“Stop the pretense,” she stepped into the room, closed and locked the door behind her. “Stop hiding behind your smile.”

He looked curiously at her. His brow rose, but the smile still played upon his lips, “What are you talking about? I’m smiling because I want to smile. I’m not using it to hide anything.”

She took another step toward him, “There’s just you and I in this room. Drop the pretense, Kim Him Chan. You don’t have to hide in front of me. Stop internalizing everything. All that does is built up all the bad feelings within you and one day those feelings will explode. I don’t want to see that day.”

She reached out and took his good hand in hers. The smile on Him Chan’s face slowly disappeared, “I can’t, Amber. I want to let everything out, but I don’t want …”

“… To worry anyone,” she cut him off.  She gazed into his eyes. He gazed back with his sad ones. “You don’t want them to see the weak side of you. You don’t want them to worry. You want to remain strong for them, but you don’t have to be like that with me. I know part of you is fine, part of you is happy, but there’s also that part that is hurting. Show me that part, Him Chan, just to me and no one else. I know you need a shoulder to cry on and I’m here to offer my shoulder to you.”

He hesitantly pulled his hand from hers. She was unaffected by his action. She understood why he acted the way he did. She understood him, because they are alike in that way.

 She remembered what she saw earlier. He smiled on the stage, but the smile never reached his eyes. She knew then that he was hurting. She wanted to go to him right then and there. To stormed the stage and demanded that he stopped pretending, but she couldn’t. Their position in this industry prevented them from doing what they really want. A façade, which must be kept to protect themselves and everyone involved.

Her eyes never left him as the two of them stood in silence, facing each other. She would wait however long it took. Finally, with his one arm being in a sling, he used his free arm and pulled her closed to him. He rested his head on her shoulder and she heard him sobbed into it. She brought up her arms, encircled them around him and gently patted his back with one hand, “Let it all out, Him Chan. Cry all the pain away. Remember that you will always have a shoulder to cry on. Remember that I’m always here for you and promise me never to hold anything in. No matter how bad the situation can be, I will silently stand here and let you cry on my shoulder.”