—Mid-December 2020—

Ji-hyun arrived for the first script reading for the shorts a couple of days later. She was wearing her couple ring when she arrived and she made no effort to hide it. 

“Couple ring?” So-min asked when she sat down next to her. 

“Oh, yes.”

“What is this?” Lee Hyun-seung asked. He stood behind them and the two women struggled to stand up from their chairs. 

“I have a couple ring…” Ji-hyun held out her hand to let him inspect it.

“Hm. Ok. Up to you when you wear it… except for shooting.”

“I… thank you…” she started but he was off before she could finish her sentence.

“Omo! Wow. He is something,” So-min said, sinking back into her chair. 

The script reading went smoothly. Each of the fifteen shorts would be interwoven over five years. Ji-hyun was in three of them and her character was a student in conflict with her boyfriend about which university she would go to; the same student falling in love with her university classmate; and finally her choosing to go follow her career, with a conversation with a female colleague about the challenges of marriage and children if she wanted to succeed. 

“Ji-hyun-ssi, can we speak for a minute?” Lee Hyun-seung asked.

“Yes, director-nim.”

They went to a small coffee shop around the corner. He rubbed his face. After the lacklustre reception of “Hindsight” he had waited until the right project came along. 

“Now, Ji-hyun-ssi, I want to talk to you one-on-one about your… relationship. I am sorry to be so blunt about this but I have some questions.”

“I don’t understand. But what does my relationship have to do with my acting?”

“Don’t worry. I am not going to interrogate you. I just wonder how you feel about the character. You have decided to date an older man. Someone very famous… and popular. Are you committed to this work or are you waiting to return to a normal life?”

“Hahahahaha,” Ji-hyun smiled. “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed.”

“No. Please, go on.”

“I… I laughed because it is a conversation I have had with Chang-wook-ssi. I am an actress. I have no plans on changing that. I will work very hard. I like the role, I liked the role the minute I saw it. I wasn’t in a relationship then. I read the part and thought that I connected with her, more than any other character so far. It is hard to let go of relationships… as a partner, daughter, whatever. But sometimes they must…”

“Thank you. That is all I needed to hear.”

“Why? I am… If you don’t mind telling me, that is.”

“Because I am curious about you… as an actress. You were a breath of fresh air in your most recent projects. I am curious what gave you that kind of…” his words trailed off and he waited for her to reply.

“I got to experience many emotions in the last year. Probably not in the way that I wanted to. But there are feelings, thoughts that I am now able to feel. Ones that I could only, well, imagine before. I promise to show you my best work.”

“You are very good at reassuring people,” he laughed. “I look forward to working with you.”

She smiled and watched him leave. Her heart was pounding. Their conversation had opened up something inside of her. Her thoughts strayed to a conversation she had with Jae-uk sunbae when the salacious stories about her and Chang-wook emerged. One where she had been grateful there was someone there to reassure her.

“I can’t believe… How can people think like that?” she had asked.

“People are jealous. They want people, especially famous people, to live by different standards. Do you think that those people believe what they write? Why do you think that the rumour stopped so quickly?”

“Because you and everyone were supportive.”

“Maybe a little. But more likely it is because you and Chang-wook, who I would like to meet one day, are good people. Reliable…”

“That hasn’t stopped…”

“Celebrities can’t hide who they are. Too many people work with us. Too many people see us when we are stressed. Yes, we can put a smile on but we also…”

“Oh,” she said. Gossip she had read, stories she had heard ran through her head. Yes, there were people whose public image was easy to see past. But oppa was someone you never heard a bad word about. “He is… I am… we are…”

“Yes. Good people. Good people who happen to be celebrities.”

“Sunbae. What about you?”

“Me? Me… I wonder sometimes. I am an actor, a model, but not a celebrity. My… my partner prefers it that way.”

“Partner?” she couldn’t hide her curiosity.

“Secret. No one you know.”

She smiled. Secrets. Their world was full of secrets. 

