May 21, 2017
Seoul, South Korea

The next morning, Nam Ji Hyun woke up with a big, a very big smile on her face.  She hugged her pillow tightly, her mind replaying the impossible, wonderful moments from the night before.

They had stood there under the light of the street lamps, kissing for what seemed like endless moments until Ji Hyun finally remembered that her manager and stylist were waiting for her. She had stepped back in a panic, picturing them standing right there watching; but with a sigh of relief she sees that the park is still abandoned except for the two of them.

“I have to go” she says softly.

Chang Wooks pulls her back for another kiss, murmuring a protest.

She sinks back into his embrace, unable to resist. But soon, the sane part of her brain kicks in again and she knows she really has to go.

“I really have to go...”

“No, stay with me. Forever.”

She laughs at that. Silly man. Part of her, however, really wishes they could.

“Oppa, we have work tomorrow.”

At that reminder, he sighs dramatically, but does let her go. They start walking back, holding hands in companionable silence.

As they get closer to where her van was waiting, Chang Wook pulls her in for one last quick kiss and whispers good night. He watches as she walks away and waves as she turns for one last glance goodbye.=

Ji Hyun didn’t know how she  was able to get home without blurting everything out to her manager. She was worried that just the look on her face would give her away.

But Jeong-Jun hadn’t actually asked her anything. He had been too busy arguing with Stylist-unnie about some mobile game they were playing and Ji Hyun managed to pretend she was napping most of the way home.

A knock on her bedroom door interrupts her happy musings and she glances at the clock. She rubs her eyes at first, not sure if she was seeing the numbers correctly then quickly scrambles out of bed in a panic.

“Ji Hyun, Jeong-Jun is already waiting outside,” her mother calls out. Oh no, oh no, oh no. She quickly pulls her hair into a bun then flings off her pajamas and grabs the first dress she sees in her closet.

“I’m coming!” she calls out, running to the bathroom where she takes the quickest shower in the history of showers, skips washing her hair, and frantically brushes her teeth.

In record time, she hugs her Omma goodbye, runs out the door and jumps  into the waiting van.

“Sorry I’m late,” she gasps, cheeks flushed.

Manager Jeong-Jun looks skeptically at her haphazard hair but wisely does not comment as he starts the van.

“All set for today?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Big day, huh?”

Ji Hyun turns to him in surprise. Did he know? How…..?

“The Big Boss was telling me that you might get nervous with that kiss scene coming up. But you can do it, Ji Hyun”

He punches her playfully on the shoulder and gives her an encouraging nod.

“I believe in you. Fighting!”

“Ah...yes….” Ji Hyun doesn’t quite know where to look.

They pick up Stylist-unnie who shrieks slightly in horror at the state of Ji Hyun’s hair and the baggy t-shirt dress she was wearing.

“No, today out of all days, I am not letting you out of this van looking like that.”

With a determined glint in her eyes, Stylist-unnie grabs one of the outfits planned for the day, props open her bag of tools and gets to work.

The moment Manager Bang saw Ji Chang Wook, he knew something was up. The man in front of him was a completely different person from the moody, walking, hot mess of yesterday. He hadn’t seen him since yesterday afternoon, but the difference was night and day.

“You look happy,” he comments unnecessarily, “Having a good morning?”

Chang Wook just smiles, singing along to the song playing from his iphone.

The manager notes with amusement that it’s 2Bic’s “This Road With You”
 

Looking at the same things,
Walking together
Laughing, crying, falling asleep together
I will spend my remaining life for you
If you allow me to

There may be days that we hate each other.
If that day comes, I will take care of it
You can lean on me when you are sad
Believe in love

I want to spend my life for you
Even if this is a road full of pain
Baby I will walk with you through the pain
If I have you by my side

Manager Bang starts the van and gets going. He looks at the happy fool next to him and smiles.

When they arrive at the studio set, Ji Chang Wook looks around for Ji Hyun. The set is bustling, but it doesn’t seem like she has arrived yet.

A voice calls him over and he sees it’s the director.

“Chang Wook, hey. Can we chat for a second?” PD Park looks a little uncomfortable as he says this, and leads Chang Wook to a quiet corner. He looks around to make sure they are out of anyone’s hearing.

Chang Wook winces a little, remembering his flubs from yesterday and wonders if he’s going to get a talking-to.

“So…. I wanted to make sure we got a chance to talk about this first. I wasn’t going to say anything but… well, yesterday you seemed a little distracted."

