Last October 31st, I was tuning in on the TV all-afternoon so I could watch the final episode (or the final 24 minutes of the actual episode) of They Kiss Again, the second season to the Japanese-manga-based Taiwanese drama, It Started With a Kiss. From what I could assume (since I'm not the type of guy who would watch subbed episodes of a series in advance), Jeanie (I'm going to use their Philippine names so it won't be hard) was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease that could left her blind. What made matters worse that if the possibility of giving birth occurs, she her condition could prove lethal. She was so afraid to die especially when she learned that the old woman-patient she was taking care of, humbly named Granny, died while in her sickbed at the hospital. This made Jeanie all the more dperessed and fearful of dying alone.
Michael, her husband, came to her and assured that as long as they're together, she has nothing to be afraid off (despite the fact that Jeanie's condition is incurable). Michael promised to her that if ever they will have a child, he will take good care of him and tell him that his mother was the nicest person he ever met.
So what was their love story? In season 1 of ISWAK, Jeanie was a high school student who had a crush with the popular genius in school, Michael Jiang. She gave him a love letter but right after their meeting he ignored her. Now Jeanie just moved into a new house that was built by his widower father, but on their first night alone, a weak earthquake quickly collapsed the house.
With nowhere to go, the best friend of Jeanie's dad, Mr. Jiang, offered his generosity by inviting them to live temporarily at the Jiang household. Unknown to Jeanie, Mr. Jiang is the father of Michael!
To cut the long story short, they became a couple by season's end and the the first series finale was marked by the wedding of the seemingly odd couple (the Boy Genius married the Naive Girl).
Season 2 picks up where the first left off, the newly-wedded Jiang couple had a honeymoon in Hawaii. As the story progresses, Michael decided to study medicine while Jeanie opted to undergo training as a nurse, just so she could be with her husband. Michael's little brother, Junjun grew unrealistically old from a young tweeny-chubby and ugly looking genius at the start of season 2 to a tall eye-glass wearing teen genius.
Season 2 ended with the Jiang couple on their way to the hospital with Jeanie holding a camera for the intention of showing it to their child (A similar thing that was made in Season 1). Despite the wife possessing a potentially fatal disease, the couple took what time was left in Jeanie's life to enjoy every single minute of it.
This was not, however, the intended ending of the author for which the series drew inspiration from. The manga was discontinued because of a tragic accident that caused the death of the author, leaving the manga, as well as all the adapation that was based from it (the 2008 anime version, the 1990's J-dorama, and ISWAK-TKA) "unfinished".
Bittersweet of an ending it is for whatever conclusion that the author may have had in mind at the time of her death, it is only her who knows how the Jiang couple's love story would have ended.
Say that you love me
Say that you care
correction pala: Granny died in her home while Jeanie's condition is likely to pass on to her children, and that she's already pregnant when the series ended. :)
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