—

A week later Ji-hyun was gathering her things after filming an interview. It created a kind of high when she talked about her work. The interview had mainly covered her work but also, as might be expected, gently probed into her private life. She had described how Chang-wook Orabeoni had been part of so many momentous acting moments in her life. Whether it was “Suspicious Partner” or the film she felt that he was a wonderful acting partner, so thinking of him as a romantic partner had been easy when it happened. The reporter had asked about the brief scandal. Ji-hyun’s composure was impressive. She explained that at that time she realised how important it was that they had a bond. “He wanted to take care of me… But I told him that he needed to be taken care of too. I think that was the change for both of us. Wanting to protect the person you care about. I am sorry to my fans, and his, that we had to go through that… but… your feelings become clear in times of conflict. Being able to be happy at the CF was what finally brought us together again. I am grateful to Orabeoni. He is my rock. And I am his rock.” 

She was pulled out of her thoughts when her phone rang.

“Jang-i!”

“Jiji, how did it go?”

“HOW? SO WELL.”

“Did people like the ring?”

“You are so silly about that. Why does it matter? I like it.”

“Still… I hope you wore it well.”

“Very well. But, can we talk tonight? As a family… Can your eomma come over for a meal?”

“I, no, we would love that. What time?”

“Are you sure she isn’t busy?”

“I was going to have dinner with her so very easy.”

“Ok. Whenever you…”

“I’ll call.”

“Saranghae Oppa.”

“Saranghae, Jiji.”

—

Chang-wook took a deep breath. His eomma had a large box with a cake inside of it. She was smiling to herself and occasionally singing along with the songs on the radio.

“Do you listen to trot when I am not with you?” she asked.

“No. I normally listen to something on my phone.”

“My poor son. Having to indulge his eomma…”

“You know I love it.”

“Aish. What a flatterer. No wonder Ji-hyun-ah fell for you so quickly.”

“Other way around. She seduced me first.”

“Seduced! What is that story? You never told me.”

“She… she…” he tried to think about how to tell the story. Her bright smiling eyes. Her fearlessness. “She called me Orabeoni. She teased me for dropping honorifics and called me Orabeoni.”

“Aish. Our son. So soft. So cute. Haha. I am glad. So happy for you.”

They went up the lift and rang the bell.

Ji-hyun’s eonnie opened the door. She had a frown on her face. 

“Aish. Sorry! Eomeonim. Sorry… but… well we have been getting so many people ringing the bell these days and you didn’t use the downstairs buzzer.”

“No worries, dear. I am not surprised. My son, unfortunately, has no manners. I’m surprised he didn’t just barge in here as well.”

“Eonnie!” Ji-hyun’s mother pushed her eldest out of the way. “How are you? Oh, what have you brought? Oh. So lovely. Thank you. You know what a sweet tooth my family has.”

Chang-wook rolled his eyes at his future sister-in-law. She laughed behind her hand. The two mothers went into the kitchen, looking thick as thieves.

“How did that happen?” he asked under his breath.

“Omo. It has been going on for so long. Appa had to go find them when they went drinking together. I don’t think they even finished one bottle of soju or six but he drove your eomma home and brought my eomma home. She was singing… if you think that Ji-hyun can’t sing… then you have never heard my eomma.”

“I hope my face is expressing my horror.”

“Yes.”

Chang-wook felt, not for the first time, a sense of peace wash over him. Ji-hyun’s family lived simply. There was nothing pretentious about their lifestyle or the way they treated people. They were the same even if their daughter was an actress who… his thoughts stopped when he saw Ji-hyun helping his mother carefully lift the cake out of its bag.

“Jiji…” he whispered. It warmed his heart seeing her being so natural with his eomma.

The doorbell went again and her sister went over to see who it was. She let her boyfriend into the building and then into the flat—the family was complete.  

His eyes sparkled as he watched everyone giggle at the story of Ji-hyun struggling to put the ring on his finger.

“Having second thoughts?” his mother teased.

“Aish, eomeonim!” Ji-hyun covered her face.

“Eonnie! Don’t make her blush like that. I think it is lovely.” 

After the dishes had been put away the families gathered in the living room. The eommas brought the cake in and began cutting thick slices for everyone.

“Um… I don’t think I like sweet things anymore,” Ji-hyun said making a face. She dropped her fork on the plate.

