It was three weeks later, after her short week-end over at her father’s, that Jinyoung contacted her again. He had been busy with some schedules and had barely had some time for himself. First he asked her about her results of her exams and was not surprised by any means when she told him she had succeeded. “Of course you did, you’re the best” he said proudly. Then they exchanged about their boring everyday lives, until Jinyoung asked her if she would be free during the week to meet, but not to meet at his place, but instead he wanted her to come and meet him at the same broadcasting station he had gone a few weeks prior.

“I’m not looking for a job appa,” she laughed nervously. “Why the hell would I go to a broadcasting station?”

“Just come, okay? Don’t worry for now.”

She was left really skeptical and pondered about it for a few days. After consulting with her dad and Youngjae, she decided to give it a go. After all, like her father had told her, it was just an appointment, it was not like she was going to sign or do anything. She went there on her own and met her father in the hall of the huge and crowded building, which somehow made her feel a bit claustrophobic on top of feeling really uncomfortable upon feeling all the gazes on them. And even when they were taken to a meeting room with much less people, she couldn’t stop looking around and fidgeting on her seat.

“Don’t worry,” Jinyoung wrapped his arms around her shoulder.

“What I am doing here?” she asked him once again in a hushed voice.

“We’re going to tell you.”

She let out a long sigh and waited for ten more minutes before a man around her parents’ age entered the room and introduced himself as ‘Kim Hongjoon PD’.

“Nice to meet you, Jaeha,” this man sat down in front of her and her father. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

She smiled nervously and looked at all the papers he suddenly displayed in front of them. On the first page was written in bold capital letters “Comeback of Superman reboot project”, which instantly caught her attention.

“I bet you know what the ‘Comeback of Superman’ show is,” the producer told her and she nodded.

“Yes, it’s the show with the babies.”

“Exactly. Well, we had this idea a few months ago and we’d like to do this same show but instead of babies and toddlers, it would be with teens and young adults just like you.”

She raised a brow and nonchalantly crossed her arms on her chest.

“Are we going to be the only ones on the show?”

“No, so far we have three families confirmed.”

“Jae,” her father stepped in. “You don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to. If you don’t want to be part of this show, we won’t be.”

She was going to answer but the producer chimed in.

“Your father is absolutely right. Being on a show that will be regularly broadcast on a major channel implies a lot of things. That’s going to require a lot of time dedicated to filming and during those moments some aspects of your private life will be revealed to the public, you may not want that and we perfectly understand it.”

“But in the meantime we’ll get to spend a lot of time together,” Jinyoung added. “We’ll get to do all sorts of activities that we’ve never done before. As father and daughter.”

“Yeah, I get that, but it will be for filming. I don’t want to play pretend and be fake just for the sake of getting footage. If I’m doing anything with you I want us to be sincere with one another.”

“Of course we’ll be, Jaeha. Let’s say we decide to go… grocery shopping for example, we’ll go and act like we would normally do. The only difference will be the cameras of course. But we’ll be ourselves.”

She tsked and looked at the producer who gently smiled at her. He was certainly trying to get her to say yes, and she couldn’t blame him. That was his job after all.

“Are we really going to interest people? Why would they want to watch us?” she suddenly inquired.

“Well, first of all, your father is really famous but I don’t need to remind you of that fact, I know,” the PD chuckled. “And according to your social medias you’ve got quite a following yourself. People seem to really appreciate you.”

“But they only care about me because I’m his daughter, they don’t care about me really.”

“Then that show could be a good opportunity to showcase yourself and your true personality.”

“That would make people hate me,” she chuckled nervously and Jinyoung patted her shoulder.

“Don’t say that. They’re going to love you.”

It didn’t manage to convince her on the spot. She had so many thoughts and questions about this project but overall, it all seemed really scary to her. She wasn’t fond of the exposure it would suddenly bring her and she could really imagine all the mean and nasty comments she was going to receive.

“I’m not sure… can I have time to think about it?”

“Yes. Would one week be enough? We’d like to start filming mid-July to broadcast the first episodes early-August.”

“Mid-July is like… in two weeks.”

“Exactly, that’s why we’re a bit in a hurry,” the PD said honestly. “You can keep these documents, read them carefully and if you have any questions you can contact the casting direction whose number is written of the first page here, he’ll let you know everything you’re curious about.”

She took the papers and thanked him. This put an end to the meeting and along with her father they left the building a few minutes later and decided to crash at ‘Eat Jin’ since they were both craving delicious meat.

“I don’t think I’m qualified to be part of a variety show,” she said while watching her father grilled the meat for the two of them. “I’m boring.”

