‘Oppa, what is this?’ Teased Krystal, playfully jabbing Hyung Sik’s tummy.

‘Yah! Don’t do that!’ He slapped Krystal’s hand away and tugged at one of her hair strands in return, ‘It’ll be gone after I do my business anyway.’

From the sidelines, Soo Jin and Ji Won shrieked with laughter, ‘Tch! Yah! Nobody needs to know about your “business”!’ Soo Jin mocked.

Krystal and Hyung Sik were still embroiled in their playful wrestle, but Hyung Sik still  managed to retort between pants, ‘Wae-yo?...It’s a…natural process…of life!’

The maknae of the group, Ha Neul and “lovely” Min Hyuk chose to exclude themselves from the usual hustle-and-bustle of the larger group by napping on the party’s loveseats. In another corner of the room, Woo Bin and Min Ho were engaged in a serious game of snooker.

It was nice to have the whole gang back together, even though they all were not engaged in one, common activity. As far as Shin Hye was concerned, it’s been awhile since the entire group gathered together on set for an extended period of time. Although most of them were present for filming for the last few group scenes, they never really had time altogether in between filming. The previous few times, Hyung Sik, Min Hyuk and Krystal had rushed off straight after filming to attend to their band commitments. Ha Neul, Ji Won and Woo Bin were knee-deep in photo shoot schedules, leaving them little time to hang around after filming.

However, the scene they were shooting today would require quite a bit time, meaning longer and more breaks in between. They had just finished shooting the scene where Kim Tan flipped a table at Bo Na and Chan Young’s party, and were now on their much-awaited film break.

Shin Hye herself had been filming scenes back-to-back the entire day and was just feeling really tired. However, Kim Tan and Eun Sang’s little date scene before the party did help pick up her mood a bit. For some reason, the feel of the entire scene made her feel light-hearted and happy. Perhaps it was because she had a perfectly legitimate excuse to hug and be hugged by her namja chingu, Lee Min Ho.

The very same namja chingu who was sneaking yet another peek at her, checking that she wasn’t talking to any other namja.

In an openly jealous tirade, he had boyishly bit out, ‘You already shot your arrow at me. You cannot do it to anyone else!’

‘Yah! What are you talking about? Are you delusional?’ She had responded, amused by the fact that a top-notch Korean actor, loved by many, felt threatened when she interacted with male members of the filming crew.

‘You don’t realize it! But I do!’ He snapped.

‘Mwo?’

He lifted a pointed a finger and moved it along with his scanning eyes, ‘These men. These men talk to you. They talk to you because they find you so charming.’ His finger then pointed to himself, ‘I got caught in your web…So you don’t need anymore!’

She had giggled, evidently this green-eyed monster could not function in-sync with his more charismatic, Hallyu star side. His inability to clearly portray and express himself in this green-eyed state was quite refreshing to the usually over-confident, self-assured Min Ho.

The namja chingu winked at her and quickly turned back to watching his snooker game with Woo Bin. From where she was seated, it looked like the namja chingu was whooping Woo Bin’s snooker . Yes!

Shin Hye bent over in her seat and reached down to the floor. From her bag she pulled out a book, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ the cover read. Over the course of The Heirs filming, she hadn’t been able to find herself a new book to read, let alone catch up on one. After a passing mention about her lack of reading, Omma had handed her an abridged version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to read in between filming.    

‘Read it. The two main characters remind me a little of TanSang. Just a little bit…but you’ll enjoy it. Maybe Elizabeth can offer Eun Sang some strength.’ Her mother had said to Shin Hye as she was leaving their family house.

Shin Hye pulled open the cover and flipped to the page where she last left off. Elizabeth was in Mr Darcy’s aunt’s mansion, playing the piano—engaged in a sharp-witted conversation with Mr Darcy himself. Shin Hye adjusted herself in the chair and began reading.

~.~

The room was abuzz.

From the far end of the room, Min Hyuk exclaimed, ‘Oh? Hyung! You came? Yah! You should’ve told me that you would!’

‘I wanted to catch you off guard.’ Min Hyuk’s Hyung replied. Oh? I know that voice!...Oppa? ‘And it looks like you aren’t up to very much!’

Shin Hye looked up from her book and swung her head around, Yah! Lee Shin! She quickly slipped a random receipt between the pages of her book as she slammed it shut. Formal greetings were going around as she hastily made her way towards the large group forming around the booth.

