hyun continues to plead. Suwoo pushes her away ruthlessly but she still grabs his leg begging him to apologize. It would be unfair to her son if he just keeps living his life as if nothing happened. However, without remorse, Suwoo shouts that he has lost a lot of business deals because of her son, saying he should have gotten hit somewhere else, not with his car.
Soo hyun stiffens in shock at Suwoo’s lack of remorse. He tells her not to make a big deal of it, then gives her his card and leaves her there on the ground. Small snow starts to fall as Soo hyun cries then she takes the portrait of her son that had broken during the debacle. She slowly gets up hugging the picture to her chest as she enters the car. She starts the car and speeds towards Suwoo. Just as he turns around with shock in his eyes, the car collides into him and we see him spinning in the air and landing behind her car, blood pooling around him.
Meanwhile, Soo hyun sits breathlessly in her car with Suwoo’s body lying on the ground behind her. She tightens her fist on the steering wheel and we hear a voice over of Soo hyun saying this is her answer.
The episode ends.
I definitely didn’t expect this ending and I’m looking forward to the next episode.