The First Lover’s Quarrel Ensues in ‘Stay By My Side’ Episode 8

BL Recaps Taiwan

2023-08-22
16:51

The boy who can hear the voices of the ghost and his ”heater” are officially together! Although everything seems to be fine and dandy, there is still one more secret left in the dark. What will happen once Jiang Chi learns about his supernatural role in Bu Xia’s life? Let’s find out in ‘Stay By My Side‘ Episode 8!

Warning: Spoiler alert! Read at your own risk.

Episode 8: Can everyone’s wish come true?

Unbeknownst to Bu Xia, Jiang Chi prepares a surprise birthday celebration for him, complete with gifts coming from their team and a cake that he baked. Although Bu Xia playfully complains that the cake is ugly, he can’t help but feel nostalgic, remembering that he hasn’t blown out a birthday candle since his grandfather died. To his surprise again, beneath the cake is a key that Jiang Chi ties on a necklace before putting it around his neck. While he tells him that a key to their home is given on someone’s 21st birthday in Irish culture, Jiang Chi hopes that in the future, they will be sharing the same key to their own home together. After sharing a tight hug, Jiang Chi swears that although he is boring and stubborn at times, he is also wholehearted when he decides to be nice, and thus expects Bu Xia to tell him when something is wrong, as he doesn’t like being deceived like before. Bu Xia becomes bothered by his boyfriend’s statement and remembers the couple who broke up because of secrets in the television show that he watched.

The following day, Bu Xia calls his sister after noticing that the key seems to have engravings similar to the works of his grandfather in their temple and realizing that Jiang Chi must have met her. His sister tells her that Jiang Chi visited their shrine and introduced himself as Bu Xia’s boyfriend. He even brought gifts to get on her good side. Out of excitement that her brother has finally figured out his feelings towards his roommate, she almost slipped to Jiang Chi about being a ”heater”, but was able to stop herself. Jiang Chi shares that although he knows that Bu Xia no longer celebrates his birthday after their grandfather died, he still wants to do something special for him. Bu Xia’s sister finds it sweet that Jiang Chi asked for a good luck charm made by their grandfather and had it engraved in the key. Before leaving the temple, Jiang Chi asked her to keep his visit a secret.

After their basketball practice, Jiang Chi gives Bu Xia review notes before heading to his part-time job which earned teasing from the team. Once Jiang Chi is out of sight, their teammates interrogate him about what happened during his birthday, but instead of answering, he asks them if they think someone like Jiang Chi will really like him. To his annoyance, they made fun of him by telling him he’s a three compared to Jiang Chi, who is nine, although, in the end, they told him that none of that matters if two people genuinely like each other. For some reason, this continued to bother Bu Xia, especially since he has been seeing Jiang Chi less due to the latter being busy with school and a part-time job.

While scrolling the school forum, Bu Xia sees an event for law students and finds out that Jiang Chi skipped it. He wonders if it’s because of him and decides to ask Jiang Chi, who tells him that it’s mainly because he has no time between his studies, work, and basketball training. Resulting in Bu Xia suggesting that he quit the basketball team so that his spare time could be focused on law school instead. Jiang Chi initially assumed that someone from the basketball team must have complained about his training period, but Bu Xia assures him that he just doesn’t want him to be ridiculed for spending too much time on him. Bu Xia also thinks that by doing well in law school, Jiang Chi can prove his parents wrong and make them proud of him; however, this irks Jiang Chi more as he feels like he is being dictated to by everyone. Their conversation becomes more heated when Bu Xia asks why Jiang Chi is so intent on being with him, but he gets shocked when his boyfriend answers that he worries about how he will handle the voices of the ghost without him around. It turns out that Bu Xia’s sister told him the truth and explained that he is her brother’s ”heater or someone who can silence the unwanted voices”. She also shared that her brother is afraid that Jian Chi will think that he is crazy or that he is just using him as a tool. Unfortunately, she still hasn’t found a way to solve her brother’s dilemma.

Bu Xia realizes that Jiang Chi has been giving up activities that will require them to be separated and feel negatively about it. He insists that Jiang Chi doesn’t have to make these sacrifices, as by the end of the day, he must rely on himself when the former is not around. Jiang Chi gets offended that Bu Xia thinks his decisions are not worth it for him and leaves in the meantime to calm himself down but not before sarcastically saying that he is learning how to let Bu Xia be alone. To his dismay, Bu Xia did not follow him outside. Meanwhile, the ghosts take advantage of Bu Xia being alone and start to annoy him by telling him about the breakup when they were still alive.

When Bu Xia awakens, he finds that Jiang Chi’s mess from the previous night has already been cleared up. The basketball team finds Bu Xia sitting dangerously on the river bridge and tries to calm him down.

Writer’s Thoughts:

All the secrets are now out and while this isn’t the primary cause of their first lover’s quarrel, it does highlight a more pressing problem in their relationship: communication and trust. Since the show consistently led the audience to believe that Jiang Chi finding out about the “heater” thing would be their make-or-break, it’s fair to say that the argument about someone giving up something for their special someone in a relationship is a very realistic take and one that we didn’t expect. As it turns out, just like in a typical relationship, the two are more worried about each other’s welfare and growth than anything else. Keep an eye out for the upcoming episode to watch how they reconcile for the first time as a couple!

Watch ‘Stay By My Side’ on GagaOOLala.

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