4 Elements: The Water - EP 4 UNCUT

Engfa has a tattoo on her upper arm with the phrase "This too shall pass".

The episode starts with the chef Ian event getting underway Apo claiming that day will be the best for all of them, and touching Lada’s arm as she goes on stage to open the event, She invites chef Ian onto the stage then announces their signature dish which sound simple, but as life gives one already much to worry about, one wants no enjoy food not think about it – and she repeat Lada’s arguments for choosing this dish. As the cooking goes underway, Lada’s mother calls her and tells her she’s going home, and asks her not to let her brother down. The dish is called “seafood bucket” or at the Monarch hotel “The Lively Sea”, and the staff begins to give out the dishes – but eventually Lada cannot stand it anymore any she leaves the room. Apo joins her outside to bring her a plate of “The Lively Sea”, and asks if she’s all right, Lada wants to try it later and help Preem first, but Apo wants to know why the sea (meaning Lada) is tired that day, and she tells her that she can take a break in needed. But Lada claims that she isn’t tired, but happy that the event turned out this well, and Apo agrees, but argues there are things that need to be improved next time, which Lada thinks sounds like Apo. Then, Apo praises her for doing a great job that day (so Lada gets her first compliments way earlier than Preem 😉) which shocks Lada but Apo repeats it. And Lada remembers her father’s constant scolding of her, and the different feedback she got from Preem and Apo, and the warnings Nade gave her of falling into her own trap, and she cries a few tears. Apo notices this and hugs her, claiming she can cry on her shirt, which makes Lada laugh, and thanks her for the answer she gave her that day when she chose the right instead of the preferred suit. She decided to heed her advice… … and we get a flashback to the kitchen, where Lada rethought her actions and threw the poisoned sauce away. She thanks her for her help making the right choice. Lom proceeds to dry some tears off her face, then star to close in to kiss her – but gets interrupted by Adisorn and Fah, wanting to pair up Lada with someone. Apo doesn’t allow it and wants to get with Lada, but the Preem comes running claiming there is a problem: some guests have started vomiting after eating chef Ian’s signature dish, and Adison suddenly also has cramps. Later, Lada comes to Apo and Adisorn’s house to check in on him, and Apo joins her claiming that Lada has been at the hospital all night, as Preem told her. But Lada argues it’s her job anyway and inquires about Adisorn… …and Apo lets her see for herself that he is on the mend. She claims that she’s sorry, but Adisorn wants to know what she’s sorry for – and we get a flashback to the previous night, when Lada called her brother to inquired if he poisoned the food, but he argues that was her job. But she admits she threw the poison away, and Pat argues that she declined her help for the family, with Lada claiming that she was sorry, but couldn’t go though with it, it wasn’t right. He argued that it must have been someone else, then – which Lada leads to question her if he has another mole there, but Pat just instructs her to not let him down again, because the Watin group won’t be losing their name next time, he’ll make them lose something else as well. Lada claims it was her job to ensure that all went well, but she failed to protect the hotel’s guests and reputation. Adisorn claims that Apo had the police already looking into it, and they think the ice they used was contaminated. He argues that it was not her fault, so she didn’t have to apologize. But Lada thinks that if she had been more careful, something terrible like this wouldn’t have happened. But Adisorn has met many people is his work, and argues he has no doubt that she did all she could to protect the Wait group. Apo thinks she should rest and gives her the day off, claiming she needs her assistant unstressed, so that she can focus on her work, and Adison tells to admit that she’s worried about her and stop using work as an excuse. The, Fah comes in with Doctor Trai, who Adison wanted to get to know Lada. Apo gives her father a look that could kill. Apo just leaves with Lada who warns her that her father might feel crossed, but Apo argues that it’s better than having him do something they don’t want to. But Lada is not worried that she’ll be in trouble, but rather that Apo will quarrel with her father. She wants to go by herself but Apo doesn’t let her leave, puts her into her car and drives away with Fah and Adisorn looking after her and thinking she is getting serious the time – and thinking, it’s all up to Lada now. 