Hyun Joong hurriedly made his way back to his room as soon as the meeting was over. He’s overwhelmed by too much emotion he needs some time and space alone. His manager tried to keep up with his pace. “Hyun Joong-ah, are you okay?” his manager asked. He did not answer but instead kept walking faster to his room.  He slammed the door shut, his stunned manager realized it was futile to bother him at this point so he proceeded to make his way to his own room.

He sat on the edge of his bed, clasping his face. This was not part of his plan. He is not sure how to react to this sudden turn of events. And to complicate things further, his heart hasn’t stopped beating like crazy ever since he heard her voice.   

The very poised So Min leisurely walked out of the room, taking care to greet everyone on her way out before finally making her way to her suite, her manager and stylist Unni following right behind her. As soon as they were in the safe confines of her room she allowed herself to let go of all the emotions that have been boiling up inside her for the past three hours. She let out a scream before letting her tears flow freely. “How could everything go terribly wrong this time? Why do I have to work with him? Why do I have to share the spotlight with him? This is my turn to shine, this is my turn to prove what I’m worth! What right does he have to steal the spotlight from me?” Her Unnie was hugging her tight, comforting her, but she could only feel pain, desperation and anger.   

Her manager, seeing her in so much pain asked: “Do you still want to do this? It’s not yet too late to back out. If this will only cause you too much pain…” “What are you saying?” So Min cut her manager off, “You want me to give this up? And then, what? Let that guy get all the credit? No way! I’m not gonna let him steal my dream!”

Kang Shin Do, the senior actor who will be playing Hyun Joong’s Dad in the movie invited all the Koreans involved in the production to dinner that night. Because he is a very well respected senior in K-Entertainment there was no way anyone of them could say no to his invitation. Both So Min and Hyun Joong politely joined him for dinner, together with their managers and personal staff.

At the dinner table everyone was ecstatic, still heady from the fact that they are now part of the biggest collaboration between K-Entertainment and Hollywood. They all engaged in joyful banter throughout the meal. Hyun Joong and So Min, being the good actors that they were joined in the laughter. Looking at them, no one would suspect the deep emotional turmoil each was going through.

After dinner So Min left saying she has to retire early to rest since she’s been filming in Korea until it was time for her to go to the airport to catch her flight. A few minutes later, Hyun Joong excused himself as well. 

So Min sat on the couch of her suite’s living room, composing herself while she waited for the others to arrive. After about 5 minutes her manager arrived, followed by Hyun Joong’s manager and Hyun Joong himself. Her manager felt the need to call for this meeting. They wanted to make it perfectly clear to Hyun Joong that this project is important to her and that she won’t let anything, especially personal feelings, keep her from doing a good job and making sure this movie ends up a success. She’s also here to set some ground rules, so to speak.

“We called for this meeting,” her manager started, “because we want to ensure a smooth working relationship between you, Hyun Joong, and So Min. We all know that a lot has happened between the two of you in the past and both of you are surprised to find yourselves in this situation. However, I’m sure both of you realize the significance of this project to your respective careers –this opportunity, it just can’t get any bigger than this! This will have a very big positive impact on the entire Korean entertainment industry. If this becomes a huge success, and I know it will, you two will be credited for bringing on the biggest and most significant Hallyu wave ever.”

“I, and Junny here, would like both of you to promise us that you won’t let your personal feelings get in the way of work.  You have to promise to do the best you can to work well with each other...” Before he could continue Hyun Joong butted in:

“I won’t create any problems for you,” Hyun Joong said while looking directly at So Min, “if you think I’ll bother you outside of filming, don’t worry, I won’t. This project is important to me too. Besides, what happened between us was such a long time ago. There’s no point in remembering it now,” Hyun Joong stressed his point sternly, not once taking his gaze off So Min.

So Min’s heart felt like it’s just been stabbed. But she held Hyun Joong’s gaze evenly. There’s no way she would let him know how much her heart is hurting from his words. “That’s good then,” she said with a wry smile, “let’s just work well and get this over and done with. I hope that you will remain true to your promise and not talk to me outside of filming. When you see me and no one else is there pretend you don’t know me and just go your way. We’re not friends so don’t try to act like we are. Now, if you’d excuse me…”

“There’s one more thing,” Hyun Joong’s manager cut her off, “when we finally announce this project to the media I expect most of the publicity to be about the significance of this collaboration to Korean entertainment. At least, that’s how I see it happening when they announce this in Hollywood. But once we go back to Korea and meet with the media there, some reporters might delve into your past and ask about your relationship. There has not been any closure after you left, So Min. Knowing the Korean entertainment media, I’m sure there are some reporters who are still interested to find out what happened between the two of you and how you’ve managed to work on this project together.”

“We, your managers, will do our best to contain any cause for scandal. We owe it to Steven and his company not to taint the publicity for this project with the sordid details of your past. I expect the two of you to do the same. When the media asks about your past we expect you to say that nothing happened between the two of you before. You will say that they were all just baseless rumors. You have to pretend that you are friends, that there’s no bad blood between the two of you and that you have a good working relationship and nothing more. I hope I made myself clear,” Junny finished.

Hyun Joong got up from his seat, “I understand. I have to go now.” Before anyone could react he was already out of the room, the door closing with a loud thud behind him. So Min sighed as she stood up to lock herself in her bedroom. The two managers gave each other a knowing look.

This is going to be way harder than they initially thought.