“Is it true?” Eun Bi asked when she called me one night.

“What?” I threw the question back. I was busy reading a book in my bedroom. I got up and turned the lights on, and turned off the lampshade. It took her a long time to answer.

“That Hyuk Jae will be directing our new TV series? Have you heard of it?” she said.

I nearly fell off of my knees upon hearing it. It only meant one thing- I would see him everyday.  I would have the ultimate chance to see if he had changed or not.

A smile curved up my lips. “That would be fine.” I felt an inexplicable wave of happiness as I tried to absorb what she said. I lay on my bed that night, overjoyed with my new project.

The script was given to me the next day. I scanned it and found the plot good. It was a romantic comedy about a guy and a girl in their early thirties, who were forced to marry out of the merger of two bug real estate companies, but somewhere along the story, revenge lies behind. What amazed me was that the script was written by Hyuk Jae himself.

“I can’t believe you. You wrote this while you were in US? It was a tough job.” I remarked when he came over to ask me about it.

“Yeah. It took me two years to write that. I was busy with my work there, and as soon as I returned home, I called SBS about it. And they agreed.”

I couldn’t answer anything but a smile. He has always been a hard worker, and I admired that attitude of him.

“And I’ve been imagining you portraying the lead man.” he added.

“Really? I’ll work hard for this.” I said.

The shooting began. We were at Myeongdong District, where so many teenagers and shoppers flocked to get some cheap buys. It was Seoul’s biggest shopping district. People were looking at us, and as soon as Hyuk Jae shouted “action”, Eun Bi and I wore each of our characters. She walked fast away from me, and I began chasing her.

“Hey, wait for me! Eun Young!”

Eun Young, who was Eun Bi’s character, glared at me.

“Seok Hyeon, stop this. We’re just hurting ourselves. Don’t play too dumb.” she pleaded, with tears b her eyes.

“I love you. I love everything between us. You don’t know how much it would hurt me if you walk away.”

I hugged her from the back, as she tried to get off of me.

“Seok Hyeon!” she said firmly, her hands were tightly grasped in my arms, then she finally broke away from me. Though she never looked back, I knew she was sobbing. I looked at her while she took heavy steps from where I stood. My tears finally rolled in, falling in constant motion. Based on what I read in Hyuk Jae’s script, the next, or most of the episodes were flashbacks.

“Cut!” Hyuk Jae shouted.

Everything was back to normal. Eun Bi ran to me as we wiped our tears away. I put an arm around her waist as we walked on the set to have our make-ups retouched. Teenagers rushed to where we were and took pictures of us. Somebody even asked me to sign an autograph on her Math book, hoping that it would cheer up to study more in that subject.

“Thank you, Oppa!” she said and kissed my cheek. I thanked her too and hugged her before she left with her friends. I smiled as I watched her drift out of my sight, and then I heard Eun Bi speak to me.

“She’s cute, huh? What’s her name?”

“Han Ji Hyun. I saw it on her ID.” I answered.

She grinned. “You have lots of fans.”

The next scene was car-chasing. Eun Bi was riding in the car in front of mine. I was in the black car, gripping the steering wheel, and getting ready for the scene. I had a trauma with cars, because my uncle died of it when I was young. I knew it’s unusual, but he was very dear to me. I treated him as my father, and it dimmed my whole world when he passed away. My heart raced then beats more than the usual. I was getting nervous about this scene, wondering if I’d have the courage to get through this.

Memories came running through my mind… vividly, and the explosion rang loudly in my head.

“Dong Hae, are you ready?” the staff asked me, cutting my wild daydream.

“Yes.” I nodded.

And when Hyuk Jae shouted “action”, Eun Bi and I started to zoom down the road. As I maneuvered the car with shaking, sweaty hands, the very moment of the accident played in my mind. My sight seemed to spin, and I found myself traveling to another direction.

After some time of struggling, I heard a loud explosion; I heard a loud screech that almost tore my eardrums. I unexpectedly closed my eyes, and everything around me turned off.