To his back, she remarked, ‘Jung Yong Hwa! Oh, you are alive?’ Aisssh! This punk!

His familiar laugh echoed in her ears, ‘Anneyeong, Shin Hye-ah! It’s nice to see you too…’

‘Oh—You remember my name! I thought you’d forgotten about me!’

‘Arasso, arasso, mianhe. Things got so busy, I barely had time to feed myself!’ Yong Hwa grabbed a hold of Shin Hye’s hands, took a step back and offered her a slight bow, ‘Please accept my humble apology, I was a terrible friend. But I am here now.’ Aigoo~ How to stay annoyed at such a punk?

With that, the pair of old friends fell into a familiar rhythm of hellos, hugs, how-are-yous, and you-look-wells.

Fifteen minutes into the reunion, Lee Shin, Lee Gyu Won and Yeo Joon Hee were seen huddled together. Shin Hye and Min Hyuk’s heads were bent over Min Hyuk’s phone, laughing at a candid image taken during their Heartstrings filming.

‘Yah! It was Se Mi’s fault! She stuck out her leg just as I was passing by!’ Yong Hwa cried, desperately trying to defend his sinking reputation.   

‘Chincha? Keunde, Oppa, Se Mi didn’t make you wear those boxer shorts!’ Shin Hye gibed. Min Hyuk simply chortled, and reached over to ruffle his Hyung’s hair. She had missed this. She had missed him.

Just as she thought that, she heard someone clearing his throat very loudly. All three heads turned to find a somewhat stony-faced Min Ho staring back at them. It was hard to tell what was going on in his head just by looking at his expression, but Shin Hye had an inkling it involved a little bit of green.

Crap. I forgot! Aisssh! Chincha, Shin Hye! You need to watch yourself! She chided herself silently.

‘Jung Yong Hwa, is it? I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.’ Min Ho’s first words were formal and calm. His eyes held Shin Hye’s gaze for a split second. Ach! Shin Hye felt a chill crawl down her back. ‘I’ve heard sooooo much about you.’ Okay, maybe a lot of green.

‘Ne, Annyeonghaseyo, Min Ho-ssi!’ Yong Hwa made a move to bow but Min Ho stopped him midway.

‘Ani, ani. Please, don’t. Any friend of Min Hyuk’s and Shin Hye is a friend of mine. Min Ho.’ Min Ho reached out and shook Yong Hwa’s hand, ‘We’re all friends here.’ His last few words sounding rather forced.

Yong Hwa snapped his fingers uncomfortably, a bad habit of his. He could tell when he was being sized up, ‘Gomawo, chingu’

Sensing the tension, though he didn’t know why, Min Hyuk conversationally began ‘Oh, Hyung! Did you know that Yong Hwa Hyung was originally casted to be in our drama?’

‘Yeh,’ Min Ho acknowledged.

‘But he’s got his own show now, Marry Him If You Dare.’

‘Oh.’

‘It’s got a very interesting concept! It’s about a middle-aged lady who goes back in time, anxious to change her past.’

Taking pity on poor, desperate Min Hyuk, Min Ho decided to set his dark mood aside for now. He turned to Yong Hwa and politely inquired, ‘The show is on the Monday and Tuesday slots, yes?’

After seeing Min Ho relax a little, Shin Hye let out a long, loud breath, earning her the quizzing looks of Yong Hwa and Min Hyuk, and a shrewd smiled from the namja chingu.  

‘Hur hur hur,’ Shin Hye laughed nervously, ‘I was just doing breathing exercises. Please, carry on.’ Pabo-ya!

Thankfully, she didn’t need to say it twice. ‘Yeh. Keunde, ratings aren’t doing so well.’ Chuckled Yong Hwa, ‘It’s a pity. We’ve got a stellar cast, save myself.’

Min Ho, easing into the conversation, continued, ‘Yoon Eun Hye and Lee Dong Gun right? Yah, that is a good cast! I’ve always wanted to work with Eun Hye-ssi. I’ve heard a lot about her.’

Yong Hwa’s broke into a vivid recount about Eun Hye filming a particular scene, which made Min Ho chuckle, ‘…and all she did was blink wildly a few times for comedy’s sake before snapping back into character.’

