—March 2020—

Ji-hyun tried calling Chang-wook back the next day. He refused to answer her calls. Eventually she managed to reach Chi-gu, who advised her to leave him alone for a while.

“Your dating news…”

“I AM NOT DATING ANYONE.”

“That isn’t what it looks like…”

“Do I need to… Is he going to be jealous of every man I speak to? Is this what is going to keep us apart? Does he know how much I care about him, Chi-gu?”

“He... I don’t think he understands. He is… can you imagine it from his perspective? No, wait a minute. He knows you aren’t dating. And yes he is jealous. But he isn’t going to… it would ruin your career if you got caught in a real-life love triangle. If you were caught up in two scandals… Nothing could save you. He is doing this for your own good. Please understand that.”

“Tell him we have to meet.”

“Ji-hyun… I’m not sure.”

“Then you and I will meet.”

Chi-gu agreed, but they didn’t have a chance to meet until “Mi-rae Leaves” had wrapped.

By then Kang-joon had asked her for a chance to try dating. It was directly after the fight with Chang-wook, and Ji-hyun knew that she was vulnerable at that time. But, even though she held onto the hope that things would work out with Chang-wook, Ji-hyun’s personality did not let her hold on for too long. She hoped that by spending time with Kang-joon Chang-wook’s pull on her would lessen. To a degree it worked. Kang-joon was fun and fit in well with her friends, and she with his. Meanwhile, the press had a field day when she and Kang-joon were photographed at a gallery with mutual friends and then later on a bike ride in Jeju with still more friends. Throughout the time Ji-hyun refused to do anything other than give him a friendly hug. She constantly felt conflicted even doing that knowing how much he liked her.

“I’m going to enlist in the army soon,” he told her while they sat in her apartment drinking beers and watching re-runs of Friends—an attempt to improve her English.

“Why?” Ji-hyun asked, genuinely perplexed why he would enlist off the back of another successful project.

“I think it… It will be easier to get over you if I’m in the army,” he replied with a disarming frankness. “Plus I’ve been working really hard these past few years… I guess… A change might be good.”

“But… I…”

“Ji-hyun, you don’t like me. Not like I like you. It isn’t wrong. But I just don’t think it is fair for us to keep pretending like this. Me pretending I’m ok with you not liking me and you pretending to try and like me. I know Ji Chang-wook…”

“It isn’t him,” she insisted. “I just find the public life overwhelming.”

“Seriously, you are terrible at lying,” he laughed. 

When he left that night he hugged her. 

“If we can stay friends, I’d like that,” he said. “Just maybe wait until I get over you? Yeah?”

“I understand. Stay healthy Oppa.”

And so ended Ji-hyun's first non-dating, dating scandal.

—April 2020—

“Tell me what is going on. I’ve had enough of all this,” Ji-hyun said when Chi-gu picked her up on a bright March morning.

“You’ve changed. In a good way, I mean. I was always worried that you both would be two people who were always so happy that neither of you…”

“Enough. We have… I have changed. I had to grow up quickly in the last few months, in the last year. I’m… I’m still me Chi-gu. I still love being silly and having fun but I had to… there…”

“Don’t say anything more. It is my fault, not all of it, but I could have made sure that you two talked things through earlier. I was too hands-off.”

“There is enough blame to go around, but you are the last person I would blame. Can we stop? I want ice cream.”

He pulled over and they went into the ice cream parlour. Ji-hyun paid for them and they found a bench to sit on and enjoy the surprisingly mild weather. 

“You want to get photographed with me, don’t you?” Chi-gu asked.

“The part of the North Korean spy is getting recast because of…”

“Jin-ah’s boyfriend’s spectacular decision to end up in a paragliding accident?”

 “Chang-wook is going to be offered the role,” Ji-hyun said as if she was discussing the weather.

“How do you know?” Chi-gu was shocked.

“My boss told me yesterday. In case I felt uncomfortable.”

“And what did you say?”

“The last thing I’m going to do is get in the way of his career. He’ll be asked tomorrow… or the day after.”

“Did you recommend him?”

“No. I would never interfere like that. The main actor… I think he is a fan. And the director too. They mentioned “Fabricated City” when I spoke with them on Skype.”

