1 year later

“Nakamoto-san, do you have a moment?” I looked up from my script. I was revising my text for the next scene to film and was interrupted by my director and the head of the production team. “Of course,” I said.

“We were thinking, do you have some contacts in the music industry?” The head of the production team, Yamanaka-san, asked me.

“I do, why are you asking?”

“We wanted you to maybe make use of those contacts and find us someone to do the OST for the series. Of course only if that isn't too much with filming going on and such. We just wanted to take a new approach to choosing the singers for the OST by asking the the actual actors, who are closer to the story, than we could ever be.” Yamanaka-san finished her talk. She got really excited around the end, as if she was a child that finally got her new toy to play with. It was kind of cute, really.

“I'll think of someone to ask, but I guarantee nothing,” I said. After they were gone I focused back on my script. “Are you sure you can handle it?” my manager asked me and I only nodded, already focused on my text. Then I was called and we started filming.

About a week after being asked, I finally had an idea. Jungwoo. After meeting at the award show, we had started texting and we talked now and then, whenever our schedules allowed it. He was asking me a lot of tips regarding his acting and I kept myself informed about his career. Immediately after I had the thought, I called my manager. Looking back now, it was pretty late at night and I actually feel sorry for having him to have to put up with me and my craziness.

“What is it?” he asked me. I swear, it was the most sleepy voice I ever heard from him and that meant a lot. My manager was one of those people who are constantly sleepy.

“I think I have someone. Jungwoo. Can you check in with his manager about his schedule?” I asked. I heard my manager sigh and yawn at the same time, if that is even possible (it was a really weird sound) and say “of course”, before he hung up.

The next day I looked at my manager in expectation, when he picked me up to bring me to the set.

“Don't look at me like that. I haven't called yet, not everybody is such a vampire like you.” Vampire was his nickname for me, as I always stayed up late and kept my curtains shut all day long, whenever I had a day off. He then proceeded to tell me my schedule for the day. “You will be filming from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Then I will bring you to an interview about your latest movie. Remember, don't speak about the series. The interview will last for about an hour. Afterwards I'm binging you back to set, where you will film for another two hours. Lastly I will bring you to a tv station to film a variety show. Filming will last for about 2 to 3 hours. Any questions?”

“Do I get a break?” My manager rolled his eyes at my sarcastic tone, he was used to it, so he didn't get offended.

During the short lunch break we had, my manager called Jungwoo's. He looked a bit gloomy when he talked on the phone, so I guessed it didn't look good. That's a pity, I was looking forward to it.

“Jungwoo can't come, nor any of s. But he did recommend someone we could ask, someone with a lot of free time on his hands right now. He's from Jungwoo's company,” my manager said to me, when we were on the way to the interview.

“Who?” I asked.

“Do you remember Taeyong, that rapper you met at the award show who was with Jungwoo?”

“Barely.”

“Anyway, that's who Jungwoo recommended. According to his manager he just finished his world tour and doesn't have too much to do right now. If we move fast and reserve some of his time, before his schedule gets packed again, we might have a chance. You want me to try?” I thought about it for a moment.

“Do you have some of his songs. I want to listen to some of his music before deciding,” I said.

“Sure.” My manager passed me his phone. For the rest of the drive I listened to his songs, there were good ones and some that I absolutely loved. That boy sure had some talent. But there were also a few songs I didn't like, though those were few in number.

“What do you think?” my manager asked, when I took out my ear phones.

“He's good, I like him.”

When I finally got home that evening, it was already around 11 at night, I decided that before I go to sleep, I should watch some of Taeyong's music videos, maybe I would finally remember him, from when we met at the award show. And really when I watched, I saw an image of him before me, a young man in a black and red suit with a stunning face and a body posture that would make most people drool.

He was far more interesting than back then, now that I knew of his music and talent. I really should have checked out his music earlier.

Sometime during the next day my manager talked to the director and the head of the production team, as well as Taeyong's manager who accepted the offer rather quickly.

In the next meeting we had, Yamanaka-san said “We have, or rather Nakamoto-san has, found someone to do the OST. The Korean rapper Lee Taeyong” Everybody at the meeting sighed relieved and clapped. “But we are facing another problem,” Yamanaka-san continued, after the clapping had died down. “The production team has decided, a rap song is unfitting of the atmosphere of the series and that we need a singer to accompany the rapper.” There were a few dirty glances cast her way, when she announced this problem, most of us couldn't understand why there was a need to get a singer too, but really, Yamanaka-san had no fault in this (or so I assumed), after all, all decisions were made democratically, so I felt sorry for her.

