Lordy does this drama deliver the emotional smolder like no other. It’s just the right amount and coming towards leading lady Sang Hyo from both sides so she’s in a literal sexy men who adore sandwich. There are worse places to be and probably few better places around, especially since this episode 6 of My Secret Hotel has both leading men stepping up majorly. Sung Gyum wins this round mostly because Sang Hyo is still sooooo scared of being burned by Hae Young again she shuts him down without even giving him a chance to explain. I thought we would know by now the reason for the divorce but the story is being suitably coy about it so I wonder if Sang Hyo is blaming Hae Young unfairly or he’s finally gotten up the backbone and guts to do the thing he should have done 7 years ago. I think the fight over her job was just the tip of the iceberg, that can’t be the main crux of the marriage failure. This is one couple where the love at first sight trope feels not only believable but the only thing that makes sense from what we see.

Sang Hyo and Hae Young are explosive around each other, couples like that either have a love story of the century or crash and burn. I’m praying it’s both and the first go around was just a mild blip in the road towards forever. Wanting my OTP to get back together doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying every sexy and sweet interaction between Sang Hyo and Sung Gyum. I have to stop thinking he has any ulterior motives towards Sang Hyo other than his dating style appears rather calculating and his demeanor always gives off the hint of subterfuge. He didn’t show up at Secret Hotel knowing about his dad’s death and plotting revenge so I think he fell for Sang Hyo for all the reasons we love her so, and he also happens to be investigating a major dirty secret from the hotel history books. Chances are Sang Hyo is also deeply involved in the past but she just doesn’t know it yet. This episode let us imagine an alterna-life where Sang Hyo moves on with the sexy smart hotel director who doesn’t care about her past shotgun marriage and doles out majorly squeeworthy kisses.

Episode 6 recap:

Sung Gyum asks Sang Hyo to date officially which leaves her surprised and unable to answer him right away. He jokes about giving her three minutes to answer and then notices that her phone is ringing. She avoids answering and stumbles over what to say to Sung Gyum. He asks if she wants to reject him then she should take the remaining time to think about what to say.

A car comes barreling past and Sung Gyum pulls Sang Hyo into his arms and out of harms way. Hae Young is in the car and freaking out about his decision to drive by Sang Hyo’s place leading to the excuse for skinship back there.

The three minutes is up and Sung Gyum tells Sang Hyo to go inside and he’ll take it as he heard her answer, whatever it will be. As Sang Hyo walks up to her apartment, Sung Gyum offers to give her three days to respond and he looks forward to what she will say. He heads off since he’s been embarrassed enough tonight but reminds her to remember to lock her door.

Sang Hyo goes inside and flops down on her sofa and says “I don’t need three minutes, I once fell in love with someone in three seconds.”

Flashback to Sang Hyo meeting Hae Young as she was a waitress and dumped a plate of pasta all over him. It was really love at first sight and they way they stared at each other is sooooo heartstopping. Sang Hyo offers to clean his clothes but Hae Young wants her time instead. He stutters to ask when she’s off work since he wants to talk to her, an hour or even half an hour is enough. Sang Hyo stares at him with a smile and says she gets off work at 9 pm. Hae Young smiles right back at her.

In the present Hae Young is sitting on Sang Hyo’s doorstep while she’s sitting on her balcony right above him. Sang Hyo doesn’t know why she keeps thinking of him? Hae Young wonders if she’s really forgotten it all? Both of them stare up at the crescent moon above.

Detective Kim busts the three gamblers who fought with Manager Hwang before he died. The tattooed one tries to make a run for it but is no match for Detective Kim who stops him and reads him his rights following by a smile and wink.

The three are dragged to the police station and proceed to bicker about why the one guy insisted on going to the hotel to look for Manager Hwang which is why they are suspects now. The guys claim their innocence as having nothing to do with the death. They are dragged to a holding cell while Detective Kim is called off when new evidence arises – turns out the CCTV footage they were handed for August 23 was fake and duplicated from the CCTV footage from Jukly 23rd. Junior Detective Lee thinks he’s cracked the case (with the gamblers in custody) and excitedly calls his wife that he can go home soon and is even happier that she’s preparing libido boosting foods for him.

Sang Hyo is congratulated at work for getting Gu Hae Young’s wedding back on at the hotel. It makes Sang Hyo sigh that she’s getting congratulated for his getting married.

Hae Young keeps remembering scenes of Sang Hyo with Sung Gyum and his morose attitude during work confirms for his staff that he’s depressed about his male impotence. Jung Eun arrives to show off her sexy long legs to Hae Young in an attempt to confirm whether he really has problem getting it up. Hae Young is completely unfazed by her sexual display which makes her sad that she can’t heal him. She announces again that she’ll forget him now and reminds him to visit the hospital. After Jung Eun storms off, even Shi Chan thinks its weird that Hae Young doesn’t get aroused when seeing a sexy woman draped over him.

