Darunee walked broodingly out of the classroom, she just finished day one of her entrance examinations. Unsure of how the professor would grade her work, she could not be overly confident. As she proceeded towards the parking lot, P’Vey appeared and handed her a bouquet of flowers. He harped that just by looking at her aura, he knew she would pass. Darunee relented that she still has one more day of testing and she needed to go back and study.

At the farmhouse, Athit reviewed the financial records with grandma. She praised him for being so detail oriented. As he prepared to leave, Darunee and Vey waltzed in; Athit noticed the beautiful bouquet of flowers in her hands. Vey added that Darunee loves them! Darunee sniffed the bouquet and allowed that it smelled very nice. Athit looked solemnly away, and excused himself to go back to work. When he left, Darunee became curious as to which plot of land he has decided to create his additional farm. Aunt Kaew told her it was the area she used to run around as a child. Darunee’s face dropped when she heard this.

As Athit made his way back to the farm, he squatted down and peered at the flowers he had picked for her. Breaking off a piece, he pondered out loud at the value of the flowers. It is small, does not smell nice, how will it make anyone happy? Vey drove by and confirmed its disgrace, telling Athit that it will only attract dogs. Ouch. Athit squished the flowers between his fingers, reiterating what he thinks of his own value. Let’s just hope that Darunee is similar to a very cute puppy. Think of the puppies, Athit.

Things only went down hill for Athit. As he was mining the land for his next endeavor, Darunee came stomping towards him. Wondering what he did wrong this time, Athit looked up at her.

“You promised me that you wouldn’t take my things!” Darunee yelled, reverting back to her former, childish self again.

“What did I take from you, Khun Nee?” Athit asked, confused. Darunee said that the plot of land is her playground, how could he wish to plant his vegetables there? Athit told her that the vegetables belonged to everyone, not just him. But to Darunee, that was beside the point. She told him that he needed to find a different land to plant the vegetables, not on the soil that she loved. “I’ve already told you,” she scolded, “This place is MY place!”

Um wow. Tantrum. Like that of a child, angry that someone is taking her toy away from her. Someone needs a little spanking!

Thankfully grandma was there to the rescue. She asked Darunee what she planned for the land. Darunee merely told her that it holds a special place in her heart; it represents a spot where she waited for grandma as a child. She would stand there and she could see her grandma come and go from the farm. It was a remembrance, a comforting spot.

Grandma then asked her if she was going to save this spot for her kids so they can just use it to wait and watch for a particular someone to come home? Grandma brought up an important example to teach Darunee, right there in front of everyone.

“What if I never came back? One day I will die, we all die. It all lies in whether you want me to disappear completely from this world or leave something behind so that you can be reminded of me?” Grandma continued adding value to what Athit is doing. She held Darunee’s hands, “I’ve raised you and taught you everything, even being self sufficient because I want you to grow up and stand on your own feet. But if you want to be a baby then I must reconsider myself and if I have raised you right.” Omg grandma, go in for the kill! Make her guilty. What a big baby, this ought to teach her to GROW UP!

Darunee’s face fell, she regretted her outburst. She apologize to grandma immediately. Athit told them that to appease both sides, he can find a different place, in which Darunee halted him and gave him the permission to do whatever he wanted there. She won’t say anything anymore.

“Mae Nee, I’d like for you to understand this,” grandma said, “with your heart and reasoning. It’s not going to do any good if you are doing something for someone without understanding the reasons.”

“I do understand. I was wrong to think like a child,” she confessed.

“Your time is up- to think and act like a child. You must think and act like an adult now,” grandma advised. Oh indeed, please do act like an adult now.

Athit smiled as Darunee hugged grandma again, pouting.

Another bad news for Athit. Thongprasri and her parents have brought her things to move into his house! Grandma asked him if he wanted to go and see, but Athit opted to work instead. Avoiding Thongprasri at all cost.

The farm workers teased him about Thongprasri, which annoyed him further. Athit dropped his tools and walked out, leaving the farm workers to tend to their own transportation back to their homes. Good, they deserved it! They knew how this upsets him, why would they tease him? It’s not like he’s going into this “marriage” willingly!

At the farmhouse, Darunee, grandma and Aunt Kaew contemplated about Athit’s situation. Aunt Kaew felt sorry for him for being stuck with a bad person. Darunee lamented that if he was a good person, then he should turn his wife into a good person too. What a naive thing to say. She continued to hope that Athit and his wife will be on good terms with one another for her own conscience but she failed to see how unhappy Athit is. And all the while, lying to herself that she’s happy with Athit’s marriage. I am as confused with her, as she is confused with herself!