😊 Apo takes Lada home with Pat noticing and calling Lada as they arrive. She notices a guy pointing a gun at them, but it was all in her head and she had fallen asleep in the car. Lada gets out now for real and as she overreacts to a pizza delivery guy thinking he wants to shoot them, Apo brings her to her apartment door because she’s hungry she claims. Lada tells her to wait outside for a moment as she checks whether her family members have gone, then quickly tidies up her room, before she lets Apo in. She can only of her ramen, which is fine for Apo, she then select one, nay two packages of miso ramen and starts to prepare them, and Apo claims they can help in making her feel less awkward, as Lada has been off since the morning. Lada argues that she still worried about what happened at the event, and thinks that chef Ian might be upset. Apo argues that who wouldn’t be when her customers all had an upset stomach and they will probably believe that it has something to do with the food. Lada wants to know whether chef Ian will work again the Monarch, and Apo admits she wanted to cancel but Apo talked to her this morning and is ready to take responsibility for everything, and to tell the press it was all the hotel’s fault. There was a substance found in the food, she argues, that was put in there by somebody. She thinks it might be some of the staff, but argues it will take some time before they find out who in fact did it. Lada burns her finger accidentally hearing this, and Apo takes it up her face to cool it down immediately. Lada collects herself again, then tells Apo to take a place on her couch and wait for the food to be ready, as she is her guest. Lada finishes preparing the food, then switches star lights so that they can dine under the stars. Apo sits down next to her on the floor, and Lada claims the she and Adisorn are as stubborn as mules and Apo thinks Lada is, too. Then, she claims the noodles are quite tasty, because Lada made them – and Lada thinks about their almost-kiss earlier. Then, she wants to bring her some water, and dowses Apo with noodles while trying to get up. Apo comes home later in Lada’s clothes which cause a stir among Fah and Adisorn. But Apo claims she was eating noodles and accidentally got some on her shirt. Fah wants to know where she ate them and where she change her shirt, and Apo admits it was at Lada’s – but nothing happened, she claims, which prompt Adison to bring up Trai again. And Apo admits that there is nothing between them, but there might be in the future – and posits that from now on, Lada won’t have time for anyone. Lada returns to work but immediately gets a text from Pat wishing her a good day, so she knows that he’s observing her. She wants to call him but meets Apo before she can get him on the phone, and she wants her to get in the car. Lada keep looking for someone as she gets into her car, and Apo notices it and asks her if she’s afraid that someone might follow them, then gives her some sandwiches from dad, she claims. Lada takes a bite then claims that the sauce could be better, but eats it anyway, claiming that he put his heart into it, and Apo smiles, conforming that it was her who made the sandwiches. 😉 Lada asks later which members of the staff are being interrogated but Apo claims that’s still under investigation. Then, Lada wants to know what Apo wanted to talk to her about – but gets interrupted by Fai. Apo introduces her to Lada and Fai loudly claims that must be the girl who Lom thinks is her girlfriend, with many of the staff hearing this. But Lada claims she is just her colleague. Lada gets a call from Pat who proves that he heard their conversation. Lada pleads with him to not stoop so low, but Pat thinks that just proves Apo in important to her – and hangs up before she can explain herself. Fai isn’t convinced that Lada and Apo are just colleagues, and Apo accuses Lom of overreacting and imagining thinks, but Fai claims she was genuinely hurt and frustrated in a way that Fai just had to come and look into the face of that girl who could make Lom so desperate – but not only Lom, she argues, and asks her if she has a secret crush on her. But Apo doesn’t want to talk to her anymore and just leaves. She then call Din and Rose to the “Monarch” to see the person who can make Apo divorce her work. Lada then gets call from Apo, and meets her outside. Apo want to ask her out for dinner, but Lada claims to be busy all week. Apo them want to know if she did anything to upset her, but Lada denies it then claims she has to take care