“Jiji?”

“Aish! Why? Why? Why? Why no more sweet things!” she wailed.

By then everyone was laughing. He looked around not understanding until Ji-hyun’s appa took pity on him.

“Women’s tastes change when they are pregnant. Our poor Ji-hyun-i doesn’t like sweets right now… Chang-wook, you are going to need to satisfy her cravings if you want to stay on her good side. What are you craving my poor daughter?”

“Spicy food… coffee, which I can’t have,… watermelon, sour things,” she pouted.

“Ok… right… Do you want me to get those things for you? What do you want right now? What can I get for you right now?” Chang-wook jumped up.

“A lemon.”

“Eomeonim, do you have any lemons?” The ridiculousness of the situation hit him when he saw the smirks on his eomma and Ji-hyun’s appa’s faces. 

“In the kitchen.”

He went in and found one. Then watched as Ji-hyun cut it up like an orange and on the sour flesh. There was an amused silence as she closed her eyes and replaced the first slice with a second and then a third. 

“Jiji… was that…”

“Delicious,” she sighed.

—

Chang-wook grinned at the email he had just received. His food truck had been accepted. It was ridiculous to think that it wouldn’t be but films were often different to dramas. And art-house films even more different. He looked down at the thermos he had kept with him since filming “Melt with Me”. The stickers were faded beyond recognition but he still remembered how he had carefully removed one of the stickers from his drink and as carefully attached it to his thermos. He’d taken a sticker from one of the other food trucks but the Star Moon International sticker was the one he was most attracted to. When he looked them up, his heart had skipped a beat. He didn’t ask why Glorious had allowed a truck that blatantly supported him and Ji-hyun but every time he looked at the sticker he had felt closer to her. It was during their darkest days but he could have her with him every day. A little reminder that though they were apart that August he could keep her with him at all times. 

Ji-hyun had once asked why he kept a thermos with faded stickers. He had shrugged saying that it still worked so why throw it away. 

—

It was hard for him to keep the secret that he was sending her a food truck and on the day it was to be delivered he left his phone on silent while he went through plans for his radio programme. He desperately wanted to call her and ask how she liked it but her filming schedule was packed and the idea of a million missed calls was… Ji Chang-wook was not a man who liked to appear needy in front of his future wife.

“Ji Chang-wook gae-se-kki!”

He could hear the words from Chi-gu’s phone which his long-suffering manager had casually answered.

“You might want to take this,” Chi-gu handed him the phone.

“Ji Chang-wook. Why are you not answering your phone?”

“Uh… I’m at work.”

“What if there was an emergency? Huh? What if there was an emergency?”

“Is there an emergency?”

“No. But… you sent me a food truck and you weren’t answering your phone,” her voice dropped. Anger replaced by pouting cuteness.

He glanced up at the team seated around the table. He stood up and bowed. Then scurried out of the room. 

“I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“Aish. How could spoil a surprise that I knew about last night?”

“You knew?”

“You’ve received food trucks before, haven’t you? Don’t they tell you who is sending them beforehand?”

“Uhh…” he couldn’t remember. He didn’t think so. “No?”

“Glorious really is a bit chaotic aren’t they.”

“Hey. Ya. Why did you have to say that!”

“Orabeoni! No. I just meant… different companies do it differently. Maybe you like the surprise.”

“I do. Did you like it?”

“Thank you. I love it. So many spicy things. And sour things. And watermelon! Where did you get such good watermelon at this time of year?”

He laughed. She no longer sounded annoyed, which was good. He was starting to learn how the hormones were affecting her. 

“Come over tonight? My place is closer to the sound stage…”

“Ok. But I need to go home…”

“My home is your home too.”

“But my things…”

“I’ll sort it out.”

“Ok. Is your meeting going well… Aish. I have to go. Tell me all about it tonight.”

—

Ji-hyun arrived at Chang-wook’s apartment. She was exhausted from the long day of filming. The shorts were different from other work but the schedule was still gruelling. She was uncertain about whether she needed to tell SOOP or production team that she was pregnant. As a result, her lawyer was in the middle of getting legal advice about her contract and whether it would result in her removal from the project or a penalty fee. So far the opinion was that she should keep it to herself. Her filming would finish in the next few weeks and she wouldn’t start showing until the new year.

