It was well after nine when Sora paid off the cab in front of Choi Siwon’s building on Cheongdam-dong.  She wasn’t concerned with being late because she wasn’t aware of the time.  She never missed a cue or a call in her life, but when it wasn’t directly concerned with work, time was something to be enjoyed or ignored.

After giving her name at the security desk, she slipped into an elevator and pushed the Penthouse button.  It didn’t occur to her to be nervous at the prospect of entering Choi Siwon’s domain.  A party to Sora was a party.  She hoped he served champagne.  She had a hankering for it.

The door was opened by a stiff-backed, stone-faced man in a dark suit who asked Sora’s name in discreet British accent.  When she smiled, he accepted her offered hand before he realized it.  She lifted a glass of champagne from a tray, and spotting her agent, crossed the room to him.

Jungsoo saw Sora’s entrance.  For an instant, he was reminded of his ex-wife.  The coloring, the bone structure.  Then the impression was gone, and he was looking at a young woman with slight wavy hair that flowed past her shoulders.  It seemed misted with fine drops of rain.  A stunning face, he decided.  But the look of an ice goddess vanished the moment she laughed. Then there was energy and verve.

Unusual, he thought, as vaguely interested in her as he was in the drink he held.  He let his eyes skim down her and decided she’d be slim under the casual pleated pants and boxy blouse.  Then again, if she was, she would have exploited her figure rather than underplaying it.  From what Jungsoo knew of women, they accented whatever charms at their disposal and concealed the flaws.  He’d come to accept this as a part of their innate dishonesty.

He gave Sora one last glance as she rose on her toes to kiss the latest rage in an off-Broadway production.

“…If we cast the female lead.”

Jungsoo turned back to Choi Siwon and lifted his glass. “Hmmm?”

Too used to Jungsoo’s lapses of attention to be annoyed, Siwon backtracked.  “We can get this into production and wrapped in time for the fall sweeps if we cast the female lead.  That’s virtually all that’s holding us back now.”

“I’m not worried about the fall sweeps,” Jungsoo returned dryly.

“The network is.”

“Siwon, we’ll cast Shin Hyori when we find Shin Hyori.”

Siwon frowned into his Scotch, then drank it. “You’ve already turned down three top names.”

“I turned down three actresses who weren’t suitable,” Jungsoo corrected.  He drank from his own glass as a man who knew but hated liquor and maintained a cautious relationship with it.  “I’ll know Hyori when I see her.”  His lips moved into a cool smile. “Who’d know better?”

“An actress.”  Jungsoo studied Sora again.  He wouldn’t have pegged her as such.  Her entrance had caught his attention simply because it hadn’t been an entrance.  There was something completely unself-conscious about her that was rare in the profession.  She’d been at the party long enough to have wangled an introduction to him and Siwon, yet she seemed content to stay across the room sipping champagne and flirting with an up-and-coming actor.

She stood easily, in a relaxed manner that wasn’t a pose but would photograph beautifully.  She made an unattractive face at the actor.   The contrast of the ice-goddess looks and the freewheeling manner piqued his curiosity.

“Introduce me,” Jungsoo said simply and started across the room.

Sora couldn’t fault Choi Siwon’s taste.  The condo was stylishly decorated in elegant golds and creams.  The carpet was thick, the walls lacquered.  She laughed up at Sungmin as he reminisced about the improvisation class they’d taken together a few years before.

“Come on, what are you into now?”

She shook her head.  “There’s something that’s taking up a lot of my time right now.  I can’t really talk about it.”

Sungmin’s grin faded.  He knew that tone. “Important?”

“Vital.”

“Well, Sungmin ssi.” Siwon clapped the young actor on the back. “Glad to see you could make it.”

Though it was very subtly done, Sungmin came to attention.  “It was nice that you were having this on a night when the theater’s dark, Choi Siwon ssi.  Do you know Kang Sora ssi?”  He laid a hand on her shoulder.  “We go back a long way.”

“I’ve heard good things about you.”  Siwon extended his hand.

“Kamsahamnida.”  Sora left her hand in his a moment as she sorted her impressions.  Successful, amiable when he chose to be.  Sharp. She liked the combination.  “You make excellent film, Choi Siwon ssi.”

“Thank you,” he returned and paused, expecting her to do some campaigning.  When she left it at that, he turned to Jungsoo.  “Park Jungsoo ssi, Kang Sora ssi and Lee Sungmin ssi.”

“I’ve seen your play,” Jungsoo told Sungmin.  “You know your character very well.”  He shifted his gaze to Sora,  “Kang Sora ssi.”

Disconcerting eyes, she thought, so clear and direct in such a remote face.  He gave off signals of aloofness, traces of bitterness, and waves of intelligence.  His hair was thick and dark. She thought the face belonged to a previous time.  Lean and scholarly with a touch of ruggedness.

His voice was deep and appealing, but he spoke with a clipped quality that indicated impatience.  He had the eyes of an observer, she thought.  And the air of a man who wouldn’t tolerate interference or intimacies.  She wasn’t certain she’d like him, but she did know she admired his work.

“Park Jungsoo ssi.” Her palm touched his.  Strength – she’d expected that.  It was in his build, long, rangy – and in his face.  Distance – she’d expected that as well.

He studied her face.  She exuded , in her scent, in her looks – not flagrant or elusive, but light and free.  “Please excuse me but I don’t believe I’m familiar with your work.”

