May 20, 2017
Seoul, South Korea

Nam Ji Hyun woke up feeling exhausted. She had tossed and turned almost all night. Memories of the night before and visions of rejection had filtered into her dreams leaving her hovering restlessly between nightmare and reality.

For the first time in a while she dreaded getting up and facing the day. She didn’t know what to say to Ji Chang Wook-Oppa and still had no idea what to make of Seo In Guk’s confession.

She ate her breakfast listlessly, not noticing her Omma’s concerned gaze.

“Ji Hyun, are you ok?”

“Huh?” she looks up.

“Is everything ok?”

“Oh, yes. Everything is fine”

Her mother frowns a little at this. She’s rarely seen her daughter so distracted.

“How was dinner last night?”

Ji Hyun’s spoon pauses mid-air before continuing.

“Good. We had shabu-shabu”

“Sounds nice. Who else was there?”

At this, Ji Hyun hesitates again for just a tiny second.

“A co-worker and another friend.”

Her Omma sighs. It was like pulling teeth to get anything out of Ji Hyun. Clearly something was wrong and her mother’s instinct was telling her it had something to do with the dinner last night. Ji Hyun was usually chatty from dawn to dusk. To see her so silent was unsettling.

Before her mother could interrogate her any further, the doorbell rings and Manager Jeong-Jun arrives to take Ji Hyun to the set. She almost sighs with relief at his arrival and quickly grabs her bag and hugs her mother goodbye.

“I’m ok, Omma. I think I just didn’t sleep very well,” She tries to smile reassuringly then heads out.

Usually she would confide everything to her mother; but for some reason she hesitates when it comes to this one-sided love. Omma might know what to do though about rejecting someone kindly. She thinks about In Guk-Oppa and resolves to talk with her mother about it later.

In the van she pulls out her script and scans through her notes to check the order of scenes planned. Yesterday they had been filming most of the indoor shots which meant today they’d be finishing up some of the outdoor ones. She notes with irony that her last scene for the day would be where Bong Hee confesses her feelings to No Ji Wook only to be cruelly rejected.

Universe, are you trying to tell me something? She wonders.

As per usual, on the way to the studio they pick up her stylist/makeup artist, Jiwon-Unnie,  who, after giving them a sleepy greeting, promptly closes her eyes and takes a nap. As soon as they arrive, Ji Hyun grabs the outfit for her first scene and starts heading over to the dressing rooms.

Stylist-Unnie calls out that she is going to get some coffee first and asks if Ji Hyun wants anything; but Ji Hyun just shakes her head, no thank you. She sees her manager trailing along after her stylist to no one’s surprise. Manager Jeon-Jung had a mad crush on the cute Unnie and spent most of his time while they were on the set hanging out with her.

Ji Hyun smiles a little at how adorable they look together (though stylist-Unnie would threaten to smack her if she said that). She heads down the elevator and walks to the rooms reserved for each cast member. She juggles her bag and the hanger with her outfit and leans over to open the door with her name on it, then heads straight for the racks to hang up her things.

“Ji Hyun-ah”

A voice calls out to her. Ji Hyun shrieks in surprise, the blood rushing through her as her body reacts. She turns around ready to swing her bag at the intruder.

“Sorry, it’s just me.” With some relief she sees it’s Chang Wook-Oppa sitting at her dressing table.

“Oppa, you seriously almost gave me a heart attack!” She smacks him on his arm. Was this one of his pranks? If so, not funny, ha-ha.

But Chang Wook-Oppa is not smiling. He stands up and with alarm Ji Hyun notes how close he is. Her heart starts beating even more wildly.

“Ji Hyun," he sighs wearily,  "Yesterday…   yesterday was not a good day. I’m sorry about what happened. About the change of plans and... and everything after” His eyes look searchingly at her and Ji Hyun forgets how to breathe, lost in that gaze for a moment.

He frowns a little as no answer comes and Ji Hyun realizes that she should be saying something.

“It’s Ok, Oppa. I’m not upset about that. Truly. I’m also glad to see In Guk-Oppa is doing ok.”

At the mention of that name Chang Wook frowns even more and Ji Hyun winces. They probably had not resolved whatever was between them then. She debates asking about it; but hesitates. She remembers In Guk's confession and flushes uncomfortably. Best not to mention that either.

So she turns to hang up her outfit. All of a sudden strong arms reach around her and she is engulfed in a tight hug. She feels the warm solid strength of Chang Wook-Oppa behind her as he rests his head close to hers.

“Ji Hyun-ah,” he says quietly, “is it Ok if I hold you? Just for a moment.” his voice sounds weary and sad. Ji Hyun’s heart dips with sympathy. Poor Oppa. Yesterday must have been really hard for him. Whatever was happening between him and In Guk-Oppa, it was weighing on him heavily.

She turns around in his arms and reaches over to drop the outfit and hanger she was still holding onto the chair behind him. Then, she gently wraps her arms around him. Her hands pat his shoulder soothingly as she holds him tight, willing whatever comfort possible.

They stand like that in silence for what feels like long hours.

