Past, 2009

 

Seunggi and Hyojoo stood by the lake, side by side, their arms on each other’s waist, enjoying the scenery in front of them. Hyojoo crept closer to his ear and whispered a word he unmistakably heard as “I love you”. They turned to each other, staring into their eyes, looking into the deepest of their souls, and a smile crept on their faces. They leaned closer to each other, closer until their lips touched. The kiss felt blissful to Seunggi. Hyojoo’s soft lips that tasted like cherries passionately kissing his, and it almost felt like paradise to him. The wind blew on their faces, brushing Hyojoo’s hair on his face. Then, Hyojoo pulled him closer, deepening the kiss.

The moment was perfect. Seunggi wished time had stopped. He would love to remain in that state with Hyojoo. He was about to indulge himself more into the kiss when a voice erupted from behind.

“Cut!” hollered the director, his deep voice echoing in the distance, followed by a series of applause by the staff. “You’ve done well.”

Ah, just a moment longer, he begged in his mind. But it was already too late. Hyojoo pulled herself from him, leaving his lips to kiss only the air.

He silently cursed the director under his breath when Hyojoo went out of his grasp. When it was the most perfect moment! He had to ruin it. However, when a staff came to him to congratulate him on their last shooting, he smiled along. Deep down in his heart, he felt like crying at the thought of ending his “relationship” with Hyojoo. Although it wasn’t quite the type of relationship where he could freely call Hyojoo as his girlfriend, but at least he had some kind of tie that could relate him with her. Now, there wouldn’t be any reason for him to be even near Hyojoo.

He watched Hyojoo silently as she approached her make-up artist, touching up bits of make-up on her face, and he saw her no more. Seunggi was pulled through the crowd by his manager. Apparently, he had to shoot ‘2 Days 1 Night’ right after, and they had to rush to get to the site. Seunggi was dragged into the passenger seat of a car and, without saying any goodbye to any of the staff or the director, especially Hyojoo, left the site.

 

Seunggi stared out of the window blankly, watching as the trees pass by the road. The lake lay deep in the woods, in an area he was not familiar with. There were no roads; only narrow, uneven dirt tracks, allowing only one vehicle to use it at a time. Why the director chose the site, Seunggi didn’t know. It was dangerous. There were holes in the tracks everywhere and it was hilly. An accident could happen anytime, and no one would even know about it.

“What’s wrong, Seunggi-ya?” his manager asked, keeping his eyes on the road as he did. The bond between Seunggi and his manager had always been close, but Seunggi, younger by 8 years, still had to keep his honorific.

Seunggi sighed. “Nothing, hyung.”

His manager the radio. The DJ was speaking, conversing with a caller. “Are you sad about leaving early?”

Seunggi didn’t answer. His manager glanced at Seunggi and the road alternately, wanting to read Seunggi’s face as well as drive safely. Right at that moment, the radio’s DJ announced that SHINee’s Ring Ding Dong will be playing.

“Its okay, Seunggi-ya,” he said, attempting to comfort the younger. “You have a post-production party on Saturday, remember? You can probably meet them there.”

Seunggi cringed. The song was loud, too loud for him to think properly. He turned the radio off. “But my schedule is full, isn’t it?”

This time, his manager didn’t answer. He stared straight on the road, driving carefully over a small mound on the left hand side of the road as his mind processed. “Ah, you’re right,” he said. “You have a commercial shooting on Saturday evening. Wow, I’m amazed you memorised your own schedule!” He laughed.

Seunggi stirred in his seat. That’s not it, he thought. He had been looking forward to that party and made an effort to empty every single schedule available on that day ever since two months ago, but unfortunately, an opportunity too good to be ignored landed on his hands that he just had to take up on it.  He sighed again.

“I think you should take a nap for a while,” said his manager. “It’s going to be a long, bumpy ride.” He turned the radio back on, and now, DBSK’s Mirotic played. He switched to other channels, searching for more soothing music for the long journey.

“Thanks, hyung,” he mumbled softly. He lowered down the seat, adjusted the headrest and dozed off pretty quickly, thanks to the lullaby-like song on the channel his manager stopped on.

