Our Sticky Love Episode 7 Recap

Who's in the cast:
Jung Hae-in as Jang Tae-ha
Ha Young as Go Eun-sae
Heo Sung-tae as Baek Sang-gil
Jang Hye-jin as Pang Hui-ja

In Gujin Taffy Village, where she has lived since losing her memory, Go Eun-sae dreams that Jang Tae-ha, the boxing coach who says he is her boyfriend, bids her goodbye. She wakes up sure the wedding is off, because he does not even like her. Tae-ha, for his part, believes her memory came back last night and his act has to stop.

Goodbye over a misunderstanding

In the morning, Eun-sae tells Tae-ha to stop pretending he cares, because she now knows what kind of man he really is. He takes that as proof her memory is back. He apologizes: pretending they dated was the only way to bring her here, since he could not leave her alone. She hears pity. He tells her she must leave, says he has found her a place for next week, and claims he has gone back to his old self. She asks whether everything was fake, all an act. He says yes, twice.

When Tae-ha comes back from a pharmacy run, Eun-sae is gone, and she has left her phone behind. He fears she is heading for the prosecutors' office in Seoul, which is crime boss Baek Sang-gil's turf. Someone suggests checking the cameras between the house and town.

Then the village women descend, ready to console Eun-sae and scold Tae-ha for leading her on. Yesterday they told her Tae-ha never meant to marry her, that he kept her out of pity because she has nowhere to go, and that he does not see her that way. Yeong-sil from the pub heard Eun-sae demanding to know why he did all that if he would not marry her. Tae-ha realizes she was not drinking because her memory returned. It is all a misunderstanding.

At the Gujin-gun Office, the county office, Eun-sae tells a clerk she has amnesia, no identity and no family, and asks for a government facility. Gujin has none, the clerk explains. She would stay at a temporary shelter in Dangjin, then move to a self-support center.

The race to the county office

The camera footage shows Eun-sae getting into a taxi the women recognize as Dal-su's. Tae-ha drives a carload of villagers after her so recklessly that one passenger begs to live long enough to see Kim Pil-seung get married. The office gates are locked. Tae-ha vaults them.

The same day, Eun-sae's doctor, An Gi-jun, meets Gwak Chi-hyeon, the mayor's former aide, who is searching for someone he calls Ji-won. Gwak says she is his girlfriend, missing for over a month, and scrolls through photos as proof. Her guards, investigators and fellow prosecutors all knew about them, he adds. Gi-jun catches on the word prosecutor.

At the county office, Tae-ha bursts in just as the clerk asks whether Eun-sae truly has no one. He is her husband, he announces, and she is not alone. The villagers file in behind him as her self-appointed sisters, little brother and brother-in-law. The women confess and apologize. The pity remark was about his dog, and the line about not seeing her that way was about nurse Min Su-ji.

Tae-ha admits he is still so nervous he can barely breathe. He held back on marriage because everything she knows about the two of them came from him. If she still feels the same once her memory returns, he asks her to "give me permission to marry you." She checks that he does not hate her and that she can stay. He tells her to come home.

At home, light pink roses are everywhere, ordered right after Eun-sae praised the color the morning before. She protests that she only meant a bouquet. Someone remarks that Tae-ha has no middle ground: only gold in the ring, always last at school. The women stage a mock bridal portrait among the flowers, then leave with advice for the couple's first night alone.

Over a bottle, Tae-ha reminds Eun-sae that they once drank together under cherry blossoms in Japan. She wishes her memory would hurry, since only he remembers the good parts. His harsh words this morning sounded so real, she admits, that she thought he hated their time in Taffy Village. He only hopes it never turns into a painful memory, even if she stops liking him. That will never happen, she says. Asked why he likes her, he says he simply has no interest in other women, and she makes him a little strange. She feels the same, likes him more than Cha Eun-woo, the singer and actor, and has made his name her new email password.

Gi-jun comes knocking

That night, Gi-jun turns up at Tae-ha's door, angry. He knows Eun-sae is Go Ji-won, an anti-corruption prosecutor in Seoul, because he has just met Gwak, who is looking for her. He calls it a crime, then sums up Tae-ha's explanation. Tae-ha was supposed to kill her but saved her, posed as her boyfriend to protect her, and took her treatment seriously because she would only agree to flee once she remembered. Tae-ha warns that Gwak is one of Sang-gil's men and will report to him if he learns she is alive.