of something for Preem. At night, Apo talks to Fah in private, but Fah knows it’s about Lada. Apo tells her that she thinks Lada is mad at her, but doesn’t know why as she kept denying it. But Fah tells her to just give her a call, and if she doesn’t tell her, that’s no problem either, she claims. Lade has returned to her family. She asks her mother if she’s seen Pat but her mother claims her father is looking for him as well, and has heard the hotel he manages has a lot of problems. Her father has ordered him to talk to him tomorrow… …and her father tells her at dinner that he’s instructed his other son to shut the hotel down and sell it off. He tells Lada that being his son means you must always win, there is no place for losing, especially to a girl like Apo. He should get a job from her if he wants to remain in the hotel business. Her sister-in-law argues that her father and Pat are alike – they would rather die than losing their faces, and argues he’d do anything to keep his hotel going. Later with Nade, she argues that she looks so stressed and recommends she abandons the plan to spy for his brother, but Lada claim that she can’t, Nade thinks she is falling into her own trap, but Lada claims it doesn’t matter how she feels, she can’t leave Apo right now. Lada is back at work, and Apo tries to talk to her, but doesn’t find the right words. She then calls Lada on the phone, but she doesn’t pick it up this time. Later Adisorn, comes in and argues that work takes effort – as does love. He claims that she looks so depressed for many days now, and at first thought to leave her alone, but he doesn’t think anymore that anything good will come of it. Apo claims she only stressing about work and not about Lada, but Adisorn claims he hasn’t mentioned her yet – but if she insists he will stay out of it. But Apo tells him to wait and then admits that she feels Lada is trying to avoid her. He asks her if he should help her or not. Lada has some accounting documents for the boss and wants Preem to give them to her, but she has something else to do, so she has to deliver them to Apo’s office, who then quicky comes in to put a smartwatch onto her wrist, then asks her why she didn’t respond to her calls. She claims to have forgotten her phone which is why Apo gave her this watch to talk to her in an emergency or when she forgot her phone. Then, she asks her again if she has any problem with her, and Lada denies it again- but Apo calls her a liar because her because her heart rate just spiked. Lada find this ridiculous and want to leave, bot Apo stops her claiming that if someone who seems close but suddenly keeps a distance and avoid her, it matters a lot to her. Lada argues that she would have no way to avoid the because they are working together, and Apo invites her to dinner again to a restaurant or to the noodle show near her condo. But Lada says she must decline the offer and shows on her smartwatch that she’s not lying. Then, she excuses herself and leaves. Lada goes back to her station as she gets a call from Adisorn. Apo meanwhile keeps walking across her office as Preem comes in; she offers to work late if she does but, she sends her home and claims she will sleep in the office that night as she’s been turned down anyway. Preem knows of no appointment Apo has but Apo claims it was last-minute. Preem then tells her that Adisorn complained about not being able to reach her, as he wanted to tell her that there will be an important guest at their home for dinner that night and he wanted her to look at his text message. She reads the message – and then urgently heads home. And that’s where the first half of this story ends. ___ This was some stress-building 101, and while I liked the episode – and the fact that Lada decided to abandon her plans to sabotage the chef Ian event and do the right thing, after all – both Apo and Lada come to terms with their feelings this week – with vastly different outcomes. While Apo is now pretty directly courting her Lada retreats, and buckles under the weight of her feelings but also her family obligations, and Pat tries every trick to draw her to her side again – which will fail because Lada doesn’t want to hurt Apo or the hotel anymore, but fears all will come crashing down once her real identity is revealed. All the while everyone surrounding them is already shipping them – Adisorn, Fai, Fah, and I suspect next week Din and Rose will also come in for support. That was the longest episode to date, but it had a lot of ground to cover, and we are closer to the novel again. Of course, I will check out how they tackle the seconds half of the show next week. 😉