“You’re not. If anything, so many people your age are going to relate to you and they’ll enjoy watching you.”

“That also means I’m going to have spend the whole summer break with you.”

He nodded.

“Will I be able to go back to Seoul whenever I want to?”

“Of course. I’ve already discussed that with the producer because I knew that was going to be one of your main concerns. We’re not going to film 24/7 you know. We’ll have breaks and of course you’ll be able to come here as you wish.”

“That’s a relief,” she sighed and grabbed the piece of meat he was handing her for her to taste. She hurriedly ate it and approved of the cooking by nodding. “What about Mark?” she asked once was empty. “Is he going to be on the show too?”

“If we decide to include him in our schedule he’ll come, he has already agreed to it. But he has his work on the side to, he might not always be free when filming so we’ll spend most of our time together.”

She ate silently for a while and Jinyoung didn’t dare to say anything, he didn’t want to push her in a direction she didn’t want to go. He knew it was best to let her decide for herself.

“You’re not going to be mad if I refuse, right?”

“Absolutely not. I’ll just find myself another schedule if that the case. Don’t worry about me, okay? I’ll go with whatever you decide to do.”

She nodded and suddenly changed subject so Jinyoung didn’t add anything. He simply listened to her talking about Jungkook moving to his own place during the summer so that he would be closer to the university and also would have his own little haven of peace and in the midst of this conversation, she mentioned she would enjoy to have one too, a place for herself. He put that in a corner of his head but didn’t say anything about it since she didn’t linger on that matter either.

They parted way after they were done eating and he told her once again she didn’t have to force herself to do this project if she didn’t want to. She mumbled something in the line of “I know” and “I never force myself to do something I don’t like anyway”. He kissed her goodbye and she went on by foot. She didn’t say anything about it to her dad or Youngjae and they didn’t ask anything either since it was her own business.

But after three days of her barely going out of her bedroom and barely eating anything, she suddenly joined them during their usual Saturday movie night and told them everything about this show, from a to z, and shared all of her concerns with them. But throughout of all speech there was one thing Jaebum caught up and had to tell her.

“Jaeha, I won’t be mad at you if you decide to spend your summer with your father and not us. To be honest, it’s not that I don’t want you here of course, but I’ll be really happy if you get to spend two full months with him. Think about it, your first summer with Jinyoung in ten years. You’ve been waiting for this.”

“Yeah but… the cameras and all...”

“You’ll forget about it eventually. And it’s only for two months, you don’t have anything to lose. It’s not the project of a lifetime.”

She believed telling them about it would help her make a choice but it was not the case. At least, it didn’t help instantly like she expected it to be. But that night, about 3 a.m, she decided to gather her courage and she called her father. He answered almost immediately and asked her what was going on with a lot of worries and it made her realize she had not chosen the right time to call him probably.

“I’m going to do it, the reboot project. I want to do it.”

Jinyoung sighed with relief.

“Jae, my god. You’ve scared me to death. I’ll call the producing team as soon as I wake up to let them know, alright? Go to bed now.”

He cut short to the call and no matter how hard she tried to fall asleep she couldn’t, she had to much on her mind to think about.

*

“So, how does it work? Is it live right now?” Jinyoung asked looking at his phone screen with a confused look on his face.

“It is,” one of the younger producer answered from afar and Jinyoung looked up.
“So people can see me and hear me now?”

Upon receiving a positive answer he chuckled and looked once again at his phone.

“Hello people.”

He waited a few seconds without saying anything, waiting for the comments to arrive but he could see none. He warned the producer who came to him in a hurry and clicked an on button and like magic, comments flooded in.

“It’s too fast, how can I read that? Wait, give me one second.”

He grabbed his glasses that were sitting on the kitchen counter and put them.

“Ah, this is definitely better. Yes, hello people. Hi. Welcome on my livestream. Welcome welcome,” he waved cutely and laughed at his own actions. He tried to read most of the comments but it was too fast for him. “Yes, there’s a lot of people. I can’t see all of your comments but I appreciate them, don’t worry.”

Despite the speed his eyes managed to capture his daughter’s name multiple times.

“’Where is Jaeha?’, ‘Are you alone?’” he read out loud. “’You’re handsome.’ Thank you, I know,” he muffled his laughter behind his hand and stared at the screen for a while, looking for interesting questions. “’What about Jaeha?’ You guys are really curious, aren’t you? I’m going to explain it to you, wait a minute.”

He looked at the producer to search for his approval, so that he could know when to drop the news. They were in facts waiting for more people to join the livestream before Jinyoung could give them all an explanations about his daughter’s whereabouts. Indeed, it had been announced a week ago on their social medias, through the broadcasting station’s official website and during an exclusive interview Jinyoung had done for a famous TV show he was going to do a livestream with Jaeha, during which they would introduce the show and encourage people to watch it. But at the moment the live was on and he was obviously alone.