‘Ah~ She sounds amazing~’ Min Ho said, dragging out on the last word. Yah! I’m right here! Shin Hye shouted silently. ‘Jiltu! Yong Hwa-ah, if you visit again, please bring her along! I’d really like to meet her!’ Min Ho finished, he was talking to Yong Hwa, but his haughty eyes were watching Shin Hye.

Yah! I’m amazing too! You told me that yourself!...Aisssh! He’s doing this deliberately. Wae?!~ I wasn’t trifling with Yong Hwa Oppa! Min Ho-ahhhhh! I wasn’t doing anything wrong! Chincha! We’re just friends! Whining silently to herself wasn’t helping. Min Ho continued fan-boying over the idea of meeting Yoon Eun Hye with Yong Hwa as Min Hyuk laughed on.

‘Arasso! I know how you feel now. Hajima!’ She tried to tell him with her eyes.

‘Min Hyuk-ah! A moment please!’ Kang PD yelled, beckoning for Min Hyuk to go over to him.

As soon as Min Hyuk excused himself, Min Ho artfully turned the conversation away from Eun Hye, and towards an even less comfortable conversation, which Shin Hye didn’t think would be possible moments earlier. ‘Ah, Shin Hye-ah, we’ve been neglecting you. Shin Hye’s a pretty great co-star too, wouldn’t you agree, Yong Hwa?’

Yong Hwa stared at her thoughtfully for a while, ‘Hmm…’ Shin Hye knew he was just pretending, always fooling around, this one. ‘I guess so. She does have a certain draw to her that makes her more likeable than most…’ Oppa~ Geumanhae! Min Ho Oppa doesn’t know you as well as I do! He’s going to misunderstand!! ‘She’s also really friendly and easy to get along with. Many of us were really captivated by her during the YAB days.’ Oppppppaaaa~

Min Ho’s face was smiling, his posture relaxed, ‘Captivated?’ His fingers clenched.

‘Ne, it was quite confusing for us though. There she was, dressed as a namja, acting as a namja. But as soon as the camera lights were switched off, she’d be oozing with that girlish charm of hers. Our filming crew loved her!’

‘I should probably watch the show then. Her performance as a namja sounds very convincing.’ Min Ho said with a laugh. His fake laugh.

This hole is just getting deeper and deeper.

‘But we were all good friends~ And still are~ Despite my girly attitude, everyone still treated me like a namja. Right, Oppa?’ Shin Hye all but cried out. This is what true misery feels like.

‘Ne!’ Yong Hwa nodded his head in agreement, ‘Keunde, Shin Hye, have you spoken to Geun Suk lately?’

Omo! Yong Hwa-yah! Not now! ‘A—Ani .’

‘I saw his well wishes to you for your 10^th Anniversary!’ Yong Hwa began enumerating, ‘…she is a really cute girl. Then her character is so, so very kind. Almost so amaz—’

‘Oppa, Geumanhae! I was there! I saw the message!’

Yong Hwa persisted, ‘So amazing! She is so good girl, and my mother likes her.’ Min Ho’s jaw clenched. ‘Please ma—’

‘Yah! Oppa! We get it, he thinks very highly of me!’ Mother Earth, if you can hear me, please, PLEASE open up a hole in the ground, and swallow me whole!

‘Please marry me, Park Shin Hye!’ Yong Hwa finished, evidently pleased with himself.

On the flipside, Min Ho was visibly beside himself. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to throttle Geun Suk for saying it, Yong Hwa for repeating it, Shin Hye for being so darn amiable…or all three. ‘That was quite a message.’ He managed to say, which was surprising considering how hard he was gritting his teeth.

‘Shin Hye and Geun Suk are especially close.’ Yong Hwa moved to explain, ‘When they were filming YAB, Shin Hye and Geu—’

‘Oh! Oppa!’ Anymore, and I might not have a namja chingu to speak of! She grabbed a hold of Yong Hwa’s shoulders and began steering him away, towards Min Hyuk, who was now hoodwinking around with the others. ‘Didn’t you say you brought Min Hyuk some things to tide him over for the rest of filming? Yah! It’s going to grow cold. I hope you brought enough for him to share! You should give it to him now! Pali!’ She gave him one last shove and then turned to look at her namja chingu. If he still was her namja that is.

