Just like any other day, the sun had risen from the east. The fluffy white clouds were floating in the azure sky. The smell of summer was in the air. The world seemed to revolve as usual but his heart felt a little weary.

He lied on the grass slope along the river side with his right arm folded under his head. He watched the birds flew overhead and wondered if the birds which flew together today would be flying together tomorrow. Words formed in his head but alas he didn’t have his notepad and pen with him.

He opened his eyes and pulled himself up into a sitting position. She was raised an eyebrow at him prompting him to answer her earlier question. “Same as you,” he said and she smiled at their unspoken understanding. As much as they loved their fellow cast mates, their on-screen bickering could at times get on his nerves and hers and that morning was no exception. Both of them had stood quietly at the opposite ends of the group while the ruckus took place in the centre on how best to complete their mission.

He uttered his thanks as he took the water bottle from her outstretched hand. As he took a drink from his bottle, she commented with her sight resting on his eye bags, “You looked tired.” But before he could reply, she added with a twinkle in her eye, “Have you been clubbing again last night?”

He smiled weakly at her. He didn’t have to deny it to her yet he didn’t see why he needed to explain to her that he didn’t really stay out that late because he knew that he had Running Man filming today. Clubbing was part of his lifestyle and it’s where his circle of friends gathered. He often pondered whether she would enjoy the company of his friends because she could be as much a party animal as him was. However, he saw no reason to ask her out outside their filming.

In a comfortable silence, they sat next to each other and watched the ripples formed by some dragonflies touching the water surface. He unconsciously pulled out the packet of cigarettes from his pant pocket. But her words halted his movement of pulling out a stick from the packet. “Smoking is bad for you.” He stuffed the packet back into his pocket.

“Is something troubling you?” she asked casually while looking at the water before them.

Her question brought back the weariness in his mind and heart. How could he tell his reel life girlfriend that his real life girlfriend was jealous of her? And that this was not the first girlfriend who had fought with him because of her. His girlfriends could accept that he was putting on a show with her but their rapport was something they could not come to terms with. They felt that he knew more about her than about them. His bond with her was built with more than two hundred days of on-screen dating. How could he ever explain this to them when they usually broke off with him after less than one hundred days together?

Not wanting to dwell on his last thought, he picked two stalks of dandelion next to him and passed one to her. “Do you remember playing with these?”

She beamed at him. She didn’t realise that they were sitting in a sea of the dandelions until he presented the flower to her. The flower brought back her childhood memories and she blew at it without second thought. She watched the white seeds lifted themselves from their stem and flew away from her. She blew at the blowball again.

Seeing her delight from such a simple pleasure brought a sense of gladness to his heart. While designer clothes could give her class and makeup could give her sophistication, it was her smiles which truly brought forth her beauty.

She had plucked another stalk of the flower when he said her, “Make a wish and blow hard at the flower in your hand. If all the seeds fly off, your wish will come true.”

She closed her eyes and made a wish. As she blew at the flower in her hand, she could feel his whiff of cold air over her hand. The smile on her face grew wider.

“What have you wished for?” he asked when she eventually opened her eyes.

“Don’t you know that wishes won’t come true if one says them out?” She gave out a girlish laugh which he joined in with a chuckle of his own.

Before he could probe her further, they heard Jong Kook’s voice behind them. “Hey, both of you better come back to our filming! You can date later!”

(27.01.2014)