There was a sweet smell in the air. The sun streaked in from in between the curtains leaving no trace of the horrid weather the night before. Chun Sung Im opened her eyes with a smile. She had a good night last night. She yawned as she stretched her arms. 6:27am… Time for her to get ready for today’s filming. She put on her robe and walked out to the kitchen. She could smell the familiar scent of doenjang soup and smiled to herself, “I am the luckiest woman in the world.” In the kitchen with an apron over his business shirt was Baek Chang-Joo, her boss and the love of her life, stirring the soup with one hand, and scrolling through his Galaxy Tab with his other.

“Good morning jagiya,” she said with a smile as she walked towards him.

“Oh you’re awake yeobu. I was coming to wake you after I finished preparing breakfast,” he replied as he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

She beamed with a huge smile. His thoughtfulness and kindness towards her was something that the outside world rarely saw and hardly given credit for.  When they announced their relationship officially many people were confused and were even hating on the in blogs and forums. She got called names like ‘gold-digger or shallow’, whilst others were slamming him saying he was taking advantage of his position and using his power and money over her. But the simple fact was she loved him and he loved her. He gave her the care and attention that she needed. She whole-heartedly felt his sincerity, a trait she valued most.

“Here, have some of this first. The rice is almost ready and I’ll get some side dishes out from the fridge,” he said softly as he ladled some soup into a bowl. “After breakfast hurry and get ready, I will drop you off on the way to work.”

“Arrasso. Oppa jjangg!” she replied with a wide grin. As she watched him lovingly prepare her breakfast, she imagined their life together as a married couple. She thought of all the little things he did for her that ultimately made her fall head over heels for him. She could not fathom life without him. She was sure that this man was the one that she would want to spend the rest of her life with.

                                                ************************

The wind blew a chilling breeze and whilst the sun was out in all its glory, it was still cold. Autumn was drawing to a close and winter was slowly creeping its way in. The morning dew was slowly dissipating from a combination of the sun rays and the bustling of the staff at the shooting grounds. As the staff rushed about swiftly preparing the equipment for the shoot, Ji hyo greeted them with a smile. Chang-Joo had just dropped her off and she made her way to her make-up area.  She bowed to the PD as he waved to her from the production van. She still had time to do her final make-up before the opening. She looked around to see if any of the other members had arrived but did not manage to see any of them. She grinned to herself as she thought, “As expected, Ace Ji Hyo is the first to arrive on set.”

Ji Hyo pulled her scarf tighter as she made her way towards the make-up area. She didn’t like the cold. Not only did the weather make her feel like a cocoon due to being wrapped in numerous layers but the cold made her look even more ‘mong’ than usual since she could not open her eyes wide in the cold wind. She was thankful that Chang-joo had made her a hot, hearty breakfast that morning otherwise she would not have been able to withstand the biting breeze.

“A nice hot Americano would be perfect right now,” she thought to herself. It was the one downside of being in a relationship with Baek Chang-Joo. The man resented coffee and refused to have any coffee in his house. He believed the herbal benefits of drinking tea, but to Ji Hyo, a morning coffee had been one of her vices for the past 10 years. It was one habit that she found very hard to do without. Since he gave her a lift to the set today, she was also deprived of stopping off at her favorite little coffee shop on the way. “I will just drink the instant coffee that Unnie brings later on,” she mumbled to herself. Even though she hated the instant coffee that her manager drank, it was better than nothing. She pondered on the idea of finding a brand of instant coffee that she could appreciate and bring some along in her bag in the future.

When she walked into the preparation area, her stylist and make-up artist had already been busy arranging her get up today. She found a bunch of clothes on the dresser and three pairs of shoes next to the door. “Wae? What is with so many changes of clothes? Don’t tell me the PD expects us to do another water segment today. It’s too cold!”

“Unnie, you're here. Mianhe, we aren’t too sure on today’s schedule but the production crew asked us to prepare at least 3 changes just in case,” her stylist replied softly.

Ji Hyo wasn’t impressed. She didn’t enjoy water segments during the cold seasons due to her sinus issues. She consistently had a running nose and sniffed repeatedly during the cold seasons. She pouted and made her way towards the high chair in preparation for her makeup. As she sat down she noticed a round object wrapped in a face towel on the table. She reached for it and was surprised that it was hot when she touched it. She carefully unwrapped the towel and saw too hot packs fall out from the towel. When the towel was completely off she recognized the logo on the side of the paper cup.

“Good morning Unnie. That Americano is for you. Let’s get started on your makeup,” Ji Hyo’s makeup artist said to her as she walked beside her.

“Ohh gomawo! That is so thoughtful of you Ji-yoon-ah. You have no idea how much I wanted this, ” Ji Hyo replied, satisfaction written all over her face.

“But Unnie, I didn’t buy that for you. Neither of us did. When we came back into the room awhile ago, it was sitting there on your table,” Ji-yoon replied sheepishly.

Ji Hyo stared puzzled at her, a clear ‘mong’ expression evident on her face. “Then who bought it?”