‘Annyeong~’ She wasn’t too sure where Min Ho stood right now, and on what level of mad. All she could tell from the look of his face was that he was most definitely, crabby. She wasn’t even quite sure what was the right thing to do in this situation. ‘Namja chingu?’ 

He didn’t respond. He simply watched Yong Hwa’s shrinking figure. Ottoke?....Yah! Why is he so mad anyway? These things happened eons ago! Long before him! Plus, Yong Hwa and Geun Suk Oppa are my good friends!

‘Yah! Kim Tan!’ She got his attention. His head turned back and he fixated his eyes on her, eyebrows arched. In dramas, the girl tries to joke it off… ‘Green doesn’t suit you as well as red or blue does.’

He was confused. Confusion. Good. I can work with confusion. ‘Ah…red is the colour of ah…affection, and blue is the colour of ah…royalty and uh…just pure coolness.’ Note to self, work on my calming words.

‘And what is green the colour of?’ He said, with narrowed eyes.

‘What you were feeling just now.’

‘What was I feeling just now? I have a hard time putting my finger on it…’ He lifted his finger and tapped his chin, ‘What could it be?’ He coaxed.

Choose your words wisely. ‘Gluttonous?’

Her words finally broke his steely exterior, and he doubled over in laughter, ‘Gluttonous? Yah! Since when was green the colour of gluttony?’

‘Ani?’

‘Pabo! Orange is the colour of gluttony!’

‘Chincha?!’ Shin Hye giggled sheepishly, ‘I was trying to choose my words carefully…’

‘Gluttonous was your best bet?!’ With eyes shaped like half moons, he shook his head at the hilarity of Shin Hye’s mistake.

‘In some instances, gluttonous can be used to replace the word—’ Shin Hye stopped short of the J-word. Do we talk about it? Do we discuss his feelings…my feelings?

‘The word?’

He knows. He knows! Why does he want me to say it? ‘Protective?’

Clearly amused at how desperately she was trying to edge around the issue of his behaviour earlier, he stifled in a chuckle, ‘I’m honoured that my actions were deemed: Protective.’

Now it was her turn to narrow her eyes, ‘Yah!’

‘What? You said so yourself! I was gluttonous and protective.’

Aisssh! Why did I make those words choices?? Makes it sound like I was a buffet he was fiercely protecting. ‘Possessive. Envious. Jealous!’ She finally bit out.

He stopped smiling.

‘Yong Hwa Oppa and I have known each other for so long…he…he’s just forgotten how to behave properly in front of others.’ Shin Hye tried explaining. She really wasn’t sure how to tread the topic. Is there even a need to? I mean, how do I stop him from feeling this way? And it wouldn’t be logical to swear myself off befriending all other men!

‘I’m aware. You’ve also had two lip-to-lip kiss scenes together.’ He said drolly.

‘Eh?...Ne. But all in name of work! And ignore what he said about Geun Suk Op—’

‘Also two lip-to-lip scenes.’

Yah! He’s sulking! Wait a minute—, ‘Didn’t you tell Oppa earlier that you’ll have to watch the show? So you have watched it?!’

‘Aisssh!’ He groused, realizing his slip-up.

Shin Hye began pouting, ‘Oppa~ Smile oh? Because this yeoja chingu really doesn’t know what to do…She’s really sorry though!’

‘Humph’

‘Aigoo~ Namja chingu-ah! Shin Hye-ssi only thinks about her Namja chinggu. But her namja chingu is too busy sulking about other men to enjoy her company. What should this yeoja do? Oppppppaaaa~!’ This was desperation. She was even pulling out all the aeygyo she could muster.

A smile began to sneak up on Min Ho’s face. Aigoo~ That’s the smile I was looking for!

But it faded as quickly as it came, ‘Yah! Yeoja chingu’s don’t hug other men! And they don’t get marriage proposals from other men!’

Shin Hye smirked. Such a small boy! Trying to hide whatever is his in a tall tower. Even when I was the one who confessed to him first.

‘Why are you not replying? Who are you thinking about? What is his name?’ He began stepping towards her.

‘Don’t come any closer! We’re not alone! People will see!’ She said, side stepping him. ‘I was thinking about this man,’ Min Ho’s eyebrows shot up, ‘This man works in the same industry as me. But he’s really popular and sought after, especially in Asia. Luckily for this yeoja, she had the chance to work with him on several CF’s and even in a drama!’

