Present day.

“What happened to your face?”

Min Young looks up from the script she is reading to the voice of her friend who just walked in her kitchen. She  tries to smile, but it feels more like of a grimace to her.

Yoon Ji sits on the stool across her and reaches over  the countertop, lifts Min Young’s chin and takes a good look at her face, noting the dark circles and eye bags. “Wow, you really went all out here.” She shakes her head, then grabs the half-empty coffee mug in front of Min Young, taking a loud sip.

Min Young sighs. Normally, she would be so annoyed  and complain non-stop when Yoon Ji  does that—stealing her coffee, but right now, she cannot even summon the energy to care.

Yoon Ji, surprised at the lack of backlash from her coffee-stealing skills, grows concerned. “Min Young, talk to me. Are you okay?”

She sighs again. “Did not sleep last night,” she replies quietly, absently flipping the script to the next page.

Yoon Ji’s face falls. “Oh, Min Young.” She sidles around the countertop to her side and gives her a tight hug. “It will be alright soon. Manager Kang says he will take care of it. He is considering hiring a security detail while…you know…” she trails off, gauging her reaction.

Min Young raises an eyebrow. She cannot blame her friend’s hesitation. Yesterday, she had really lost it. The stress of all the worrying, hiding, and not being able to get out of her own damn house and do what she wants, has taken it’s toll on her for the past one week. And last night she just snapped. 

Tori.

Even just thinking about the name of the man who caused all of these, sends angry shiver down her spine.

It all started almost around seven months ago. At first, they were all just harmless gifts. Some flowers here. Some stuffed bears there. And then his actions became bolder. He started sending letters to her company’s office, declarations of compliments and praise. At one point, she even sent back a simple thank you note, thinking he would stop once he got a reply from her. But it wasn’t enough. One day, she saw one of his letters waiting at her doorstep, with a pair of extravagant diamond earrings. She can still remember the panic that overcame her when she realized that her home, her grandmother’s home that she loved so much, was compromised. And what’s more disturbing was his letter’s tone had turned to full-on adoration, with profession of love and talks of their future together. When his letters and expensive gifts did not stop, that’s when she decided she had to move house. 

She was heartbroken. She loved her grandmother’s house so much, it hurt her heart to abandon it. The house was filled with so many happy memories of her Grandma when she was still alive.

But moving to a secured apartment building was the sound decision. For four months ago, it had been peaceful. The letters have stopped  coming altogether and Min Young was able to start breathing again. 

Until one week ago.

She came home last week, tired from a photoshoot, when she saw it on her door. It was a simple I love you written across her door frame. Written in blood (or that was what she thought at first. It was later confirmed it was just a red ink). A dripping blood red, like a horror movie. But what made her scream wasn’t that. No, what made her scream was the snow-white, fluffy, stuffed animal dog, covered in blood, pinned on her door, with it’s blank eyes staring up at her. She almost fainted thinking it was her beloved dog, Leon. She had sobbed in relief when she finally found the strength to open her door and her very much alive Leon bounced out, barking happily into her arms.

The police got involved at that point. They had given orders to Min Young not to leave the house as much as possible, which made her crazy. She had work commitments she had to cancel. Family issues she couldn’t attend to. Friends who left the country without her being able to send them off. All because she was stuck inside her own freaking house!

So, last night, it was just all too much. She screamed and cried last night, until her eyes were raw and her voice was hoarse. Cursing at the faceless stranger who had been, and continues to  disrupt and terrorize her life.

Yoon Ji gets up and comes back with a cup of steaming hot tea in her hands. “Take this, it’ll help your throat.”

She nods and silently takes the cup.

“Cheer up, Min Young! Finally, today you will be able to leave the house.” Yoon Ji claps her hands together, trying to lighten the mood. “But before that, we have to do something about that.” She motions at the dark circles and bags under her eyes. “Let’s not make Kim Jae Wook forget the reason why he asked you out the first time.” She wags her eyebrows playfully at Min Young.

Min Young freezes. For the first time since last week, her face comes alive. With panic of course, but at least this is a different kind of panic. “That is today? But we cancelled it, right?”