The produce showed him a thumb up and Jinyoung crossed his legs even though people couldn’t see it and showed a solemn face.

“Well, let me tell you about Jaeha. She was here last night, we were getting ready for this livestream, meaning we were choosing where to do it in the house so that we could have the best lighting and sound, but something really urgent came up during he night and she had to go to Seoul. So she didn’t abandon the project, we’re still doing it, but unfortunately, she cannot join me for this livestream. She was deeply sorry and felt really bad for not being able to keep her words and be here with me today, but she couldn’t not go to Seoul. Let me apologize on her behalf.”

He waited for comments to reach him so that he could test the waters and see what were their reactions. He hoped they weren’t going to be too harsh with his daughter.

“’Is she alright?’ Yes she is, don’t worry. This incident does not concern her directly but a family member. ‘Did she have an accident?’ No, god thanks no she didn’t have an accident. Even though she had to drive during the early morning when it was still dark she made it very safely. Let me read you the last text message she sent me.”

He grabbed his phone and browsed through his messages.

“Here,” he showed the screen to the people he couldn’t see. “Can you see? She sent me ‘I’ve just reached home, I’m fine. I’ll call you later’. And I received this text it was... 6.47 am. So do not worry, everyone, she’s fine. She should come back here in two or three days maybe, and if you want to we’ll do another livestream, so that you can officially meet her.”

He smiled and kept that smile for a long time, until it became an awkward grimace.

“’It’s not professional,’” he read one comment. “It’s not, you’re right. However last minute urgent matters happen to everyone of us. As I’ve already said, she wanted to be here with me today but she couldn’t and it’s alright. ‘Of course we all have our own issues. As long as she’s alright everything is fine’. Yes she is alright, so you’re right, everything is perfectly fine. Also,” he leaned his head against the palm of his hand. “I’d like to remind of something that I believe is essential to know if you’re planning on watching the show. Jaeha is not a public figure by any means. She’s not used to being filmed or having cameras around her. It’s going to be really awkward for her at first and let me tell you, she’s really worried about this show. But she has decided to give it a go despite all her fears. She is brave enough to come to my world and discover it through this show, but I don’t want her to falter because of some mean comments. Let me warn you.”

It was definitely not the actor talking, but the father. He marked a pause to read some of the comments quietly, hoping he wasn’t going to receive any harsh remarks.

“’How old is Jaeha?’” he read out loud after a while. “She’s twenty going on twenty-one. See, she’s still a kid,” he chuckled. “’Is her dad going to be featured on this show’”? No, I don’t think so. Unless she decides to introduce him, he won’t appear on the show. He is busy on his side, you know. ‘Are we going to see your husband’? No, because I’m not currently married. But my partner might appear once or twice, yes. ‘Does Mark Tuan get along with your daughter?’. They do get along very well,” Jinyoung said proudly. “Fortunately they do”.

His phone suddenly rung, which startled him. He took a glance at the screen and his eyes opened wide when he saw the name.

“It’s Jaeha,” he said to the producer. “I’m picking up.”

He immediately did so and put the call on loudspeaker.

“Jaeha?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” she answered and he immediately heard how tired she was because of her husky voice.

“How are you?”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Are you live-streaming right now?”

“Yes I am. The people watching were wondering where you were.”

“I’m in Seoul,” she quickly explained. “I’m doing alright, if perhaps some of you were wondering. Not that I matter but well, I mean, the reason I can’t be with you today is not because I’m not doing fine.”

“They know, I already told them.”

“Oh, alright. Great.”

There was a short blank.

“I’m coming back tomorrow, let’s live together again by then.”

“Alright, let’s do that,” he said without waiting for the approval of the producer.

“Mh, okay. I’m going to bed right now. See you on tomorrow.”

“Yes, see you, Jae. Byebye.”

“Bye.”

Short but effective. He smiled brightly and looked right into the camera.

“Here you have it guy! Jaeha and I will be back on tomorrow! Together!”

Hi everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are doing well and that you take care of yourself and your relatives.  

Here's another chapter of this story, I hope you like it, and can you guess what is the reason why Jaeha had to go back to Seoul in such a rush? :D I'm so excited for the next chapter, that's all i can say!

Thank you very much for reading, commenting and upvoting! This story is soon coming to an end, thank you for staying until there ^^

Also, side note, I know the real show is named "The return of Superman", but for the sake of this story and for potential trademark issue I just changed the name.

Until next time

xx

Mae