The Heirs

Chapter 14

Eun-sang calls Chan-young to tell him about Bo-na thinking of her friend, and he admits that he had a hard time keeping himself from turning around when she was being so cute today with her fake injury. Eun-sang tells him to let it go before he loses Bo-na to someone else.

Madam Han comes into the kitchen to find Mom writing a list of things that the new housekeeper ought to do, and freaks out that Mom’s jumping the gun on leaving. I love that she takes it so personally like she’s being dumped.

But they’re interrupted when Rachel makes a surprise visit to see Madam Han, acting the part of the sweet fiancée. She says she has no intention of breaking her engagement to Tan, and calls her “mother” respectfully, which shocks Madam Han.

The thing Rachel really wants to know is why she posed as Eun-sang’s mother at the PTA meeting, and Madam Han just says the two moms are friends, which is why Tan is nice to Eun-sang at all.

Rachel seems to buy the explanation for the time being, except on her way out of the house, she sees Eun-sang’s school uniform hanging on the clothesline, with her nametag in the pocket. Argh.

Eun-sang panics when she finds her uniform gone, and marches over to Rachel first thing in the morning to demand her stuff back. Rachel says it’s in the trash, and watches spitefully as Eun-sang digs her way through the school trash to find the uniform her mother bought her.

She finally finds it, and Rachel confronts her about everything—being the housekeeper’s daughter, living under one roof with Tan, and playing the nouveau riche at school. She acts like it’s a personal affront to her that Eun-sang is poor, and orders her to clean up the trash with the skills she learned from her mother.

At that, Eun-sang slaps Rachel across the face, and when Rachel raises a hand to retaliate, she blocks her hand defiantly. I’m sorry—Fesity Eun-sang, where have you been all this time? Suddenly you can fight your own battles? Okay, I won’t dwell on it. I’m just happy you’re here.

Eun-sang growls at her that nobody insults her mother, and bites back, “Is that what your mother taught you?” Rachel fumes and tells her that she’ll do whatever it takes to make her transfer out of this school, including telling the whole world about Tan’s birth secret.

Rachel says that Young-do might not want to share the secret, but she has no such qualms, and will make them both pay if she can’t have Tan. Eun-sang realizes she’s cornered if she wants to protect Tan, and says through gritted teeth that she’ll think about transferring.

Suddenly Tan shows up, having overheard, and orders Eun-sang to walk away so he can talk to Rachel alone. Ugh, I seriously hate you when you bark orders at her.

Tan basically tells Rachel he’d have hit her already if she weren’t a girl, and that he thought he could salvage a friendship with her, but he’s fine letting that go now.

He’s mad at Eun-sang for treating him like he doesn’t matter in the equation, and she counters that he’s got it bad enough with his family. He points out that his whole life has been that way, and none of this is her fault. Eun-sang: “It isn’t yours either, Kim Tan.”

He asks if she wants to just run away together, but Eun-sang knows they can’t abandon their mothers a second time.

Tan and Young-do get punished for fighting, and this time Director Jung puts her foot down and tells Young-do to bring his father and Tan to bring his hyung. Eep.

Hyun-joo gets tasked with their counseling session where they have to write down their wrongs, and when they each insist it was the other’s fault, she tells them to fill the pages with what the other guy did wrong then.