“Excuse me, but I’m applying for the job of a secretary, not your slave.”

“You have some guts. Is that how you talk to your possible future employer?”

“Of course not… unless they’re being self-absorbed jerks who talk like they’re… they’re…”

“CUT! Jisoo, your line...”

“Sorry! Sorry…” Jisoo apologized repeatedly while bowing in all directions for forgetting her lines again. That was maybe the 3rd time for this scene, and Jisoo was starting to get frustrated that she couldn’t get it right, given that this was already their fourth day of filming.

“Let’s take a short break and resume in 15 minutes,” Director Kang said in a big, commanding voice. Everyone dispersed for a coffee break, while Jisoo stayed in the middle of the set and hung her head. The director walked over to her and pat her head, his voice now soft and understanding, “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Take a deep breath and be ready when we resume, okay?” Jisoo nodded, still unable to look the director directly. Other cast members also came by to cheer her up and encourage her, and while she nodded and smiled at them, Jisoo could feel her confidence waning bit by bit.

After they had all left to take their breaks, Jisoo sat down on one of the chairs near the set and opened the script to try and memorize her lines instead of wallowing in her mistakes. She was memorizing her lines with her eyes closed, trying to immerse herself into the role. When she reopened her eyes, Jinyoung was sitting next to her looking straight ahead, and in between them there was a carton of Chuckie, her favorite chocolate drink. Jinyoung knew it was her favorite– it has been even during their Inkigayo days. She found it sweet that he remembers the small things like that even after so long. She took it with a smile and bumped Jinyoung lightly with her shoulder, “Thank you.”

He flashed her a small smile, then without a cue, started saying his lines to try and get Jisoo to run her lines with him in order help her practice. She just went along with him, her smile returning to her face bit by bit once she got through line after line without mistakes– finally. Hopefully her mastery of her lines and confidence carry over the actual shoot.

“You got it.”

“Thanks to you, the best co-star ever,” she grinned up at him sweetly, and he just shook his head at her outlandishness. Jisoo stuck her tongue out at him.

“How are you adjusting? Are you doing alright?”

“Yeah! Of course. I'm Kim Jisoo,” Jisoo said in between sips of her Chuckie. She smiled, but the smile didn't last long on her lips. That wasn’t really a lie, though. She was alright… other than the fact that she doesn’t get to rehearse her lines the night before because comeback rehearsals end at dawn and she has to be at the drama filming site by early morning and as a result she keeps messing up her lines and delaying the shoot.

But she was alright.

“You don’t look too convinced.”

Jisoo shrugged just focused on her drink and not at Jinyoung’s gaze, not admitting or denying anything. Jinyoung was very astute, and sometimes it was both a blessing and a curse that he was so observant.

He continued in response to Jisoo’s non-answer, “You know you can call me if you want to run lines after your rehearsals.”

Jisoo turned to him incredulously and shook her head. “Absolutely not. Rehearsals end at dawn these days given that Blackpink’s music video shoot is just a few days away.”

“We’re co-stars– we help each other out. It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me. You need to sleep as much as you can, too. Your insomnia…”

Jinyoung looked at Jisoo with his eyes wide, probably forgetting that he had shared that little fact to her before when they were co-workers. Again she avoided his gaze.

“Anyway,” Jisoo retracted her words, knowing it wasn’t something Jinyoung talked about often, “No.”

“I’ll call you then,” he shrugged and stood up nonchalantly, preparing to return to the set.

“Jinyoung, you really don’t have to.”

“I know,” he said as he kept walking, and watching his back as he walked away, Jisoo knew that there was no convincing him otherwise.

“Why do you keep doing this?”

Jisoo asked over the line after they finished another one of their late night over-the-phone script rehearsals, something that has been going on since Jinyoung noticed that the girl barely has time to practice her lines with anyone given her schedule. It’s been about 3 weeks since they had began filming. When they finished running lines over the phone, their conversations would usually be unpredictable– anything from new memes and trending videos to worries, fears, dreams, new books, old books. But somehow Jisoo always found a way to