“What do you mean she can't come anymore?” Jinyoung angrily asked his manager Bomsoo, “but then how are we going to do without a translator? None of us speak English!”

“Well... you do, quite a bit,” Bomsoo laughed nervously, “you don't have to worry though! I've already called the manager of the event and he is going to find us another translator. All you have to do for now is say the speech you've learned and just wave at the reporters. You can do this, can't you?”

Jinyoung sighed and was about to run a hand through his hair but his stylist Yoonha shouted at him not to do it if he didn't want to ruin his perfectly styled hair. She was right, Jinyoung didn't want to ruin his good look, especially when his kind stylist had spent hours working on him to make him look more perfect than ever. Now, clad in a black suit, a bow-tie around his neck and wearing expensive Italian black leather shoes, he was ready to face the numerous reporters who had come to the Los Angeles Movie Festival and he was ready to deliver his speech in English which he had been preparing for weeks.

However, there was now another issue. The translator his company had hired to help him talk with other actors or movie directors had called a few minutes ago to tell them she had had to go to the hospital for her son, leaving him alone and dumbfounded with a ridiculously bad English level. Even though he had been living in LA for a few years now (eight precisely) he still wasn't feeling confident enough to just go out by himself and talk freely in English, scared people would make fun of him for his accent when in fact, everybody kept claiming he was good at speaking the language.

“What should I do?” he titled his head and stared at his phone left over under all of Yoonha's make-up. “Should I just refuse to go? Or pretend something has happened and I can't go anymore?”

“They already know you're here,” Bomsoo rolled his eyes at Jinyoung's antics, “don't worry! It will be fine! Plus think about Jaeha, what if she is watching only for you and suddenly you're not going anymore? She will be disappointed.”

The actor furrowed his brows while glaring at his manager – Bomsoo was one of the most adorable and trustworthy men Jinyoung had ever met, he was glad he was his manager and not somebody else's, but he was a bad liar.

“Jaeha won't be watching,” he said, obviously sadden by the sudden thought of his daughter living in Korea with his ex-husband.

The last time he had seen her happened to be a few months ago when he had come back to his mother country to meet with younger colleagues and he had made a stop at Jaebum and Jaeha's house for a matter of hours. But if Jaeha hadn't been forced by her dad to spend a moment with him, he knew she would have refused to see him and every time he thought about all the bad words she had said to him during this meeting, and during all the other ones, he just felt really awful for enjoying himself in expensive clothes to a fancy movie festival while Jaeha was thousands miles away from him.

He took his phone and unlocked it just to take a look at his background picture which happened to be his eighteen-year-old daughter sitting next to Jackson, a dear friend he also missed a lot, both of them grinning at each other like fools.

He loved this picture a lot. Every time his mood was down or he truly, madly, dearly missed his daughter, he just had to take a look at it and he automatically felt better knowing she was doing just fine and was happy when he wasn't around her, whereas when they were seeing each other, she was just grumpy and mad. If she didn't need him in her life as much as he needed her, then so be it. He would just bear with it, no matter how hard it would be, and would leave her alone.

“Well, my English is not that bad, right?” he concluded as he slid his phone into the inside pocket of his jacket, “I should go now.”

“That's the spirit,” Bomsoo patted his shoulder.

It didn't take long before Jinyoung met with his Korean friends and colleagues with whom he had worked on his latest movie. It had been really successful not only in Korea, but also all around Asia, in Europe and in North America which was the reason why they were here to this very important festival. Somehow, Jinyoung felt like it was the peak of his carrier.

There wasn't a movie festival he hadn't gone to in his twenty and more years of acting. He had struck all the possible poses, funny and less funny ones. He remembered the faces of some of his fans which were traveling the world just to see him and him only. He had heard his name being pronounced with every worldwide accents. It was always the same old routines, the same sponsors giving him amounts of money he didn't even know what to do with anymore, it was always the same questions being asked, always the same smiles he was giving to the cameras.

And at some points, this routine was starting to get on his nerves and to make him anxious: he feared facing the public and his lovely fans, he wanted to run away from the paparazzi to just live his life comfortably and happily with his daughter and friends whom he could never be with because of his job.

At forty-two, Jinyoung felt like it was time for him to settle down and just rest and breathe.

The nerve-wrecking step of the red carpet and usual 'thank you for your hard support I love you all' speech later, Jinyoung was left alone when his colleagues wandered around to try and talk to people. Too shy to do so, Jinyoung remained next to the buffet where he enjoyed fuzzy champagne and soothing solitude. As he was closely inspecting all the food and debating with himself what to eat or not, someone came by his side and spoke in a very define and clear English, which had him freezing.

