It startled you to hear the photographer throwing a tantrum over the lightning and the little details of the set design.  The thunder of his voice was echoing across the room with the clatter of the staff scurrying about to cater to his every whim.  From the sounds of it, you figured it was total chaos out there.  “This is painting out to be a bad choice for a first job.”  You thought to yourself as you dropped to your knees to retrieve the large shadow brush that you have dropped with your shaking hands.  It had rolled underneath the hastily set-up work table in an equally hastily set-up dressing room in a rundown empty space of a warehouse outside of town that the crew was shooting in.

As you stood up, you twitched the curtain aside to peek at the situation outside to where that famous photographer was pacing up and down, camera in one hand while the other hand was motioning wildly with his voice booming around the place, ordering the pitiful crew around, whom you had so much compassion for at the moment.  You had a feeling that in a while that would be you, the pitiful you that he would be shouting at. 

A few steps away from him, the celebrity for the shoot was sitting on a folding chair in a corner staring off into space, holding a cup of iced coffee that he doesn’t seem to favor, but kept on drinking nonetheless with a grimace on his face with every sip.  He glances at your direction just as you were looking at him, making you keep your head down until he finally looked away.  From behind the drapes, you stealthily observed him.  You weren’t exactly a fan, but you had to admit that Jang Wooyoung is one handsome man.  He had on an oversized blue sweater over a pair of faded and torn designer jeans.  His feet were bare and he was sporting a side parted pompadour.  There was something about him that attracts the eyes easily and you found yourself continuing to watch him as he looks up to smile at a crew member.  His lips curved up slightly in a smile that had a sort of innocent yet manly feel in them.  It was entrancing in a way you couldn’t seem to explain.  He looks at your direction again making you turn back hurriedly and busied yourself with the brushes, palettes and tubes on the table.  You’re sure you will get called on anytime soon and this was no time for you to be ogling a celebrity.

The thought in your head had not faded before you heard your name being called and orders just came pouring in after.  Taking a deep breath, you turned and smiled at Wooyoung, who was walking towards you.  He greeted you with a bow and you did the same as he proceeded to sit on the makeup chair.  

“You’re new?”  He asked with his eyes closed, adjusting himself on the chair.

“Yes.”  You nodded in reply as you started doing the usual for a male photoshoot.  You started with a base of both moisturizer and primer, applying it gently over his soft skin.  You leaned in closer and caught a whiff of his cologne, deep and musky and with the faintest hint of citrus. 

“I haven’t seen you in any of my shoots before.”  He said as you applied the concealer, especially around the eyes.

“It’s my first day.”  You moved fast to work on his eyes.

He opened his eyes and looked at you flashing his radiant smile.  “So…I guess that makes me your first.”  You rolled your eyes and turned away to fetch a brush from the table that you have no need for, not wanting him to see that he was unnerving you with that naughty twinkle in his eyes.

“Could you please refrain from speaking while I do you…your makeup I mean.”  You spoke sternly, correcting your mistake as if it never happened, as you applied the liner for his eyes, his smile never leaving his face.  All the while the photographer had clicked away in the set, testing lighting and shouting instructions at the crew, causing the staff to hasten about every now and again. 

Having finished after several minutes, Wooyoung got up and walked over to where the activity was and they started with a few shots, mostly with him perched on a stool, sometimes looking into the camera, some with him looking far away, but all of them made him look like a little boy lost in thought.  A few minutes into the shoot and you heard your name being called again.

“Change his hair.”  You were told as you rushed out of the dressing room.  “Make it into hair.”

There was the obvious shock in your face as you stood in the middle of the set.  “Excuse me…what?” 

“Change.his.hair.”  The photographer spoke to you mockingly slow.  “He needs hair.  Fix it or rather unfix it.  Mess it up.  Like he had a little bit of a rough and tumble with a girl.”  He said with exasperation.  “And smear some red lipstick on his face and put kiss marks down his neck too.  I want a just ed look.  Is that clear enough for you little girl?”  Then he turns to Wooyoung.  “I need you topless for the next set.”

“ hair, lipstick, kiss marks…got it!”  You said and shrugged internally to do as you were told.  

Wooyoung having gone back to the dressing room, without so much as a word began to roll up the bottom of his sweater up his torso exposing his toned abs before pulling it completely over his head.  He hangs the sweater over a vacant chair as you swallowed a lump on your throat a little loudly than you might have liked.  He was lean, almost boyish, but very fit.  “You know…y…y…you don’t have to take that off right now.”  You tried to fix your gaze above his neck with difficulty.

“Does this bother you?”  He had his head down and looked up to you through his lashes with a flirty smile and you thought it was way out of character for someone who looked like him.  You looked away too late with a deep blush on your face under the heat of his gaze.  “You want me to put it on again?”