Sang Hyo chats with GM Lee and takes the chance to ask if he’s ever loved a woman before? She’s looking for advice on how to forget someone and move on but leaves before discussing it any further with GM Lee.

Sang Hyo runs to catch the elevator that Eun Joo purposes doesn’t hold for her but the door opens with Sung Gyum standing inside as well. He pulls Sang Hyo in and asks if she’s been considering his request to date. Eun Joo is shocked and even more so when Sung Gyum admits he confessed to Sang Hyo. She quickly gets off at the next floor and Eun Joo chases right after her. Ha! The two girls, one runs and the other chases all over the hotel.

In hiding from Eun Joo, Sang Hyo runs into the sleazy Vice GM harassing another young pretty employee. Sang Hyo rescues her and threatens to put an electronic monitor on him. She warns him again to stop this behavior before running off again as Eun Joo has found her. The Vice GM wonders why Sang Hyo is scared of Eun Joo but not him.

Detective Kim arrives looking for Guard Cha and finds himself caught between the running away Sang Hyo and the chasing Eun Joo. He finds Guard Cha and heads to the security surveillance room to hear that the recorded footage is moved to the records room where Director Jo, GM Lee, Vice GM, and Guard Cha has access to the room. Another security guard speaks up that he saw the Vice GM entering the records room that day and then he exchanges a shady look with Guard Cha.

Detective Kim drags the Vice GM to the precinct for questioning while Gyung Hee and Sang Hyo look on wondering if he could have killed Manager Hwang.

Eun Joo finally tracks down Sang Hyo and drags her off to interrogate her. Eun Joo confirms it’s true that Sung Gyum asked Sang Hyo to date but is relieved Sang Hyo hasn’t replied to him yet. She demands Sang Hyo turn him down since Eun Joo likes Sung Gyum. Before the ladies can hash it out, Sang Hyo looks up and sees Hae Young standing there.

Gyung Hee and Young Mi are going wedding dress shopping with Soo Ah who doesn’t want to wear the wedding dress from the last ruined wedding. Young Mi snarks about how much money she must have to toss the an expensive wedding dress like that and Soo Ah sneers that she can afford it. Gyung Hee leaves and Young Mi takes the chance to pull out her phone and show the HK pictures of Soo Ah with her driver.

Soo Ah wants to know how much Young Mi wants for the picture. Young Mi says the price of one wedding dress for each picture. Soo Ah screams that she’s crazy since her wedding dress is crazy expensive. Young Mi leans close and reminds Soo Ah that she said she can afford it.

Hae Young ask Sang Hyo if she’s going to date Director Jo and her silence in answering leads him to wonders if she still feels something…… Sang Hyo quickly says no, she doesn’t and the reason she didn’t answer right away is to not seem easy. Hae Young looks resigned but doesn’t push her.

Soo Ah runs to her car and takes out her anger on her driver but doesn’t tell him that she’s being blackmailed. Hae Young and Sang Hyo arrive at the bridal salon and hear from Young Mi that Soo Ah left already.

Gi Chul is gossipy with his event planning colleagues about the Vice GM being dragged off to the police station for Manager Hwang’s murder investigation. Young Mi’s expression pauses for a moment and then notices Gi Chul seems nervous. She mutters that people need to behave otherwise one wrong stop and one can become a liar, thief, or murderer. Gyung Hee shoots her a look and Young Mi wonders if she said anything wrong?

The Vice GM insists he didn’t kill Manager Hwang but won’t answer why he went to the CCTV records room. He insists that the hotel is ruined if the reason comes out and then makes up bullshit about how a pretty female employee tried to entice him with her pert derriere and Sang Hyo saw it and told him it was recorded on the surveillance cameras. He went to get rid of the video so there was no problem for the hotel and insists he didn’t have anything to do with Manager Hwang’s death. Detective Kim plans to hold him until he can confirm an alibi for the Vice GM on the day of the murder.

Guard Cha reports to GM Lee that the police are directing their investigation towards the Vice GM so he doesn’t need to worry about anything. GM Lee looks at his phone and sighs, he thought getting rid of one Hwang Dong Bae would solve everything but more problems have turned out. He asks Guard Cha to handle a few more tasks for him.

Sang Hyo and Gyung Hee are presenting new wedding ideas to a completely uninterested Hae Young who tells her to do whatever she wants. Gyung Hee also starts zoning out and Sang Hyo notices and asks if she’s alright? Gyung Hee admits she’s not feeling well and Sang Hyo tells her to leave work early now.