“If I were you I would go to the other hall, the food is better there.”

The man was strikingly handsome. His black hair was pushed away from his forehead and were perfectly styled, somehow even better than his own (he would have to tell Yoonha about it). His smile was really pretty and charming, and he had a few wrinkles around his eyes and mouth which made Jinyoung think the man was probably around his age but somehow he made him feel old and ugly. The stranger had Asian features, manly, sharp but sweet and nice features. The suit he was wearing was red, a bright red, but it didn't look ridiculous at all on him; quite the contrary in fact. It made him stand out in the crowd, it positively drew the attention – and Jinyoung who was wearing plain black felt so little next to him.

“W-Why?” he asked back.

“The food is of a better quality. This one is just so-so.”

“Really? Oh, alright.”

They both awkwardly stood there, looking at all the food. Jinyoung took a sip of the champagne as his throat went suddenly dry and he nervously scratched his cheek.

“I'm not even that hungry anyway,” he muttered in his mother tongue. “I'll be going now,” he then said to the stranger in English, “have a good night.”

“You're Korean, aren't you?” the stranger surprisingly said in Korean before Jinyoung could walk away.

“Oh! Hm, well, yeah, I am. I'm Park Jinyoung.”

“Mark Tuan. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

When Mark offered his hand, Jinyoung shyly shook it.

“Are you an actor?”

“I am.”

“I knew I had seen you in a movie. You're quite famous, aren't you? I mean, if you are here, obviously you are but I feel like I've heard a lot about you. Certainly in Korea, I guess.”

Mark had a slight accent when speaking Korean, meaning he was no Korean himself but Jinyoung couldn't tell where he came from.

“Do you live here?” he asked, already feeling more confident about speaking in Korea more than in English and it was reassuring to meet with someone who also spoke the same language – especially when Jinyoung didn't have a translator with him.

“I do, right here in Los Angeles. But my company has several headquarters all around the world and one precisely in Korea.”

“Oh? Aren't you an actor?”

“No, not at all,” Mark chuckled. “I'm a sponsor of this event and the organizers kept insisting for me to come so... there I am. But, truth to be told, I'd rather be home watching TV and wearing comfy clothes than to show off here.”

“Same,” Jinyoung admitted, surprised by the other's confession. “I wish I could be home too.”

“Do you want to go to the other hall, to grab better food? We could keep talking, if you want to, of course.

Mark's smile was enchanting, Jinyoung thought as he stared at him. He unconsciously found himself smiling and nodded.

“Let's go,” Mark said and together, side by side, not caring about people looking at them and whispering about them behind their backs, they left the hall.

By the time they reached the other huge room which was even more crowded, Jinyoung had sent a text message to his manager.

To: Bomsoo

I won't need a translator, it's fine.

*

“So it was all about food?” Jaeha asked with a frown, looking back and forth between her father and Mark who both nodded and threw each other amused but shy glances. “It all started thanks to food?”

“It did,” Jinyoung said.

“Well that's... weird? I would have thought your meeting was more... professional? Like you two had talked for hours about business and appa's movies and all but... not at all?”

“We barely even talked about it that night, really.”

“I'm... well... I don't know,” Jaeha titled her head, “I'm kind of disappointed by the story of your meeting, I guess? There is not even an ounce of romance.”

“At first I didn't speak to Jinyoung thinking I would end up dating him one day,” Mark admitted. “He just looked alone and depressed, I was also alone and depressed, and pissed to be at a party I didn't want to be at so I just thought I'll speak to him and make a friend for an evening. I had no idea I would fell in love with him at that time. But I'm glad I spoke to him, that evening. Or else I would have never met the love of my life,” Mark smiled before he leaned forward to kiss Jinyoung right on the lips.

“Gross,” Jaeha scoffed and looked away, though she couldn't help smiling a little.

Here's the 27th chapter!

I'm finally done with my exams, now I have to wait for the results. Even if I don't regularly update this story, I write quite a lot. In fact, I'm almost done writting it (there should be around 45 chapters plus a few bonus chapters (if I don't suddenly decide to add more chapters). I hope you'll like what's to come!

As for this chapter, it's about Mark and Jinyoung's meeting. Share your thoughts with me about this chapter, I'll gladly read it!

Thank you so much for subscribing, commenting and upvoting! As always, I really appreciate it :)

Thx you very much guys!

xx

Mae