“Let’s go through it one more time,” Hyunyoung was saying as the two of them sat at the table near the window while eating their ice cream. They were practicing on the way to the ice cream parlor and were now practicing again.

“Again?”

“Of course.”

Sungyeol nodded, reading through the script again. “Maid! Maid! Aish, where is that foolish girl? Perhaps she is daydreaming again. Aish, I really need to —”

“You’re just reading, you’re not feeling the emotions the prince is supposed to be feeling now,” Hyunyoung interrupted. She bit her bottom lip, trying to think of a way to help him. “Hmm, well, why don’t you picture a time when you needed someone to come on time for practice and that person’s late so you can’t do anything because you needed the person to be there in order to practice? Has there ever been a time like that?”

He nodded. “Lots of times.”

“How did you feel about that?”

He tried to remember how that felt. “Angry. Annoyed.”

She nodded. “Direct your anger there, channel your emotions back to that time, only express it with your lines instead,” she suggested.

He took a deep breath and remembered the memory, remembered how ticked off he was with that person and was surprised to find himself actually feeling angry. He said his lines again, and he himself could hear the irritation in his voice. He blinked, pausing. “You’re good,” he said in awe.

She shrugged, eating her ice cream delicately so she wouldn’t accidentally spill it on her uniform. “Not really. I’m only remembering the tips my sister once told me when I had to act when I was a kid.”

Wait, what?

“You used to act?”

“Yeah, I acted in the Cinderella story,” she replied, laughing as if she was remembering a memory. “I was one of the horses.”

He laughed, trying to imagine it. “How old were you?”

“Five? It was for my kindergarten’s concert.”

Sungyeol chuckled, picturing a smaller Hyunyoung dressed up like a horse. “I bet that would have been cute to see.”

“I think my mom have a video of it.” She covered her face in embarrassment.

“Aw, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

Hyunyoung only smiled slightly. “Anyway, just remember to think of a memory the emotion you’re supposed to display and you’ll be fine,” she told him. “Now you just need to remember your lines and then you’ll be good.”

“Can you help me with that?” he pleaded a little desperately. “Will you go through my lines with me until I remember them all? I probably won’t be motivated to practice my lines, to be honest, unless I have someone to help me. I’ll get lazy.”

Hyunyoung let out a small laugh, knowing how he felt. “We’re all a little demotivated when it comes to practicing something.” She nodded, agreeing. “I suppose I could help you. It’s not like I’ve got much to do, anyway.”

“Don’t you have to take photos for the magazine? Would I be disrupting your work?” hee wanted to know, nibbling the edge of his cone.

“Well, I do have other people helping me. I’m not the only photographer,” she laughed. “It’s gonna be hectic if I alone take all the pictures. Do you have any ideas how many pictures I have to take by myself?”

“I’m sure you can manage it well, though; you take really good pictures,” Sungyeol told her sincerely, smiling warmly.

She smiled back. “Thanks, but I’d rather get the help I can get. I would probably collapse from exhaustion if I have to do it all myself, even if the pictures turn out fine and clear. There are just too many school events, too many photos to capture.” She finished every last bit of her ice cream before she looked at him, gesturing to the script. “So, shall we go back to practicing?” she asked him.

Practice progressed the more days passed by. Sungyeol improved a lot, all thanks to Hyunyoung for her help and she was pleased to see he was better than before. He was even half way through memorizing his lines.

Whenever there wasn’t practice and he wasn’t practicing his lines with Hyunyoung in secret, Sungyeol would be spending time with Jihyun. The two of them had gotten pretty close and would hang out whenever they could. The more time Sungyeol hanged out with her, the more he found himself attracted to her.

Jihyun was fearless, she was smart, and she was an amazing actress. She was talented; she could sing and dance as well. She was strong (she could carry heavy weights with no problem), plus she was healthy and always made sure she was fit. She was also a friendly girl who could talk to anyone — even if they were random strangers on the street. Sungyeol had witnessed her making conversations with people at the park whenever they would jog there.

Nam Jihyun was definitely perfect.

Sungyeol realized he was falling harder and harder and he wondered how jihyun felt toward him, if she had any sort of feelings for him too . . .

He pondered about it one Saturday morning when he decided to go out for a jog alone. He was about to go when the Nam’s front door opened and Jihyun stepped out. He swore his heart stopped and he caught his breath when he took in the sight of her beauty even in simple jeans and an old teal shirt. Her hair was tied into a tight bun, showing her face clearly. She looked wide awake despite it being six-thirty in the morning.

“Good morning, Sungyeol,” she greeted him pleasantly with a cute wave. They’ve gotten closer until they were able to drop the formalities. “Going out for a jog so early in the morning?”

“Mm, yeah. What about you? It’s too early to be up and you don’t seem to be going out on a jog. Going somewhere?” He could’ve smacked himself on the head for sounding so lame. Well, duh! Of course she’s going out somewhere, dummy.

If she thought anything he said was weird, she didn’t let it show. She just grinned, tugging on the strap of her backpack, and nodded her head. “I’m going visiting today,” she replied. “I volunteer at the animal shelter every Saturday until evening.”

She volunteers at the anima