May 17, 2017
Seoul, South Korea

“Oraboeni!”

A cheerful voice called out to Chang Wook and he smiled at hearing the exceedingly formal version of Oppa.

“JiHyun-yang-i” he responded back teasingly.

JiHyun had started calling him that the other day when he had jokingly pulled rank to remind her how much older/wiser/more experienced he was and hence could never be wrong.

She had rolled her eyes at that and from then on he was ‘Oraboeni’. It could have been worse. She could have called him ‘Ahjussi’ like one would with a middle-aged uncle.

In return he had t easingly calling her “JiHyun-yang”, appending a very formal, less common honorific that elders used to address unmarried young ladies. Secretly, he was thrilled each time she called him by the new pet name since he was the only one she used it with.

“Oraboeni, can I steal some of your water?” She sits down next to him in the shade.

Chang Wook immediately pulls a bottle out of the cooler next to him and opens it for her. JiHyun thanks him and drinks it down gratefully. She scoots a little closer so the breeze from the electric fan he was holding could cool her down as well.

Summer had come to Seoul early and with a vengeance. The humidity was stifling especially in the hot noonday sun. Both Chang Wook and JiHyun had shed the jackets they wore for today's set and were waiting patiently for the crew to set up the next scene.

Chang Wook had been using that time to check the script and practice his lines. This next scene included a pivotal moment for his character; one where No Ji Wook would realize that he had feelings for Eun Bong Hee. His job as an actor was to portray all of that with only his eyes while he gazed at her.

He turned to JiHyun. She was fanning herself with her hands while looking at the crew setting up pipes and hoses for the rain planned in the scene.

He gazed at her.

He pictured the many beautiful angles of her. The way his insides would light up when she looked at him and smiled, her easygoing laugh, those pretty lips. The way his heart had raced when they were doing the drunk Bong Hee scene; feeling every soft inch of her as she lay on top of him on the leather sofa. The soft tangles of her hair gently falling down her back. Her eyes gazing hotly at his lips inching closer and closer….”

“Umm..? What is it Oppa? Why... why are you looking at me like that?”

JiHyun turned around and caught him staring. The hot look in his eyes made her insides flutter rapidly.

“Ah, nothing,” Chang Wook glances away. “I was just practicing our scene. What do you think JiHyuni, should I gaze at you like this?”

He gives her a swoony Adonis stare, one eyebrow raised dramatically. She laughs

“Or this?”

He squints his eyes as if he’s peering at a particularly interesting bug.

This makes JiHyun laugh even harder at his ridiculousness.

“Well, how about this?”

He looks at her softly,  and thinks... I love you.

JiHyun's eyes hold on to his. Time seems to stop. Finally she glances away.

“That one” she says quietly. “That one is the gaze No Ji Wook should use.”

Then, feeling suddenly agitated, she gets up and blurts out that she has to do a quick makeup check before shooting starts.

Chang Wook watches her walk away.

Nam Ji Hyun gulped down water from the bottle that was still in her hand. Her face felt flushed. It was probably due to the heat. But that look Chang Wook-Oppa had given her seemed to have set her body into overdrive.

Really, JiHyun, get a grip of yourself, she internally scolds. It was just acting. I mean it heart, stop this foolishness. But nothing inside her seemed to be listening. It was ridiculous, just one look from him could send her into an incoherent mess.

Not knowing what else to do, she had fled to the other side of the set pretending to look for her stylist-Unnie.

Lately, things had been getting a little heavier in the script. The light-hearted bickering in the earlier episodes had given way to more tension plot-wise with the murder mystery, and romance-wise between the two leads. Whereas previously it was Bong Hee falling in love all by her lonesome self; now No Ji Wook was starting to feel romantic stirrings.

Which meant lots of longing gazes aimed at her. Lots and lots of lethal Ji Chang Wook gazes. Too many for her sanity.

Even off camera Chang Wook-Oppa had started to seem a little different. She didn’t know if it was a reflection of the changing tone of the show, a change in him, or just her imagination. But lately, she had glimpsed his serious side more often.

Little Kid Chang Wook still loved teasing her and making her eyes roll at his pranks. When he was with Tae Joon-Oppa, the two were the most ridiculous combination, making the set explode with laughter at their antics.

But, in quiet moments late at night, when it was just Chang Wook and her going over their script while everyone else was busy prepping; he would talk with her about her dreams and her passions. He would listen with that thoughtful look on his face.

In turn she had felt more comfortable asking him about himself. She was curious about many aspects of him. Why it was usually just him and his Omma. What he enjoyed doing when he wasn’t being actor Ji Chang Wook. If he had a girlfriend.

Ok fine. She didn’t ask that last one. 

But she did learn that Chang Wook lost his dad when he was very young and his single-mother had struggled to raise him all alone. He’d gotten into acting not due to any large passion; but because it seemed cool and he didn't feel he would be good at anything else. His mother had cried and protested, worrying that he would have no future; but he was a stubborn kid. His Omma was proud of him now of course, but he still felt sorry for making her cry after all her hardship raising him. It made him determined to work hard and be a good actor.

Hearing this, JiHyun’s heart broke a little for young Chang Wook and his mother.  She thought gratefully about her own father and family and how they had gently supported her as an actress; yet never pushed her to do it. She had been lucky in so many ways.

It was those quiet talks that really affected her for now she felt she was as close to him as could be. She loved everything about him.

Loved. Love.

How such a thing could happen she did not know. And what to do with it she did not know either. In her life, she had been too busy to date. The joy she got from crushing on a handsome TV star was as close to a romantic feeling as she ever got.

And now she realizes how childish those feelings were.

Because that feeling then was not like this. Not even close.

Loving Ji Chang Wook was a constant presence; like, like breathing air. Or the feel of the sun on your skin on a summer’s day. It just was. She didn’t have to think about it, or find it. It was there.

She looks across the set and sees him. He is laughing with the director, while they compare notes in the script. The sound of his deep voice warms up every vibrant fiber of her heart.

She loved him.

What should she do?