Chang Wook nods at this, thinking guiltily on how he'd let his emotions affect him yesterday. He's ready to offer a sincere apology but the PD continues in a hurry: 

"Well, er... I just wanted to make sure you weren’t stressed out with the kissing scenes today.” at this Chang Wook looks up in surprise.

“I know some actors and actresses are a little anxious about how we film those; but I wanted to make sure you know I’ll go with whatever you and Ji Hyun are comfortable with. And, er… and…” the director’s ears are flushing a bright red.

“Well, if there’s anything you don’t want to do, we can use camera angles, you know, to make it look more real and keep the shots to a minimum. I.. um, I just wanted to make sure you know we’re not going to force you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

At this point the PD has turned quite red. It’s not an unusual conversation for directors to have though usually it’s with the actresses. However, he couldn’t help noticing how tense Chang Wook had been yesterday, especially in the close hug scenes. It was best to get these conversations out of the way.

Chang Wook does his hardest to keep his face straight and nods solemnly. He must have been much more of a wreck yesterday than he realized.

“Arasso, PD-nim. I’ll do my best.”

“Good, that’s good.” the Director pats him solidly on the back. “I’m going to depend on you then to lead Ji Hyun. She hasn’t had much experience with kissing. That kid hasn’t even dated you know.”

“Ah, right… of course.” Chang Wook nods seriously again. Trying not to let his grin escape as he thinks of how that 'kid' had kissed him senselessly last night.

“Ok! Good chat.”  The director glances down at his notes and the script. “We’ll go over the kiss scene angles after the lunch break. We should be ready to film the group drinking scene now.”

He looks around. “Speaking of, I have to give Ji Hyun the song she’s singing. Where is that girl?”

The Director rushes off to bark off some orders to his assistants and check on the props and lights.

Chang Wook rubs his face to hide the laughter almost ready to burst out. He really needs to try keep it together today. At that thought, however, he spies Ji Hyun arriving looking beautiful in a stripey blue top. His heart skips double-time and he knows he’s a hopeless case.

“Ji Hyun-yang-i!” he smiles. She’s talking with the PD, and, when she sees him, her wide smile reflects his back.

“Oraboeni, annyeong!” she calls out as she walks over.

Chang Wook wonders if anyone will notice if he pulls her in for a kiss. But he decides to control himself… for now. There will be kissing later. Lots of it.

Instead, he slings an arm around her shoulder, very casually. Not in any overly suspicious romantic way.

By some unspoken agreement they have decided to keep what is happening between them to themselves. If it was up to him, he would have declared it proudly that she was his woman; but, in reality, any whiff of scandal from the set would set off a barrage of media chaos that would hurt Ji Hyun the most.

Chang Wook loved and was thankful to his fans; but he knew especially that some of them would be devastated by him dating. And they would take it out on her.

He looks down at the woman next to him, vowing silently to protect her at all cost.

He notices that she’s tapping her fingers together anxiously.

“Nervous?” he asks.

“Yes”

“About the kiss?”

“From last night? No...” but she does blush a little from the memory

Chang Wook laughs. “No, I mean the kissing scenes later.”

“Oh, that. No, I mean, yes. I’m maybe a little nervous about that but, Oppa…”

She looks at him, her puppy eyes looking aggrieved. “Director-nim just told me they want me to sing. In this scene! What should I do?” she wails

Chang Wook laughs, which causes her to glare at him.

“Here. Come, here.”

He looks around to make sure no one is watching then pulls her along outside the set and behind the prop trailer.  

Ji Hyun looks up at him expectantly. Was he going to give her some more tips?

“Well, first of all,” he says,  “it’s a drunken scene so Director-nim won’t want you to sing well. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s the opposite. So, don’t try too hard.” he teases.

She wrinkles her nose up at him.

“Second of all...” he leans down and pulls her in for a kiss.

“Happy First Day, Ji Hyun-ah”

She smiles up at him. It was their First Day... a beginning to many more. Her heart overflows with joy.

----  

Author's note:

2Bic's 함께 걷는 길  (This Road With You) is one of the few songs Ji Chang Wook posted on his instagram. It's an older post from September 2016 but, he rarely posts songs other than his OSTs so I took it to mean this song is special to him, probably because one of his best friends sang it and also because it's a beautiful song.

It's a song you would sing thinking about someone precious with whom you've shared a lot of memories and with whom you would want to spend the rest of your life with.

함께 걷는 길 (This Road With You)

By 2Bic

(Translations by ririru): 

Believing in each other

 Laughing crying sleeping together