He dreamed quite long for just a nap. He was at the post-production party. It was in a grilled meat restaurant somewhere out of Seoul, at the request of the cameraman who claimed it was ‘the best grilled meat restaurant ever— with very reasonable pricing’. Everyone was wearing casual, laughing and talking loudly as they crowded around the large table reserved for them. Seunggi found himself in sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, together in the crowd of people surrounding the table. The large table in front of him was empty, leaving only pieces of dropped meat, burned meat and extra lettuce.

Seunggi looked to his left and he saw the director, smiling broadly, drowning a glass of strong rice wine. Everyone cheered as he managed to gulp it down in one shot. The director threw his hands up in triumph and Seunggi could see that the booze was quite strong indeed. The director turned to him, and put his arm on his shoulder. The smell in his breath was evident, though it oddly reminded him of the smell of garbage. He mumbled something to Seunggi, in which he could not hear as his words were jumbled up. It’s also because Seunggi’s eyes weren’t focusing on the drunken director. Instead, it was focusing on the person sitting on the other side of the director. He saw Hyojoo, sipping slowly from her glass.

The sight of her caused a stir in him, and when she smiled and laugh, he found it endearing. It had been like that ever since he fell for her. It all started when they were shooting for the drama ‘Shining Inheritance’. At first, he only acknowledged her as a co-worker, nothing more. But soon, he felt differently towards her after he knew her better. She was a bright and high-spirited person, and her undying passion for acting amazed him. To him, she had a flaming blue aura that shone brilliantly, attracting everyone’s attention onto her. The smile she often gave away worthed more than diamonds. She was a beauty, a true one, free from the evil touch of knives and scalpel.

But when he saw the person sitting beside her, his mood flipped completely. Bae Soobin. Just the sight of his face sickened him. He was more than 10 years older than the both of them— yes, he would gladly call him ‘ahjussi’ if it weren’t for the connection they had between them— and he was always latching himself onto Hyojoo. He always whispered into her ear, making her smile and laugh sometimes. Who knew if he flirted with her all these times, whispering cheesy lines or jokes into innocent Hyojoo’s ears? Who knew if he actually whispered dirty things into her ears? Oh, the never-ending possibilities just kept coming.

Suddenly, he found himself standing in a black void, and the party he was in earlier was merely showed to him in a screen in front of him. No more stinky breath of the director.

From the screen, he could hear cheers, loud cheers that seem to resonate in the dark, empty void, echoing into the distance that seemed endless. His eyes searched for the source for the cheers, and what he had found gave him the shock of his life.

Bae Soobin was kissing Hyojoo. His Hyojoo. Passionately. Seunggi raged up onto the screen, expecting the screen to give way by just pushing himself in, but he couldn’t. It was as if he was pushing against a wall. He pushed harder, but there was no effect. He pushed even harder, exerting all of the energy in his muscles, but it didn’t work either.

The cheer got louder but Seunggi turned away, unwilling to look any longer at what might happen inside the screen. Instead, he ran, away from the screen and away from the cheers. But the cheers never died down. No matter how long he ran, it grew louder than ever. He turned around, trying to see the distance he covered between him and the screen, but when he did, it was still there, at the same position as it was before he ran. He screamed frantically, covering his ears with his hands, hoping the cheers would die down.

Suddenly, he heard another voice in the distance, faintly. He couldn’t make out what it was saying, but soon he heard it clear enough. It was calling for his name.

“Seunggi-ya,” it called. The cheers finally died down.

“Seunggi-ya.” The screen also vanished. He found himself much more relaxed.

“Seunggi-ya.” He jolted awake, bright lights flooding into his eyes. It seemed it had been his manager who called him. His eyes squinted, taking a moment to adjust to the bright light.

“Are you okay?” asked his manager. “You look pale, and what’s more, you’re curled up in your seat.” He pulled Seunggi into a more comfortable state on his seat. “And you’re sweating. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yes,” he croaked. His throat was dry and parched, as if he had been screaming for the whole day.

“I’ll get you some water,” his manager said. “Stay in here, okay?” The manager rolled down the window of the car slightly, leaving the air conditioner switched on before he left.

Seunggi groaned. His body ached, and his head was throbbing. He stretched himself, yawning as he did. Within a few minutes, his manager returned with a bottle of mineral water and a bottle of isotonic drink, carried inside a plastic bag.

