Sohyun has been following the drama that Seung Ho acted diligently. The plotlines were good and the acting was strong. It was very well received and the first two episodes had high ratings. As expected, after the premiere, Seung Ho had to film long hours and they barely had any opportunity to meet. They messaged each other daily, updating their ongoings without expecting any immediate response. Occasionally, they managed to squeeze in calls and Seung Ho would pick her up from school or home for short drives whenever he can, which was very few and far between.

Sohyun was working on her project in the library when her ears pricked at the mention of Seung Ho-oppa’s name. Three girls were discussing the ongoing drama and the chemistry of Seung Ho-oppa and Yoo Jung. Their chemistry on the drama were so good that a shipping thread was created and many believed that they were dating.  They were also comparing the chemistry with her, stating that this was even better. They suspected Seung Ho was dating Yoo Jung because in the BTS, Seung Ho was very careful in putting a distance between them. They claimed that he did that because he wanted to hide the fact that they were dating. But he could not hide the way he looked at her on the drama which was full of love, that was more than how he ever acted before. Sohyun was getting antsy hearing the comments and wanted to walk away from her desk, but Jieun who was next to her, held her hand. She gave Sohyun a small smile and told her ignore.

That night, Sohyun watched the most recent episodes of the drama again. The two main characters by then have fallen in love in these episodes and it looked believable. The way Seung Ho-oppa looked at Yoo Jung’s character was full of love, tenderness and longing. She then moved to the drama and shipping threads and scrutinize articles and comments on them through the night. She kept reminding herself not to be swayed but the analysis and screenshots were pretty convincing. There was one shot that was blown up which showed Seung Ho-oppa totally in love.  “That’s how Oppa looked at me.” Sohyun whispered to herself. She finally went to bed only after convincing herself that this was all acting.

Seung Ho was tired from the long hours of acting. The director was happy with the response from viewers that there was no need to change plotlines during the drama, so he wanted to complete filming early. Filming has also been a breeze and the director especially were very pleased with the two leads. They were able to bring forward the emotions easily that there were very few NGs. Seung Ho’s acting has been praised highly, having exceeded his previous work with his emotions reflected in his eyes and movements. Seung Ho was pleased that he could bring his feelings for Sohyun into the drama such that it looked believable. But he missed Sohyun, he missed their regular banters.

Filming ended at 9pm that day and he wanted to go for a drive with Sohyun.  He was about to message Sohyun when the second lead, Dong Yoo asked him out for dinner. “Not tonight Dong Yoo. Sorry. It’s the first early night we had for a couple of weeks and I like to go home,” Seung Ho was apologetic. Jinyoung joined Dong Yoo in convincing Seung Ho for the said dinner, “Comm’on hyung. Treat us to some grilled meats.” Seung Ho offered to pay for their meal without attending but they refused. Some other crews were also pushing for Seung Ho to treat the two hoobaes. Finally, Seung Ho relented and agreed to go for dinner with them, “But I need to leave early, ok!” The two hoobaes nodded. As they were walking out of the set, they bumped into Yoo Jung and Jinyoung told her that they were going for grilled meats, “Hyung is treating us,” pointing at Seung Ho. “Oh, Oppa, can I join dinner too?” Yoo Jung piped in. Seung Ho had no choice but to agree.

Over dinner, Seung Ho was watching the time and tried to leave earlier but it was difficult without being rude. Yoo Jung also took some photos which Seung Ho could not stop. He just suggested that maybe it should not be posted on SNS. Yoo Jung just laughed and said it would be good for the drama and she immediately posted on her Instagram, “First early night break from filming after so long and Seung Ho-oppa treated us to some grilled meats. Thank you Oppa!”

When they finally leave, Seung Ho looked at the time and it was almost midnight. He knew Sohyun has an early morning class the next day and it was too late to meet her. He just texted Sohyun instead and drove home missing her.

Sohyun left for school in the morning with a smile after seeing Seung Ho’s text message.

                         To Sohyunnie

                         “I miss you.”

On the way to school, she was busy reading her school work as she has a presentation. Just before lunch, she saw a message from Jieun and Minjun to lunch together. They haven’t had time for lunch together for several days because they have all been busy with school. She smiled and waved when she saw them and the three of them proceeded to the canteen. During lunch, the three girls chatted happily but Jieun and Minjun occasionally exchanged glances. They said goodbye after lunch at the cafeteria as Sohyun’s class was in the opposite direction. “Maybe she didn’t mind. We are worried for nothing,” Minjun commented.  “She may have not seen the posting yet,” Jieun offered.

After the afternoon class was over, Sohyun decided to rest at the bench in the garden overlooking the school stadium. She wanted to relax before going to the library as she was tired. As she sat, she scrolled through her SNS and saw Yoo Jung’s posting. Her pulse quickened and her breathing became shorter. Sohyun tried to compose herself. She gave herself various reasoning why Seung Ho-oppa went for dinner with the cast on the one night he finished filming early instead of seeing her. They’ve not seen each other for weeks, had not even had good conversations because of his filming schedule. Sohyun felt a sharp pain in her heart as her chest tightened, and her eyes sting as she tried to held back her tears.

Minjun and Jieun panicked when Sohyun did not turned up at the library as usual. They waited for over an hour, in case she had to have some other discussion elsewhere. Finally, they walked out of the library and called her. “Sohyun, where are you, why are you not at the library?” “I don’t think I will be going to the library today. I see you girls tomorrow, ok?” Sohyun replied weakly. She did not have the frame of mind to study and she wanted to talk to Seung Ho-oppa. She messaged him earlier but he had not even read it yet.

“Where are you? We go to you. You saw Yoo Jung’s posting, right?” Minjun exclaimed. Sohyun wanted to be alone, wanting only to hear Seung Ho-oppa’s assurance. But the girls insisted and they came and hugged her. She sobbed. The two girls tried to convince her that the dinner could possible not mean anything but she just continued to sob. After a while, she decided to go home and took a cab. Minjun and Jieun, worried, called Sujin to update on Sohyun’s status.

That night, on the way home, Seung Ho called Sohyun. She awoke from her sleep as she had cried herself to sleep earlier. “Did I wake you up? I’m sorry, I just finish filming,” Seung Ho apologized. “It’s ok, I must have doze off.” Sohyun replied. Seung Ho started on small chats but then realized she sounded distance. He knew it must  be because she have seen the SNS photo and feeling upset. He stopped his car on the road shoulder.

“Sweetie, are you upset? Is it because of Yoo Jung’s posting of yesterday’s dinner?” Silence. “I really wanted to see you yesterday when filming ends early, but the two boys insisted I treated them to dinner.” Silence. “I tried to avoid it, but they were really insistent. Jinjja, I wanted to see you.”

“And Yoo Jung happened to chance upon the three of you at dinner?” Sohyun asked calmly. He detailed what happened yesterday. Sohyun knew what Seung Ho-oppa described could happen. She had seen it many times. She felt much better and reassured. Seung Ho promised that the next time filming ends early, he would see her, even for a short time.

The next day, while she was in the library, there was a page for her. As she walked to the counter, the student librarian pointed her to the door of the library. Outside was a delivery guy with a bouquet of beautiful pink roses. Reading the attached card, she smiled. It was a token of apology from Seung Ho-oppa.

The following day, Seung Ho-oppa messaged her that he was waiting at her lobby to send her to school. Excited, she rushed down and waited for the lobby to clear so that S