Jung Shin opened the door for Shin Hye, and when she got in, she saw two handsome guys sitting on stools beside a heavily bandaged patient. His bed has a trapeze suspended over the Balkan frame, but there were no weights placed beyond the footboard.

"Annyeong haseyo?" Jong Hyun and Min Hyuk greeted the actress.

"Annyeong haseyo?" Shin Hye greeted.

"You seem to have a visitor, isn't it right, Jong Hyun-ah," Yong Hwa said.

"Actually, she is here to visit you, Hyung" Jung Shin said to Yong Hwa.

"Huh?" Yong Hwa asked.

Shin Hye got near to him and held his hand for the first time.

"Annyeong haseyo, Yong Hwa-ssi," Shin Hye greeted.

Yong Hwa suddenly felt his heart fluttering, for he recognized the voice.

"P-P-Park Shin Hye?" he asked her.

"Ne..." she said with a smile.

Min Hyuk and Jong Hyun saw how Shin Hye clasped Yong Hwa's hand. It was definitely not businesslike. It was...sweet. They turned and looked each other.

"I told her your name so she can greet you properly," Jung Shin told Yong Hwa.

"Gomawo..." Yong Hwa told his buddy.

Min Hyuk gave up his seat for Shin Hye, and Jung Shin introduced her to his friend and his brother formally.

"Bangapseumnida," she told them.

"Ne, bangapseumnida," they replied.

"Ah, Shin Hye-ssi, we will leave for a moment, all right?" Jung Shin said to the actress. 

He, his hyung, and his friend all exited the room.

"I have heard from Jung Shin-ssi what happened," she related to Yong Hwa. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Yong Hwa lit up a smile in spite of holding back his tears at the memory.

"Can you tell me what happened?" she asked.

Yong Hwa related her detail by detail, and she listened. To show to him that she had her ears on him, she gave his hand some soft squeezes.

"Go on," she encouraged him.

He went on and on and on. Later, the personnel from the kitchen came in with the daily ration of dinner, and Shin Hye offered if she could feed him.

"Ah, ani... I'll wait for the guys to come back... I'll have Min Hyuk feed me..." Yong Hwa said.

"No, I'll do this for you," she said, squeezing his hand.

Yong Hwa nodded in resignation, and held his hand to feel the trapeze. Shin Hye guided him, holding his hand till he had his grip. His muscles were still sore, so he tried getting up.

"I have been helping poor people, but not a case such as this," Shin Hye thought. "I think I might challenge myself on this one. Maybe, this is the one I had been looking for in my life--to spend some of my time caring for someone who is ill... For that special someone alone."

She held his waist with one hand, and his shoulder on the other hand. She tried to get near his face so she could get a glimpse, but most of his face was covered, and all she could do was remember his face on the photo.

"Gamsahamnida," Yong Hwa said politely.

"Let's be friends from now on," Shin Hye said. "You can use banmal, and it is all right."

"But this is the second time that we had met," Yong Hwa said. 

"Ara, but I just want you to be my friend," she said. "In fact, I want to be friends with your friends too. And since Jung Shin-ssi and I had started to get a bit friendly, I think I will be casual with him from now on."

He listened as she moved the movable tray in front of him, and he heard her opening the tray cover.

"Wow, your dinner is so yummy today," she said sweetly.

"Geurae?" he asked, smiling a bit.

She liked the smile on his face, and she was determined to make him smile at all cost. She enumerated to him his dinner, and she described it in such a way that it had him his lips in hunger.

"Meokgo shippeo (I wanna eat)," he said. "Nan neomu baegopa (I'm so hungry)..."

She got the chopsticks, got some food, and fed him.

"Hmmm...mashisseo (delicious)," Yong Hwa said.

"I will imagine that you are my Prince," Shin Hye said. "My prince has been blindfolded, and his servant feeds him with great devotion."

