LONDON: In South Korea, societal norms are the glue holding the developing community together.

Respect your elders, bite your tongue, and obey the rules. Sound familiar? South Korean screenwriters have turned these customs and the unpredictability of romance into formulas their loyal viewers can't get enough of. Business rivals to lovers, marriages of convenience, rekindled first loves, or love triangles where the obvious choice is always the second one. From rooftop confessions to couples defying class barriers, nobody tells a love story like the Koreans. Korean rom coms are now a globally adored and easily identifiable genre. Picture this: a woman stands on the sidewalk as a car speeds by, splashing through a puddle. The male lead – always over six foot, with perfect hair and an immaculate coat – yanks her out of harm's way, sacrificing his own designer-clad back to take the hit; it's a classic scene. I can think of at least four K-dramas where this exact scenario has played out word for word. K-dramas haven't just captured the hearts of Pakistani women; they've got Muslim women everywhere totally hooked. British Pakistani Sahar Zahid told The Express Tribune, "I wouldn't say they're completely halal, but they're definitely less raunchy than Hollywood flicks - or even the latest Turkish soap operas.

As a Muslim woman, I find these shows relatable because premarital relationships aren't a given, and not everyone is playing the dating game. In most of the series I’ve seen, the couples only get together at the very end, so the main plot is all about them not being a couple yet." Sahar also finds how the character arcs defer from the traditional types is a refreshing change from the overprotective, overbearing nature of the young men in other shows. The lack of a fully developed frontal lobe never stopped Korean men from treating their women right. “These dramas show modern men who are secure in their masculinity which rids them of a lot of the toxic behaviour that comes with being insecure. They take care of the women they love,” she says.