“Uh, yeah. We rescheduled it. To today.”

“What?!”

“What, I thought that is why you’re reading the script today, no?”

Min Young looks down at Her Private Life script on her hands. She almost memorized every bit of it, even some of the other actors’s parts. “Well, with me stuck in here, this is the only thing I can do, isn’t it?”

“Well, today is the first table-read! How do you feel about seeing him again?” Yoon Ji tries to play it down, but she cannot hide the excitement in her voice.

The fact that Min Young will be seeing Jae Wook again after six years of hiding from him is…well. Nerve-wracking is putting it mildly. She can feel warmth creeping back into her face, as she feels shame, guilt, horror, and…yes, a bit of excitement, all combined together.

As if reading her mind, Yoon Ji asks, “Are you excited to see him?”

Min Young averts her gaze. 

“Aha! What does that face mean?”

Min Young rolls her eyes. “Stop it, Yoon Ji. It’s not like that.” Ever since she told Yoon Ji about her past with Jae Wook, her friend harbours this insane idea, that maybe. Maybe they will rekindle…something. Yoon Ji has always been like this for every co-star she had. Always daydreaming she would find love through her work. She is literally obsessed with Min Young’s love life. Or her lack thereof. 

Yoon Ji is happily married, and has an adorable four-year old, but she said sometimes, she still misses the feeling of dating, so she wants to live vicariously through Min Young’s dating life. And it frustrates her that Min Young is not even interested.

Despite Yoon Ji’s insane notion, Min Young thinks otherwise. She is actually convinced Jae Wook hates her. After what she did, who wouldn’t? She’d hate herself. 

She tells Yoon Ji the same thing.

“Probably hates you?” Yoon Ji repeats. “Oh honey, he definitely hates you,” she says gleefully.

 Min Young is stunned for a moment. She did not expect Yoon Ji to agree immediately. And happily agree at that. “I’m sorry, but why are you so happy that he definitely hates me?” she asks, confused.

“Well, there’s a thin, fine line between hate and love. I’d take hate over indifference. Hate can turn to love. Indifference turns to…nothing. Imagine, if you walk into that table-read and Jae Wook does not recognize you? That will break my heart.”

Min Young does not even know how to respond to that. Yoon Ji has clearly gone mad.

“And of course, he hates you. I mean, you rejected the guy!” Yoon Ji continues.

Min Young bristles. “Hey! I did not reject him!”

“Hmm, let’s see.” Yoon Ji taps her chin with one finger. “Did you tell him that you didn’t want to go out with him after he poured out his heart to you?”

Min Young narrows her eyes at her friend.

Yoon Ji shrugs her shoulders. “Because you know, telling a guy you did not want to go out with him sounds awfully like a rejection to me.”

Min Young grabs a napkin and throws it at Yoon Ji’s face. “You know, I regret the day I decided to tell you what happened between us.”

Yoon Ji only swats the napkin away. “And how could you reject that face? I mean, it’s literally a crime to reject—“

“Can you please stop using the word reject? I—”

“Okay, then.” Yoon Ji pauses for a beat. “How could you break his heart?” she challenges.

Min Young throws her hands in air in surrender at Yoon Ji’s relentless jabs. “Oh my God, Yoon Ji! Will you please stop? For the hundredth time, I did not reject him. And no hearts were broken, okay? We are just two…acquaintances, who… drifted apart.” Min Young nods, her face determined, as if convincing herself. “Yes, we are two acquaintances who drifted apart.”

“Acquaintances? Riiiight. You know, I’ve never met acquaintances who slep—“

“Yoon Ji!” Min Young cuts her friend sharply, and looks around, listening if her housekeeper is nearby. She hears the vacuum running upstairs and exhales. Then she glares at Yoon Ji. “You are not allowed to say a word until we leave this house,” she whispers furiously.

At least Yoon Ji has the courtesy to look ashamed and guilty. She makes a zipping motion across , and promptly falls mute. Slowly, she takes Min Young’s coffee mug again, and drinks in silence. Happily, she watches as color slowly comes back to Min Young’s face, replacing the terror she had for the past few days. Maybe Jae Wook