Geum-Myeong comes home to see her mother in When Life Gives You Tangerines Episode 15. She takes many fruits before she leaves. Ae-Sun perceives that her daughter is in financial trouble. She’s told that Geum-Myeong resigned and she started a business.
Episodes 15-16
Ae-Sun doesn’t have time to scold her daughter. She finds out that her son’s fingers are bandaged. She kept reminding him that he needs to wear gloves when he takes care of the ice. She’s furious to scold her children for bringing trouble to family.
She thinks Geum-Myeong should give birth instead of starting a business. The mother’s words ignite Geum-Myeong’s anger. She doesn’t wish her children to be poor like her. She thinks she’s not luck like her sister-in-law who has a rich father. Her words make Gwan-Sik sad. He returns to his room. He decides to earn money for his children.
He sells his only vegetable field and he buys a store at the place where nobody will come. The couple takes the sea women to see the store. Gwan-Sik mentions what the realtor said that the place will be built a golf course. He thinks he will get many customers.
The people arrive at the destination soon. There’s a mall on the uncultivated land. Ae-Sun and Gwan-Sik decorate the store. They expect the grand occasion after the golf course opens. It’s their first time to take the risk. They need to sell their apartment if there’s nobody visiting their store.
Ae-Sun and Gwan-Sik are tricked by the realtor. The land is a wasteland. Nobody will buy it even if they sell it cheap. The problem is that they need to continue to pay back the bank. They’re frustrated with life again. Geum-Myeong borrows a lot of money for repaying for her parents.
She’s the big sister. She’s the pillar of the family. But the identities get on top of her. It’s really heavy. She needs money as well. But she sent 100,000 won home every month at least after she got a job. It wasn’t because she was grateful. She did it because she felt guilty for her parents.
Her parents sent her to go abroad to study. But what she got is the guilt she cannot get away. Gwan-Sik is furious to yell at Geum-Myeong. It’s his first time to speak loudly to her. They care for each other but they hurt each other.
Geum-Myeong leaves. The couple sees the ultrasound photo on the fridge and an apology letter. Geum-Myeong is painful when she gives birth. The nurse is serious to tell Chung-Seob that he needs to make a choice between the mother and the baby.
Geum-Myeong gives birth to the first child in her life. She knows her mother’s hardship after she became a mother. How did Ae-Sun give births in the hard times? It’s the last month of winter when Geum-Myeong gives birth to her daughter. Spring is coming.
Ae-Sun and Gwan-Sik sit on the mountain full of flowers. They plan for their future. Gwan-Sik decides to go to make a delivery. He thinks it will bring some business to the restaurant. The effort of the whole family moves the heaven. They’re not frustrated this time. The customers like to buy their squid. Geum-Myeong starts an agency.
The most exciting thing is that the popular actress Mi-In visits their restaurant. She endorses for them. She never ate seafood. She came for Gwan-Sik. Ten years ago, she was mired in a scandal. She wanted to end her life ever. Gwan-Sik was the one who called an ambulance for her and he covered her face. It avoided more opinion.
Returns are not based on luck. It’s the kindness planted one day. There’re many customers coming to the restaurant from that day on. It’s first time Ae-Sun tastes the fun of earning big money. She’s not tired at all when she sees the money goes into the cash register.
Geum-Myeong is thirty-seven years old. She cannot take care of herself and her daughter. She needs Ae-Sun’s help. The daughter keeps bringing trouble in the morning. She can only wear her clothes well after she was told ten times. She will only swallow the food after she chewed it one hundred times. Being a mother is so hard.
Geum-Myeong learns that her daughter throws a fit every morning because she doesn’t wish her to go to work so fast. Her daughter is a simple child. She just wishes her mother to spend more time with her. You can only understand a mother when you become a mother.
Geum-Myeong wants to return the favor to her parents. She takes them to the hospital for a full medical checkup. Gwan-Sik calls Dong-Myeong. The child has been a thorn in the couple’s heart. They didn’t mention it because they worried that they will hurt each other.