“This is big news.”

“Very. I… we need to speak before it gets into the press. Before we have to meet on set.”

—

Chang-wook stepped into the office to have a quick meeting with his boss. The other man was eating from a huge bowl of nuts—a sure sign that he was worried about something.  

“Uh… Chang-wook. I have a question,” he asked and put the bowl of nuts to one side. “Now, you can tell me… I received a call. Some people want to cast you in a movie. It is American. Hollywood. They want you to play the part of a North Korean agent. They were originally going to use… you probably heard about the accident.”

Chang-wook gazed at his hands.

“They want me in Nam Ji-Hyun’s movie.”

“Now hold on… Not her movie. You would only have one scene with her. The director asked me. She called me specifically. I called the Soop CEO and said that if Nam Ji-Hyun had any part of this I would sue him for emotional damages.”

Chang-wook smiled and then burst out laughing.

“Thank you. For protecting me.”

“I don’t know what happened. But Chi-gu… he told me some of it… I shouldn’t tell you…”

“Don’t worry. He let me know,” Chang-wook gave a decisive nod. “I’ll do it. I’ll take the part.”

“If you change your mind, don’t worry. The Company will take care of everything. You don’t need to worry about any contract fees.”

—

Ji-hyun sat twisting her watch. She was about to have an intervention of sorts with Chang-wook. It was going to take place at the salon, which seemed to be the most neutral ground she could think of where they could guarantee complete privacy. Ji-hyun had decided to wear a simple black t-shirt and black jeans. Since playing Mi-rae, she had become more interested in fashion and how it could make an impression on people. Today she wanted to make a very serious no-nonsense appearance.

When she heard the door open, she looked up from the magazine she wasn’t reading. Chang-wook looked good, she realised. Unless he was having to dress for work, he preferred to hide his physic underneath baggy t-shirts but he must have a similar thought to her. He’d dressed for battle—a cardigan over a form-fitting white t-shirt, and a pair of expensive looking jeans. It had been a long time since she had seen him. The CF didn’t count and Busan? She wasn’t sure if she counted that either. So it would have been dinner, the dinner in June when she had wanted to confess. 

“You said we needed to talk face to face,” she said, standing up from the armchair she had been sitting in.

“I…” he hesitated. 

“I want to have that talk.” 

She saw something in his face change. There was a flicker of… She didn’t have an opportunity to find out what it was because he strode to her side and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I made a huge mistake,” he said, refusing to let her go.

She stood there so confused and uncertain. But it soon turned to anger. 

"Yes. You did. I don’t know what you thought… you hurt me. You were so mean. You did it on purpose. I hated you for it."

"But you don’t hate me now do you?” She felt his breath on her cheek and reflexively pushed him away.

"No. I’m over that. I’m past it. I’ve moved on from hating you,” she didn’t want to say that she might not hate him any more but she still had feelings for him. Or at least she was still so attracted to him that it made her angry with him and with herself.

"A year ago I was so jealous and scared. I didn’t want to be… I thought that because you were spending so much time with him and in public… I was blind with jealousy. And then you called and said I wasn’t your boyfriend. I know we weren’t dating but I thought… I had hoped,” but he stopped when she brushed his hand off of her arm. 

"What do you want? You said you were tired. Tired of what?" her voice was level even if her emotions weren’t.

She watched him gather his thoughts and his feelings. If she had been able to read his mind she would have learnt that the first most dominant one was to find out what she felt for her costar. The second was to say that he still liked her—that he had to know if she could ever like him again. That he would wait as long as it took. Instead, he did something that surprised her.

“I’m tired of regretting last June. I want to apologise. Apologise as I meant to when I called you a year ago. But I got scared. My eomma didn’t talk to me for a week because of what I did to you.”

"You made your eomma upset? Orabeoni!” the endearment slipped out.

"You still care for me,” he said it with certainty. "You wouldn’t be upset with me if you didn’t care. Please. Say you care. Then I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

“Chang-wook-ssi. Sit down,” She indicated the sofa and she took the chair next to him. "What you did was wrong. I was very hurt. I went to see a therapist. No, let me finish. She taught me that it was ok to be upset and that whatever you did was not a reflection about me but about you. So I want to thank you, I guess. It helped me realise that I don’t need someone to make me feel valuable or precious, I just need myself. And that has made it possible for me to do this all of this work. I love my life right now. Everything about it."