Later that day Ji Hyun couldn't help stealing worried looks at Chang Wook. He was professional and was going through all the scenes brilliantly; but you could tell, he clearly was not quite himself. The usual jokes and pranks were missing. One of the assistant directors had teasingly asked him if Eun Bong Hee and No Ji Wook were breaking up before they even got together which had made him laugh rather hollowly.

"Ji Hyun-i" she turns around to see Choi Tae Joon approaching.

"What's up with Chang Wook-Hyung? You guys didn't date and break up did you?"

At this Ji Hyun blushes furiously and shakes her hands in protest.

"No! Seriously, no. And we're not dating!"

At that, Tae Joon smiles and gives her a look.

"Ayyy, I'm just teasing you anyway. So anyhow, do you know why he's being such a bear today? I wished him Good Morning when I saw him and all he said was 'is it?'"

Ji Hyun thinks back to what happened that morning. They had stood silently holding each other for what felt like an endless moment until the ding of the elevator door out in the corridor had signaled someone would be approaching.

Chang Wook had slowly pulled away, then looked at her searchingly. She hadn't been sure what he was looking for or if he was expecting her to say something but the mad beating of her heart had drowned out all other thoughts.

Then, without a word, he had grabbed his helmet and jacket and walked out; almost giving Manager Jeong-Jun a fright as he opened the door on him.

"Well, I don't know what's going on, but my scenes are done for the day and I'm ready for bedtime so I'll wish you good night. Maybe you should give him a kiss to make him feel better." Tae Joon winks and runs away before Ji Hyun can smack him.

She looks at her friend with exasperation; but, at his words, she realizes she does wish there was something she could do to make Chang Wook feel better. He probably hugged her since she was the only one that had any idea about what happened between him and Seo In Guk-Oppa. She's glad she could give him at least that much comfort but from the look of things he needed something more. A resolution, perhaps.

She paces agitatedly then decides to finally sit down at the picnic table nearby. They are currently at the outdoor set where they film the exterior shots for Lawyer No's house. She glances at her script, already knowing her lines by heart, but going through them anyway. It's the scene she had been slightly dreading. The confession/rejection scene. However, tomorrow might be even worse. Tomorrow was the big one.

Tomorrow was the kiss scene.

And if that wasn't bad enough, she didn't know how she would handle it if  Chang Wook-Oppa was still in this mood.

A shadow falls over her script blocking the nearby light. She looks up to see the very man standing next to her.

"Ji Hyun, let's rehearse this scene" 

"Ah, yes." She stands up promptly and flips her script back to the correct page.

They find a quiet spot away from the busy crew and decide to start with the dialogue portion. In that scene Eun Bong Hee runs over to hug No Ji Wook as he arrives home. To mimic the position, they stand close in each other's arms, both holding onto their script with one hand.

"I thought you wouldn't come." Ji Hyun starts. She feels all her worries for Chang Wook-Oppa spilling through. Her voice shakes a little as she pauses for a beat and takes a deep breath.

"I like you" she says softly. The words she has been wanting to say for a long, long time echo gently into the night. She holds him close.

"I... like you, Mr. Lawyer", she repeats.

In the script, he is silent for a few moments, struggling with some inner conflict before he rejects Bong Hee. JiHyun waits for this, steeling her heart. She tries to remind herself that this is just acting. The words aren't true.

"I..." Chang Wooks starts. Ji Hyun's breath catches. I don't want you to like me. She recites his line silently in her head.

The moment of hesitation seems too long. She wonders if he has forgotten it.

"I like you" his voice finally says, close to her ears. JiHyun stills. Her heart seems to have forgotten how to beat.

“I like you...” he repeats again.

Ji Hyun pushes away in surprise. Her eyes, lock onto his. Was she being delusional and mishearing things? Or maybe, maybe this was one of his jokes. Though she didn’t think he would be so cruel to joke like that.

But Chang Wook just looks at her, his eyes serious and intent.

"Nam Ji Hyun, I like you"

She stares back, her heart racing a mile a minute

---

Author's note: Dear readers, there's a bit of word trickery going on, so how to write it and translate the dialogue so it worked well in English was a little hard. I am not a native Korean speaker so I'll try to explain this the best that I can.

In the script Lawyer No Ji Wook says “나  좋아지마” (Na choa-jima) which translates literally to “I - like - don’t” meaning “don’t like me”.  This is only a short change away from  “나  좋아해” (Na-choa-hae) or “I - like -[you]”.

(The “you” pronoun in this case is implied since the korean language doesn’t often use pronouns which makes for some fun mix-ups. Am I confusing you yet?)

Anyhow, in the script there is a tense moment of suspense when Lawyer No says “Na…”. Is he going to say I like you? I hate you? He then says “Choa”.. so woah.. He likes her. But no, he goes “..jima”. Yikes, he doesn’t want her to like him. All these roller coaster of emotions hidden in 5 short syllables.

Nam Ji Hyun is waiting for him to say that last critical “jima” but he doesn’t. So no wonder poor girl is confused wondering if she’s hearing things.

Ok, hope that helped explain things. Until the next time~