CHAPTER TWO

Friday Night

Time seems to skip over from Tuesday to Friday a bit too quick in his opinion. The leftover energy he has to continue off is slowly deteriorating yet it is, fortunately, the last class for the day. As it happened to be the infamous Advance Acting class, Minghao opts to stay back whilst catching his breath and watches the students heading out of the hot studio. He bids goodbyes to the ones he knows with a small smile before he catches the sight of a sweating Lee Seokmin, an obviously Theatre student by look who takes the Acting department as a major.

“You’re not leaving?” The boy asked and plots himself on the empty side of the floor. To be exact, on Minghao’s right side as the left is where he placed his sling bag. A water bottle is clutched tight and just by an instant glance one can see it is almost empty. And they say the Acting students had things easy. Common words heard often from the Dance students’ mouths which often replied with an extended sigh.

“I feel like staying for a while to work on the next assignment. I will not do it once I’m at home. There’ll be too many distractions.” The Film major voiced and only then he notices the lack of liquid in his bottle. “What about you? Same thought?”

“Yeah.” Seokmin shortly replied. “Also, I need to meet up with Mr Nam anyway. I land an acting gig for the extra credit already. How about you?”

“Lucky kid. I’m still searching, obviously. It’s my first time to act in actual play, you know.”

“Ah, of course. I forget about that often. I really need to remember you’re not a legitimate Acting student. You’re better than some of the real Acting student in the class.” The friend complimented naturally. Hiding a smile upon hearing it, the other boy takes out his phone. A sigh comes out when he recalls writing assignment for his major subject.

“I still need someone to watch that movie though.”

Minghao mumbles as he exits the performing arts building, failing to find the right person to drag along. Sure, there is always an option to go alone but he is not a fan of watching alone. He wants someone to be there when he steps out of the cinema to discuss and get the other’s insight on the same movie they just viewed. It usually helps him to write better since there might be things he missed if he is to see it by himself.

His mind drifts to see the familiar faces of his classmates in the back of his mind. He already asked a couple of them, boys and girls, alike. He does not mind the gender, evidently. All of them makes good movie partner yet none of them appeared to be interested in Minghao’s film choice. Unlike the other Cinematography students in the class, he prefers taking commercial films to write out the review instead of going heads on with art films. It is too easy to talk about when all the elements are clear. It is an opinion goes unnoticed.

He has another option too. He had always been trying to ask his classmates but he never tried the ones who took it as an elective subject. Well, he asked Mingyu already but the fellow has another plan during the same night. At this rate, seeking for students within the same circle as his friend is out of the list. The Theatre students are known to be busy all the time anyway so why should he bother asking them anyway.

“Where are you going?” A female’s voice passed by the male’s consciousness as he is busying himself packing away his notebook, coloured pens, and a water bottle. He just stepped out of the shower after a sweaty Contemporary Movement class and there he is preoccupied to leave the small shared apartment again for the day. Based on the items he chucks into his bag-pack, he is going to a meeting which is unknown to his own housemate.

People often mistook them to be cousins, a pair of twin even as they share almost the same set of names but they are none of those. They just happened to live under one roof with a gradually built up relationship. At this point, they might actually pass as siblings since they have bonded a lot to reach such a high level of trust. Being caring towards each other is the nature aside from trust so that explains the question.

“I’m heading to the RQS studio. I got a text from Jun saying that I’m recruited for their play. They probably want me to do more lighting design for the next theatre performance or something. Are you not invited? You were the Technical Director the last time we put up a show.”

“I don’t get any text from them for a while now. Maybe they don’t need me anymore.” She replied casually but the lad detects sadness among the little emotions laced in her words. After all, he is Kwon Soonyoung. He knows people more than he needs and sometimes a bit too much too.

“Oh,” That was all he able to utter before looking away from her face. Guilt comes to his sense and it is not even his fault to feel such way. “I’ll try to get you a job in the production if you want.” He offered kindly.

“It’s alright, Soonyoung. I’m busy trying to figure out what to do for my own project too and a mini-thesis to accompany that. You understand that, right?” Of course, Soonyoung whispered his answer since technically speaking, he is in the same trouble as his fellow female friend. He just hopes the task he gets a task related with his on-going thesis and he can get a green light from their professor to cut his written thesis into half if he manages to come out with a project. But that is all just a mere dream. He is a Dance major for goodness sake so there is no way he will get the position he needs in the play other than working behind the scene.

Once Soonyoung is out of the apartment, the girl takes the remaining time to get dressed as well. She has been planning to leave the house for the night. It is getting stuffy to stay indoors the whole day as she does not have a class on Friday. At times like this, it is noticeable and understandable to keen eyes that she wants something to fill in the gaps. So what better way to combat the emptiness other than going for a long walk around the town when the light is out, right?

There are quite a number of night activities she can pick from aside from mindlessly walking in the park. Glancing up, she wishes she can find a spot to admire the seemingly non-existent stars painting on the sky. The city artificial lights do not make way for nature to shine which is the reason why she misses her village so much. Sadly, there is no one waiting for her there.