It was relaxing to be able to sleep long once in a while. Normally I was someone who got up really early, but after all the stress that came with a world tour, even a Lee Taeyong slept in. The tour hadn't been the only stressing thing, there was also my now past relationship with Thea that had been slowly crumbling and finally led to a break up, after more than a year of dating. It had been painful, but what made it even more painful, was the fact that Thea just couldn't accept it. It made me feel guilty, which was probably her goal. And I hated myself for thinking about her in this cruel way.

There it was again, the constant buzzing of my phone and the number on the display that I recognized so easily as Thea's. After breaking up, I had deleted her contact, but she didn't delete mine. And I didn't have the heart to block her, even when she called me constantly, almost without letting me have a break. I just couldn't do it. I got so used to the constant buzzing of my phone, it didn't even bother me anymore.

I was walking around in my kitchen, making myself something to eat, while the tv played in the background. There was a Japanese channel on at the moment. I was studying Japanese at the moment and it helped both pronunciation and vocabulary to listen to or watch tv in Japanese. Though I really appreciated being able to slack off like this once in a while, I hoped there would be some kind of schedule soon, because I was someone who got bored really easily. When I turned to the tv to look what was going on right now, I saw it was an interview. With none other than Nakamoto Yuta, the actor who had given me those weird feelings at the award show a year ago. Who still gave me those weird feelings. I felt my heart starting to pound faster and my hand starting to shake slightly. I hurried to change the channel. What is wrong with me?

Just in that moment my manager entered my apartment. I quickly went back into the kitchen and continued to take care of the food.

“Good morning,” my manager greeted me with a smile.

“Morning,” I greeted back. “Do you want to eat something?” I asked her. She was pregnant at the moment, though only in second month, and I felt responsible to take care of her, whenever I could. Even if it was just food. If one believed my friends, I was a mother myself afterall.

“No thanks. I ate just now, with my husband,” she answered. Ah, yes. People with normal working schedules had a day off today, it was saturday.

“I see. Do you mind if I eat then?” I always asked to be sure, even though I knew the answer already. “Of course not! I want you to stay healthy!” My manager laughed. She had a bright, relaxing laugh that always calmed me down. My mother was the only other person who had this power on me. But my manager had been with me since I had been a trainee, so she was something very similar to my mother.

While I was eating, my manager started talking about my schedule for the next month.

“As you know, there isn't much going on at the moment. The company is actually being generous at the moment, they're not pushing me to get your schedule full,” she started to talk. “However, since I know you wouldn't want to be completely workless the next two months, I accepted a job offer for you.” Excitedly I looked up to her. “What kind of job?” I asked.

“You will do the OST to a Japanese series. It will help you improve your Japanese and since it's only one song, it's not too much right after your tour. They are giving you a lot of freedom with the song itself, they only want to set the rough theme that you have to go along with.” She looked at me with a smile. “You have to thank Jungwoo for this job by the way, he recommended you.”

“I will,” I said.

“Ah! There is one thing I forgot,” she said. I looked at her expectedly. “You won't be working alone. There will be a singer joining you, though they don't know who just yet.” That kind of took the spice out, I wasn't as excited anymore. “Oh,” I said.

“Don't be so gloomy! It will turn out just fine, trust me. My gut says so.”

About two hours after my manager left, I called Jungwoo (I took the opportunity when my phone stopped buzzing for a moment).

“Hello?” he answered the phone.

“Jungwoo, it's me, Taeyong.”

“Hyung, I didn't expect you at all! What's going on?”

“I wanted to thank you, my manager said you recommended me for that OST.”

“Ah, yes. That's no problem, really Hyung. Yuta-hyung's manager offered the job to me, but my schedule won't allow it. But then I remembered you are learning Japanese AND you just finished your tour, so I recommended you.”

“Thank you, really. I am starting to get bored, I really needed something to do.”

It was only after our call ended, that I realized Jungwoo had mentioned Yuta. This wasn't a series Yuta starred in, was it? I really hoped it wasn't, but luck was never on my side, so when I called my manager, she confirmed. In fact, Yuta even had the main role! Now I really didn't want to do the job. But there was no backing off now. Not only had my manager already accepted the job and it would be rude to pull out now, she also considered my boredom and my wish to improve my Japanese. I couldn't do this to her.

In the last year I had tried to avoid anything about Yuta, as much as possible. Which was hard when one of your friends is a giant fanboy of said person and your best friend has the opinion you don't go out with him enough and drags you off to the next cinema to watch a movie with said person in it. Only seeing Yuta on screen made my heart beat violently, what would happen if I met him accidentally? I really didn't want to imagine that.

