Ji Hyo sat on the sofa in the waiting room, trembling a little. She was about to stand on stage, in front of hundreds, or even thousands of people. Tears of fear welled in her eyes. She blinked them away and mumbled to herself her script for the nth time.

Gary walked along the walkway, searching for the entrance to the studio. It was his first time here for Inkigayo. Not that he could win, but his manager asked him to attend to widen his social circle.

He saw a young lady, alone in the room, muttering to herself.  

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded, but it was obvious that she was shaking.

“Are you a performer?” he asked again, walking towards her.

“No… I’m the emcee…”

He smiled. “Your first time on stage?”

She nods nervously. For the first time, she looked up and the made eye contact.

Gary dug into his pocket and handed her a sweet.

“It helps when I’m nervous before my performance,” he told her.

She unwrapped the wrapper and popped it into . Her face scrunched up immediately. Gary chuckled at the sight, and snapped a picture of her.

“It’s so sour!” she said, spitting out the sweet. “You tricked me!”

“It does relieve your stress, doesn’t it?” he asked, and showed her her own photo. She couldn’t help but laugh at how comical she looked.

“Do well,” he told her, and left the room.

The next week, she received a package, addressed as ‘For the nervous emcee’.

Gary watched Ji Hyo closely throughout the entire filming. He can’t believe the pretty, nervous emcee he saw a few years back was in the same show as him right now. But she doesn’t seem to recognise him. Which was expected, though. It had been three years, and she was so nervous back then.

After many episodes, even after they became the Monday couple, she showed no indication that she recognised him. To make matters worse, she seemed awkward and extremely shy around everyone else, but especially him.

Finally, after a filming, he called out to her.

“Ji Hyo yah!” he said, handing her the sour sweet.

“Huh?”

“Eat it!”

She naively unwrapped it and popped it into unwarily. Just as three years ago, her face scrunched up immediately.

“It’s so sour!” she said, spitting out the sweet.

He laughed at the sight.

Suddenly, that short memory returned to her.

“Was it you?” she asked, studying Gary carefully.

He nodded.

They smiled.