Thongprasri has settled into Athit’s home by the waterfall. She’s preparing herself for her husband and has decided to wait for him. Little did she know that Athit is avoiding her and is having lunch with his grandma instead. She will be waiting in vain..

After lunch, they congregate in the smaller dining area. Athit walked in for lunch and asked if he could join them. Darunee kept insinuating that he needed to spend time with his wife and things like that. Athit told her that she must be happy now that she doesn’t have to go get him for a meal all the time. Darunee envisioned Thongprasri in a cowboy outfit with a gun, and is using it to threaten Athit to go with her. This caused her to laugh out loud. Everyone looked at her strangely, wondering why she bursted out laughing. It’s sort of an odd moment because I didn’t find her vision funny at all..

The side characters, like the farm workers, are used to fill in the time and to help the viewers commentate on the progress of the lakorn. Toon appeared and wanted to bet with the three farm workers regarding Athit. That night, Athit ordered Tod to go back to his house and collect all of his things. He’s moving in with Uncle Kreang and the gang and leaving Thongprasri alone in the house. If she wanted to live there, fine, he would just sleep somewhere else.

It was a funny scene watching Tod attempt to remove his boss’ things from the house. He lied to Thongprasri that he was removing his things so he could leave her and the boss to their merry ways.

Aunt Kaew wondered how he was faring that night with Thongprasri. Darunee took out the little flower that Athit gave her, it was lying flat in between the pages of her book. She peered longingly at it. The sound of the instrument that Athit plays at night makes its way to the big farmhouse. It was a poignant, sad song but Darunee assumed that everything must go just find. Aunt Kaew said that it must not because he’s playing such a sorrowful song.

The next morning everyone discovered that Athit did not spend the night at home. Thongprasri came storming to grandma’s house, accusing grandma that she’s hiding Athit from her. She’s as rude as her parents! Grandma reprimanded her that she can’t control people or tell people what they can or cannot do. Aunt Kaew gave Thongrasri a piece of her mind: she should know who grandma is and she needed to stop her rude, impolite behavior. You go Aunt Kaew!

That morning was Darunee’s final exam day. Vey had came to pick her up again and they proceeded towards the car.

Back at the spot where Darunee used to wait for her special grandma, Athit is standing there, waiting to see Darunee’s car pass by. The trysting spot has now become a special place for Athit too! It was very cute how distracted he looked, looking longingly at the road, hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

At the orange farm, Aunt Kaew thought to do some preventative measures. She pulled Uncle Kreang aside and told him (and the three workers) to keep a close eye on Thongprasri. She feared that Thongrasri might put something bad in Athit’s food and drink to try to lure him. Grandma caught Aunt Kaew and sighed. She said that it’s not fixing the problem directly. Aunt Kaew asked what they needed to do that is “directly” stopping this. But grandma merely said that it lies in Athit’s heart, and how long he can sustain this.

Athit was finally able to see Darunee in Vey’s car, from the top of the mountain, he could see it veer around the curve and bend, as it made it’s way back to the farm. That satisfied him for now. The workers asked him if he ever thought about buying a nice car too, so he could drive a Barbie around. Athit felt that a car’s purpose is to drive one from point A to point B safely, not to show off. So no, he is not inclined to buy a nice car. The farm workers then asked what kind of a woman Athit felt was “narak” (cute), and Athit mentioned that as long as she knows how to work, stands by him and understands his job, then she’s cute in his eyes. They teased him that it is like he’s referring to Darunee! Uncomfortable, Athit walked away, telling them that he’s going to water the vegetable garden.

Tod smacked Aeung (the chubby one) behind the head and chastised him for saying stupid things. Tod said that their boss is currently stressed out about Thongprasri, why would he (Aeung) bring up Darunee when he knows that they can never be?! Lol. Love these three guys.

Athit is developing a stronger feeling for Darunee. We can see his facial expressions getting taut and annoyed when he sees Vey and Darunee together. At the vegetable garden, Darunee appeared with Vey (after her final exam) and wanted to help water the plants, since grandma was there as well. Vey followed Darunee every step of the way, which irked Athit. Grandma looked on with a knowing smile.

We already know that Vey could not stand the farm or getting his shoes and fingers dirty. He’s not even a strong contender for Athit- but Athit is kind of stuck in his own head.

As the four walked back, Thongprasri finally found Athit and latched on to his arm.

