I love how complicated their situation is - how complicated the main characters' feelings are, how they consist of layers of guilt, disgust, heartbreak, frustration, resentment, and pity, and how both characters slowly, painfully so, unravel as their initially rebound-like toxic situationship transforms from heavy cope to pity, sympathy, and finally, love as they get to know each other beyond their distraction from their own heartbreaks. The form of sympathy takes many shapes, and as Yuri said, love does, too, and each love goes through a different process of formation, so it takes on a different shape every time. Their love grew amidst heartbreak and unrequited feelings, so it's far from perfect, but it's one that has grown deep roots in its soil of egg shells and tears. The moments where Yuri encouraged Seonwoo and his passion for teaching were the clearest proof of his love imo, and were very touching. So was the scene where Seonwoo notices his mother's efforts to understand him, potentially to repair their strained relationship, by reading countless books on parenting - that moment broke me, I sobbed like a little testicle. The push and pull was intense, and so was Yuri's chasing later on - all wrapped in interesting dialogue that pulls you in. They both break down in their own ways, and through conflict, difficulties, and finally understanding, accepted each other at their worst. I feel like what they have is much more authentic than what they could've had with their initial unrequited crushes. Still, I like how the story acknowledges their relationship is taboo as well, given Yuri was Seonwoo's student, and how Seonwoo feels uneasy and guilty about it repeatedly in the story, part of what weighs down on his conscious as he gets closer to him (because there wasn't enough baggage already lol). Their age gap is truly felt in their interactions and how Seonwoo sees himself as an adult who's not good enough for Yuri, both morally, and emotionally, showing his strong sense of responsibility and his harsh self judgement. (Although both didn't translate into his actions a lot because man was a total wreck mentally) His inferiority complex felt so painful at times, and Yuri had to grow more sensitive to it as he removed the layers of judgement, disgust and resentment as to start getting to the core of his own sympathy for Seonwoo. It's also very relatable to me how much Seonwoo struggles with the vulnerability he's shown thus far, having been at his rock bottom with Yuri, and the way this makes him feel deeply ashamed. Seonwoo is already someone who carries a lot of shame, so the fact Yuri witnessed his deepest fall must've been terrifying to him, and maybe that's why it was so hard for Seonwoo to accept Yuri's helping hand, apart from fearing he'll put too much burden on a young adult. Very well written, I'm eating this up.
The sex though - very hot. Their intimacy felt so raw and despite the fact there wasn't much of it overall, it always hit hard when it did showup. Their tension outside of sex was already high enough, so their intimate moments perfectly reflected that.
They got their happy ending, and honestly - good for them, they worked very fucking hard for it. Well, Yuri might have to work on his abandonment issues and codependency, but we shall assume he does at some point...
I love how complicated their situation is - how complicated the main characters' feelings are, how they consist of layers of guilt, disgust, heartbreak, frustration, resentment, and pity, and how both characters slowly, painfully so, unravel as their initially rebound-like toxic situationship transforms from heavy cope to pity, sympathy, and finally, love as they get to know each other beyond their distraction from their own heartbreaks. The form of sympathy takes many shapes, and as Yuri said, love does, too, and each love goes through a different process of formation, so it takes on a different shape every time. Their love grew amidst heartbreak and unrequited feelings, so it's far from perfect, but it's one that has grown deep roots in its soil of egg shells and tears. The moments where Yuri encouraged Seonwoo and his passion for teaching were the clearest proof of his love imo, and were very touching. So was the scene where Seonwoo notices his mother's efforts to understand him, potentially to repair their strained relationship, by reading countless books on parenting - that moment broke me, I sobbed like a little testicle. The push and pull was intense, and so was Yuri's chasing later on - all wrapped in interesting dialogue that pulls you in. They both break down in their own ways, and through conflict, difficulties, and finally understanding, accepted each other at their worst. I feel like what they have is much more authentic than what they could've had with their initial unrequited crushes. Still, I like how the story acknowledges their relationship is taboo as well, given Yuri was Seonwoo's student, and how Seonwoo feels uneasy and guilty about it repeatedly in the story, part of what weighs down on his conscious as he gets closer to him (because there wasn't enough baggage already lol). Their age gap is truly felt in their interactions and how Seonwoo sees himself as an adult who's not good enough for Yuri, both morally, and emotionally, showing his strong sense of responsibility and his harsh self judgement. (Although both didn't translate into his actions a lot because man was a total wreck mentally) His inferiority complex felt so painful at times, and Yuri had to grow more sensitive to it as he removed the layers of judgement, disgust and resentment as to start getting to the core of his own sympathy for Seonwoo. It's also very relatable to me how much Seonwoo struggles with the vulnerability he's shown thus far, having been at his rock bottom with Yuri, and the way this makes him feel deeply ashamed. Seonwoo is already someone who carries a lot of shame, so the fact Yuri witnessed his deepest fall must've been terrifying to him, and maybe that's why it was so hard for Seonwoo to accept Yuri's helping hand, apart from fearing he'll put too much burden on a young adult. Very well written, I'm eating this up.
The sex though - very hot. Their intimacy felt so raw and despite the fact there wasn't much of it overall, it always hit hard when it did showup. Their tension outside of sex was already high enough, so their intimate moments perfectly reflected that.
They got their happy ending, and honestly - good for them, they worked very fucking hard for it. Well, Yuri might have to work on his abandonment issues and codependency, but we shall assume he does at some point...