“Here.” His manager opened up the bottle of mineral water, aiding Seunggi to drink the water. “We’re here. I’ll tell them you need a couple of minutes to get ready.” He left the drinks in the car and left Seunggi alone, yet again.

 

 

 

Present, 2011

 

Two years had passed, and Seunggi could safely say he had forgotten about Hyojoo. He hadn’t seen her for the past two years. Though he literally still did see her on television, he had not seen her in person ever since the last shooting of ‘Shining Inheritance’. How great of a coincidence it was for him not to meet her all this while. Perhaps it was fate, helping him to forget about her. Who knew, maybe Hyojoo herself had forgotten about him. Of course, over the course of two whole years, who wouldn’t?

He sat at the passenger seat. His manager was driving him to the recording studio. It was the same old person driving behind the wheels with the same concern for Seunggi for years. An old ballad song played on the radio and his manager sang along.

“Seunggi-ya,” he chortled. “You ought to sing along too, just to freshen up your voice for the recording today.”

“Nah, I’ll pass, hyung.” He grinned as his manager continued to sing on.

“Say,” said his manager, once he finished singing. “I heard your producer is bringing in a girl to feature in your new song.”

“Yes,” Seunggi answered blandly.

“Why do you sound so bored? Aren’t you excited to meet her?”

“Why should I?” Seunggi snorted. “Whoever appears will not affect me.” Although he was curious who it would be, but actually, he couldn’t care less who it might turn out to be. All he needed to do was greet her, rehearse the lines of the talking they would do, go together into the recording room, act everything out and he’ll never see her again— maybe in one of the variety shows they might meet, but it wouldn’t make much difference.

His manager gave a guffaw. “We’ll see about that.”

Seunggi shot a questioning look at the man reaching his mid-30s but was ignored.

 

Once they reached their destination, the car pulled up, exactly in front of the building.

“Good luck on your recording today!” said his manager before he left, and the tone of his voice sounded suspicious. Very suspicious. Seunggi shrugged it off and left towards the main entrance of the building.

He entered the building and looked around for signs of his producer. No, his producer was nowhere to be seen. He pulled out his cell phone and dialled his producer’s number.

“Hello?” a hoarse voice rang through his phone.

“Ah, producer-nim!” Seunggi said through the phone, keeping his tone friendly and respectful. “This is Lee Seunggi. Where are you? I’m already here at the SYD building.”

“Ah, Lee Seunggi!” said the producer. He paused for a while. “Oh, we’re almost here. Wait for us in the lobby, okay?” With that, the producer hung up the phone.

As directed by the producer, he waited in the large lobby, standing. While standing, his eyes wandered around the room, where he noticed a set of lounge chairs. He approached one of it and sat on it. Looking around again, he saw people going in and out, walking while talking to their phone.

Soon, Seunggi became bored, so he took out his own phone. He opened the internet browser and browsed through some news. After he finished reading the news, there was still no sign of his producer and the girl. Feeling bored again, Seunggi played a game on his phone but stopped very soon. He crossed his legs, beginning to feel relaxed, and slouched slightly on the lounge chair. He thought of taking a short nap, but the thought of earning stares from other producers ran down his spines. So, in order to preserve the image he had, he straightened up and propped his elbows on his knee while waiting, resting his chin on his fist. He always thought that that posture was manly.

Soon enough, he saw his producer coming in from the distance. And the sight of the person beside him made his stomach flip.

For the first time in two years, he saw Han Hyojoo again.

The girl dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans. Her face was dressed lightly with make up, and it revealed most of her bare face. Her hair, now longer than it was two years ago, was bouncing on her back as she walked towards him. It had been ages since he had seen her in person, which was when the filming of Shining Inheritance ended.

He stood right up, attempting to flash a bright smile to her when their eyes met, but as soon as their eyes lock, Hyojoo looked away instantly. Seunggi felt his heart drop, but he reminded himself again that he had forgotten Hyojoo.

”Ah, sorry, there was a traffic jam,” apologised the producer. “So, here’s the girl who will be featuring in your new song.” He pulled Hyojoo to front. “Han Hyojoo— oh my, you both must have known each other, don’t you?”

“Yes,” said Hyojoo, turning to the producer and then to Seunggi, flashing a bright smile. “Nice to see you again, Seunggi.” She held out her hand for him to shake.

