When Love Is a Losing Bet

Episode 1

Alfred Gill made a bet with his mother five years ago: if Iris Logan fell in love with him within five years, he wouldn't have to return and take over the family business. He lost. Iris remains cold, dutiful, and distant — honoring their contract but never warming to him. He bought her as his girlfriend to pay for her grandmother's medical care, hoping time would change her heart. Then Owen Kane, her first crush, returns from abroad, and Alfred sees the Iris he never knew — soft, tearful, alive. He tells his mother he'll arrange a fake death within a week and erase his past entirely.

Episode 2

Alfred pulls away, claiming exhaustion, and Iris barely reacts. He tells her she won't have to keep up their arrangement much longer — he'll be leaving soon. At Grandmother's bedside, he admits the truth: Iris loves Owen Kane, not him. Grandmother gently pushes back, insisting Iris isn't without feeling, that their beginning was just too impure to grow into love. Alfred hands over a card meant as a startup fund for Iris, saved until now to protect her pride, asking Grandmother to pass it on. He mentions going somewhere far away, and she presses him on what he means.

Episode 3

At the hospital, Grandmother is recovering. Iris scolds a younger visitor for wanting ice cream despite stomach pain, and Alfred watches the small scene unfold. Even in a room of four people, Iris's eyes only find Owen. He's the outsider, permanently. He tells himself it no longer matters — he's let go of Iris and every feeling he had for her, handing her back to Owen completely. Grandmother asks him to stay and wash grapes, and he quietly obliges, already rehearsing his exit.

Episode 4

Iris tells Alfred to stop visiting her grandmother so often, reminding him she sold herself to him, not her family. At dinner, Owen joins them, and the table fills with dishes Iris loves — a stark contrast to the forced notes Alfred once demanded she memorize about his own preferences. He notices a ring on Owen's hand, the one he gave Iris because she said it looked nice. She passed it on without a thought. Alfred steps away to take a call, and the distance between what he offered and what she values becomes painfully clear.

Episode 5

A meal turns ugly when Owen accuses Alfred of sabotaging his career, blacklisting him across the industry, and sending people to throw paint at his home. Alfred denies all of it — he never targeted Owen. Iris doesn't believe him. She throws his past in his face: a man who bought a wife is capable of anything. Owen plays the wounded party, insisting he's fine, that Alfred shouldn't be blamed. Alfred hears the verdict in Iris's eyes — he will never be trusted. He asks Owen to talk, alone.

Episode 6

Alfred surprises Owen by offering to help him and Iris, not fight them. Owen scoffs, certain it's a trap from a man who paid five years of medical bills just to keep Iris close. Alfred insists he's leaving soon and won't stand in their way. He hands over tickets to a theme park, one for Owen and one for Iris, and reminds Owen that Iris can't refuse his requests under their old agreement. Owen accuses him of scheming to frame him, but takes the bait. At the park, Iris runs into Owen — and her face doesn't quite light up the way Alfred expected.

Episode 7

Alfred reflects that in five years he asked Iris for a single photo together and was always refused — she doesn't like cameras. Yet with Owen, that rule dissolves. He arranges a couple's dinner, and the restaurant's anniversary promotion hands them matching rings and a photo session. Iris suddenly feels unwell and tries to leave, offering to let Owen take her place. Alfred pushes them together anyway, engineering every moment for Owen's benefit. He's not chasing her anymore — he's clearing the stage, one painful scene at a time, even as something in Iris hesitates.

Episode 8

At a class reunion, Iris drinks, and Owen insists she drive him home because it's late and unsafe. Alfred tells her to go ahead — he'll take a taxi. The pattern repeats: Owen keeps maneuvering Iris into choosing him, and Alfred keeps stepping aside. Then a strange, out-of-place moment intrudes — a summons to a villa — and the night spirals further. Alfred's patience is thinning, but his plan is nearly complete. He only needs to hold on a little longer before he removes himself from the picture for good.

Episode 9

Iris finds Owen at the house after a power outage and demands to know why he's sleeping in the master bedroom. Alfred claims he hadn't prepared another room and it was only for one night. He offers to take her home. Iris snaps, accusing him of inventing new ways to torment them. Alfred says he only wanted to give her what she wants. She throws his character back at him — with him around, she'd never cross a line with Owen. He notes there are only two days left before he stops being their obstacle. Everything is almost over.

Episode 10

Alfred burns the last mementos of his marriage — the ninety-nine love letters Iris rejected, everything he once treasured. He reflects that he only found this scheme after seeing her cornered by medical bills: a way to help her and fulfill his own wish at once. Maybe he was wrong from the start. He tells Iris to forget this hollow memory and forget him, so they can both begin fresh. Then, in a quiet room, a contract is signed: a fake death service, with a body double built to his exact measurements.