this is an awesome perspective! (๑•ㅂ•)و✧
Love this
Yesss go off fam
your explanation of the issue was so much better explained than mine when i was trying to explain the relationship between hyesun and jaeyi during their high school days. Like i tried to explain their relationship didn't seem like it was talked out with one another and both made a mistake. Jaeyi's mistake was that she just assumed that they were dating while hyesun's mistake seemed to be that she was dense. Idk how other people feel when i say this but i believe there are people in the world who are dense as fuck like or even worse than hyesun. Which is part of the reason why i think verbal communication is little bit more important than the physical communication.
Everyone here seems to be split between two camps based on whether Jaeyi or Hyesun are in the wrong. I think it's both and neither at the same time.
Let's start with Hyesun, since the majority of people want to blame her: I think we are lacking any decent context to the way she expresses affection with Jaeyi. On the one hand, many people will not normally kiss their friends. On the other hand, has it ever been confirmed between them that their kissing was supposed to be non-platonic? We never really find that out.
Jaeyi suffers from a pretty debilitating weight of expectations, one that she enforces on others. Hyesun was right in saying that she takes things pretty seriously. Which is not a fault in and of itself, but it definitely becomes one when Jaeyi never communicates said expectations. In other words, she knows what she wants from people, but has that annoying trait of not speaking her mind.
Jaeyi made assumptions in her head about her relationship with Hyesun while Hyesun was oblivious about these assumptions. We see this repeat itself 10 years later with Jaeyi's treatment of Soyoung (sp?).
Soyoung was the one to establish clear boundaries at first. She did not want to overstep as Jaeyi's fan. Jaeyi is the one who tries to seal the distance, both unaccustomed to having a fan and charmed by Soyoung's antics and actions. When Soyoung finally begins to relax and she tells Jaeyi, quite casually, that she would rather choose safety if she was Paule from the play, Jaeyi cuts her off COMPLETELY. She leaves Soyoung in the dark while Soyoung tries to make up all types of excuses for why Jaeyi is treating her this way, but we know it's because Soyoung reminds Jaeyi of Hyesun. But imagine how differently this would have gone if Jaeyi just--I don't know--talked about it?? Instead of being unhealthy and pushing Soyoung away??
I don't hate Jaeyi. In fact, I sympathize with her. Because what teenager isn't going to think that kissing is dating? I never knew anyone could be so densely straight as to think that kissing your best friend didn't come off as a little gay. So, Hyesun should have known better. Frankly, her continuously assuming Jaeyi's heterosexuality, especially after high school, seems obtuse at best and homophobic at worst. So Jaeyi has a right to avoiding Hyesun when she seems pretty toxic (even if she doesn't mean to be).
Similarly, when Soyoung mentioned preferring convention over passion, Jaeyi obviously wanted to avoid another Hyesun situation.
Her behaviour makes sense. In a way, it is relatable. But it puts others around her, as well as herself, in difficult positions where, in the end, no one is happy.
TL;DR: None of this would be happening if they just talked to each other.