“Nevermind.”  You avoided his stare and pointed to the chair.  He sat quietly in the chair again, hands folded like a good boy as you touched up powder.  You ran your hand through his hair, making the effect like someone has been grabbing at the back of his head, but without hopelessly tangling it altogether.  A whispered touch of your fingers against the hair at his nape sent a shiver down his spine that made him clench his hands together tighter.  “Relax, this won’t take long.”  You whispered as he felt your fingers move through his hair, teasing him with the possibility of more.

With his hair done, you started on the lipstick effect.  The photographer wanted a certain look, a just ed look, not exactly your forte, but you did your best, touching the lipstick to his mouth and then smearing it over to the side of his face.  Concentrating, you tried not to be distracted by his eyes that were staring at you and following your every move.  You stood back to admire you handiwork like the artist that you are.  “Not bad.”  You whispered to yourself with the slightest hint of a smile and gestured that it was okay for him to go.  Wooyoung stood up, towering over you, he reached out to lift the ID that was hanging around your neck.

He called your name as he read off your staff pass.  “You should smile more.”  He smiled himself, flashing a mouthful of teeth.

“You’re good to go.”  You took your ID from his hand carefully.

As soon as he got back to the set they were busy again.  You watched as the photographer clicked away darting around for angles.  He had Wooyoung lying on an old leather couch, staring into the camera with his top off and his jeans slightly ed.  You observed Wooyoung work and how he made love to the camera with his eyes.  It was mesmerizing and to your amazement you found yourself getting just by watching him.  His head was tilted back, exposing the long muscled lines of his neck.  He his lips and shifted slightly, tilting his head, working the camera.  He was no little lost boy anymore, he was a man and a delicious looking one at that.

“Stop!  Stop!”  The photographer shouted making everything come to a standstill and Wooyoung sat up shedding the persona with ease and then smiled as he caught your eye.  You lowered your head and held your breath for a second until you heard your name being called again loudly.  You jerked your head up at the sound of it to see the photographer gesturing for you to come closer.  “This!”  He pointed at Wooyoung.  “This is not working at all.  It looks fake, artificial, contrived.  I can’t work with this crap.”  He despaired, running a hand through his hair.  “Are you really an artist?  This is just pathetic.”

“Sorry.  Let me try something different.”  You spoke softly to pacify his anger.  “I’ll clean him up and work on it again.”

“Don’t fake it.  It has to believable.”  He gestured wildly as you patiently stood beside him waiting for his instructions.  “It has to be real.”

You fake a smile as you spoke pretending to know exactly what to do.  “Alright.  I got it.  I could just smear the lipstick…”

“No.  No.  No.  No.”  He fumed.  “You-“  He points at you.  “You put on the lipstick.”

“Yes….”  You said carefully with bewilderment over your face.  “Well that’s what I did…”

“No stupid!”  He raged and you tried to suppress the anger in you.  “Put it on yourself and kiss him!”  He looked at you with a big smile on his face pleased to have discovered the answer while the rest of the crew stood by frozen in shock.

You looked back at him for a second and uttered a single word.  “No.”  With your face burning and blood boiling you your heel and returned to the dressing room.  There was no way in heaven or hell that you would kiss anyone for that man’s twisted artistic needs…even if that someone was as hot as Wooyoung.  You started throwing your gear into your bags as you tried to keep your temper in check. 

“Steady on little girl.”  He followed you and took your arm, stopping you and turning you around.  “You’re going to lose this job.”  He whispered.  “And every other job in this industry.”  He continued menacingly.  “Would that be alright with you?  That would mean, this will be your first and your last.”

You closed your eyes in defeat feeling tears prickle at the corner of your eyes.  It’s not much of a choice.  “I’ll do it.”  You took a deep breath.  “I’ll make it believable, but without doing it for real.”

“Confidence?”  He smiled threateningly.  “I like that.  But I’m warning you, if you waste anymore of my time with your crappy skills and your crappy work…I will really end your career before it even begins.”  He took a step back.  “Wooyoung get in here and have your make up done please.”  He called out cheerfully like a schizophrenic.

Wooyoung enters the room and stood on a corner as the photographer moves out closing the curtains of the room.  You reached for your lipstick and methodically selected a lipstick the color of fresh blood.  “Stop standing around and sit.”  You dragged him over to the chair and started to put the lipstick on him.  It went on for a while, putting it on him and cleaning it off until you finally gave up on it.  There was no result that made it look real.

On the fifth attempt, Wooyoung stood up to look at the mirror closely.  “I feel like the lower half of my face is about to burn off.”  He teased as he rubs his lips and chin with a hand.

