"Ate Taeyeon, nagmahal ka na ba?"

Taeyeon almost spit out her coffee at Joohyun's question.

The two met as she accompanied Joohyun to Escolta. The latter was doing some research for something she would like to do for Seulgi and asked Taeyeon to go with her. Hyoyeon just shook her head at the music teacher when she heard how she acceded to Joohyun's request and told her - "Epic katangahan erp," while her father told her - "Do what will bring your heart peace."

Now she's staring at Joohyun, unaware of what to say, not because she doesn't know the answer, but because she knows the answer will be - 

"Nagmamahal pa rin. Minamahal pa rin. Ang minamahal mo rin."

She could not of course, say that. 

The thing is, she could have easily put Joohyun in her place when she returned, years after, asking about how Seulgi has been, saying that she wants to try again and seek a possible second chance with her.

She could have told Joohyun - who are you to just waltz back into her life after ripping her heart into pieces with your sudden absence?

Who are you to break the heart of the woman I love?

But their lives - and circumstances - are not crude elements for another Filipino teleserye, where one party is vilified, while the other is glorified, with the conflict illumined and punctuated with a slap on the cheek, or with the two pulling each other's hair out, or lines that both make you guffaw, raise your eyebrow or just