Seunggi felt his heart speed up and he could feel the heat creeping up on his face. No, he whispered inside him. He eliminated the feeling inside him, reminding himself that he had forgotten her. He took her hand and shook it, also smiling to her. “Yes, indeed, it is nice to see you again, Hyojoo.”

“Now, let’s get going, shall we?” the producer said. “Since the both of you know each other, we can cut on the introduction time.”

The three of them went inside an elevator, going up to the 3^rd floor. The producer directed them to an empty table in what seemed like a lounge area. He gave them each a piece of paper on the short dialogue they would be acting in Seunggi’s new song ‘Time to Love’.

“It’s good, right?” asked the producer expectantly once the two of them finished looking through the script.

Both Seunggi and Hyojoo nodded, keeping their thoughts in their mind to soothe the producer’s mood. The producer beamed happily and left the two of them alone to rehearse their lines before recording it.

“Actually,” Hyojoo started. “I think it sounds awkward, especially in the part where she guesses what is in his mind.” She pointed the part to Seunggi.

Seunggi stifled a laugh. “You’re right.” He rubbed the back of his head. The song oddly reminded him of himself. Actually, if he had been present for the post-production party two years ago, he would have done the same as the guy in his song— fidgeting and stuttering in his words.

“Let’s run through the script, shall we?”

“Ah, y-yes.” Oddly, he was stuttering, exactly like the guy in his song.

They went through the script smoothly, both trying to stifle a laugh at the awkward moments, but overall, it went well. Mostly, Seunggi couldn’t help but took a glance whenever her part came.

“Oh, right!” Hyojoo exclaimed. “Come to think of it, we never exchanged our numbers.”

“Eh?” blurted Seunggi. “Oh, yeah, right.”

“Let’s trade our phone numbers, shall we?” invited Hyojoo.

“Er, right,” Seunggi answered short. He worried if he talked more, he would stumble on his words rather than talk about his points.

They exchanged their numbers, Hyojoo keying in hers in Seunggi’s phone, and Seunggi keying in his in Hyojoo’s phone. After pocketing their respective cell phones, they stayed silent, looking elsewhere but each other. Suddenly, Hyojoo giggled, which attracted Seunggi’s attention. She giggled continuously for at least a few minutes.

“W-why?” asked Seunggi, baffled by her sudden reaction. “What’s wrong?”

“No,” she said, after calming down from the fit. “It’s just that… it’s awkward— we’re really awkward. We’ve known each other but we never exchanged our phone numbers. I mean, it’s just awkward. Don’t you feel the same?”

“Ahah,” he chuckled. “You’re right. I really wonder why we forgot about it.”

“Yes, exactly!” continued Hyojoo. “That was exactly my point! And I was just beginning to wonder if you still remembered me because I received no news from you.”

Seunggi froze. Those very words that Hyojoo had said made him doubtful of his own ears. She remembers me, he repeated in his mind. All his thoughts of forgetting Hyojoo vanished. Instead, he felt it yet again, the beating of his heart, exactly as it did when he first fell for her two years ago. All those memories that he had made himself forget came back into his mind; her bright personality, her amazing passion, her brilliant aura and her earnest smile. How could he have forgotten? And to think he assumed Hyojoo had forgotten about him too. They were merely separated, without means of communication for two whole years. Only now did he realise how big a mistake it was to even think he had completely forgotten about her.

“Seunggi?” Hyojoo waved her hand in front of him. “Where are you right now?” she teased, giggling as she did.

“Nah.” Seunggi snapped back to his state of mind. “I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“Say,” Hyojoo tried to change the topic to keep their conversation going but was interrupted by the producer as he came back to check on them.

“Are you guys okay now?” he asked. “I’m sorry for such a short notice, but you guys have to go in and record it now. Are you ready?”

Hyojoo looked at Seunggi, as if asking him the same question as well.

“Well,” Seunggi said. “If Hyojoo’s ready, I’m ready.”

“I think I’m ready myself.”

“Alright then,” said the producer. “Follow me.” He turned and went off.

The both of them followed suit. They were led into a hallway, turned into another set of hallways for a few times until at last, the producer opened a door, labelled “Recording Studio 3” and entered it.

