“Please stay by my side instead of God’s, Gyosunim,” she said and apologized right after. Her lips quivered as she spoke and he didn’t fail to notice.

He didn’t know why but tears welled up in his eyes. Watching her cry made him sad. Her soft sobs filled the room while he walked up to her with the most apologetic expression on his face. He didn’t speak a word but he doubted if words would really come out had he tried. He was lost staring at this beautiful woman in front of him. He lift up a brave arm to caress her hair, causing her to jerk in surprise and without wasting another second, he kissed her.

After a very long time, she responded to it with her amateur kiss. He broke it for a moment to look at her pretty face, then he kissed again.

And then he held her in his arms for a very long time.

“Cut,” shouted the PD-nim.

Hyunbeen broke away from him immediately to wipe away her tears.

The PD-nim came clapping towards them to congratulate them for successfully wrapping up the best scene of the season. He praised their acting so much and thanked them for their hard work. After saying goodbyes to everyone, they packed up for the day.

Before leaving, his eyes lingered on her for a while and all he could think of was the way her lips tasted during the kiss and the way she smelled when he hugged her tiny frame. He had kissed many actresses before, even hotter ones but something about her and the love-line in this drama made him feel things he’d not felt before. It made his heart soft. Softer than it already was.

He smiles at her before she leaves with her manager and thinks to himself, Glad there is another season.

It has been long since Yeonseok felt the excitement of liking someone one-sided. First, he saw a few of her interviews and admired the way she genuinely answers the questions the same way she speaks to anyone – calm and collected. Now, even in his busy schedules, he found himself looking for her content. Sometimes he even wanted to call her and just listen to her speaking.

It was all of a sudden that he realized he developed a crush on her. Somewhere in the midst of their long conversations and the wait for their next one, he fell for her. Somewhere in the midst of her transition from Jang Gyeoul to herself, he was hooked and now he can’t seem to move on.

Now that Hyunbeen’s popularity is rising, she had been receiving love from all the Hospital Playlist fans but what hurts him the most is that some of his fans are hating on her to the extent of throwing even death threats at times. Although he knew it was inevitable, he wished he could do something about it. His manager keeps him informed about what is going on with her. On one of the days the issue got too severe, he called her up to apologize. He expected her to not answer his phone because he was the reason for her receiving all the negativity but then..

“Oppa! It’s been long! How are you?” She answered in her bright tone.

“Uhh umm.. I’m fine, Hyunbeen-ah. How are you doing? Is everything okay?” he asked sounding a little worried.

“Everything’s great, Oppa. But what’s up, you’re calling me during your busy schedules…?”

“Ah that.. Hyunbeen-ah. It’s just that.. I’m really sorry.”

“What for?”

“I heard it. About what they’re doing to you. And I’m really sorry about that. I feel really disgusted. I’m really sorry, Hyunbeen-ah.” He said and wanted to say it few more times before she cut him off.

“Oppa! Why are you apologizing? All you’ve done was take care of me. Please don’t say that again. It’s not your fault.” She said and he wished he was there to give her a hug at least. “Anyway, I don’t give a damn about them. They can very well do whatever they want to do with their lives.” She continued. “Why would they even bother wasting their time about some random speculations? It’s not like you like me for real.”

Yeonseok didn’t say anything and gave a small hum after a while.

“Oppa, now that you are not giving any interviews, the interviewers have been asking me a lot about you.” She said and laughed.

“Oh really? What did they ask?” he asked her getting curious. He wondered if there were any questions which made her uncomfortable.

“’Why did Jeongwon cry after listening to the confession?’” she said. “Oppa, why did you cry though? It wasn’t even in the script. You are really an amazing actor.”

“Haha.. No, Hyunbeen-ah. I cried because you did. Couldn’t have done it otherwise.” Good job, Yeonseok, that was smooth.

“Ahh.. look at you being humble as always. Thank you for taking such good care of me.”

“Always for our Beenie. It was very nice to hear your voice again. Very therapeutic.”

“Oppa, are you flirting with me?” she asked, laughing.

“Haha.. Gotta go. I’ll call you again when I need more heeling. Please answer, okay? Bye Hyunbeen-ah.”

“Ah yeh, oppa. Bye. Stay safe.”

Fool. Yeonseok thought to himself. He really is a big fool.