#this is why Daon wore those ill fitting clothes all the time

[locksnrocks]

Secret Relationships - let the cursed polycule live to the detriment of literally everyone

Secret Relationships was such a ride! I must ramble about it. So the world's most toxic love square (polycule-that-could-have-been) boiled down to one doe-eyed poor dude who wears his expensive but oddly baggy outfits to his job where at times he was the only one working on the project (I know it was a tense moment but the conference room scene with Suhyeon taunting Senghyeon and pulling Daon's chair- tell me half the pain in Daon's eyes wasn't because he was legit trying to work on something important to him and the other two were contributing nothing. Tho I'll give Senghyeon a pass lol)- and then 3 love interest, 2 who are red flags and one who looks like the greenest green flag to ever green.

Although, I tell ya, seeing others look into Senghyeon as a character and start pointing out some of his actions and he started to look more yellow, but the sheer wall of red bouncing off those other two lunatics sure makes him look pretty darn green by comparison. I think the writers intended for him to be green, but give a competent fanwriter some time and it wouldn't take much to craft a Senghyeon who wields emotion manipulation + well intentioned? boundary stomping to get what he wants, instead of a raging temper or puppet master machinations.

So Daon's life boiled down to 3 people who fall into "I love you and to prove it I would"-

1. Die for you

2. Kill for you

3. Kill you (and myself)

Just just just....! What a ride. I enjoyed the telenovela level shenanigans.

Oh, but the toxic poly potential!!! Look, if we go back to the 7 years ago Christmas/Future Murder Cabin flashback, tell me that Jaemin and Suhyeon couldn't have tweaked their dumbass plan to just be 'let's feel Daon out and see if we can tie him to us both," with the rational that an unattached Daon attracts too much attention and two pairs of eyes on him are better then one. So they convince him to date them both (and i use 'convince' here in the most leave-him-no-real-choice way) and boom. Our protagonist is trapped in the lion's den. They make that cabin their little getaway 'love' nest and slowly work to isolate Daon completely.

Can the two psychos get to a place where they get with each other? For the sake of society, that would have been ideal (good grief let the two match each other's freak level and take themselves off the market), but I personally headcanon that they would at most tolerate the other with Daon as the buffer. And, oh, the things that would unfold. They attic-wife Daon (I saw Cabin-husband earlier and lol) and become the most evil throuple in all the land.

Presenting a numbered list to organize my rambling thoughts:

1. Jaemin is still an unstable schemer, it's his life blood. And while he's come to this truce with Suhyeon for now, the more time he has with Daon the more his tolerance for Suhyeon's own boundary-stomping tendencies wanes. My dude was ready to burn it all down- with time, he's gonna want to have it all to himself. But he's subtle, he waits, he plots, he sees that Suyheon's temper is still present and it scares Daon. So therefore, our Master Manipulator girlboss leans into it- needle Suyheon when he returns in a foul mood after visiting his family, the temper explodes and Daon naturally gravitates to Jaemin.

2. Anytime Daon isn't focusing on Suhyeon, he gets in his moods. We did not get through the series and come out thinking Suhyeon would be fixed if he actually got Daon. His temper would be tempered-ha! - with Daon in his life, but his lifelong problem is his abusive family. So Suhyeon takes any chance to get Daon's complete attention, even if it means just snatching him up in the middle of a convo with Jaemin. Tension builds over time, Daon is trapped, did these two even allow him to get a job? I could see that being a hard line with him, so fine, he can work (at the company Suyheon oversees), so now work isn't even a valid escape route.

3. Perhaps we get a bit of unhinged/schemer Daon??! As a treat? As a survival mechanism as this polyship forges on and he is trapped in the middle and maybe one day he realizes that huh, look at that, I want to work on this project but Suyheon shut it down as it would be with another team he doesn't directly oversee. Oh, what's that? When i spend more time with Jaemin, Suyheon acts out. If i withdrawal, Suhyeon either acts out more, or... he has a chance to love bomb as a make up and play the hero who gives me the project. Daon reinforces this behavior, showering Suhyeon in attention.

4. Jaemin ain't spared, either. Suyheon is out for work so Jaemin is determined to occupy 100% of Daon's person. And Daon leans into it- responding exactly in ways Jaemin wants, letting little slips like "I love how quiet/peaceful this night is with you, hyung. / you treat me so well, what would I do without you." Jaemin smugly eats it up. This is how it should be.

5. Suhyeon returns, temper already sparked from work/family drama/just being away and knowing Jaemin has had unsupervised time with Daon, and Daon just flips on a dime. Suddenly, he's focused on Suhyeon, placating him, no longer hiding away or behind Jaemin but instead placing himself right in front of Suhyeon. I'm going off of that Scene in ep 6- to placate Suhyeon, it takes Daon submitting himself. And it works- Suhyeon is tamed (for now) and Jaemin is left regretting ever trying to needle Suhyeon to be more volatile if it means Daon switches his attention entirely. Daon establishes his own pattern of positive reinforcement on Suhyeon and with time, he can convince the other to let him work that project or go out shopping on his own. He just has to be careful not to push for too much too soon, but Daon sharpens his own brand of subtle manipulation.

6. Jury's out if he could pull the same off with Jaemin- i don't think J would ever get to the place of letting Daon out without his supervision unless absolutely necessary. So it's kind of the situation where a child ask one parent while knowing the other would say no lol. Daon gets to the point of knowing he can convince Suyheon of something he wants (or the rare occasion he can convince Jaemin instead), and go on his merry way fully knowing it would result in an argument among the other two.

6. Maybe on a rare bout of freedom Daon has a scooter-crash meet cute with Senghyeon. Maybe this sparks something on both ends- or just gives Daon a clue that there are other people in the world outside of the gilded cage Jamein & Suhyeon trapped him in.

So many thoughts surrounding this glorious mess of a show.