Thankfully the three farm workers appeared later and intercepted her in time. They said they needed a hand at the cow manure lol, so that scared Thongprasri away. After unsuccessfully trying to get Athit to eat with her, she made her way to the kitchen and demanded that Aunt Kaew and Jingjaew serve her. Rude as always. Jingjaew thought of the ghost story regarding the cabin and decided to instill a fear in Thongprasri. But Thongprasri didn’t believe it at all.

Well, it looks like they may have to show her. So Jingjaew and Tod dressed up as the ghosts and scared the wits out of Thongprasri. But in turn, Jingjaew and Tod were scared by the two other farm workers who felt it wasn’t fair that they weren’t included in the prank.

All in all, I hope I don’t have to see many more of Thongprasri in the rest of this episode, as she ran back to her folks’ home, for the time being anyway. Aunt Kaew hoped and hypothesized that she would get bored of Athit and look for someone else. One can only hope!

Grandma reprimanded both Jingjaew and Tod for scaring Thongprasri- what if she got a heart attack? The whole group was at the orange farm and teasing and laughing follows when Jingjaew and Tod learned that the ghosts that terrified them were the other two farm workers!

By part 7 of episode 8, the frustration and endurance for Darunee’s childishness and Athit’s unfortunate state of affairs, came to a halt. We are finally given a reward for our good behavior. The rest of the episode is just so darn sweet. Why do they do that? It’s like getting slapped and now cajoled. Prepare yourself for more sweet scenes!

Grandma walked towards the box, but Darunee thought that grandma was still standing at the same place so she turned to her and put her head on “grandma’s” shoulders. She held on to “her” arm and rubs her face against it. However, she soon realized that the arm is a little too strong for an old lady and so Darunee looked up and much to her surprise, she had been touching Athit’s arm all along!

Both immediately jumped as if electrocuted and Darunee looked away embarrassingly. Athit turned away shyly too, maybe enjoying her mistake too much. Grandma, Aunt Kaew and Uncle Kreang witnessed the whole scene and broke out in big smiles.

The next scene Athit and Darunee grabbed the same orange and they shyly look away. Athit told her to go ahead and pick it while Darunee said he could do it. In the end, grandma intercepted and picked it herself.

The next morning, the brood was at the new plot of land and prepared to plant the first root for the new vegetable garden. They helped each other plant it- it was so nice to see Darunee being helpful and not spiteful! You can tell Athit is falling even more for her because she’s the epitome of his ideal girl.

At the higher elevation farm, they were watering the plants. Darunee decided to spray water on him, tease him like she used to. Athit didn’t back down this time and sprayed her back. They started going back and forth until grandma, who noticed this, wanted to tease them too. She sprayed both of them with water and asked them if they felt cool now. When they finally relented, grandma said that she thought they were hot so she sprayed water on them to help them cool down. Lol, even grandma is mischievous!

More scenes to show Athit that Darunee could very well be his dream girl. She is very detail oriented with the products (corn), very careful with the cabbage and teaches the farm workers how to handle them appropriately, and she knew the intricacies of the farm well.

That night, as Athit handed over the registry and financial records, he asked grandma permission for his next endeavor. He wanted to plant rice, farm a rice field. Darunee looked on surprisingly, even I am surprised. Aren’t we stretching ourselves a bit thin here? But Darunee thought of another accusation, she thought he was being greedy. Grandma came to his rescue and said that if he had the energy in him then she would allow it. She then turned to Darunee and gave her a lesson in what the King has advised them regarding earning a living. You have to think about the future too, not surviving day to day. I’m sure they cannot help but inject some wisdom here!

Athit said that it was his dream to one day be a rice farmer. He’s not even thinking about selling it- but just farming and producing enough so he could feed his family. Grandma agreed with him, as much as they eat bread and noodles, rice is a commodity that is very Thai. They always eat rice, so it would be nice to have it on hand and not have to buy it.

Athit wins again. Darunee sulked and sat next to grandma. She asked grandma that once she graduated, would she give Darunee permission to follow her dreams? Of course! Grandma wanted to know what Darunee envisioned. Darunee recites what she wanted and then gave her grandma a big hug. As much as it is cute watching Yaya being all cutesy, but sometimes it’s a little much.

Finally, the moment of truth. The following morning, everyone waited to hear Darunee’s test results at the orange farm, did she pass? Darunee appeared, sad and with her head down. Grandma immediately said that it was ok she didn’t make it. At least now she can stay closer to home. Darunee apologized to her grandma that she may not be able to live at home anymore, she would have to study far away. Everyone cheered, she passed!

A lesson to everyone, passing an entrance exam is a huge deal in Thailand! The education system is so much more difficult there then it is here.

Grandma assigned her to head to the strawberry farm so she could hand out money to the workers and to also share this good news with Athit.