Ae-Sun would go to pay her respect to Dong-Myeong on his birthday. Gwan-Sik went to the place before his wife. They have been like that. Today is the first time that they gather in front of Dong-Myeong’s grave. Ae-Sun will remember her son there each time. The grave is very clean. She touches it and she talks with him. She doesn’t know the man who owns iron heart is crying under the tree.
Spring hasn’t passed. But a huge storm comes. It gives a strike to the family. The test results are in. Gwan-Sik gets a bone marrow cancer. It progresses to kidney failure. He needs to go to the hospital for undergoing chemotherapy. He cannot walk because of the pain. Ae-Sun holds him up.
Another spring. There’re a lot of flowers. Ae-Sun doesn’t want to enjoy the flowers. She’s careful to stare at her husband. They go to the hospital. But the nurses are cold to Ae-Sun because she doesn’t know the medical procedure. Gwan-Sik throws a fit because of it. He scolds Geum-Myeong who’s late. He doesn’t allow her to leave her mother alone.
His temper comes for the care to Ae-Sun. He takes a look at the alone old lady in the hospital. He worries that the lonely will be Ae-Sun’s future. Today is Geum-Myeong’s job to accompany her father. The father and the daughter have a talk all night.
Gwan-Sik begins the story from the yellow fish. He refines a word that is love. It’s the love that he doesn’t wish Ae-Sun to live alone in the world. The person who’s in love doesn’t wish himself to leave first. Who will take care of you if I leave?
Gwan-Sik chooses to spend the rest of time at home. The childish Eun-Myeong grows up. He remembers the things that he neglected when he was a kid. He yelled and he asked for having a birthday. Gwan-Sik was strict to take him away. But he bought him a present and he took him to the restaurant. He promised to celebrate his birthday every year.
Eun-Myeong knew his father’s love early. He selectively remembered the family’s neglect to him. He forgot that love doesn’t have to speak it loudly. Geum-Myeong’s project runs well. She becomes a famous tutor. She’s on the stage. She tells the people that the idea of her project came from her mother. She thinks her mother would make it if she went to the school. The courage that she created the project came from his father’s unrelenting spirit. It made her hang in there.
The family welcomes a new news. There’s a book publishing Ae-Sun’s poems. She takes a big step towards her dream. The poems carry their past. Gwan-Sik hugs the book tightly. He doesn’t want to let it go. He thinks it will be good if the time stops. But it’s heartless and it passes very fast.
Gwan-Sik is going to die. He cannot promise Ae-Sun that he will hang in there for one year. He’s gentle to pat her on the back like he did it when she was a child. Fortunately, the family accompanies him. He leaves the world without any regret. He sees the sadness of his family.
Ae-Sun sends away the man who has protected her all his life. The money Geum-Myeong sent home Gwan-Sik never touched. He left it in the bankbook. It returns to the owner now. Gwan-Sik bought a Mercedes Benz. It’s the present he left to Eun-Myeong.
There’re many hairpins in the drawer. It was bought by Gwan-Sik when he was in love with Ae-Sun. It’s more precious than the treasure chest full of gold. It’s concealed his endless love. It’s hard to forget an inseparable person. Gwan-Sik’s shadow is always at home. He moved the stuff to the places that Ae-Sun can reach before he left. But he’s too busy. He doesn’t appear in her dream.
Ae-Sun returns to Jeju Island. She teaches some old ladies to write poetry and paint pictures. She goes to the sea and she calls her mother like she did when she was a child. She wonders if there’s a second life. Her mother wanted to be a boss. She wonders if her mother got the identity that sitting in the office.
SEE ALSO: When Life Gives You Tangerines Episodes 13-14 Recap
Ae-Sun publishes a collection of poems. The chief editor Chloe Lee says that it recorded the stories that makes her cry. She was the one who found the ring on Jeju Island and she was the one who took her mother to look for Ae-Sun in the market. She grows up and she doesn’t know why she thinks the stories are familiar. The people in the photo are very friendly. She cries when she looks at the poems sometimes.