They say love at first sights are not true

I was not into believing it either

But you came

And changed everything everyone believes in

 

It didn't start with a Hi.

It all started with coffee-stained clothes and coffee-soaked script thrown to the floor.

It should have been a quiet afternoon, if not for that woman. She came rushing like the wind, the click clock of her stilettos were fast and precise, her voice was serious and her words were foreign but still I found it familiar and beautiful.

 

I was walking too, but slower, my eyes on my phone. I never looked at her — never intended to, but we bumped into each other like in fcking dramas. She was about to fall but I was fast enough to let my phone and my cup of coffee go and hold both her arms to steady her. It only took seconds, but she was breathing hard when the whirlwind of panic ended, her shoulders moving up and down.

 

“Are you okay?” I asked, and that was the time I saw her familiar face. It was as if I’ve seen her before – those eyes that were big and dark brown and the shape of almond with beautiful double eyelids; those pink lips that were parted as she breathed hard.

“Yes,” she replied in Korean. My hands were still holding her shoulders, and maybe she came to her senses that she eased out of my grasp. “Yes, I'm okay.” She repeated. Her white dress was stained with coffee, but still she said she was fine. I didn't know any lady will reply that, except her. “Oh my God, I'm so sorry!” She exclaimed with a hint of shock as she looked at me. I was pretty wet too, but instead of getting annoyed I only smiled. I liked that she cared.

“No worries, I'm fine.” I replied with a slight smile.

We were both coming to the realization that we are both fine regardless of our wet clothes, until a voice came and said, “Hey, the script!” in a very high-pitched tone. The woman looked at the one who said it, and I looked at him too, and I saw a tall and handsome man pointing at the floor right between us.

 

I thought it was The Script (band) he was talking about, but when I looked at where he was pointing, I saw a thick clump of papers in bind and beside it was my cup of coffee. The coffee was still trickling from the cup. The woman gasped, and I knew that those coffee-soaked clump of papers was important.

The man walked briskly and slightly pushed the woman. He sat with his above the floor and breathed hard before holding up the clump of papers with three of his fingers, still drops of coffee were dripping from the edge of them, as the woman stared at him with a loud sigh of frustration. She talked to the man in the same foreign language I heard her say a while ago but the man angrily stood up and dragged her away from me, the coffee-soaked paper in his left hand and her hand in his right. He talked back in an angry voice that made the woman take a step back.

Seeing the situation made me feel alarmed. I didn't want them to have a fight just because of those papers. I didn’t want to see any man hitting a woman (it wasn’t their case, still I have to prevent anything that may result to that) so I thought I needed to act. I grabbed my phone that was accidentally thrown at my left (it was still fine, just a bit wet because of the coffee) and looked at them. They were still in a heated discussion; the man was so angry and the woman... and she's maybe angry and frustrated at herself. She stopped talking back, maybe because she accepted that it was her fault, and sighing deeply while looking at the floor.

Well, it wasn't entirely her fault. I was also walking around without looking in my way.

 

I slowly walked to them so I could try to talk to the man and to stop his angry stance at the woman, but he just vented his anger at me.

 

“Oh please, this is none of your goddamn business.” The man angrily shifted from his language to Korean, and then continued talking to the woman, now subtler but still angry.

“Please stop being angry at her. It wasn't entirely her fault.” I told them again. This time the man stopped talking and the woman glared at me. Now her eyes were black, but still big and beautiful.

“Would you please stop?” She asked annoyingly, her brows creasing. I frowned. “I don't need your help.” She brushed her long hair with her hands in an annoyed way and looked back at the man and started talking to him.

 

I should have walked away the moment she told me that, but my instinct said stay, offer something for her.

 

“But I wanted to help.” I told her. She exhaled hard and looked at the floor again. After a beat, she glared at me.

“Could you rewrite that script for us?” She asked as she pointed at the papers. The man beside her suddenly bulged his eyes out of surprise and tried to talk to her, maybe to give her some sense, but she wasn't listening and only looking at me intently.

 

I stared back at her. I see her fierce determination and I have the feeling that I need to see this woman again, and I could only do it if I write that script.

 

I need not to think of the thought over and over again, so after sighing I nodded and said, “Alright, I will do it.”

The both of them stopped and looked at me, now with their surprised gazes. “Are you sure?” The woman's face lit up a bit, and I was awkwardly happy that I saw her smile.

“You don't have to, she didn't mean...” The man said, but I cut him.

“Yeah I'm sure. It's my way of apologizing, so please don't be angry anymore.” I tried to have a huge smile but it came timidly. The woman sighed and nodded. I gave my manager's calling card (I'm keeping some of them for the sake of emergencies like this), and the man received it.