She is in the midst of high buildings with LCD billboards showing random ads occupying spaces on them. Her eyes fix on a movie trailer of an action fantasy film, very popular lately and she is sure that her acquaintances must have watched it by now. She too had the chance to see the story on her own and it will be a lie to say it is not interesting at all. All she wants from it is the sequel to come out as soon as possible.

Walking pass the movie theatre, her head turns to view the bustling street, missing the chance to catch a glimpse of a lanky figure heading out of the cinema with his eyes preoccupied with the gadget in his hand.

He is very much sure that there are things he breezed by. Important scenes that help with his written task and the more he looks at the note he took down a minute ago, he knows he has to watch the movie again or simply interrogate his friends to get the needed facts. He takes his gaze off the phone and looks straight without any idea set ahead of time.

It is relatively early to be home, Minghao ponders. He will just sleep it off since he is feeling lethargic from the short practice he managed to squeeze in. Thanks to Seokmin, he was able to make sure that the task given by the lecturer up to par. He definitely does not want his minor subject to drag down his pointer.

He lets his mind work on its own. He lets his feet drag him to wherever it wants to go for the night. He is not in a rush. He can go through the rows of assignments later because he rather not tires his brain with something simple. Maybe the model student side of him talking or he finds the first few tasks a bit laidback since the due date is a month time at most.

A playground. Why is he even there? Again, that is what happens if you do not put your mind to correspond to your action. At least there is no harm done as he remembered passing by the recognisable RQS Studio a block away. He never had his legs go beyond the closed wooden door. There is a rectangular plastic perspect window but all he could see was darkness. The studio set aside, the male takes his time to get a good look of the vacant playground.

Spring beginnings are always a beauty. Flowers are blooming and the green grasses are finally visible after a season of being hidden by patches of white snow. The chilly weather is still there however it is not as freezing. The stillness out the night makes him realises that he is quite far from the main street. He can still hear roaming cars and bikes but all of them sound distant. At times like this, he wishes that he has his camera in hand but hey, he has his phone so that is fine, he guesses.

The park lamps dimly light the area where the vacant swings being pushed by the wind while the slides collect dust gliding through the air. He can tell children like to be there during the day as a lot of the play equipment worn out on a few of them and yellow paint slowly peeled off as the weather changes. Continuing his venture, he snaps a couple of pictures at random. It suddenly reminds him of one of his previous assignments where he needed to capture still photos of the surrounding.

As soon as his legs enter the meeting room, the limited space for any movement comes into play since he needs to squeeze his body to make his way to an empty chair by the recognisable Chinese friend. It is not surprising to see the fellow to sit by the writer yet even with the single space separating them, he senses the tension shared between the two theatre directors. There is also another feeling tingling in his stomach and it is anything but comfortable. He is trying to be professional after all.

“I guess I’m quite early,” Soonyoung whispered, hoping it only passes his ears but again, he should remember the space he is in. “True, you’re early for once just as we wanted. Isn’t that right, Sungjae?” Junhui turns the attention from them over across the table where the Production Manager, Yook Sungjae has been sitting for the past half an hour.

“Yeah, Seungcheol thought it might be a good idea to get you early. How capable are you to be the play’s art director, Soonyoung?” The mentioned boy eyes widen at the question and that is, in fact, his genuine shock expression. He is not expecting for the position at all and his friends who are selected to be in the production should know that as well. Apparently, they do not know him well after all.

“Sorry, I’m a Dance major. I will be happier if you take me in as a choreographer or something. Aside from that, I’ll only take any technical jobs you guys have to offer.”

“Ah, my mistake.” Soonyoung’s gaze switches fast and finds his consciousness looking at the Assistant Director within a heartbeat. He stated those words oh-so-softly as if he does not want him to hear them in the first place. Maybe he intentionally does. He can feel the tension is being transferred to him and the latter instantaneously.

“I guess we need to look out another. Do you have any idea, Soonyoung? You know people.” The Director finally voiced and in the middle of the exchange, more and more crew selected piling into the room. One of them even maintains eye contact with the playwright as if he wants answers as to why it feels so cramped in the room and the other merely shrugs.

“Have you ever tried asking an actual Scenography student?” The fellow starts the seemingly serious discussion with an obvious question. “Well, we have Mingyu for the Costume Department and Taehyung for the Set and Props Department. Jiyeon, you’re a Production Theatre major, right?” Seungcheol asked one out of two female crews in the meeting. The girl, Kim Jiyeon who was called for her magical hands in make-up bobs her head as she is not seeing where the discussion is going. At least her boyfriend is here being thrown to build sets.

“Do you know any other Scenography students then?”

‘Do I know any Scenography students? I don’t know a lot but I know one. But he’s here.’ Soonyoung talked in his mind, eyes glancing from one face to another before stopping at Seungcheol since going beyond that will only snap his neck and he does not want to see his face during this time. Letting a sigh, already regretting at his next move, he mutters, “Sorry. I did promise you to get a job here.”

“Who?” Junhui questioned him since most of the people in the room happen to wait for the Dance major to speak. Let’s face it, without an Artistic Director, it will be difficult to get a head start. Once Soonyoung stops apologizing to the person who is not even in the room, he slowly nods.

“Kwon Shinyoung.”

 MEET THE CREW