"But..."

"Don’t interrupt. You need to know that I don’t need you. Oppa, I’m fine without you. No, wait. You need to hear what I have to say. I don’t need you …"

"I need you. Jiji, no, let me interrupt because I’m going to burst. I need you. I need you so much that the idea that you were there for anyone else drives me crazy. I am not a good man. I am jealous. I didn’t think I would be—before you I’ve never been jealous. I don’t like it but I didn’t know where I stood. We never got to have that conversation. There was never any time. Seeing you with someone else out in the real world was, no is hard for me. And I didn’t know what to do or say."

"Why would anyone make you jealous?” she snapped. She didn’t like that he had been jealous because it meant that he didn’t trust her, she said as much. "Jealousy means that you don’t trust me. When you knew how much I cared for you."

“But you… How to explain. It isn’t DO or even Kang-joon. It was that you could hang out with him and with your friends and it was ok if people saw you. I wanted to be that person for you. The one you could introduce to your friends. I wanted to spend time with you in public. We were always meeting secretly." 

Ji-hyun stood up and walked to the tea-table.  Her back was to him, effectively cutting him off. She was struggling to keep her composure but she knew that they needed to have this conversation if they were going to be able to work together. 

“We are going to be in the same film. We need to be able to work together. As colleagues—nothing more than that. Nothing closer than two people who are shooting a single scene together. Can you do that?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then let’s start again.” 

Ji-hyun turned and smiled at him. It was a little forced but she managed it. She held out her hand.

“Ji Chang-wook-ssi. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Nam Ji-hyun-ssi. And I look forward to working with you.”

Chang-wook stood and wiped his hands on his jeans. When he took her hand in his, she could feel how sweaty his palms were. But his face had a bright smile on it.

“Ji-hyun-ssi. It is good to meet you. I promise to work well with you on set.”

They held hands for a moment longer than strangers meeting for the first time. Neither of them wanted to break the physical connection. The attraction was still there. 

—

The next morning the news that Ji Chang-wook was the replacement North Korean spy was announced. It meant that the spotlight was once again on their past on-screen chemistry. Speculation that they might have a scene together bounced around online forums. Ji-hyun snuck a peek at the comments and read that people were happy to see them on screen again. There are no comments about their possible relationship though, which she was grateful for.

Shooting began in Seoul a week later. The American stars were baffled by the food trucks sent by fans and former costars. However, they enjoyed the food and loved taking photographs of themselves in front of them. Meanwhile, Ji-hyun discovered that shooting with people whose language she didn’t speak well was both more challenging and more exciting than she had anticipated. Many of the cast had worked on learning some Korean before filming began so she, with her basic English could communicate a bit between takes. The director and her costar were the most enthusiastic about speaking Korean. They had worked together on projects before and thought it was exciting to have Ji-hyun paired up with a past costar rather than just another actor. 

“Always great to know the other person!” the actor had said over drinks early in the shooting.

“I mean, I know the two of you shot a romcom but it is still helpful,” the director said. She was surprisingly young for a spy-thriller blockbuster Hollywood director. But she had been clear that this was her first chance to do a film like this.

“I’m like you, Ji-hyun,” she confided one morning. “I’ve always been doing small, smart projects. But this is going to push me. I really liked “Mi-rae Leaves”. I mean before that I’d seen you in the slightly clueless parts, which is good for this character.”

Ji-hyun waited while the translator finished explaining. 

“Thank you,” she replied in English.

“But I think this will be good for you too. So we are a team ok? Got it?” the director put out her hand and the two women shook on it. Then Ji-hyun made her pinky promise as well.

“Promise.”

“Promise.”

—

On the morning that they were to shoot their scene, Ji-hyun arrived early hoping that the stylist could get her into hair and makeup before he arrived. Only Chang-wook had had the same idea.

"Nam Ji-hyun-ssi,”’ He gave her a little bow.

"Ji Chang-wook-ssi," she responded and took her chair on the other side of the room. While she was being put in hair and makeup, the director arrived. She was full of energy and bounced over to where Ji-hyun was sitting.