A flashback shows how Gi-jun ended the meeting. He claimed he had the wrong woman, a namesake who had hurt many people, and blamed a private investigator for the mix-up. He tells Tae-ha they were never close at school, the top student and the bottom one, but he knows Tae-ha is not a bad guy. He wanted to hear him out before choosing between Gwak and the police.

If her memory never returns, Tae-ha says, he will have to force her to leave, though it will crush her. Gi-jun notes that treatment has already brought pieces back, including Gwak, and suggests surrounding her with things from her past. On his way out, he asks whether women really like roses and takes one.

Elsewhere, Gwak tells Sang-gil that Prosecutor Go may be hurt or kidnapped. The man he met reacted to her photos, he insists, and he wants that man's number traced.

The next morning, Eun-sae scolds herself for passing out drunk on such an important night, and wonders whether the two men fought over her. At An Mental Health Clinic, she tells Gi-jun she is in a common-law marriage and really likes Tae-ha, so they should stay doctor and patient. A flustered Gi-jun says she is not his type. He likes innocent eyes that slant like clock hands at twenty past eight. Hers read thirteen past nine, and his bad neck rules out tall women. She walks out before treatment.

Pil-seung's bargain

The village women are deep in a game of go-stop, the Korean flower-card game, when Pil-seung marches over. Pang Hui-ja has kept her son unscratched for 17 years and refuses to watch anyone hit him. He argues that brains plus boxing will stop people calling him empty-headed. Their deal is a good mock exam in exchange for her blessing. His report card says fifth in the whole school, up from last. Hui-ja gives in. The nationals are in two days, he reveals, and he never skipped training while he studied. She keeps her promise but says she will not go.

Meanwhile, the mayor tells Sang-gil that word has reached him: Go Ji-won survived and is holding a knife to their throats. He knows because he had his former aide tailed. His party is grooming him for president, and he warns Sang-gil not to dirty his path to the house of the rose of Sharon, by which he means the presidential residence. Sang-gil's reply: "I buried 11 corpses under the roots of that rose of Sharon." If he digs, they all come out. He is already looking for her.

Later, Eun-sae wants to cheer for Pil-seung at his match. Tae-ha starts to say it is too dangerous, then remembers Gi-jun's advice and agrees. She spots a medal he got back thanks to his first love and warns him she is the jealous type. A teasing exchange about sharing a bed ends with one of them asking for a few days to prepare.

Taffy fists at the nationals

At the 107th National Sports Festival high school boxing tournament, the women arrive with confetti as the aunties who changed Pil-seung's diapers. His taffy fists carry him through the round of 16, the quarterfinals and the semifinals, the announcer calling knockouts. In the final against Choi Won-uk of Yongdeok High, he is hurt and bleeding. The technical delegate moves to rule it a loss by decision.

Eun-sae objects. Citing Article 2 of the Civil Act, she argues that organizers owe athletes a good-faith duty of protection, and threatens to sue. In the waiting room, the villagers marvel that she sounded like a judge or a prosecutor. The words just flew out, she says, and maybe she was a pro of some kind before. A prodigy, someone offers, or properly scary.

Pil-seung refuses to settle for silver and demands the rematch today. Hui-ja, it seems, storms past a no-entry sign despite vowing to stay home, and tells the officials her boy fights today, whatever the medal. In his corner, Pil-seung hears that losing is fine, because not giving up is already gold. Then he wins the final by knockout.

Hui-ja is in tears. A rematch on another day would have made her cry twice, Pil-seung explains, and seeing her there is why he won. She scolds him and asks why she ever gave birth to him. "So you could see me win a gold medal, of course," he replies. She tells him she is proud and sorry she never knew. The barbecue is on Hui-ja.

Afterward, Eun-sae says the arena seems familiar. Tae-ha says it is his favorite, because he met his first love there. Then a memory surfaces for her: a handsome guy, long ago, who called himself a future gold medalist and whom she kept looking back at. He should drop the first-love talk, she tells Tae-ha, because she had one too.

Eun-sae tells Tae-ha she is off to work at the taffy workshop. The episode ends with her picking up a watch and asking Sang-gil, a stranger to her now, whether it is his.

Up next: Our Sticky Love Episode 8 Recap. See every episode in the Our Sticky Love episode guide.