When she finally got her coughing in control and was able to breathe normally again, she stood up and with her face blazingly red proceeded to apologize to the people in the room.

“I’m sorry for the ruckus.” her voice was still croaky from all that coughing that she did today. Joong Ki frowned, he couldn’t help but feel guilty for startling her again. He decided that he was going to apologize to her later.

Amber could hear them placating her that it wasn’t really something that she could control so there wasn’t really anything to ask for forgiveness for. 

All throughout the ruckus, the Director just observed and calmly watched. It wasn’t like he did not panic when Amber suddenly choked on the water that she was drinking, he did ask one of the staff to call the clinic in the building. But being someone who prizes his observation skills (that and the fact that he was sitting at the head of the table just a seat from them) the only reason why Amber choked on her water was because of Song Joong Ki – if the slight widening of her eyes was a sign. Hmm, he could work with this. 

When his wife told him that she wanted to work with Amber Liu, he was skeptical. After all, she was a girl group member. And while it wasn’t really out of the norm anymore to cast female idols… he did not know how will she fit with any of the roles he could think of. Her boyish looks just doesn’t give him the sparks he needed to fuel his creativity and imagination that he needs whenever he starts a project. But when he saw the draft of the story that his wife wrote… he could see why the role was tailor made for the idol.

If he still had doubts when he started the preparations for this drama… let’s just say that it had disappeared with this little scene. He smiled. And from the corner of his eye he could see the smirk that his wife was now currently sporting, her face was just the epitome of smugness. He did not even know how she came up with this pairing but he was glad. This might be his best project up to date. 

Because he knew it was up to him to diffuse the situation, he coughed to catch the attention of the occupants of the room, including a very red Amber. “It’s not your fault Amber-ssi there is nothing to apologize about.”

Amber lifted her head and sheepishly said “Thank you Director-nim.”

Noticing that her voice was still a bit hoarse the Director suggested that a doctor needs to see her. But because Amber did not want to furthermore delay the script reading she declined.

“There’s no need for that. I’m perfectly fine.” she wasn’t, that was for sure. Because her voice was still a bit rough.

“Amber-ssi, you really need to get your throat checked. This wasn’t the first time today that you hurt it after all. You’re a singer, you need to take care of your voice more.” Joong Ki told her in an even tone, it was said in a matter of fact way that no one would sense anything amiss. 

And while the others were curious about the fact that the actor knew Amber hurt earlier today, they didn’t give it much thought because for all they knew Joong Ki might’ve just heared it somewhere. But their co-actors (some of them), Director and Writer were a different story, observing people is part of their job description. It was a necessary skill that they learned to bring characters to life. They could sense that while Joong Ki was just scolding as a sunbae the others could sense that there was more to it. It was like he was actually worried? More than a stranger would, they supposed. 

Amber’s mouth just opened and closed in speechlessness, but then just opted to nod in acquiesce and sat back on her seat.

As if on cue, a Doctor from the clinic inside the building arrived.

The Director stood up to meet the Doctor near the door and started talking to him. He saw the Director gesture to Amber who was the patient. As if on cue the Director’s wife, the Writer, went to Amber and asked her to go with her. Without even prompting, Joong Ki stood up and hurriedly whispered to his manager that he was going to follow them. His manager barely managed to nod before his charge almost but not quite ran to the door.

Amber and the Writer had just reached outside room when they saw Joong Ki running after them. Amber gave him a confused look but Joong Ki just smiled in answer. The Writer did nothing but just glance at him and just let him follow them, Joong Ki was sure that he didn’t just imagine the glint that he saw in her eyes. He did not even know what it might even mean.

They followed a staff that showed them to a room near theirs that might be another meeting room albeit a bit smaller. 

When they had entered the room the staff member had left and all that was left were the Doctor, Director, Writer, Amber and Joong Ki. Amber was asked to sit in one of the chairs in the room while the others opted to stand near her. The Doctor did his job at checking Amber’s throat then came with a diagnosis.

“There won’t be no lasting problem with as far as I could see.” they all breathed a sigh of relief at that. But the Medical Practitioner was not finished.