‘Why are you telling me about Geun Suk?’ Min Ho muttered. ‘It’s not helping your cause.’

‘Aisssh! Let me finish! As I was saying, this yeoja worked together with this man on several CF’s and in a drama. Somewhere along the way, this yeoja fell for this namja.’

‘Yah! I don’t want to hear this story! Why are you tellin—’

Ignoring his outburst, Shin Hye continued, ‘This namja made her heart flutter, and her stomach do all kinds of somersaults.’ For some strange reason, if it was even possible, Shin Hye could begin seeing green smoke coming out of Min Ho’s ears. ‘Sooooo…she decided to distance herself from him. But her doing so, caused a misunderstanding. And she had to confess to him in a camper van, later one night,’

‘Oh.’ Min Ho mumbled incoherently.

‘And he confessed too. Then in another type of van, they became namja chingu and yeoja chingu. But since then, they haven’t been able to do anything couple-like because they’ve been so busy with work. And then today, an old friend of the yeoja’s came to visit, causing the namja chingu to feel a little upset and protective over his yeoja chinggu.’

Min Ho’s face had turned red. Good. He should know that his jealousy was for nothing!

‘This yeoja did warn the namja that she’s new this, and she did apologize in advance. But just in case the namja forgot, this yeoja wants him to know she’s sorry if she made him feel uncomfortable, and that she still likes him very much.’

I think I am doing a pretty good job. Shin Hye thought to herself, giving herself a mental hi-5. ‘Keunde, this yeoja cannot stop being friends with other namja’s just because she’s finally in an exclusive relationship. But she will try her best to not make her namja chingu feel too uncomfortable. Likewise, she will also be understanding to all of her namja chingu’s friends who happen to be yeojas. Arasso?’

Min Ho dipped his head like the bashful little boy he really was and nodded, ‘Arasso. This namja chingu understands.’

He looked up and made a face in response to Shin Hye’s look of satisfaction, ‘Sooooo…you like me very much huh? I make your heart flutter?’

‘Yah!’

‘Ok, ok, ok.’ Putting his hands up in surrender. ‘You win. This namja owes Yong Hwa-ssi a cup of coffee in apology, arasso?’

‘That would be nice. Though, he’s going to be very confused what you’re apologizing about.’

‘I’ll come up with something. Shin Hye-ah?’

‘Mmmm?’ She lifted her head in response. Did I miss out on something?

‘Thank you for understanding. For someone new to this, you’re pretty great.’ His eyes were tender and filled with admiration.

Shin Hye’s heart filled with warmth. Of all the days they’d been exclusive, this was her favourite so far. And she couldn’t wait for more.

‘Alright, we had better head back to the group. Before they wonder what we’ve been talking about together for so long…’ Min Ho said, nudging her to make a move, ‘And we both know we’re terrible liars.’

Just as they were nearing the group of feasting 20-something year olds, Min Ho suddenly quipped, ‘By the way, more accurately, red is the colour of love—’ Colour began to rise to Shin Hye’s cheeks as she quickened her steps. If she had learned anything, the look that Min Ho had on his face right now, could only mean his mind was on one thing.

His voice followed closely behind her, voice teasing, ‘And of lust and passion.’

Aisssh! I knew it. He’s a small boy. A small hor—

‘Noona, try some! Yong Hwa Hyung brought heaps!’ Min Hyuk called out, as she approached them, halting her less than wholesome thoughts. 

~.~

Later that night, Shin Hye received a text, ‘Mianhe Shin Hye.’

Confused, she responded, ‘What about, Oppa?’

When his response came, she sputtered, water shooting out of . She could even hear the laughter in his reply, ‘I did all that on purpose. I’m a namja. I know when another namja is trying to mark his territory. Shin Hye-ah, you must control yourself now. Goodnight~’

Shin Hye tossed her phone on her bed.  Yong Hwa Oppa, I concede , she thought to herself.

She picked up her Jane Austen novel, and flipped to page holding the receipt, Today, I wrote myself into my very own novel, ‘Gluttonous and Protectiveness’. 

Author's Note:
I read somewhere that JYH visited the set of Heirs. I'm not quite sure if he did, and if so, when.
But here's my take on how it'd have gone down ;)

Thank y'all for your support!
And I hope all those who're celebrating the Chinese New Year are having a great time so far! 
I managed to write this in between the celebrations and the visitings, Hehe.