“Sora ssi plays Dr. Kim Yejin on ‘Our Lives, Our Loves,’” Sungmin put in.

Good God, a soap opera, Jungsoo thought.

Sora caught the faint disdain on his face.  It was something else she’d expected.

“Do you have a moral objection to entertainment, Park Jungsoo ssi?” She said easily as she sipped champagne.  “Or are you just an artistic snob?”

She smiled as she spoke, the quick, dashing smile that took any sting from the words.

Beside her, Sungmin cleared his throat.  “Excuse me a minute,” he said and exited.  Siwon mumbled something about freshening his drink.

When they were alone, Jungsoo continued to study her face.  She was laughing at him.  He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had had the courage, or the occasion, to do so.  He wasn’t certain if he was annoyed or intrigued.  But at the moment he wasn’t what he’d been for the past hour.  Bored.

“I have no moral objections to soap operas, Kang Sora ssi.”

“Oh.”  She sipped her champagne.  A sliver of sapphire on her finger winked in the light and seemed to reflect in her eyes.  “A snob then.  Well, everyone’s entitled.  Perhaps there’s something else we can talk about.  How do you feel about the current administration’s foreign policy?”

“Ambivalent,” he murmured.  “What sort of character do you play?”

“A sterling one.”  Her eyes continued to dance.  “How do you feel about the space program?”

“I’m more concerned about the planet I’m on.  How long have you been on the show?”

“Two years.”  She beamed a smile at someone across the room and raised her hand.

He looked at her again, carefully, and for the first time since he’d come into the party, he smiled.  It did something attractive to his face, though it didn’t make him quite approachable as it indicated.  “You don’t want to talk about your work, do you?”

“Not particularly.”  Sora returned his smile with her own open one.  Something stirred faintly in him that he’d thought safely dormant.  “Not with someone who considers it garbage.  In a moment, you’d ask me if I’d ever considered doing any serious work, then I’d probably get nasty.  My agent tells me I’m supposed to charm you.”

Jungsoo could feel the friendliness radiating from her and distrusted it.  “Is that what you’re doing?”

“I’m on my own time,” Sora returned.  “Besides – ” she finished off her champagne “ – you aren’t the type to be charmed.”

“You’re perceptive,” Jungsoo acknowledged.  “Are you a good actress?”

“Yes, I am.  It would hardly be worth doing something if you weren’t good at it.  What about sports?”  She twirled her empty glass. “Do you think Doosan Bears stand a chance this year?”

“If they tighten up the infield.”  Not your usual type, he decided.  Any other actress up for a prime part in one of his scripts would’ve been flooding him with compliments and mentioning every job she’d ever had in front of the camera. 

“Sora…” Jungsoo plucked a fresh glass of champagne from a passing waiter and handed it to her. “The name suits you.  A wise choice.”

She felt a pull, a quick definite pull, that seemed to come simply from the way he’s said her name.  “I’ll tell my mother you said so.”

“It’s not a stage name?”

“No.”  With a little shudder, she sipped.

“Well, Jungsoo ssi,” she began.  “Shouldn’t we just come out with the fact that we both know I’ll be reading for the part of Hyori in a couple of days?  I intend to have it.”

He nodded in acknowledgement.  Though she was refreshingly direct, this was more what he’d expected.  “Then I’ll be frank enough to tell you that you’re not the type I’m looking for.”

She lifted a brow without any show of discomfort.  “Oh? Why?”

“For one thing, you’re too young.”

She laughed – a free, breezy sound that seemed completely unaffected.  He didn’t trust that either.  “I think my line is I can be older.”

“Maybe.  But Hyori’s a tough lady.  Hard as rock.”  He lifted his own drink but never took his eyes off her.  “You’ve got too many soft points.  They show in your face.”

“Because this is me.  And I’ve yet to play myself in front of a camera.”  She paused a moment as the idea worked around in her head.

“Is any actress ever herself?”

Her eyes came back to his.  He was watching her again with that steady intenseness most would have found unnerving.  Though the pull came again, Sora accepted the look because it was part of him.  “You don’t care for us much as a breed, do you?”

“No.”  For some reason he didn’t question, Jungsoo felt compelled to test her. He lifted a strand of her auburn hair.  Soft – surprisingly soft. 

“You’re a beautiful woman,” he murmured.

Sora tilted her head as she studied him.  His eyes had lost nothing of their directness.  She might have felt pleasure in the compliment if she hadn’t recognised it as calculated.  Instead, she felt disappointment.  “And?”

His brows drew together. “And?”

“That line usually leads to another.  As a writer I’m sure you have several tucked away.”

He let his fingers brush over her neck.  She felt the strength in them, and the carelessness of the gesture.  “Which one would you like?”

“I’d prefer one you meant,” Sora told him evenly.  “But since I wouldn’t get it, why don’t we skip the whole thing? You know, your character, Hyun Shik, is narrow-minded, cool-blooded and rude.  I believe you portrayed yourself very well.”

She lifted her glass one last time and decided it was a shame that he thought so little of women, or perhaps of people in general.

“Have a good night, Park Jungsoo ssi.”

When she walked away, Jungsoo stood looking after her for several moments before he started to laugh.  At the time, it didn’t occur to him that it was the first easy laugh he’d had in almost two years. It didn’t even occur to him that he was laughing at himself.

No, she wasn’t his Hyori, he mused, but she was good.  She was very, very good.  He was going to remember Kang Sora. 

* * * * *