“But it seemed that she did strain it a bit, so she might need to rest it for about one to two weeks. Don’t use your voice if you could avoid using it okay?”

Amber was just shocked at what the doctor had said. While she was happy that there was no serious problem with , she can’t really rest right now. They had a script reading to do and whether she had liked it or not, she was the lead actress!

As if noticing her dilemma, the Writer just squeezed her shoulder in reassurance. “Don’t worry, we can reschedule your script reading. We’ll continue our script reading just without the female lead. You can stay and watch it if you’d like.” 

Amber deflated, she could not believe that she had already caused a problem for the staff and her co-workers when the drama hasn’t even officially started.

The doctor had wrote a prescription for her with for lozenges and mouth spray. He even advised to gargle with warm water with salt every morning and night. With that the doctor reassured her that will be fine and she just needed to rest it. They all bowed and said their thanks to the Doctor, who just smiled and waved goodbye.

The Director informed the three of them that he had already called his assistant, who the Director left in charge to facilitate the room when they left,  to tell him that the check up was finished and that they are going back already. They began their trek back to the meeting room with Amber just feeling even more guiltier with the inconvenience that she was causing.

So lost in her negative thoughts she did not hear everything of what the Director had said. She would’ve careened even further down into depression if not for the sketch book that was suddenly into her face.

She looked at the owner of the hand and saw Joong Ki giving her a reassuring smile.

“I asked Seul Gi-ssi to change seats with me.” Amber looked at the seat where this man was supposed to sit in and sure enough Seul Gi was sitting there listening to the Director. As if she felt her stare, Seul Gi turned to her and mouthed at her:

“Are you okay?”

Amber just nodded with a smile. Satisfied with the answer that she was given, Seul Gi turned her attention back to the Director.

Joong Ki had placed the sketch pad on the table and whispered to Amber. “You can use this to write what you want to say. You need to rest your voice.”

Amber nodded in agreement, and that was when she noticed that he was also holding a marker which he put on top of the pad. She used the pad and the marker to ask him:

“Thank you. But where did you get this?”

Joong Ki just laughed sheepishly and told her, “I had Tae Jun go and ask a staff to get one in their inventory of supplies.”

“Uhm, can you even do that?”

Joong Ki just shrugged and let out an embarrassed laugh. “I honestly don’t know.” 

A little bit overwhelmed at how thoughtful her co-star was, she turned back her attention with what the Director was saying. When she caught the end of what the Director was saying, it seemed that he just retold what the Doctor had told them and the change of schedule that they told her already.

“So, with that out of the way. Amber won’t be able to do the script reading with us today so we rescheduled one with just Joong Ki and her.”

Amber thought it was her cue to apologize again so she did.

“I’m sorry again for the inconvenience.” she stood up and held up her sketch pad so they could see what she wrote, before she bowed low enough that her forehead could almost touch the table.

The Director cleared his throat, “Amber-ssi, please lift your head. While what happened did mess up our schedule, it wasn’t your fault. It’s an accident so you shouldn’t be guilty.”

Doing what she was asked to do, Amber lifted her head and was met with understanding looks from the staff and her co-stars.

“As I was saying, were going to have a bit of a tight schedule. If possible I’d like to get everything out of the way, the costume fittings, the location, the music. If possible, because we won’t be able to have a photoshoot until after two weeks. I’d like to shoot some of the scenes that we can…” he paused when he saw Amber squirming in her seat and looked like she wanted to say something.

“Amber, I know you feel guilty but please look after yourself. We’re going to shoot the photoshoot after two weeks and that’s final. In exchange I expect you to be at your best then.” the Director looked at Amber with an unwavering gaze to convey his seriousness.

Amber straightened in her seat and nodded.

“So as I was saying. Things will get a bit hectic but if we look at it differently this is in our advantage. If you all remember, this is a secret project that KBS had wanted Writer Kim Min Hee-ssi to write for. So no posting in social media or telling anyone who’s not included in the project about this. At least not until we premiere the first episode.

“In actuality. Unlike other dramas where they show the teasers a month or two before the premiere of the drama… we decided to show them three days before the first episode. Not only that we decided on a close studio shooting as much as possible as to decrease the chances of leaks. It’s going to be hard but I believe that we can do it.”

