—August 2018—

Jiji, Ji-hyun read his pet name for her in their letters, I am going to be in a musical. We start rehearsals soon—Seoul not the base, but I’ll be travelling back on most days. I wanted to let you know as soon as possible. I don’t know when I’ll be free to see you. Perhaps we can find some time…

She looked up from the letter. Her heart was pounding, he had just asked her to come by the theatre. Instead of the strictures of a base visit, she could come by during a rehearsal one day. It would mean less travel and practically no exposure to the press. 

…it might be a bit of a military operation, but I think we can manage it. Kang Ha-neul is also in the show. I think you worked with him?

Ji-hyun smiled. Yes, she had worked with him.

Jiji, I’ll ask Chi-gu to be in touch. Eat something delicious for me. Orabeoni.

“Ji-hyun-sshi! We are ready for you!”

“Coming!” she called and struggled to get out of her chair in the large hanbok she was wearing. 

“It is very hot,” her costar deadpanned. “Is anyone else uncomfortable?”

“Aish. That is going to get old really quickly.”

“Hehehe… I don’t have a very good sense of humour,” he responded. 

Ji-hyun laughed. Sometimes he felt more like a dongsaeng than an oppa which made all of their scenes fun and easy. They were a bit of an odd group but they’d bonded so quickly that they already felt like family to her. It was different to her last drama of course because Chang-wook wasn’t there to make every day seem like a fairytale. But she knew he was safe and healthy which was all that mattered. Since seeing Chang-wook oppa in May she had started writing more. She liked to tell him about the antics on set, how much fun they were all having. At first, she had worried that he might be jealous of her freedom but she hoped that her letters brought some amusement to his life. 

A few days later, she was shooting in Ahopsan Forest just outside of Busan. They had flown out that morning and were spending the night in a hotel by the sea. It was an hour to the filming site but the production team had decided they deserved a break from the heat and a trip to the ocean would be perfect.

“A mini-reward trip,” PD-nim laughed. 

While she was sitting in her room, Ji-hyun received a text:

“Come outside.”

It was from Chi-gu.

“Eonnie… cover for me? Say I’m sick?” Ji-hyun asked Lee Min-ji who was her roommate for the night.

“Ji-hyun-ah! What?” 

But Ji-hyun was already out the door and running for the elevator. She made it to the lobby while dodging crew members and DO, who was on the phone just outside the entrance. She thought she heard him call out to her but ignored it and ran to Chi-gu who was standing by a large concrete column with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

“Here,” he said tossing her some car keys. “Can you follow a sat nav?”

“Yes?” Ji-hyun wasn’t certain but if this was what she thought it was she was going to follow the sat nav perfectly.

“That car,” and he pointed to a simple black van. 

“You want me to drive that?” Ji-hyun lost all her confidence. Chi-gu just shrugged. Taking a deep breath, Ji-hyun straightened her back and with a fierce determination walked up to the driver seat. She opened the door and saw a familiar person sleeping the back.

“Oppa?” she whispered. “Oppa…”

“What…” Chang-wook stretched and gave her a warm smile. “Did you miss me?”

“Chi-gu said I had to drive!” 

“I’ll drive,” He said. “Get in.”

Ji-hyun scrambled across the driver’s seat to the front passenger seat.  For a moment she felt his warm hand on her waist as he helped guide her into her seat. Once he was settled, they drove off into the dark. He didn’t take them very far. Just to a small parking lot a long the coast where he pulled into one of the spaces that seemed like it was almost in the ocean.

“Did we just drive around the golf course,” Ji-hyun asked looking over her shoulder to where she could see the bright lights of the hotel. 

“Maybe. But the little restaurant over there has really good food and I thought we could have some good seafood while you were here.”

“Oppa… Ji Chang-wook-sshi… You might be my favourite person in the world right now. Wait. I want to commemorate you buying me delicious seafood.” She pulled out her phone and stood back to get a better angle.

“And I want to remember you who are about to eat delicious seafood.”

They ended up taking pictures of each other taking a picture. It felt like a very special moment and she insisted that he send her the pictures. His had turned out better because of the lighting but she liked how his silhouette was so familiar even if she couldn’t see his face in the picture. He indicated that she should go first. She arrived at the door and looking inside she saw it was full of people. The food looked mouth-wateringly good and her stomach started to rumble. It had been a while since she had eaten because the heat killed her appetite but with the sea breeze and the sight of fresh eel and fish and clams and… 

“You sound hungry,” Chang-wook said from behind. 

“I think they are full,” she complained. “Did you make a reservation?”

“Ah… I didn’t have time.”

“What are we going to do?!?!?!?!?!?!” She wailed.

“I’ll figure it out,” he promised. Chang-wook made a call to Chi-gu who through bites of his delicious seafood told Chang-wook that he was on his own tonight. Wasn’t that their deal? Did he need to remind his erstwhile star that they had to be on the first flight back to Seoul so that he would be on time for the press conference?

“Aish,” Ji-hyun said, looking around trying to find somewhere, anywhere that they could eat. “Wait. I have an idea. Get the van. Let’s have our own BBQ.”