“I will call you within the day.” The man assured by words but not with expression. He looked too surprised. I just nodded.

“It's my manager's number. By the way I'm Brian Kang. Just tell him you need me and I would know.”

“This is Rachelle, I'm Nico.” He went through a fast introduction that the woman — Rachelle — only bowed, smiling slightly. “I will call your manager.” Nico told me again. I bowed my okay and walked to where I should go as if nothing happened.

 

I smiled as I walked. I knew there was something I started feeling. I was curious who she is and why she felt familiar, and right at the moment I only know her first name. I didn't know what this curiosity meant anyway, and where it will lead me this time.

But then after a few moments my smile turned into a frown, feeling that I should not have interfered and just let them be. I thought that I would see Rachelle again anyway, even if I did not agree to rewrite that script, but it was already done. I already agreed to help them.

I went to our studio and sat the moment I entered. Sungjin hyung turned his reclining chair to me and looked at me.

 

“Yah, did you meet R.G. Moore? I never get to go out of here.” Sungjin hyung asked. I only looked at him.

“No.” I don't even know her, nor didn’t I see any Caucasians today. “Who is she?”

“She authored my favorite books.” I nodded my oh and Sungjin hyung continued, “I heard she's leaving Korea today and just visited President Park. They said they are close friends...” Sungjin hyung blabbed more about the author, but I really found it boring that I only listened to half of what he said. He then asked me why I was wet, and I explained about what happened a while ago without giving away of how I ended up helping Rachelle. He has spare shirts in the room so he let me borrow one before he discussed about the advances of our next album and I listened carefully (it's my job, and I'm interested).

I stayed in the studio for hours for the album until our manager called for me. He instructed me to go out, so I did.

 

“What were you thinking?!” He started once I was out of the studio. “Some Nico called me and asked for you because you said something stupid to them.” He almost barked at me. I just stood there, barely contemplating but definitely agreeing that I did something stupid.

“It's my fault so I decided to help them.” My manager looked away and breathed when I said that. Maybe he was trying to calm himself, or maybe couldn't believe that I would actually help someone I didn't know. It may not entirely be my fault, but I already promised, and my manager knew that if we don't commit then there might be trouble (posting the incident online and demanding the company to pay for damages, whatever). When he looked back at me he was already looking more serious.

“Fine. Nico gave you four hours everyday in five days. The schedule won't hurt your schedules since you're still preparing for comeback. Just be sure to leave everything nice before going to his house.”

 

His house?

Manager hyung did not notice my silent question that he continued blabbering.

 

“I will drive you to his house and back at the office. We'll leave at eight pm tonight.”

 

***

 

I wished I didn't promise them anything.

The moment my manager left Nico's house (he stayed for a quick chat), I was already given a laptop and the coffee-soaked script that was already dry but brittle and brown. He told me we should strictly stick to his given schedule because they will have a meeting next week and it would be a pain if I could not do it within the timeframe.

I settled on the couch and opened the laptop before reading the cover. It said 'The Afterglow' in large script. Below were three names and their jobs written in smaller fonts: 'Head Scriptwriter Ely Go,' 'Director Dennis Kang,' and 'From the Books of R.G. Moore.' I didn't know about the other names, but R.G. Moore struck me. I remembered Sungjin hyung telling me that name.

So this is one of her famous books, huh.

 

“Nico-ssi,” suddenly I called his name. Nico looked at me, and my mind quickly thought of something to ask. The question settled in my mind for a moment and I voiced it out before it's gone. “This is one of R.G. Moore's books?”

Nico raised an eyebrow before replying, “Yeah, why? Are you not familiar with that book?” I shook my head and kind of cursed myself for being ignorant. “It's her first ever manuscript to be published and the book won several awards. That's why it will be having a movie now.”

This time I decided to act knowledgeable so I replied, “Oh, maybe that's why she's so popular.” Anyway Sungjin hyung is the living proof that she is, in fact, famous.

“Maybe not,” Nico sneered, “you didn't even recognize her.”

 

I didn't know if my eyes bulged when he said that. Does that mean we already met?

Nico looked at me knowingly, smiling as if internally telling me to guess who she is. Maybe sometimes I could be naive enough to not guess things, but today it was as if the answer was already in front of me.

 

Maybe Nico also sensed that I already knew the answer, so he said, “Yeah, she is.”

“I see.”

 

I didn't bother asking more questions and proceeded with typing. So maybe I set my trap on my own. Maybe my instinct is wrong this time. Maybe I was doing all this work and would never see her again.

Or maybe maybes are just maybes.

 

---

Next chapter will be next week~

Thank you for reading!

 

Always,