On her way there, she kept rehearsing on how she would tell him. It must be in a way that won’t embarrass her or show that she cared too much about what he thought. Which is totally the opposite, she wants to look good and smart in his eyes.

As she made it to the strawberry farm, she recited what she would say: Grandma ordered me to tell you this. Since we should share good news with people in the same community, I thought I would let you know..

Then she decided against it. As she rehearsed, she didn’t realize that Athit stood behind her and was listening to some of what she was saying. Before she could tell him however, one of the farm workers learned that his wife is in labor. He immediately asked for Athit’s help- and since Darunee brought the truck- they were on their way to the farmer’s house.

A moment that truly brought them together and perhaps changed everything.

Darunee witnessed another aspect of Athit- heroic. He not only is a capable and farmer extraordinaire, he well, has some midwifery skills too!

She looked on with awe as she watched Athit take control, ordered people about to prepare for the birth and singlehandedly aided the mom to breathe and push the baby out.

Darunee left the sideline to be involved with the birth and for the first time, saw the miracle of life. Athit handed the baby over to her and Darunee, amazed, looked at the baby then back at Athit. It was a sweet moment as the song “the heavens want us to love each other” plays in the background. It was a bonding moment between the two, and changes how Darunee feels about Athit. She respects him now and one can feel the mood shifting.

Since their clothes were soiled from the childbirth, Darunee and Athit changed into the farmers’ and wife’s clothes. They looked darling in them! The whole gang prepared to take the child to the hospital. Darunee and Athit ended up sitting in the bed of the truck instead, so baby and mom can be comfortable. Athit thought that she might not want to endure the drive, but Darunee said that she could sit wherever he sits. Awe. And Athit helped her onto the truck.

On the drive back, they have another sweet moment. Darunee and Athit exchanged glances at each other with a smile. Then at the same time they talked, he wanted to know what she wanted to tell him and she wanted to tell him something.

Finally Darunee asked him how he learned those midwife skills and why he wasn’t afraid? She thought it looked like it wasn’t his first time.

Athit opened up about his family. He told her that he helped his mother give birth. His father was out of town and they wouldn’t make it to the hospital so he learned. After the first one, then the following two kids. Originally he was afraid but he got a lot of practice and was no longer afraid.

He changed the subject and asked about her. She started to repeat what she recited earlier, but before she could finish, the heavens opened up and poured. Fleets of tropical rain poured on them and Athit grabbed banana tree leaves to shield them. Lol, they can never get away from bananas! Bittersweet! They look shyly at each other. I can’t stop smiling.

They finally made it back home, still dripping wet. Athit reminded her to shower with warm water and to make sure she dries her hair well in case she catches a cold. Darunee said she was tough stuff and doesn’t get sick easily.

As she climbs the steps, she turns around.

“Hey, thank you for helping with the labor, especially, allowing me to help.”

“Helping others is fulfilling,” Athit replied.

“It was the most fulfilling present that I could ever get in life,” Darunee said, “aside from making grandma happy.”

“Grandma is very happy with you,” Athit consoled.

“I made her especially happy today,” Darunee started, “I’ve passed the entrance examination.”

Athit looked on with happiness on her behalf. “Congratulations!”

“This is what I wanted to tell you..” She sticks her hand out, palm open, “My gift?”

“Gift? “

She nods her head, “Yes! If your younger sibling passed their schooling, what would you reward him or her with? I want the same thing.”

Athit looked awkwardly at her. “Er..”

“Why not? Pens, paper, I accept them all. Because it means that you recognize that I’m talented and I can make grandma proud of me too!”

Athit stammered. “It’s that.. I don’t give gifts to my siblings.”

Disappointed, Darunee said, “There’s gotta be something- or some way that you show your siblings how proud you are. I’m not picky. I’ll have whatever they have.”

Athit looked at her and said, “Well, I, would go and hold them tightly and then tell them that I love them and very proud of them.”

Darunee shied away with his words.

“I don’t think you’d want me to show you in this way, right?”

Darunee smiled, “Well, if that is the case, you don’t need to congratulate me that way.” And she runs into the house.

Athit stood by the steps, smiling at her.

Awe, that was so sweet! Athit knows the right things to say to make a girl blush!

The tone of the drama is shifting, the mood lifting. Their relationship is building to the point that they recognized their responses of each other. Although the beginning of this episode started very solemnly, we are, yet again, rewarded with a sweet closure. One can only hope that Darunee has grown up! Stay tune for tomorrow’s episode!

*As always, pic credit to BarryYa and Thoranee2012 FB