Gyung Hee steps out into the corridor and leans against the wall to catch her breath. GM Lee walks up and asks if she’s not feeling well? She claims to be fine and Guard Cha walks past her behind GM Lee and gives her a concerned look as well.

Alone with Sang Hyo, Hae Young finally tells her to do whatever she likes for his wedding. She sighs that he’s getting married, not her, so he needs to tell her what he likes. Hae Young leans forward and describes the wedding he had with Sang Hyo – the bride wearing a simple dress, carrying flowers she just picked, no guests or music, just two people who drove to a church.

Hae Young stares at Sang Hyo who starts tearing up and she tells him that wedding failed so that’s why it needs to be done right this time. She gets up to pour him a cup of coffee and tries to compose herself by the reminder that this man is marrying another woman. Hae Young notices she’s upset and walks up behind her which is when she turns around and dumps her cup of coffee on him. Both of them flashback to the past and Hae Young now asks her for an hour or just half an hour, he has something he needs to say to her and if he doesn’t do it now it’ll be too late. He plans to wait for Sang Hyo down in the parking garage and tells her to come but Sang Hyo pushes past him and walks off.

Hae Young looks so devastated seeing Sang Hyo leave while she’s sobbing as she walks through the hotel. Hae Young goes to sit in his car in the parking garage to wait for Sang Hyo.

Sung Gyum sits in his room and composes a text to Sang Hyo asking if she’s asleep, and the deleting it to ask what she’s doing, before deleting it and not sending the text at all. He’s so cute! Sung Gyum hears a knock on his door and opens it to find a crying Sang Hyo outside.

Sang Hyo admits to Sung Gyum that she was married 7 years ago but got divorced 87 days later. She loved a man so madly she married him so they wouldn’t be apart. She loved him to death and also hated him to death. She worked so hard at it but they ended things hating each other. She tried to forget it all so she could live and move on but now she keeps remembering it.

Sung Gyum asks why Sang Hyo is telling him this? Is it because he asked to date? Is that giving her pressure? Sang Hyo thinks he ought to know, and now he knows will he still want to date her? Sung Gyum doesn’t care about her past since he also has a past of his own and a first love. Sang Hyo brings up her past being in the present before revealing her ex-husband is Gu Hae Young and she’s planning his wedding. Sung Gyum is stunned and remembers all the clues Sang Hyo dropped about not liking weddings.

Sung Gyum asks how Sang Hyo can turn him into an idiot and keep this from him. He takes back what he said about waiting for her response and he will also act like he didn’t hear her asking if he wants to date her. Because from this moment on…..they are dating already.Sung Gyum steps forward and pulls Sang Hyo in for a tender and passionate kiss. Sang Hyo’s last tear falls and she slowly closes her eyes to the kiss.

Hae Young sees Sang Hyo walking through the parking garage and is about to call out to her when he sees Sung Gyum walk up behind her and open the car door so she can get into his car. Sang Hyo sees Hae Young looking at her from inside his car and lowers her head as Sung Gyum drives off.

Sung Gyum drops Sang Hyo off at home and asks her to not treat him like an idiot again and keep things to herself. He thanks her for sharing her past with him, and for agreeing to date him. Sang Hyo turns to walk in tiredly but Sung Gyum asks if she will be ready to smile again tomorrow because then she will give him energy. That gets a small smile out of Sang Hyo before she heads inside. Sang Hyo sits down on her sofa while Sung Gyum stands outside looking up at her window until the lights turn off and then he wishes her a good night.

Shi Chan finds Hae Young drinking alone and asks for his wallet so he can pay the bill first before drinking with Hae Young. He’s about to ditch Hae Young but sits down for one drink which he immediately spits out when Hae Young asks him to spend tonight with him. Hae Young explains that he’s afraid he’ll go back and look for her if he’s alone. Shi Chan is shocked Hae Young saw the woman again especially since he’s about to get married. Hae Young reveals he’s been rejected, he wanted to talk to her but she wouldn’t give him the chance.

Hae Young asks Shi Chan if he has to get married and if this is the only way. Shi Chan reminds Hae Young that he’s marrying because of his dad. His dad refuses to go in for heart surgery until Hae Young got married so he decided to marry any woman. If it wasn’t “her” then anyone would do. Shi Chan yells at Hae Young to wake up since he’s getting married the day after tomorrow.

Soo Ah is sitting in the car with the driver and insisting on spending the night with him before she gets married and can’t see him anymore. He refuses since the Chairman her dad will get upset if she stays out. Soo Ah insists on spending time with him now before she gets married since after marriage she plans to be loyal to Hae Young and a good wife. Her driver pulls her in for a deep kiss. Can these two please elope? Like, now!