There was a lingering silence that surrounded the room. They had an inkling that this drama specifically was going to be something that KBS specially requested to the award winning writer. Who wouldn’t think that when there wasn’t an audition for this drama. The cast was hand picked by the writer and the director. That and the fact that even before they were given the synopsis and details of the drama they had to sign NDA’s to ensure the project remains in need-to-know. 

Looking at the individuals in the room it seemed that they understood the severity of how confidential they want this project to stay as. The  director cleared his throat and announced:

“With that out of the way, we can now start the script reading.”

The script reading finished without delay and Amber was even more unsure of how was she going to match her co-actors. They were in a level where her current (non-existent) acting skills couldn’t possibly match. 

She quietly groaned.

Because Joong Ki was hyper aware of what Amber was doing he was able to hear the sound that she made.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Amber nodded, she was mortified, she couldn’t believe that he even heard that. Augh!

The director was standing up and was giving last minute instructions for every one.

“Please remember not to say a thing about this project. We’re going to send another contract and NDA’s for you to sign to your agencies. The final schedule will be sent to you when we have ironed more things out. Thank you everyone for your cooperation. The actors can now go, my staff and I still need to finalize things.” the director then bowed his head.

They took this as a cue to stand up and do the same. Because they were the ones nearest to the director they made their way to him to shake his hand and give their thanks before leaving the room.

“Director-nim, thank you for your hard work.” Amber bowed at the Director after showing what she wrote.

“Director-nim, I look forward to working with you.”  Joong Ki said before he shook the Director’s hand.

“Yes, I also look forward to it Joong Ki-ssi. And Amber-ssi please take care of your throat, we will contact your agency for the details of the script reading that you and Joong Ki will have.”

They then turned to the Writer who just smiled and said “Yes, I also look forward to working with you two and I think you two should get going, Amber-ssi will need to rest. We’ll talk more on your own script reading.” the Writer told them cheerily. And Amber could somehow feel a chill run on her back at the statement. But nonetheless the two smiled and bowed before leaving.

As most of the actors went to the Director’s and Writer to greet and pay respect, they inevitably will pass Amber and Joong Ki on the way out of the room.

So the pair just resorted to bowing at their co-actors, thankful that they were so understanding of the situation. Amber bowed as low as she could when they reached the door. She didn’t even notice that the people in the room stopped what they were doing and saying just to stare at her, amazed at her humility. Somehow that sight appeased the doubts that they had of her being the lead actress of the drama. They could not explain why but there was something about Amber that just speaks to them that she will do whatever that was required for the success of the drama.

Amber breathed a sigh of relief when they got out of the meeting room. To say that she was out of her element in that script reading was an understatement. She even felt more out of depth now than ever before.

Her mind running in circles on how she should go about on preparing for this project, and after coming up with a rather long list of things she should do, Amber unconsciously bit the nail on her thumb as she was ought to do whenever she was lost in thought and was thinking about various things.

“-ber? Amber? Amber?”

Amber jumped in surprise and looked at Joong Ki who seemed like he was calling her name for some time already.

“Yes?” she fumblingly wrote on the sketch pad.

“Do you have a ride home?” 

“Uhm, no, I’ll just take the taxi to my agency.”

“Why don’t you just come with us and we’ll drop you at your agency. Is it the one in Cheongdamdong? Or the old one?”

“The one in Cheongdamdong, but you don’t really have to Joong Ki-ssi it’s quite close so it’s not really hard to commute there.”

Joong Ki just smiled and said, “Just like you just said, it’s close so it’s not really a hassle to drop you there, besides this is my only schedule for today so I have time to spare. And also, how about you drop the -ssi, and just call me by my name or if you want to just call me Joong Ki-oppa.” He then smiled at her.

Amber felt like Joong Ki just hypnotized her with that smile and couldn’t do anything but nod at his suggestion.

“So shall we go?” he asked. And just guided her to his manager who was standing a little ways away from them and was giving them the privacy to talk.

“Hyung, we’ll go and drop Amber at her agency.” He informed his manager who just nodded in acquiesce and guided them to the cluster of elevators near them.