It was time I paid my best friend a visit. Guarded by a face mask, sunglasses and a cap, I made my way to Johnny's place.

“Johnny, it's me, Taeyong. Let me in,” said into the intercom after I had rung the bell. The door buzzed and I entered the large apartment building.

“Come in,” Johnny said as I reached his apartment. I entered, took off my shoes and sat down on his couch afterwards.

“What's going on?” he asked as he sat down in fron of me.

“I got offered a job in Japan.” That was all I said.

“I see. And?”

“What do you mean 'And'?” Johnny rolled his eyes at me.

“You wouldn't come here to tell me, if it was just that. There has to be something else to it, or you would have stuck with calling.”

“It's not like I can call often, with my phone buzzing all the time.” In fact, my phone was buzzing at the moment too. Not that he was wrong, but still the cheeky answer left my mouth.

He looked at me with a mix of pity and annoyment. “You know what I mean.”

I sighed. “Yes I do,” I admitted.

“So what's going on?” he asked again.

“Like I said, I got offered a job in Japan. But I don't wanna go.”

“Then don't,” he said bluntly.

“It's not that easy. My manager accepted the job already, she's just trying to help me... and it's not the job itself that bothers me.”

“Then what is it?” Johnny looked at me with that face that said 'just get to the point'.

“It's an OST for a series with Nakamoto Yuta in it.” Johnny gave me a confused look. I hadn't told him of my Yuta-problem yet.

“I met him at the award show a year a go, the one Jungwoo took me along to,” I started explaining. Johnny looked at me with a serious face.

“As you know, I was still dating Thea at the time. But even though I was in a relationship, when I saw him, I felt drawn to him. Not in the way you fell when you see someone you have a little crush on, but to me it was something I should feel when I was with Thea. Not when I look at someone I had just met. Do you get what I mean?” Johnny, still with a serious look on his face, shook his head.

“My heart was beating really fast, not the way when you're exhausted, but the way when you're in love! Like really in love! It felt so wrong! And it hasn't stopped. I just have to see him on the screen or hear his voice to feel that weird feeling all over again!” I felt close to crying. Now Johnny had an understanding look on his face.

“So, what you're saying is, you have feelings for someone you don't know at all and only met once in your life?” he asked.

“NO! How can I be in love with someone I don't know?” Johnny shrugged. “I didn't say you're in love. You just have some weird feelings, right? Maybe your body is trying to tell you something... Like that he is just a possible match.”

“But I was already in a relationship. To say it your way, I already had a match!” I was really frustrated.

“Yeah, but you broke up shortly after. It's not rare that our body knows things before our mind does. Or do you think, you broke up because you met Yuta and your body thinks Yuta is a better match?”

“Could you please stop going on about my body? It's really irritating!” Johnny smiled. “I'm just trying to find an explanation.”

I sighed. “I know, sorry... It's just so frustrating.” I laid my head into my hands. Johnny rubbed soothing circles on my back, something he had done ever since I knew him, to calm me down.

But Johnny's assumptions made me think. Of course, I left out all the body points, they really irritated me. But was it possible? Did my relationship with Thea fail, because I met Yuta?

Could one meeting have such an impact?

My manager left out a long sigh. It startled both me and the rest of the crew.

We were reviewing our shots together with the director, when all our managers came back from a meeting with the production team.

“What's going on?” I asked on behalf of everybody. The exact same question was written all over their faces.

“They can't find a singer to accompany Taeyong,” my manager said. The director looked up from the screen and had a thoughtful look on his face for a moment.

“Why don't we just take Nakamoto-kun? It will make the series look even better...” he then said after a long pause.

I gaped at him. “Me?! I'm an actor, not a singer!” To say I was shocked was an understatement.

“But you can sing, I heard you backstage loads of times,” the director said with an almost dreamy look on his face. “You have a really lovely voice.”

“I heard him too,” Himura Miako-san (I usually called her Mi-chan), my co-actress and best friend chimed in. “You really are a good singer, Yuta-kun.” I did not appreciate that compliment, not at all.

“I love that idea! I'm going to talk to the production team immediately!” my manager yelled. Traitor.

“Come on, Yuta-kun. You're amazing at singing, I love your voice,” Mi-chan tried to reassure me.

“You don't count, Mi-chan. You're my best friend, you're biased.” She sighed. “Because I'm your best friend, I count twice as much. If you couldn't sing, I would tell you, trust me. You really have a beautiful voice.” Now it was my turn to sigh. “If I have to...” I had been defeated.

“You have to.”