“That’s a wrap!” The director yelled across the café set“.

Well done everyone, now bugger off before I change my mind!”

Immediately everyone present let out a visible sigh of relief. It had been a long shoot and at times it had gotten very stressful.

This last scene took 5 tries to get right in the directors opinion and it had taken its toll on the cast and crew.

____

“Ahh” Donghae sighed as he passed through the studio doors into the golden glow of the afternoon light. Smiling, he closed his eyes letting the sun’s warmth soak through the skin on his face.

He just stood there for a minute before it dawned on him that he was in public, and that people might be staring. I mean it’s not every day you see a guy just standing in the middle of the street zoning out.

His eyes snapped open and flicked up and down the street for any sign of scrutiny.  To his fortune the only other people in his vicinity were an elderly couple on the other side of the road walking their dog, too engrossed in each other to pay him any attention.

They’re so old they probably couldn’t even see me anyway. Donghae thought to himself as he watched the couple pass. All of a sudden he felt a twinge of something in his chest that he couldn’t quite place. Was it guilt? - his comment had been pretty mean. No, it was something else. This feeling was disconcerting and it ruined his mood completely.

Left pondering, Donghae trudged toward home to get some rest before having to return to the studio tomorrow for another long day of filming. Being an actor was a lot more hard work than he had originally thought.

____

Lee Donghae was an actor. He’d only been in the business a few years, but he felt that his incredibly handsome looks got him far – as he would say. He’d done a couple of minor characters, but never really got a lot of screen time. His current job was his first big part and he was throwing everything he had at it, in order to play it well. 

Currently his daily routine consisted of

6am: Wake up and eat breakfast

6:30 – 7am: Gym – cardio and weights training.

7 – 8am: Wash up and head to studio

8 – 9am: Hair and make-up

9am – until whenever: film drama.

Whenever drama filming ended – 11:30pm: Grab food from a convenience store for dinner, go home and rehearse script for the next day.

As dedicated as Donghae was, he somehow felt that something was missing. Unfortunately for him, however, he didn’t have time for anything more. Unless, whatever that ‘anything more’ was, would be willing to wait for him for highly extended periods of time for even an iota of his attention.

A cat. Donghae thought. I should get a cat. As he collapsed on to his wide bed, suddenly feeling very lonely.

“Though it’d probably destroy the place if I left it alone for too long” he mused out loud.

After staring at the ceiling for a long minute or two he tossed those thoughts aside and picked up his script from his bedside table.

“Episode 5: Scene 3”. He sighed as he started to read.

Before long his eyelids began to droop and his arms went limp causing his script to fall on to his face – startling him awake again.

“OK. That’s enough for tonight I think.” Donghae muttered to himself, putting his script back on the bedside table and climbing into bed.

Before giving himself over to sleep once more, Donghae wished that he had someone – or something – to say goodnight to just once.

Maybe a cat isn’t such a bad Idea after all. He thought.

 Then, he succumbed to sleep.