A Love Other Than Yours finale: why did they break up a second time — and do they ever get back together?

A Love Other Than Yours (Neo Malgo Dareun Yeonae) is a KBS2 weekend romance that aired in Korea from September 12 to November 1, 2026, and streamed worldwide on Prime Video. Seo Kang-joon plays Namgung Ho, an assistant manager at a confectionery company, and Ahn Eun-jin plays Lee Mi-do, a film director. They met when they were seven, started dating at 26, and never celebrated their anniversary on a calendar date. Their anniversary was the first snow of every year.

The first breakup

The show opens with a split, not a meet-cute. Mi-do's mother tells the couple to get married or break up, and Mi-do isn't ready for either. Her career is collapsing: she's been pulled off her film Heartless after a fight with its star, and she's hiding the legal mess from Ho, because his knowing makes her feel pathetic. Ho, meanwhile, has a proposal planned at a small cinema.

The proposal never happens. The night ends with both engagement rings in the trash. The next morning, out of ten years of habit, Ho calls to wake her up, and they both say "I love you" before remembering they're over.

It doesn't stick. In episode 3, after nearly watching Mi-do get hit by a car, Ho asks her to marry him again and admits he went back for the ring he threw away. They announce the engagement to her family. Then two texts land at the same moment: one from lawyer Han Tae-seung (Lee Joo-ahn), one from Ho's junior colleague Park Su-a (Jo A-ram).

The one-month experiment

Wedding planning goes about as well as you'd expect with two very attractive distractions in the picture. So Mi-do proposes a deal: for one month, she dates Tae-seung, Ho dates Su-a, and they find out whether what they have is love or just a very long habit. The pact starts in a church.

It was supposed to make things clear. Instead, Su-a turns out to be someone from Ho's past, a girl he still calls by an old nickname, and by episode 12 Ho is telling Mi-do that Su-a makes him like himself more. Episode 12 ends with Ho leaning in to kiss Su-a just as Mi-do walks up with Tae-seung.

The secret under the whole relationship

Episode 13 explains why these two could never just let go. Twenty-nine years ago, at the sea in Gangneung, where the kids first met, Mi-do's father died saving little Ho. Ho has spent his whole life paying that debt to the Lee family. When Mi-do's brother Young-do brings up their father, Ho finally breaks:

"Every day was hell, but I thought I'd paid for my life with everything I had. Was that still not enough?"

Then Mi-do confesses her side. She was the one who asked her father to save Ho, and she's been hiding behind Ho ever since, afraid everyone would resent her if they knew. Ten years of romance, and underneath it, two people carrying the same guilt.

Ho has one more secret, and he tells it to Su-a, not Mi-do: he gave up painting after learning his talent came from his biological father, a gangster.

Why they broke up the second time

In the finale, Ho and Mi-do go back to the church where the experiment began and end it, along with the relationship itself. They admit they've hurt each other and the two people they pulled into their test. The tragedy that tied them together can't be the reason they stay together.

Do Ho and Mi-do get back together?

No. The finale jumps two years. Ho returns from his company's Paris branch and goes straight to Su-a. He tells her he waited until his feelings were at 100% before coming back. When she asks if they are, he says no. He just couldn't get them down to zero. They kiss.

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Mi-do, now a lecturer, is with Tae-seung, who still wants one thing from her: certainty. She answers by kissing him first. Lee Joo-ahn, who plays Tae-seung, said in his farewell message:

"I think that the viewers went through the exact same process that I did and eventually rooted for Tae Seung."

Before both couples move on, Ho and Mi-do take one last trip to the Gangneung sea. Ho says he feels like a curse on her life. Mi-do calls their meeting a miracle. Then a child falls into the water, the two of them pull the kid out together, and Ho bursts into tears. They part smiling, side by side at a bus terminal, saying each other's names.

The final image is a comic book Ho left behind, with a drawing of Mi-do he made in middle school, back when he still painted. Mi-do's closing voiceover says it's time to look toward spring instead of waiting for the first snow.

For the record: Ho and Mi-do celebrated nine first snows together. The breakup in episode 1 came right before the tenth.

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