They drove around a bit before they found a supermarket that was still open. Ji-hyun rushed in and about some meat, lettuce, a couple of different sauces in small packets and anything else she could find. With a sigh, she also grabbed a seafood ramyeon to at least feel like she was getting to eat seafood. When she got back to the van, Chang-wook had located a self-bbq spot along the coast. When they arrived it was already very late but that didn’t seem to matter. They opened the back of the van to act as a seat and table. While eating their little picnic he told her about rehearsals that had only started a few weeks before. 

“Jiji, do you think you’ll be able to come and see it,” Chang-wook asked while placing her a ssam wrap in .

“hwehohrnew;afwan;n,” she responded before making exaggerated eating motions. “When does it start? 100 Days Husband begins airing on the 10th of September. They haven’t released the promotion schedule but it will be busy. I’ve never done a cable drama before.”

“Hmmm… Well, they do like to do more publicity.”

Once they had finished eating they took a walk down to the shoreline. 

“Jiji, how are you liking our first date?” He asked when he interlaced his fingers with hers.

“I like it. Very, very, very much. That is how much I like it.”

“Jiji, promise me. I didn’t want to ask you before. But promise me you will wait for me?”

“Wait for you?” she asked. It was a strange question because she wasn’t waiting for him at all. Why wait when he was right there with her.

“Yes. Tomorrow it will be a year since I enlisted. I… I didn’t want you to put your life on hold. You are young and have so much…”

“Orabeoni. Please. Let’s not talk about age or any of those things. And I’m not waiting. Are the other girlfriends waiting? The wives? No,” She startled herself when she heard the word ‘girlfriend’ come out. “I like us like this. This is a ‘some’ that is better… It is what we can have right now. And isn’t that enough?”

As she spoke she could feel his hand tighten squeezing hers.

“Orabeoni, I promise that my feelings won’t magically change just because you aren’t next to me. Just because we don’t have a label… it doesn’t mean anything to me. So long as we understand each other, what else matters?”

When he still refused to speak, Ji-hyun made one last push.

“Are you going to ignore your Sunbae-nim?” she teased. “Because I wish you wouldn’t. I’d rather you kiss me than ignore me.”

“I’m not ignoring… It is hard. From your letters, I can see how much fun you are having. I just don’t want you to feel trapped by something that we can’t promise will…”

“Kiss me Ji Chang-wook-sshi before I…”

But before she could threaten him, he pulled her into a kiss. Of all their kisses she decided this was her favourite. First, they were on a date. Second, they were alone. Third, the emotions in the kiss were… She wrapped her arms around him and he picked her up so that she could stand on a low rock behind her. Suddenly their height difference was switched. She was looking down into his dark eyes. It was a heady experience and made her feel powerful. She was intoxicated by the moment. The smell of the sea, the warmth of his hands on her waist. Ji-hyun ran her hands up the nape of his neck feeling the closely cropped hair under her hands. 

“I want you…” He pulled her back into their kiss. She struggled out, laughing at his presumption. “Let me finish you crazy man. I want you to grow your hair out again. I miss it.”

“Whatever. Kiss me.”

They took their time but eventually both realised that it was time to head back. When Ji-hyun looked at the time it was already past midnight. She had been away from the hotel for almost six hours. 

“I have to get back! I’m…” she suddenly realised she only had two new messages. One was from her mother asking how filming was going. The second was from Min-ji-eonnie which asked when she would be back and a little later one telling her to be back before morning. Ji-hyun blushed as her mind suddenly came up with several possible ways she could spend her time between now and dawn.

“Jiji? Is everything ok?” Chang-wook asked.

“YES!”

“If you say so…”

They drove back to the hotel. She jumped out and as she passed Chi-gu in the lobby gave his shoulder a hard tap to wake him up. As she had snuck out, so she snuck back in. When she reached her room it was dark and she slipped into the bathroom to get ready for bed. If she could fall asleep quickly then she would get at least seven hours before she needed to be ready. Finally tucked in bed, she read his message: ‘Sleep well’.

“Goodnight oppa,” she whispered. 

Unluckily for Ji-hyun, she never really fell asleep that night. This turned out to be a blessing because Min-ji-eonnie had told everyone she had a bad headache.

“You missed the most amazing sashimi last night, Ji-hyun,” the PD-nim said. “I am sorry you had a headache. It is a shame because we are heading back to Seoul tonight so you won’t be able to have any. Maybe you can come back to Busan later?”

“Oh! I really wanted to have seafood,” Ji-hyun almost cried. It was a perfect one night and two days but not having fresh seafood… well, she had her own wonderful Cinderella night, so what did it matter? Busan and the sea were not going anywhere and it wasn’t every night that you could have a date like that.  To honour the memory, she posted Chang-wook's pictures of her the next day. 

The announcement of Chang-wook’s musical made a big splash in the celebrity pages. Everyone was excited about the chance to see it and fans and celebrities alike started to scramble for tickets. Ji-hyun spoke with Stylist-eonnie who promised to try and get tickets for both of them but once her promotion schedule was released Ji-hyun realised it would be impossible to go. She wrote to Chang-wook.

“I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I will be cheering for you. Stay healthy, Orabeoni. I will be thinking about you. And I hope you enjoy the drama. I will eat something delicious and think about what we should eat together next.”

Later, Ji-hyun would remember that as the hottest summer of her life. It had meant so many changes and new experiences. It was also the shortest summer of her life. It began with a kiss on a terrace in May and ended with a kiss on a beach in August.