Yae, an unremarkable girl working in a café and living with a friend, finds herself unable to afford rent when her friend suddenly gets married, and she loses her job in the same day! It’s only when her boyfriend dumps her that she finally hits rock bottom. She’s at her wits’ end when her childhood friend Takumi suddenly reappears into her life. Takumi suggests that Yae take on a part-time job as his “fake wife” for the next six months. He has his reasons for wanting people to think he’s married. Yae has no other choice but to accept his proposal, and in return receives housing and living expenses for playing the role of his “fake wife.” So begins a “fake marriage” with a time limit. Unbeknownst to Yae, she was Takumi’s first love, even though she thinks of him as nothing more than a childhood friend. Takumi struggles awkwardly but earnestly to win Yae’s heart and find true love. Even though their marriage starts as a sham, will the day come when this couple can become something more?
Saimori Miyo was the unfortunate child of a loveless, arranged marriage. After her mother died, her father brought in his lover and her own daughter, Kaya. From then on, Miyo's life was reduced to that of a mere servant. Even worse, while Kaya inherited the family's psychic abilities, Miyo had none—she was truly the daughter with no merit. After years of being treated like dirt, Miyo has learned to keep her head down, hide her pain, and obey every order. So, it comes as no surprise that she is arranged to be married to Kudo Kiyoka, a military captain rumored to be so cruel that he has driven away every one of his potential wives so far. From a painful upbringing to a painful marriage, that's the future that awaits Miyo—or so she thinks. Contrary to her expectations, her new husband is actually kind-hearted. What really awaits Miyo is a blissful, everlasting marriage full of happiness!
Yuki Rio, the daughter of an old, prestigious family in Kyoto with over 1,000 years of history, enters into an arranged marriage at the age of 16 with a man she’s never met. Her husband is Takamine Masatomo, a handsome CEO in the IT industry. Every year on her birthday, she would receive 50 million yen, making their relationship one based solely on money. One day, after ten years had passed with no contact, Rio decided to move to Tokyo. She asks her husband, whom she’s meeting for the first time, for a divorce. On the other hand, Takamine finds himself unexpectedly attracted to Rio and doesn’t want a divorce. Thus begins a romantic battle between a wife who wants a divorce and a husband who refuses to let her go
To pursue her dreams, Sakurai Kazumi quits her job and goes to New York to study jewelry design, against the objections of her naggy and stubborn but well-meaning father. As part of remaking herself, she changes from spectacles to contact lenses, even though she has problems adapting to them. When she accidentally drops her contact lenses, a mysterious man helps prevent them from being stepped on, but he walks away before she can talk to him.
Some years pass, and Kazumi is on a plane home after receiving a letter from her brother Taku saying their father is critically ill. She has morning sickness and has some run-ins on the plane with a sloppily-dressed man, and it is only when she drops her contacts and the man helps her in a similar way that she recognizes him. She chases after him and asks, "would you like to do some work?" It turns out that Kazumi in her last letter from New York had written that she was in a relationship with someone and that they might soon marry, but since then she has broken up with him, and she didn't want to make her father upset by coming home alone. The man, a freelance journalist named Yoshimi Kaoru, agrees to pretend to be her fiance.
On reaching home, Kazumi discovers that her father is not actually on his deathbed and everyone discovers that Taku had written that letter back to Kazumi where their father says he's happy about the relationship. But the biggest shock comes when Kazumi admits that she's pregnant, and that she wants to have the baby...
Some years pass, and Kazumi is on a plane home after receiving a letter from her brother Taku saying their father is critically ill. She has morning sickness and has some run-ins on the plane with a sloppily-dressed man, and it is only when she drops her contacts and the man helps her in a similar way that she recognizes him. She chases after him and asks, "would you like to do some work?" It turns out that Kazumi in her last letter from New York had written that she was in a relationship with someone and that they might soon marry, but since then she has broken up with him, and she didn't want to make her father upset by coming home alone. The man, a freelance journalist named Yoshimi Kaoru, agrees to pretend to be her fiance.
On reaching home, Kazumi discovers that her father is not actually on his deathbed and everyone discovers that Taku had written that letter back to Kazumi where their father says he's happy about the relationship. But the biggest shock comes when Kazumi admits that she's pregnant, and that she wants to have the baby...
Ayaka, who works at the bridal department at a hotel, has a beauty that everyone recognizes, yet her personality is the worst. Everyone calls her a "wicked woman" after the way she wraps numerous men around her finger. The one who sets his eyes on her is the hotel's new executive Togo, who is the son of a very powerful person of the town. What are the orders that this King-like man requests of her!?
I am simplifying it and ignoring the parent's stories, but both focus on supporting a child through her illness and coming closer as a family to do so. While the parentage isn't that complicated in Wonder Life and after the diagnosis of the daughter Han Shin Bi, the focus shifts from a love story to focus on family. If you want more of an emotional roller coaster, I would say watch Oh My Geum Bi. Both even have Lee Ji Hoon! Both are worth watching and shedding a few tears.