“Fine.”  You clenched your teeth so hard that pain shot up into your skull.  You put the lipstick on your lips and walked over to Wooyoung who watched you with an inscrutable expression on his face.  “I’m so sorry, but it seems like you’re going to have to let me kiss you or I’m going to lose my job.”

Wooyoung’s eyebrows shot up as a smirk tugged on a corner of his lips.  “You sure?” 

You shrugged, knowing that there was no other choice for you, but to face the situation.  Pursing your crimson painted lips, you offered them to the man in front of you, closing your eyes, wanting to shut out the humiliation as you held your breath.  You waited for a few excruciating seconds that seemed to have lasted an eternity and just when you thought that Wooyoung had refused the thought of kissing his makeup artist, you felt something touch your mouth and the first thought that came to mind was that his lips were surprisingly soft on yours.  Your heart was beating faster, so fast that it felt like you were about to faint.  You kept your mouth tightly closed as he sets his lips on yours, molding them gently to the contours of your mouth.  It was inexplicably stimulating and yet indescribably surreal.  Finally, you felt his lips lift from yours and you opened your eyes and stood back to look up to his eyes watching you intently.

“It won’t work like that you know.”  He murmured, his voice so soft that it reached only your ears.

“Should we do it again then?”  Your breath caught in your throat as you watched his eyes staring down at you.

“But you don’t have to do this.”  His eyebrow shot up with concern as he looked at you visibly shaking.

You sighed before you spoke.  “I’m afraid I have to.”  You trailed off.  “But you…you don’t have to do this.  I…what am I doing…I…”  You gauged his reaction.

Wooyoung in his bottom lip and then smiled.  “You know, the truth is…”  He cupped your face in his hands.  “I don’t particularly mind.”

With a suddenness that took your breath away, he leaned forward and captured your mouth with his.  It was different.  Unlike the previous touching of lips, he now started to devour you.  Wooyoung’s soft lips played over yours insistently.  His kiss was hungry and brute with his tongue seeking entry into your mouth, deliciously enjoying your lips.  Your breath mingled with his as he deepened the kiss even more and slowly you felt your knees starting to give way.  He felt it too as he s his arms around you, trapping you tightly against his body, trying to keep you from falling as he continued to taste your mouth incessantly.

With much reluctance, he parts his lips from yours coming up for air.  He rests his forehead against yours, his eyes half closed, lust shining clearly from them as he clears his throat.  “I think that should do it.”  A smile plucking at one corner of his mouth rendering you temporarily unable to speak.  You only nodded in response as you tried to back away, but he pulls you closer to him again.  “You need to kiss me here too.”  He tilts his head and points to the side of his neck.  Hesitantly you placed your lips carefully to the line of his jaw and let it wander down to his neck, where you felt the steady beat of his pulse.  With your mouth opening against his neck, he feels the slightest pressure and then the scrape of your teeth against his skin.  He couldn’t help the muffled sound in the back of his throat and that was when you decided you had to let go.  You moved away, unable to speak.

“Honestly, I’ve wanted that…makeup or not…photoshoot or not...I just wanted that.”  Wooyoung smiles with that devastatingly dangerous smile and kissed the top of your head before heading back to the set.

You headed back to your table, you knees shaking as you tried to wipe and clean your own face off the remnants of the lipstick that served as evidence that what happened was all real, it was no dream, you were kissing Wooyoung and Wooyoung was kissing you.  

You turned to watch him work, gasping a silent breath, you realized how magnificent he was making your stomach flip and spreading heat all over your body.  A small part of you admired the antagonistic photographer’s artistic vision.  He was completely right, the lipstick made it.  The crimson smears covered his mouth and chin and he looked absolutely delicious as his tongue darts out to his lips.  You just knew this photoshoot was going to cause some controversy.  No man could look like that and not cause a reaction.  

You have been staring at him for too long and you knew that if you kept on, you would only be torturing yourself, knowing that in a while he would be leaving without so much as a goodbye and you would be going home alone with all that pent up ual frustration.  It would be torture.  You tore your eyes away from him and pulled yourself together and started packing your gear, taking care to put everything in the right places all the while unable to keep your mind from wandering back to Wooyoung and that scorching kiss you shared with him.

In a while the photoshoot was done.  Everyone has started packing up their own gears, collecting light screens, tripods and set designs in a hurry.  Everyone just became too busy again and in all that clutter you have lost Wooyoug in sight.  You were a tiny bit hurt that he seemed to have left without giving you a second thought or even a wave goodbye, but what can you expect from a whirlwind meeting…you were just grateful that at least you were able to experience it.  

It had quiet down in the warehouse.   The shoot was over…and so was the dream like fantasy you were in for a while.