"You don't have to call yourself a slave," he said. "You are a celebrity."

"I may be a celebrity, but I am a slave to my fans," she said. "Not that I am complaining. I enjoy my status, of course. I am a slave because I want to keep my fans happy all the time. I devote my time working hard so they will have smiles on their faces."

"You are a very great slave, then," Yong Hwa said.

When she needed to feed him, she gave him signals so he'd open his mouth.

"That's the way, my Prince," she said. "Hurry up and get well so that you can walk with your friends, including me."

Yong Hwa smiled.

"I really like you," he confessed again.

Shin Hye's smile suddenly disappeared, her mood to have fun gone.

"I am comfortable with fans saying that to me in conferences, but not in person," she confessed. "You made another impression again."

"I don't mind if you don't like me, as long as I like you," Yong Hwa said. "I mean, everybody loves you, everybody likes you. You are beautiful, talented, mild-mannered, and the eomeonis of the celebrities want you for a daughter-in-law."

"I...I am not interested in being a wife of a celebrity," she confessed.

She suddenly stopped feeding him.

"Mianhamnida..." he said. "If I offended you...mianhamnida..."

Shin Hye got offended, of course, and she shed her tears, too glad that he could not see it.

"Gwaenchanha..."

But her voice quivered, and he noticed it.

"You're crying?" he gently asked her. "I'm sorry for offending you..."

"Gwaenchanha...." she replied.

She saw Yong Hwa grasping the air, and he asked to touch her face. Shin Hye held his hand and had him touch her cheek. To her surprise, he wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"Being a star is hard, isn't it," he said.

"Indeed, yes," she said, shutting her eyes.

She did not understand why, but she liked it that he had his hand on her cheeks.

"Do you want to finish eating? There's a lot of food," she said.

"I'm full," he declared.

Shin Hye pushed the movable tray back to the wall, and covered the food tray.

"They say it is bad to lie down after eating," she said casually.

"I guess I have to bear and grin it," he said.

She got near him and held his hand, looking at the abrasions.

"Can I hug you?" Yong Hwa asked.

Shin Hye hugged him first, and he wrapped his arms around her.

"If you ever want to cry, just call me," Shin Hye whispered.

He remembered his frustrations and despair of being in this situation, and now, he realized that he could have a shoulder to cry on. A feminine figure, a female friend to whom he could show his soft spot and be weak. He remembered sweeping the things off the bedside table out of anger. And with Shin Hye promising her friendship, it was like a tree shade on a very hot day.

"You can hide your tears on my shoulders," he said. "Even if I could not see you."

Shin Hye felt her heart being unburdened as she cried her heart out, letting tears fall down his shoulder. It was hard to be a celebrity, and all she ever wanted was someone, non-celebrity preferred, whom she could shed her tears on. For her, he was a pillow after a hard day. Him offending her, she forgot that already. That was too petty. All that mattered to her was him--just him.

And another confession came up.

"I enjoy hanging out with non-celebrities more," she said. "Because I can open up my heart to true friends. You could not find that under the spotlight."

She released her arms around him and held his hand.

"That is why I want to be your friend, because I want to share my feelings," she said. "Ye, you are right when you said that this is the second time that we have met, but we are confessing to each other. I just have the feeling that I can lean on you."

Yong Hwa blushed when he heard that, most especially coming from a celebrity. He grabbed her arms, and wrapped her around him. New batches of tears fell down her eyes.

"I know you only like me because I am a star, but will somebody ever love me for me?" she thought.

And again, to Yong Hwa, she thought.

"I think I have found my worth in you. I want to take care of you, I want to spend my time with you. I want to be there by the time that you will get to walk straight again..."

It was weird, but she felt she connected to him already, as a person.

"But why am I doing these things aside from helping someone so sick?" she thought. "Is it because I have a crush on him?"

Tears shed again.

"It is so hard to be a celebrity, and I am not allowed to fall in love..."

♥