It’s Hae Young’s turn to stand outside Sang Hyo’s window and look up at her. When she turns off her lights, he says good night to her the same way Sung Gyum did earlier.

Sang Hyo leaves for work in the morning and senses something and looks around before telling herself to snap out of it. We see Hae Young hiding behind the wall staring as she walks off, clearly having stood out there all night. He tells himself that this is the last time he can see her off like this and he’ll see her at the wedding.

The wedding begins with a reluctant Hae Young standing at the front of the altar and then Soo Ah enters the ballroom and walks towards him. Hae Young looks up at the chandelier and wishes another dead body will fall down. But nothing happens and Hae Young remains silent for the longest time when he’s asked to say his vows. Soo Ah nudges him and he finally says his vows with Soo Ah and are pronounced husband and wife.

Turns out it’s just a dream and Shi Chan wakes Hae Young up from the conference room table. Shi Chan has to remind him that it’s his wedding day which Hae Young calls the day his nightmare becomes a reality. Shi Chan urges Hae Young to wake up and clean himself up at the hotel at the orders of Soo Ah.

The hotel staff sets up the ballroom for the second go-around of the wedding while Sang Hyo quietly supervises from the sidelines. Gyung Hee notices Sang Hyo seems off and assures her that the wedding will go off without a hitch and not to worry.

Hae Young arrives at the hotel and encounters Sang Hyo in the lobby as he walks to his room. The exes stare at each other quietly before slowly walking towards each other. Hae Young turns around first after walking past Sang Hyo and thanks her for the hard work recently. Sang Hyo smiles and congratulates him on getting married.

They turn their backs and both say a mental final farewell to the other person before walking away from each other.

Thoughts of Mine:

I’m so happy that Hae Young and Sang Hyo calmly moved on, or at least tried to and seemed to succeed at the end of this episode. They needed to do this so that they can get to the next step, all those near tears and comfortable bickering around each other does them no good unless they actually discuss what went wrong and what they want from each other. I know Hae Young tried to do that in this episode while Sang Hyo shut him down, but I don’t think she needed to hear him out when his actions indicated that he still wanted to marry Soo Ah. Hae Young needs to figure out what he wants first before unloading his emotional burdens on Sang Hyo. I applaud her for how she handled Sung Gyum, from his confession and dating offer to coming clean about her reason for hesitating in answering him. I don’t find any complaints about Sang Hyo’s personality, not even when she takes the verbal abuse from clients or customers when she’s working at the hotel either in the past or present. The service industry requires a thick skin and the ability to put one’s pride aside if the job required it, she’s clearly no push over when we see her repeatedly confronting the sleazy Vice GM who is harassing female employees. She sticks up for what’s right at the work place but will demean herself in the performance of her job. I can see why that would drive Hae Young nuts, but also it’s a decision for Sang Hyo to make since it’s her job. So I love her personality in every way and that now extends to the vulnerability she exhibited to Sung Gyum which netted her major kissage. Brava!

This episode remained slower on any reveals about Manager Hwang’s murder, which actually could be a different person who stabbed him with the ice pick and another who the next day tossed him down the hotel ballroom glass ceiling. The three gambling thugs are probably innocent though they serve to show us how unsavory Manager Hwang is. The Vice GM is equally a red herring, and tossed under the bus by Guard Cha to protect whatever it is the GM Lee is hiding. Other than Sang Hyo, everyone on her team is super shady from gossipy Gi Chul to blackmailer Young Mi to Gyung Hee with her supposed terminal illness. I do love Eun Joo more because she’s so transparent at the hotel, even Sang Hyo thinks so when Eun Joo chased her down and ordered that Sung Gyum was off limited. It was nice to see Sung Gyum stop playing both girls and pick one and be upfront about it. Eun Joo is lovely as well but Snag Hyo just has this warm glow about her, Sung Gyum did win major brownie points when he asked Sang Hyo to smile to give him energy, but also to encourage her to stop being so sad. Hae Young really has a tough new rival and his only advantage is that he and Sang Hyo have major unfinished business with each other. Hae Young’s impotence running joke might be a great ice breaker for these two, in the future he can always cart Sang Hyo out to prove that he has no performance issues in the marital bed, LOL. Soo Ah and her driver lover is actually compelling stuff with the illicit class-frowned upon romance and I’m happy the drama gave her more to do other than be unpleasant to Sang Hyo. Here’s to hoping she elopes on her second wedding day thereby paving the way for the first step in Hae Young and Sang Hyo’s reunion romance.