She convinces herself that she was just attracted to him physically and that it wouldn’t last before she turned up for the next filming. If only she could be so easily convinced. She knew she wasn’t ready for a relationship though, much less with a co-worker. The backlash would be horrible. She could already imagine the failure of the show should things end badly. The thing about acting though, is that in order to portray a role successfully, one has to convince oneself that they are indeed the person they are playing.

The night before they were to film, she prepared herself just as she would for one of her dramas. She left her apartment convinced that she was just attracted to a good-looking person, which was perfectly normal. It wouldn’t hinder her work performance, nor would it affect the way she approaches him.

She turned up for the next session and greeted everyone cheerfully. When she reached him, she greeted him nonchantly as well. The filming went as well as it could but when break time was called, it was obvious to everyone that the cast was being highly awkward around each other. The silence was overbearing and she made a move to reach for a bottle of water only to have a larger hand grabbing for the same one. A spark ran through both their arms and they released the bottle at the same time, resulting in a resonating thud as it fell back onto the table. She flushed, as they both mumbled apologies as he gestured for her to take the bottle. She grabbed it, suddenly parched. There wasn’t much for one to do during break and it didn’t escape their notice that their awkward interaction had been observed by plenty of people. And it was this incident that was the deciding factor for the production crew to send every single member out on a team-bonding survival course.

When the producter brandished a flyer for the team-bonding course, he was greeted by a series of loud groans and attempts to dissuage him which did not work. Less than a week later, they were all geared up and gathered around in a forest somewhere that she was not inclined to explore. A quick introductory course on how to pitch a tent later, they were assigned routes to where they were to spend the night.

A few quick games later (which she thought were pretty much useless to herself) they were were sent on their way to the campsite where they would spend the night.

Packing up her belongings, she swung her heavy backpack across her shoulders and peered at her map. Quickly deciphering the path, she made to pick up her tent only to have someone grab her arm. She stared at the hand for a moment too long before coming back to her senses.

“I’’ll get the tents, we’ve got the same route” he smiled before gathering the necessary supplies in his arms and gesturing to her map.

She smiled gratefully and thanked him, allowing him to pick up her tent. They trooped down the path in comfortable silence. The rustling of leaves beneath their feet and the sounds of flapping bird wings above them were the only things that could be heard as they followed the directions on the map.

The silence was broken when he tried to get her to speak informally. While she appreciated the gesture, it was plain awkward to do so off camera when there was no reason to pretend to be close. And so, when they spoke again later about inconsequential things, and she replied formally, he didn’t press the issue anymore.

While silent, the two did actually interact. He helped her across a brooke and changed places with her when they walked along a slight cliff, making sure that she was safe walking on the inside while he walked along the edge. When they finally arrived at the empty campsite, she no longer wondered why they were the only two who had received the path they were assigned. The site was tiny and fitted only two single tents, or a large one. Surrounded by trees, it was completely cut off from the rest of the trail.

They worked separately and set up their tents. He offered to help her with hers but she declined politely, saying that she had got it. It did look decent enough when she was finally done with it, but he looked at it skeptically for he had heard her muffled curses as she tried to hammer the nails down. He quickly set up the campfire, grateful for modern conveniences such as a lighter and they settled down quickly.

He looked at the dinner in distaste as he usually does when he sees processed food but accepted the bowl from her gratefully knowing that she had slaved over it. The two made quick work of eating, the silence interrupted occasionally by snippets of conversation of no importance. As the night grew darker, their conversation winded down into companionable silence that was accompanied by the howling winds. As the winds grew stronger, they turned in for the night.

She could smell the rain coming as she huddled in her sleeping bag. Sleep had evaded her and it seemed that the sandman wouldn’t be visiting that night. She headed out for a walk as the cramped tent started to stifle her. It was only then did she realize that their shared lamp was gone. He was out and had taken the lamp with him. Figuring that he was probably relieving himself, she sat at the log they had dinner on and waited while the wind whipped around her, causing her long hair to fly waywardly.

There was no sign of him twenty minutes later and she was getting worried. They were in the middle of nowhere and she could hear the distinct sound of rolling thunder. The storm was close and he was in an unfamiliar place that had no shelter in a four-mile radius. Standing up, she retrieved a flashlight and picked the path they had entered from.

Cussing as she stumbled on an exposed tree root, she continued walking even though she was spooked by the shadows casted by the trees under the moonlight. Realising that she was near the cliff as she passed by a familiar marker, she made her way to turn back, figuring that she had walked long enough and that he had probably taken a different path. The wind was howling as it got stronger and as she traced the path back to their campsite, her ears prickled when the mumbled curses in a familiar voice reached her. As she approached the slight chasm once more, she heard a deep grunt and a loud thump before he exploded in a volley of curses.

She stood on the edge and looked down, amused by what she saw. He had apparently fallen off the ledge in the dark and was unable to find a way up without falling. He had landed on hard on his bottom when she had found him.

He heard her approach and snapped out of feeling sorry for himself.

“Don’t come any closer! I lost my footing on a slippery rock near the ledge!”

She acquised and moved further back.

“We’ve got to get you out of there, its gonna rain” As if on cue, the thunder rumbled once more, reminding them of the impending storm as the wind grew even stronger. As the howls of the wind grew, she could barely hear his reply.

She took off her jacket irritably, shivering at the cold as she had only a tank top on beneath it. Pitching it down to him, he tried to grab it but to no avail as it was simply too short. They took a moment to analyse the situation and both came to the same conclusion at the same time. She rose an eyebrow at him while he stayed rooted in position.

“Do you want to stay there all night in the rain?” she asked irritably, her hair flying wildly seemingly surrendering to the whims of the wind. It didn’t escape both their notice that she had lost all sense of politeness in her impatience and had reverted to the informal speak that he had requested that she used earlier in the day.

He took stock of the situation, wishing that he had came out on his midnight jaunt with something more than a shirt and trackpants. Seeing no other way out, he removed his trackpants and pitched them upwards for Ji Hyo to fashion a rope out of along with her jacket. The eve of the storm had reached a cresendo and he could feel the tiny prinpricks of raindrops falling intermittently.

She quickly knotted the articles of clothing as best as she could and quickly lowered it. Throughout the howls of the wind, only the occasional grunts and heavy panting could be heard as she tried to stay grounded while pulling Jong Kook out and he tried to climb up from the chasm without pulling too much on the cloth which was close to tearing.

A loud rip could be heard even over the howling storm.