Song: Red Ties (연 가사)

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        At age eight, Irene stood rigid by the swing, dripping saltwater on brunette hair ends, sand carousing between rift of her toes as she held the broken spectacles with her tiny hand watching him cry attentively.

“She pushed him!”

The teacher exclaimed in anxiety as she held up the choking victim, sweeping his matted hair and dusting his pants. She was a ball of worrywart. It was as though Irene committed a heinous crime when his sobbings became louder, almost unbearable. Everyone looked at her with eyes of disbelief, eyes she’ll never be able to forget even if she tried.

“Irene! Did you do this?”

She panicked inwardly. How did things become like this? One moment they were children laughing and the next was an onslaught of falling and wailing.  There was no room for explanation. Unfavourably, circumstances pointed to her before she even got to speak.

“We were just playing.” Irene sniffled. Her nose was blocked. She glanced every now and then to her teacher and then to her own classmate. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

“Playing doesn’t mean injuring your friends!”

“We were just playing.” Irene repeated in between sniffles, hoping, and wanting just for someone to trust her.

“Liar!”

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        “Irene? Irene.”

8 AM in late autumn, the first raindrops fell in light drizzle over at Irene’s courtyard. The potted plants have glistening dew on its greens and windows of her house were misty with morning fog. There were no birds chirping, no cars driving that morning. Only the sound of voices, particularly one she became fully aware of now.

Irene snapped out from her hazy dream to find Joy peering into her face weirdly.

“Joy?” She asked, blatantly startled.

“Yeah, we’re supposed to meet?” Joy reminded while suppressing a yawn, “Jesus, why are you even sitting out here in the rain?” Now she was concerned instead of surprised. As Joy finished her sentenced, she hovered the umbrella over her friend’s head.

“I was waiting for you.”

Aroma of coffee and golden butter toasts wafted as they maneuvered around Irene’s clean living room. It’s what they needed exactly to prep for a long day. She could still hear the dull sounds of pitter-patters bouncing off her rooftop but at least the clouds were clearing up. Irene had always loved the sound of raindrops— for some reason, it was healing for her. 

At the very least, rain wasn’t as dreadful as the sea. 

She was one to love the fresh smell of damp soil. It symbolised a sign of life and growth. Maybe it was because she owned a garden and enjoyed seeing her own creations bloom in full blossom. Or maybe the rain created chances for her to see something she couldn’t often, about not lasting. Still, the evanescence of a rainbow does not detract a whit from its fleeting magic.

Breakfast was over in a jift and they changed into their practice suits. The two women fell into concrete concentration. 

Individual practices before filming were always encouraged. That way, they could get into the groove before the actual filming and help each other improve. 

The older appreciated Joy coming over to help her out. As the date drew near, perhaps Joy knew how distressed her friend was in taking such a big role for the first time. Irene wasn’t one to speak of her insecurities for she was always a perfectionist, but she was only human in the end. Making sure to deliver only excellency was a good virtue, but sometimes it was an unhealthy obsession and Joy can only pray that Irene wouldn’t take it too far with this one..

Starting with a stretch, Irene sent a high kick onto her opponent to which Joy grabbed ahold onto her leg and managed to keep it in a deadlock. She squirmed slighty but easily overturned her ankle until Irene crashed onto the ground. 

“Take that!” Joy threatened, getting into solid rhythm. 

Irene then swung her arm around and managed to strike a blow into Joy’s abdomen, causing the woman to stagger dizzily. Joy was usually good at dodging, but what she lacked was balance. Wasting no time, Irene was about to fling Joy over her shoulder but she was thrown off-guard instead when her partner pitted her entire weight in a tumble. Just as Irene was about to guard her back, Joy twisted her right arm before throwing her down at full force.

“We good?” Joy clocked in to see how Irene was doing.

“Yeah, I think this should be good enough for the first scene. At least for now.” She muttered in ragged breaths, though feeling much more at ease.

