Between The Lines Chapter 87 Thoughts
My all over the place reaction to chapter 87. Your bag of medication is here. Please don't choke on it, sir.
The contrast between their first time and whatever is happening now is stark. Would you rather stay alone all your life or take a chance at affection you aren't sure is purely genuine? Question of the hour for Juheon.
Hodot, whereever you are in this world thank you for not dropping this story. I need to see the conclusion to this like I can't look away from a trainwreck. The personal trainwreck between two people in love. Dohu barged in sweating brcause he is getting all the exercise he hasn't done in years. The exercise then turned into a sex quota. Caretaking or the hospital? When your ex offers you two choices pick the third option. Listen to your ex and rest. By rest, I did not mean sex. Did I stutter?
They really love their lack of personal boundaries even in hostility. The plan is not very reassuring, Juheon as much as I'm proud of you for standing up to your aunt. God, the aunt. It's so incriminating when we saw the note last chapter "I'm watching you because I "care" about you". She was not watching out of care; she was watching for a weakness to exploit.
Even if you did care for him with that meager 1% of hesitation, It's worth nothing now. The trust is gone. That relationship is in shambles. Not to mention I still haven't forgive her for last chapter. She convinced, for all intent and purposes, an eager teen to visit his estranged mother, only to bring him to his mother's memorial hall without warning. That's messed up.
We then have an ex barging in after Juheon saw the person he least wants to see. I love you Dohu but I am not really sure we need this much dark energy right now. Juheon is already sitting in a puddle of depression. He would call it quits on his life subscription if he could. This man is very done with what life has to offer.
Dohu's version of medication is concern disguised as recklessness leading to boldness. Baek Dohu is the cause of much hurt as he is the cause of much happiness time and time again. This time, he summoned his youthful vengeance streak to break through the door. He also blocked it, which I like, because we know Juheon has a tendency to run out the door when things get emotional.
No running away this time, Juheon...unless you want to knock your ex boyfriend down, and you would never even if you're a bit rough sometimes. You know what? Revise that Dohu. You gently knock Juheon down and lock the door. We need to keep this man down, or he will definitely run away again. What plan, Juheon? The supposed plan ran through vengeance and self destruction then came up empty. If I were to give him benefit of the doubt with how emotionally unstable he is it's a miracle he is able to still even plot.
People can never calculate all the risks. Juheon, you not have it handled. You wouldn't be sitting alone in denial otherwise. What you're doing is not handling it, but suppressing and breaking yourself down. This is not how you find peace. Sometimes you just have to jump into things...then again, the last time he jumped into a relationship he ended up heartbroken and alone for four years living for revenge. I still think the pain was worth it for a brief chance at genuine happiness depsite the pain.
We then have the denial. The past is not gone, and you know it, Seo Juheon. Both of them woulden't be so affected everytime they're in close proximity otherwise. Your denial is turning into a hill at this point, and no one is buying it, least of all your ex. The problem is Baek Dohu just doesn't know how to handle it. They lash out at each other with all these negative emotions they can't name. I was yelling, "Abort! Abort!" the whole time Dohu was talking about how much Juheon resembles his aunt. Add obliviousness onto those negative consequences please.
You know he doesn't like his aunt. You're stabbing his heart every single time you dig that dagger in deeper. That was not the right call. He needed to stop talking but then in Dohu fashion just got worse. It got worse when I saw the unimpressed look on Dohu's face. This is when you realize he is lied. This was exactly what Juheon despised. Remember how much your ex hated liars? One of the reasons why you broke up. The concern is genuine but the process to get to it drives me and your ex crazy.
He is hitting beats after beat on the wrong key. Dohu stop!!! At this point he is pushing Juheon into an emotional breakdown. Look at this man. He is so worried he is on the last vestiges of his feral concern. Not the kind that needs the hospital, but the kind that needs a heart transplant cause everything he feels is draining him dry. Dohu is usually so straightforward.
Why does he keep going around in circles around the one person that actually matters? He keeps reciprocating Juheon's concern with lies of omission that unknowingly trigger him on repeat. If we didn't know Dohu's perspective, this is cruelty. The shock on Juheon's face was not worth it at all. Dohu, can you not see this man is hurting from your words? You unknowingly trigger him and he feels decieved over and over again in a cycle.
This time is different because juheon is returning false affections with that kiss. Whether he realizes it or not, Dohu accidentally weaponized affection against Juheon. Juheon is doing the same cause he is grasping at straws at this point. He resorted to using his own words against him. I thought they had already met five times but I guess those weren't official. That, or these two idiots, for all they say, actually want to keep seeing each other.
I do like how we coulden't see Juheon's eyes when he finally kissed him. Dohu momentarily melts into it, but Juheon's expression is hidden so his intentions are a mystery. It didn't work in pushing him away last time. and it's not going to work this time either. I can't tell if Juheon truly believes sex is Dohu's end goal or he is just using that as an excuse to cope. It's complicated to justify why a person that claims to care about you keeps hurting you. Sex is, in a sense, a way of connection for Dohu. I don't think It's going to come across that way this time. It 's turning into something else entirely. I hope they don't lose that remainder of connection too.
Four years of repression can kill two men not ready for another chance at romance. We already reiterated Dohu is terrible at showing how he cares and now we got hate sex (not really) on the agenda. Juheon, you got a storm coming your way. This is you'd call dangerous foreplay where we get frustrated concern disguised as a transactional sex deal. By Dohu's yearly exercise, I didn't mean sex but here are are.
It's a disaster. A compelling one, but still a disaster nonetheless. Someone stick them back together, but not in this way. At this point, I'm not sure how I feel about this progression. Anticipation was desperate reunion sex, but as the title says don't mix business deals and carnal pleasures, because it's a trainwreck. You thought four years apart was bad next chapter is going to kill us and them.
I wish we had like a discord or something for this manhwa. There is no place to rant anywhere.