"...Tastes so sweet, looks so real
Sounds like something that I used to feel
But I can't touch what I see."

It was as if Chang Wook shut himself out for the rest of the night. 

Soo Jeon immediately noticed this the moment he left the bathroom and found his senior by the staircase, caught in a daze as he stared at the closed door in front of him. So when his phone rang, he watched as he scrambled and fumbled with the device until it fell on the floor, his trance broken. He immediately ran to his senior's side and waited in silence until their ride arrived. Of course, the paps were scrambling to get some pictures of the director and the son of a profound entertainment figure, but they only bowed in respect as they brisked towards their car. Once they finally left the venue, it was as if they both held their breaths as they sighed in relief when the car cruises through the freeway, and Soo Jeon didn't attempt to break the quiet atmosphere once, knowing that something happened that made him that way all of a sudden, making sure that once he got . 

Meanwhile, Chang Wook feels like he wants to go on a rampage, or sob his heart out, or spiral into his thoughts. He didn't even know what he was doing, and his body suddenly thought of moving closer towards her, as if it was out of instinct, and he wants to smack himself for the impulsive moment. When the trance finally broke, it was like he was slapped in the face for what he didn't even notice that he'd done in the first place. He was not someone to jump to conclusions, but he was definitely someone that feels harder and feels first before forming a thought of his own. He doesn't know what to feel first, though. Should he be confused? Anxious? Defeated? Relieved? He doesn't know, and he can't even form anything concrete with the events happening back there, but there are a few things he's sure of:

1) She goes by Hazel Nam in professional settings;

2) She can speak in straight English (which shouldn't even be a surprise in the first place);

3) She's still absolutely beautiful after all these years. 

He then thinks of the guy that ran towards her, and he wondered for a second who "Eugene" really was. Was he a part of her team? Was he a close friend? Was he something more to her? Was he the one that replaced him after everything that happened in the past? He doesn't know, and he was scared to know. He didn't want to be jealous, and he had no right to be. They weren't together anymore, and he convinced himself for so long that there was nothing left to save, so he had no right to be jealous or soak himself with the bitter taste inside his mouth by the thought of her with another man. And with these thoughts, he realized there was another thing he was sure of, but he was afraid to admit to himself: there was still that part of his heart that still skipped for her, that miniscule part that knew that he still loved her. Such thoughts made him ache, the dull sensation cocooning him as he kept his silence for the rest of the night. 

---

In the middle of the night, in one of the premiere hotels in the heart of the district, Nam Ji Hyun tossed and turned in her bed, trying to shut her thoughts out after tonight's events. Somehow, she regretted that she even went straight to the afterparty. Of course, he was going to be there. Of course, he was going to look too good for her liking, and of course, it's going to hurt whenever she sees him. She thought somehow that she finally could sleep in peace after some time, but her dreams always seem to have him in it: him smiling at her, him kissing her forehead and her nose, him singing an unknown melody into her ear, and him sobbing in front of her, meters away from each other. That last one always wakes her up in the midst of her sleep, that ache in her chest making her furrow her eyebrows and sob into her pillow. But these days, her dreams were getting too real, and too intense for her. She knew it was because they finally saw each after so long, but it scared her how her pillows transformed into his shoulders, and she even found herself waking up clinging onto one in a fist. When she saw him by the staircase, she even wondered if she was in one of her dreams again, and that she'll wake up in tears, but with every step he took towards her, she realized how real he was, how attainable he was, until Eugene came along. She didn't miss that look on his face when she left him, and she did all that she could not to think about it, but her dreams were betraying her again.

She scrambled to grab her laptop, her notebook, and her glasses as she opened her lamp and wrote away. She didn't care if some of the words she typed didn't make any sense, but she wrote her woes away, her thoughts, the images in her head, until she wore herself out, until she couldn't think straight, until the next morning, Ji Hyun woke up with her glasses askew, her laptop and notebook sitting by the cold side of her bed. She didn’t even know when she fell asleep, and she didn’t know how far she wrote by her notebook, but all she could remember in the flurry was his face, and how hard she tried to erase it from her memory.

—

With the postponement of the production, the entire crew were given the time to properly adjust to some of the changes that were going to be implemented, including the new PD that will take over the set. A number of people knew the PD, even to some extent of working with him, but some were still on the fence, including the executives. Ji Hyun already had it in mind that this would happen, but they had to push through with this, or else everything that they’ve worked for will go down the drain in one snap, which is why she’s putting her game face on for tonight’s dinner. 

“This is going to be tough, Hazel.” Sabine, her secretary, spoke up as she sat across from her in a grey solo seat, scrolling through her phone for the latest updates, while Ji Hyun was typing away on her laptop by the large grey sofa, the sunlight hitting the crevices of the monochromatic living room and fuzzy carpet beneath their feet. “You’re saying that this isn’t a done deal yet?”

“From what I heard, yes.” She sighed. “We’re still going to discuss the final details and the documents written by Noh PD before his death. I have to say, I’m still scared on how prepared the guy is.”

“I am too, no worries.” The secretary closed her phone. “So about the new PD… You guys know each other?”

“Where did you even hear that?”

“Eugene told me.”

Eugene, of course, she thought to herself. Sometimes, she wondered what else did he blabber to Sabine while she wasn’t in the room. 

“Where is he anyways?”

“Returning the clothes and jewelry you wore last night.” Sabine replied, raising her eyebrow at her. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you two know each other?”

It was a given that Ji Hyun wasn’t really open on speaking up on the ugly parts of her past, so all she responded with was a nod. “Like how long?”

“Years. I’m not even sure if we’re still friends at this point.”

Friends. The word leaves a sour taste in . She’s not even sure if they’d call each other as friends. Civil acquaintances would be a close description, but it doesn’t exactly describe the entire situation they have at the moment, and that makes her grit her teeth harder. 

“Interesting…” Sabine trailed off. “I heard he’s a really great director. He won the Grand Prize last night, right?”  

“Yeah, the Daesang for Television.” 

“Day-seng?” Sabine tried to pronounce it.

“Day-sahng.” She corrected. “You were close though, no worries.” 

“Aw, thanks.” She smiled. “But back to the topic, you guys knew each other for years, and he’s a director close to Noh PD as well?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not going to tell what happened, aren’t you?”

Ji Hyun didn’t answer for a moment. “I don’t know if I’ll ever tell you, honestly.”

“It’s alright. I respect that.” She gives her a reassuring smile. “But still, he seems like a great director, given his repertoire. Are you glad that you’re working with him?”

She didn’t know, to be honest. She didn’t know what to feel now that she’s in this situation. She didn’t even think for a second that this would happen in such a short span of time, and she feels like she didn’t prepare herself enough for anything like this, but then again, life really comes at you fast. She shrugged at the question, not willing to sit in it for a long time. 

“I didn’t know you’d get even more vague than I thought you would be.” The woman sighed. “But hey, if you want to back out, you know you can just say the word.”

She knows that, and she does have the power to do so, but somehow, she just couldn’t. She was more determined to make her vision come to life, no matter what the circumstances were. 

“This is a professional setting,” she breathed as she closed her laptop. “We’re doing this for the sake of art and for Noh PD. We can put our personal feelings aside for a few ho