 

        Gangnam mansions were indeed out of this world, nothing like Irene had ever seen before. Spectacular and huge was an understatement. Exactly like the ones straight out from catalogues. 

There were three aspects to why Irene doted on her job. 

She loved doing martial arts of stuntworks. The pay was decent. And the last one was a bonus— she got to tour around everywhere. 

Irene wondered the full-scale of Andromeda seeing as to how they could invest in such a grand piece of land like this. This would definitely the hit of the year and expect all the broadcast to rave on its premiere. It was no wonder when they decided casted Sehun and Seulgi, some of the hottest A-lister stars today. She was sure there were other popular actors to be added to the line-up, but Baekhyun didn’t divulge on that. She didn’t probe anyway,  for she will meet them for herself later on.

To recce the venues were what stunt people were always required to do prior to filming. This gave them a sense of comfort as most of the time they could estimate the conditions and accessibility of where they’ll be doing their moves. The actors and actresses had really tight schedule and sometimes even overseas ones so most of the time, they would only turn up on the day of filming itself.

Joy had already got her hands on the environment when she was invited to their script reading session recently and assured Irene that the casts are fairly nice people. Not that Irene was curious or anything, but it did gave her some sense of assurance.

“Woah.” Joy gasped the minute she stepped out of their van and Irene instantly nodded, “This is crazy.” 

It really was.

The director was the first to be and he came to greet both of them including Baekhyun. He was introduced as Director Hyun, and no stranger to the entertainment business. Snatching the Grand Bell Award just into the quarter his rookie year, Director Hyun quickly earned the respect of his seniors as well as juniors. Many filmmakers looked up to him, many aspire to be him, and the public always held mad expectations for his works. 

They call him a legend.

As he shook hands with the stunt coordinator, he went on to explain the scenes in intricate details, showing them what would take place in each part of the mansion. Blueprint unrolled over the countertop and it was really lengthy. Instructions were crisp clear and the stunt crew made sure to enquire about anything they were unsure of.

Apart from that, film scenes would transcend between a police office as well as a prestigious hospital nearby it. Irene simply fear to imagine the ballistic expenditure of the entire series, it would probably shock her wordless. Nevertheless, with that drilled in mind, she took everything like a pinch of salt and hoped to not disappoint.

        Books sprawled all over the floor, pens strewn atop the carpet and Joy hurdled around a laptop. Irene sighed looking at the mess— she was really particular about hygiene. 

“Enough already with those background checks.” 

Joy swivelled her head so fast that her bone cracked. “It is important to know the type of people I— we are working with.”

Irene breathed in, “Doesn’t change anything to be honest. We’ll still be doing our jobs, then we’ll leave quietly. As usual.”

“Yeah, she’s right. You’re acting like you’re choosing a prospective husband.” Next to her, Wendy chugged the chips down .

Joy held her hands up in defeat. “Wow, you guys .”

Feeling sorry, Wendy then snuggled beside Joy and the two continued to bore holes into the laptop screen.

“As expected of Kang Seulgi.” Wendy teetered as she scrolled down the sea of high-resolution images, “She is a goddess. Holy , is that a rolex on her wrist?”

“She seems really nice. I’ve found articles of her doing philanthropy work and she often donates to her al mater school.”

“No way,” Wendy chirped lightly, full of admiration, “looks, bag and heart of gold? I didn’t think that was possible in this lifetime.”

“Irene, why don’t you come join us?”

“I will pass.” Irene declined monotonously, “I need to look through the script again, see if I missed out anything crucial.”

“She really doesn't know how to take a break.” Joy rolled her eyes as she resumed her detective work.

“So what do you have on Sehun— gosh, look at this!” Wendy clicked on one of the video which happened to be short clip from his recent drama. Joy and Wendy almost forgot about taking in oxygen as they watched Sehun tilt his face and inch towards the lady in the video, almost ready to kiss but it turned out that he just wanted to rub a speck of dust on her nose. Both women groaned in annoyance.