This melodrama revolves around the life of once three time gold fencing medalist of South Korea, Na Hee Do.
Hee Do, now in her mid 30s is raising a daughter who is currently at the rear edge to quit ballet. Her daughter stumbles upon her diary containing memories of Hee Do from her adolescent years. I loved how the cinematography had flashbacks parallel to the current events. It helped highlight one of the overall themes of this drama which was the importance of memories.

The female Leeds character was quiet alluring to me. Her character upheld qualities similar to myself, such as her integrity, quirkiness, and majestic attitude. She ends up meeting our male protagonist Baek Yi Jin, who just moved in town after his family went bankrupt. At that time they were both 2219. The two grew a platonic relationship that would later blossom into something more serious. Hee Do would end up being the influence that pushed Yi Jin to keep going in life and eventually earn a position as a reporter, and Yi Jin would be the person that taught Hee Do what love was, as well as what a breakup was.

The love they had for each other during the period of episodes 7-11 was very evident as they showed they deep cared for each other. Around the latter episodes however, Hee Do got open about her feelings and Yi Jin seemed pretty taken aback. From the beginning it seemed as though he wasn’t ready for the relationship. He told her he loved her but didn’t quite elaborate on what kind of love specifically. so towards the finale, the question erupted from Hee Do if he really loved her. Hee Do however, told him frankly of her feelings and that gave him the courage to open up. Their relationship from then on seemed happy. They spent time together and made lots of memories. Hee Do would go on to win one gold medal in Madrid and Yi Jin would climb the ladder from a reporter to a news anchor after receiving a position from New York.

That situation was what really tested their relationship. Whether or not they could be long distance. However, their relationship first shattered when he accepted the position without telling or considering her feelings. Then he took a cowards approach to hurrily leave. Yi Jin had a lot of personal problems and it seemed as though their love, or specifically, Hee Do’s love was not enough to sustain the relationship. They went through a series of three stages of breakup. First being denial, Hee Do already felt Yi Jin drifting apart once he was in New York however, in a way Yi Jin still held onto the relationship. The second stage, which was anger occurred when they came together told each other mean things to express how hurt they were. The third was acceptance, they knew that the paths they were to take would require them to let it each other go. They knew they were made for each other but it just didn’t seem to be their time.
The messages they left for each other towards the end really touched my heart. I couldn’t help but to shed tears. All though their romance came to an end, they recognized and highlighted the good they did to each other’s lives. They did this while being teary eyed and I couldn’t help it. The ending was pretty satisfying to me. It was very realistic because not everything in life will be a happily ever after and their breakup was portrayed in a very healthy and poetic fashion.

This drama has definitely topped as one of my favorite kdramas of the year.