The fourth episode of the drama series "Something in Winter, Something in Spring" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10 PM), starring actress Hana Sugisaki, aired on February 4th. The episode depicted the past meeting and parting of novelist Fumina Tsuchida (Sugisaki) and her ex-boyfriend, fellow novelist Erhu (Yanagi Shuntaro), and drew a lot of attention on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 4, a man is seen staring at Fumina from behind while she is talking at a talk and autograph session for her new novel, "Seikatsu 123." The man is her ex-boyfriend, Erhu, a best-selling novelist. They meet again for the first time in a long time and after a few drinks, Fumina is invited out. On the way home, Fumina stops by a bookstore and picks up Erhu's latest book. Then, she remembers that she used to look for Erhu novels in a similar way.
Seven years ago, in the fall of his fourth year at university, he was invited by his classmate En-chan (Nouchi Maru) to go to a club and saw Erhu reading a novel amidst the loud music.
Afterwards, Fumina and Erhu have dinner together with En-chan, and the two grow closer, becoming lovers. Erhu then encourages Fumina to try writing a novel, and while dating Erhu, she writes her first novel, which wins the top prize in a new literary award. However, after about a year of dating, Erhu breaks up with her, and Fumina goes on one last date with Erhu... and so the story unfolds.
Fumina and Erhu go to an izakaya to discuss their breakup. There, Erhu explains the reason for his decision to break up, saying, "The idea of dating someone, I just can't handle it." Erhu then reveals his true feelings, saying, "I'm jealous of your talent too." Fumina asks again, "I really love you. I respect you. As a person and as a lover... but it's no longer possible, right?" But Erhu says that he needs solitude if he really wants to write a novel.
Fumina, unable to accept Erhu's words, pressed him, "What does loneliness even mean?" Erhu replied, "Fumina is getting in the way," and continued, "I wanted you to hate me, so the other day I slept with someone I didn't even like." When Erhu asked, "Even though I'm such a terrible person, don't you want to break up?" Fumina silently stood up and left the room.
On social media, there was a flood of harsh comments about the behavior of Fumina's ex-boyfriend Erhu. Comments such as "He's suddenly become a garbage man," "Wait, this is impossible," "Is this how Fumina became the person she is today?", "Erhu's true nature is scary," "What a shitty guy lol," "I don't know what Erhu is talking about at all!" and "What a worthless guy" were lined up.
