In the middle of an intense book, readers sometimes turn to the last page to find out how it will end. If it's going to be a bad ending for the characters, sometimes it helps to know and that knowledge is what it takes to keep reading.
It has definitely gotten to that point in "Secret Love Affair." And despite the fact that the couple's relationship is no longer a secret, k-dramas rarely end in divorce. If you look at recent k-dramas, comedies and melodramas alike, very few couples no matter how unhappy they are, ever split up for good.
In "God's Gift - 14 Days," Lee Bo Young's character can no longer trust her husband but the drama did not end with her leaving him for her new best friend played by Jo Seung Woo. In "One Warm Word," both couples were on the verge of divorce but reconciled. In "Emergency Couple" and "Cunning Single Lady," couples that have already signed the divorce papers and supposedly moved on, got back together. Miraculously they rediscovered their original feelings and fell in love again.
So, no matter how unhappy Oh Hye Won's marriage is, odds are she is not going to leave her immature dependent husband.
So what's left for the lovers, played by Kim Hee Ae and Yoo Ah In? It would be nice to imagine they ran away and spent their lives playing piano together. But the odds are they won't wind up together. And that would be true to life as couples with such a large age difference rarely make it work for the long run.
Even considering the fictional world's treatment of such love stories, it's likely that she will sacrifice her feelings and force a break up. He's really truly in love with her but it's his first love and he's young and idealistic. She will either push him away in a convincing way or introduce him to someone his own age that he can more suitably fall in love with.
All we can hope as viewers is that it does not end tragically, that no one will die and that Yoo Ah In's character will continue on to fame as a piano prodigy. Already the opportunistic wolves are circling the couple and are attempting to use the relationship to blackmail Oh Hye Won.
At the very least, viewers can hope that Oh Hye Won will be freed from her abusive work situation and find happiness again playing the piano.
How do you hope the story will end? Are you wishing against all odds for a happy ending like we are? Let us know.