“Oppa?” she asked as she kicked off her shoes.

“Jagiya, Jagiya…” he sang dancing over to her with a smile.

She frowned. While he was wonderful when playful, every part of her ached and all she wanted to do was go to sleep.

“I have a present for you.”

“Hmmm? What is it,” Ji-hyun pulled off a yawn without his realising it was fake.

“Perfect. You are tired.”

She blinked. He was happy she was tired.

“Come here,” he took her hand and twirled her.

“Oppa, I really am tired.”

“Our beautiful Jiji needs her beauty sleep.” 

Despite her protests, he scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom. On the bed were a pair of couple pyjamas. Both were a pale blue and embroidered with their initials on the pocket. She smiled and didn’t protest as he lay her on the bed. 

“What do you think? Aren’t they pretty?”

“Hmm… what do you think Ggoma?” she asked the Bedlington terrier who had followed them into the room. The dutiful dog barked approval. “If Ggoma approves, I approve.”

“Aish,” he said copying her often used phrase and eyes thrown to the heavens in defeat.

“Oppa. I already ate. Can I wash up and go to bed?” She said cuddling into the bed.

“Yes, of course,” he gave her a forehead a light kiss. “I’ll eat quickly.”

“Ok.”

Ji-hyun sat up when she heard the door close and smiled. Couple rings? Couple pyjamas? He was making her fall in love with him more and more every day. She placed a hand over her still flat stomach. It was hard to believe that a little life was growing in there. Their little life. Her most recent trip to the doctor had been very positive. Everything was going well but they still needed to wait a couple more weeks for the twelve-week scan.

When she went to wash up she was amused and a little teary at the sight of all her products carefully lined up next to his. Someone had sourced all of these things in the few hours between their conversation and her arriving. She hoped that it wasn’t Chi-gu or her sister, but her gut said that one of them was responsible.

She put the pyjamas on and plucked at the pocket so that she could better see her embroidered initials.  With a soft smile on her face, she slipped under the soft blanket and waited for Chang-wook to join her. Her eyes tracked him as he pottered around the room getting ready for bed. However, they didn’t go to bed right away because Ji-hyun was eager to hear about the radio plans. He was excited about the new project and, along with the radio show, the plan to release a studio album as well.

“Where are you going to get the songs from though?” she asked. “You won’t write them will you?”

“NO! haha. I was thinking of approaching some people… but I really don’t know much about this so we are getting a lot of help.”

“I want you to sing your songs… have you never thought about writing your own lyrics?”

“Jiji… you think too highly. I am…”

“I was teasing. I know from experience how rogue you can be. Who knows what sort of metaphors you would devise.”

“Jagiya, jagiya, how can you be so cruel to me? To your precious Orabeoni?”

He reached over and began tickling her. She retaliated but both eventually subsided when  Ji-hyun stopped any attack and was just batting her hands away.

“You… I am sorry. I forgot how tired you must be.”

“You are my battery. But I’m afraid that I am running at zero.”

“Come here.”

She snuggled into his arms. He softly sang a children’s lullaby to her and she drifted into sleep.

—

Chang-wook carefully withdrew his arm and settled her more comfortably on the ridiculous number of pillows she insisted on sleeping with. He watched her sleep for a bit.

“Pretty,” he smiled.

He pulled out his phone and posted the update he had meant to earlier. It was a photo of him and Ji-hyun. They had gone for dinner the other day with their eommas. Ji-hyun’s had taken the picture and he liked how familiar it was to have them all together. 

The caption he wrote was “We ate well”. Then he added a star and moon emoji. It was ridiculous to play into the shipper narrative but they were faithful fans too. It was a gesture he felt was easy to give and would be received happily by them.

Ji-hyun murmured in her sleep.  He put his phone down and lay down facing her. He poked her nose.

“Bong Bong… our pretty Jiji…” he took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. Chang-wook closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

(AN: Apologies for any typos/editing errors. I was a little rushed but wanted to get this out today for all you lovely people.)