“You may hope.”

“Thanks everyone for the hard work!” I bow at the filming crew when the final scene of the day has finally come to an end. “See you all tomorrow!”

“You did a good job today, Yoona,” Director Kim says with a proud smile. “Keep up the good work and see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Director Kim. I’ll do my best tomorrow.” I wonder why a lot of my actor friends said to me that the latter is such a fussy director. If he does not like our acting, he would always nitpick and embarrass us in front of everyone.

To tell you the truth, I was kind of intimidated when I first received the offer to be the female lead for the SBS new drama for the Wednesday-Thursday slot, ‘Wonderstruck’. I contemplated whether I should accept the offer because of their thoughts on how fussy the director is.

In the end, I took the offer after enough contemplation and much to my surprise, he wasn’t being as how he was described. He’s such a sweet, kind-hearted director. He doesn’t criticize the way I act and that’s why I wonder why they badmouthed him.

Perhaps they are just jealous. Who knows, right?

“Oh, Changwook oppa? Are you going home now?” I come across my co-star of the drama, Ji Changwook at the booth. He plays the male lead and the love interest of mine in the drama.

“I am going home now.” A smile reaches his lips. “What about you, Yoona? Aren’t you going home yet?”

Ah, I forgot Changwook oppa finished his scene earlier than mine. That is why he’s already done dressing up in his casual outfit. “I’ll go home later,” I say. “I need to change my clothes first.”

He gives me a small nod. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Jung Sena.”

I let out a chuckle the moment he calls me with my name in the drama. “See you tomorrow too, Yoon Minjae.”

‘Wonderstruck’ depicts a love story of a young woman with a bright career, Jung Sena who doesn’t believe in true love after parting ways with her long-time boyfriend, and that is until she meets a mysterious man, Yoon Minjae (played by Ji Changwook).

Speaking of true love, Jung Sena and I are kind of same except she’s dated someone in the past and I haven’t. I mean, I have been single for like, for all my life—I genuinely devote my life to being a single woman.

It’s not that I don’t have a major crush on any guy in the world—I do. In fact, I think Changwook oppa is ridiculously handsome and his sweet demeanor in the drama makes me fall head over heels for him. However, of course, our relationship is strictly based on work. I may have a tiny crush on him, but that does not mean I want to date him. He’s surely handsome, but he’s not the type of guy I would like to make as my boyfriend.

So what is my ideal type? Well, I don’t even know myself—or maybe, I have yet to know. Sooner or later, I will.

“Yoona, why haven’t you changed?” The voice of my sassy manager, Heechul oppa, breaks me out of my reverie.

“I got a little spaced out,” I admit. “Anyway, I’ll go change now.”

“You’ve been always like this.” A derisive laugh escapes his lips and I turn around at him, feeling particularly bewildered. “You tend to be deep in thought when no one’s around.”

I heave a sigh. Of course he can read my mind since he’s been next to me ever since I stepped into this entertainment world seven years ago.

“You’re going straight home after this, aren’t you?” he questions, changing the topic.

“Nope, I have a meeting with someone later.”

Heechul oppa furrows an eyebrow at me. “Who is that ‘someone’ and where would that place be?”

“Taeyeon unnie and we’ll meet at COFEEBEANS.”

Of course being a public figure is difficult.

Whenever I go, or whoever I meet, will always be the headline of the newspaper. Even if I were to eat ramen at a convenience store and paparazzi happen to catch me, ‘Popular actress, Im Yoona was seen eating ramen last night!’ would spread like wildfire tomorrow. My twitter would be definitely exploded with hundreds of tweets like, ‘Unnie, which brand of ramen do you usually eat?’, ‘Unnie, you should totally do a ramen CF! The way you were photographed in the news was epic and the ramen looked really delicious!’, ‘Unnie, you can expect a few boxes of ramen by the door of your house tomorrow morning! Please eat them every day!’

I did not choose to enter the entertainment world. As a matter of fact, I just foolishly auditioned for a hair shampoo CF when I was sixteen and much to luck, I got the job.

You can never expect what your future would offer you and for me, the moment I decided to try out the audition, I had a vision. I want to appear on TV and make money.

Never once have I thought I would be instantly famous with a single CF. I was later cast for another set of CFs and as well as found myself a talent agency that it led me to meet my manager, Heechul oppa.

Not all my family members approved me of being what I am now. Mom and my only younger brother, Hyunsik were very supportive of me when I got my first CF job. However, Dad wasn’t and up until now, he’s still mad at me. We don’t really talk whenever I go home to pay them a visit. He just… hates me, I guess.

I did ask Mom the reason of Dad being so emotionally bothered of my job, but she did not say anything, but a vague explanation. Dad doesn’t like her daughter to appear on TV and he completely abhors people talking about me. It just pisses him off.

“Noona, don’t mind Dad,” Hyunsik said these comforting words to me in the past. “Dad’s just being childish. You can do whatever you want and no one will stop you as long as you don’t forget us.”

I look out of the heavily tinted window as I let out a forlorn sigh at the thwarting reminiscence. I wonder just for how long it takes Dad to see me as a successful young woman. Being a celebrity is not a loser. Losers are those who have no jobs and rely on their parents’ money—I am not a loser and never will be one.

I press my palm against my chest and feel a familiar stab of longing.

I miss Dad so much; his fatherly touch, his concerned eyes and his smile. Just everything about him.

“Yoona, we’re here.”

“Oh?” My head jerks up in surprise. “We’re here?”

Heechul oppa looks at me with a frown. “Don’t tell me you were spacing out yet again just now!”

Whoops, here we go again.

Kim Taeyeon or Taeyeon unnie is one of my closest celebrity friends. She is a solo singer under SM Entertainment, who made her debut on the same year with me. She is a year older than me and has had loads chart-topping tracks such as ‘Missing You Like Crazy’, ‘Closer’ and ‘And One’.

I don’t really remember how we met, but I have a vague thought that we came across each other during a music award. I was the presenter of a particular award and she won it. We later exchanged phone numbers and started seeing each other back during those days.

Recently, we haven’t been able to meet up because of my hectic drama filming and she, on the other hand, is currently promoting her new song on music shows. We do text to each other from time to time, though.

“Yoona!”

“Unnie!” I spot her sitting at a particular table at the back of the coffee shop. “It’s been a while!”

“It indeed has been a while.” She pulls me against her chest for a quick hug. “I missed you, Yoona! I mean, I really missed you, like so freaking much!”

“I missed you too, unnie.” I plop down in front of her. “I’m sorry that we can’t get to meet up like we always did back then. I’m kind of busy with my drama filming.”

Our conversation comes to a short halt as a handsome, clean cut waiter appears at our table.

“Iced Americano and,” I trail off, darting a small glimpse at Taeyeon unnie’s cake. “And please give me Oreo cheesecake just like hers.”

“Since when you fancy Oreo cheesecake, Yoona?” she asks when the waiter stalks off.

“No idea, but yours look strangely delicious tonight!” I say with a tinge of bright humor, and we burst into big laughter afterwards.