The room had huge panels attached to the walls of the room, with various kinds of buttons, knobs and switches of all colours. There were a few headphones with wires attached to the panels, placed on a hook designed for the headphones. There was a large glass window on one side of the wall, framed neatly in black, showing another room containing a set of microphones, headphones and several musical instruments. At the corner of the room they were in, there was a door, leading to another room.

The room wasn’t large, just nice for six people to move comfortably within the room, and it was neatly finished with beige coloured walls and warm lights that dotted the walls at a fixed distance from each other. Plus Seunggi, Hyojoo and the producer, there were two other people in there.

The producer discussed with the staffs in there, where they spoke quickly, not at all in a hushed tone, obviously not trying to hide anything from Hyojoo and Seunggi on their conversation. While they spoke, Hyojoo spoke to Seunggi, continuing the conversation that was cut off earlier.

“Say,” she asked, creeping closer to Seunggi’s ear. “Have you recorded the song yet?”

“No,” Seunggi answered. “It’s supposed to be after we record the talking parts.”

Hyojoo nodded. “When the song is finished, can you send it me? I want to hear it.”

Seunggi turned to read Hyojoo’s face. What is she conspiring here? Is she purposely trying to make me fall for her again? But no, her face showed no sign of trickery or lies being put up, and her eyes were lively. Her lips were pursed, not excessively to the extent of nauseating though, but in a natural way that showed off her pink lips; those lips where he last kissed two years ago; those soft, sweet pink lips that once tasted like cherries— No, he stopped himself. I shouldn’t think like this again. This isn’t right.

He turned away from Hyojoo, staring at the panels where several buttons were written with small abbreviations and numbers on it. He concentrated his mind on the writings, deciphering the meaning of those weird abbreviations.

“So, is it a yes or a no?”

“Yes,” Seunggi replied, his back facing her. “I’ll send it through your email later.” Soon, one of the staffs in the room called them to go into the other room to record their short talk.

The whole recording went well, and no mistakes were made. The staffs kept on praising Hyojoo for doing such a good job. Well, obviously, he thought peevishly. We’re actors! The way those staffs kept up to her bothered him. It seemed to him as though they were purposely trying to get near to her in order to get to know her. Of course, who wouldn’t? Hyojoo's a beautiful national actress!

While Seunggi glared, a person had slipped into the room. His entrance was not silent; the bang of the door when it closed was definitely loud, but Seunggi was too busy glaring to notice it. The person tapped on his shoulder, shifting his attention towards the person.

“Oh, hyung!”

“Ya, what’s wrong with you?” asked his manager. “I called your name twice already.”

“Sorry, hyung. My bad.” He smiled apologetically.

“So,” said his manager with a mischievous grin on his face. “How’d it go between you and Hyojoo?”

“N-nothing,” he stuttered. “Wait, how did you know about Hyojoo?”

“Simply.” His manager shrugged. Something was odd. Too odd. Seunggi knew his manager was hiding something.

“Hyung, what’s going on here?”

“Not now. Oh look, Hyojoo’s going home. I think you ought to say goodbye to her.”

“Hyung!”

“I’m serious!” his manager pointed. “Look, she’s gone now.”

Seunggi turned to where his manager pointed immediately. Indeed, Hyojoo had just left.

“Oh, great,” Seunggi sighed. Suddenly, he felt that his last actions to her were cold. He wanted to apologise but before he could, Hyojoo had already left. Now, there was no chance for him to talk to her again.

“It’s okay,” said his manager, patting Seunggi’s back. “You have her phone number, right?”

“Oh, right!” he thought loudly. “I do have her number— wait, hyung, how do you know that too?”

“Now is not the time for me to tell you this,” his manager reasoned wisely. “Go record your song first, and then I’ll tell you.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. I promise.”

“Okay then.” Seunggi breathed a sigh of relief. At least now, he had her phone number. They might be thousands of miles apart from each other, but they still had this line to connect them both. All he had to do was call her.

Maybe he should reconsider her again. Start off with a nice, clean, double-sided relationship with her. No more of those one sided obsessions any more.

 

The End

 

 

A/N: I tried my best on this ><

If anyone was wondering who Bae Soobin is, it's the guy who acted as the other hero in Shining Inheritance ^^

Oh, and don't unsubscribe just yet- there's gonna be a short epilogue after this! ;D