"Ji-hyun! How is it going? Did you get a good night’s sleep? Eat a good breakfast? Have you been practising your English lines? I know you have a lot more than normal today,” she peppered Ji-hyun with questions.

"No, Director-nim it is great. I slept very well last night. I like the character. She is so… Oh, I never thought I’d get to play someone so cool.”

"Wonderful! Oh, I need to speak to Ji Chang Wook. It is his first day of shooting. Need to make sure he understands since he is a bit behind in shooting and seeing the script.”

“Ok! A rehearsal and run through,” Director shouted.

When they start shooting, Ji-hyun stood in the corner going over the scene. Her character was a young spy who was helping with an international investigation into arms being smuggled into North Korea. His role was the sadistic villain who captured her and threatened her life in an attempt to draw out the American hero who then would become her sort of love interest, but “Cowboys and Indians and no kissing!” the actor had joked.

Their scene began when he grabbed her from behind and knocked her out before the American stormed in and rescued her in the next scene. They discussed with the fight co-ordinator about what would work best. Chang-wook would be rough but, as with all fight scenes, she would lead the movements. Back-up, then twist to the right into his arm before going the other way in a hope to throw him off balance. Of course he would be too strong for that so she ended up having to struggle against his grip, which is what would make it look realistic.

"Great. Let’s shoot,” the director called.

But when they began Chang-wook pulled out a gun. She knew it was a prop but still it scared her. 

"Don’t think about escaping,” he levelled the gun at her, his eyes dark with some kind of emotion and a grim set to his mouth. He took the gun and pressed it to her temple getting right into her face.  "You made a rookie mistake. Who’d come save someone like you? Do you think I can’t break you? Do you really believe someone will want to save you?" 

She started to cry. Huge tears fell down her face ruining her make up. She knew he was acting but with everything else going on between them it was too much. This angry, sadistic man wasn’t her Chang-wook Orabeoni. This wasn’t the man she knew so well. He then “hit” her over the head causing her to crumble to the ground. In the final edit, it would look like her vision had gone black.

“Cut! Wow. Brilliant. You guys work so well together.”

Chang-wook crouched in front of her. She pushed him away fearing that his concern will only cause her to cry harder.

“Don’t worry. Don’t cry. I didn’t mean it. Please don’t cry,” it only made her cry harder.  He looked over to the director and said in English, “I think we need to take a break."

The director nodded. 

"Sorry about that. We adlib’d the gun Ji-hyun but it… We thought it would be important to be more threatening. Since he knows you…" The director made a small, helpless movement with her hands. Ji-hyun had been so responsive that she regretted letting her take a break. Not because the director was heartless, but because she didn’t want the tension between the two actors to end. 

"I just need a minute,” Ji-hyun said. 

Chang-wook helped her up and walked her back to the stylist’s room. 

"I am sorry. I should have warned you. But she said not too—Americans,” he spat out the word as if it was the worst insult. "You were amazing. You are always amazing."

"Oh you poor thing,” the stylist gasped. 

"I don’t like seeing her cry,” he glared at the director who was watching them from the doorway.

"Orabeoni, I’m fine. You did the right thing. I was just taken aback,”  she realised that she had called him ‘orabeoni’. But he didn't seem to have heard. 

"You need to fix her make up,” Chang-wook interrupted her. “Next time… no. But we should have had Noona here for the styling.”

"No leave it. The next scene will be wrong if we fix it,” the film's stylist said as she ran a tender hand down Ji-hyun’s back.

They went back to filming and the director was relieved to see that the emotions were still high. When the American actor arrived and saved her, Ji-hyun genuinely hugged him back. Americans, she decided, were useful when you needed comfort. He patted her back and grinned down. 

"Great job, kid. Ooff, pretty hard to have someone point a gun at you like that. It gets your heart rate up, doesn't it? Here,” he handed her a flask. She took a sip and coughed. It was whisky and not water. "Helps calm you down. Don’t say anything,” He gave her a quick wink before going over to his team for the change to the next scene.

"Ok, that was great guys. Damn. I wish we could have more scenes with the two of you. That is chemistry folks,” The director looked back and forth between Ji-hyun and Chang-wook a curious light in her eyes.