It's the final chapter, and we need a song to set the mood.  Trust me when I say you need to listen to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzWL3BH5bzc (Jung Yong Hwa's Lucky: 1:05 minutes) and/or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acvIVA9-FMQ  (Jason Miraz & Colbie Caillat's Lucky: 3:22 minutes)

Chapter 13 - A Leap of Faith Towards Tomorrow

“You haven’t left yet.  Do you want to eat with me?” Kyu Won asks, trying to pretend that she hasn’t seen Professors Jung and Kim kissing in the dance hall.

“Get lost,” says Shin, holding back his tears.  The heartbreak over Professor Jung is still new, and he is in no mood to humour Kyu Won.

She falters, and says something hurtful back.  “Didn’t you know that it would turn out like this?  Did you think that if you’d kept up with your one-sided love, Professor would one day reciprocate your feelings?”

“You...do you like me?” he says, looking both tired and nasty.  He just wants to get rid of her.

“What?”

“Do you think by acting this way, I’ll come to like you instead of the professor?”

“Lee Shin,” she pleads.

“I don’t care who you like.  It’s not my concern.  So, you too...should stop caring about me.”

“Shin Hye, what’s wrong?”

She gave herself a mental shake.  “I’m sorry, Director, can I do it again?”

Director Pyo nodded.  “Everyone back to their original positions.”

It was last scene of the day.  Everyone was dead on their feet.  Those who had something to do in the interim were surviving better than the ones who were just waiting around for pack up time.

For Shin Hye, mind was losing to matter.  She knew the scene.  She knew when each change in emotion had to occur.

It was her body that was letting her down.

“Cut!  Shin Hye, you were too slow with the change in facial expressions that time.”

“Sorry, Director,” she rubbed her forehead with the flat of her palm.  “Can I take a break and try again?”

Director Pyo hesitated.  He was tired too, and he was tempted to just push the scene until tomorrow night.  “Okay, five minutes.”

People sighed in both relief and frustration at the small window of time.  Shin Hye hurried around the side of the building to have a moment alone.  She leaned her frazzled head against the wall and decided to do some walking meditation to clear out the cobwebs.

She kicked off Kyu Won’s high heels (still a little wet from their earlier adventure) and stepped out onto the lush grass.  The practice involved closing her eyes and moving very slowly, lifting her right heel, shifting her weight onto the ball of the foot and then lifting it off the ground, balancing herself on her other foot before bringing it back down again to the lush grass.

“One,” she whispered, counting her footfalls as a way to keep her mind occupied.  A summer breeze wafted through her hair, cooling her neck.  It also brought with it the welcome smell of cedar and anise.

She smiled, but didn’t open her eyes.  She needed to concentrate.

Her left heel lifted and she shifted it in a slow and steady motion.  “Two,” she uttered in her soft voice.

Gone was the deep-seated fear that she was the reason the ratings were doing so badly.

He slipped his hands through hers from behind and held tight, but said nothing.  He just wanted to let her know that he was there.

Thinking of her.

Shin Hye realised she didn’t need the writing on her fingers anymore to know that.

She turned her attention back onto her right foot and lifted it slowly.  “Three.”

The noise of the cast and crew faded into the background, the cicadas’ song became more potent, and the persistent idea that she couldn’t act floated away with the music.

Behind her, she could hear his foot following hers.

Shin Hye thought about how they had weathered a really bad day together.  Sure, they’d both done things they weren’t proud of, but they’d made it, hadn’t they.

As they made step four, she tried to push away the impassioned thought of tearing out Woo Ri’s hair the next time she saw her looking at Yong Hwa.

What number was she up to?  Ah yes: “Four.”

Her mind wandered over to Yong Hwa’s suggestion for the script written in his notebook.  It had been an excuse for him to show her a little bit of himself to her.  Pictures, words, music and lyrics were tucked in between most of the pages; each of them a part of him.

His addition to the script had been a way of sending an important message, and it was this:

To be able to really fall in love, she had to make a leap of faith.

He could try to prove his love by stalking her, sending gifts, giving an insane press release, going on holidays, kissing her, making love, writing and singing her a thousand songs...but in the end it was up to her.  She had to trust in him.  She had to believe that he really felt something for her; that he wasn’t stringing her along just because people told him how great they looked together.

Could she do that?

Shin Hye thought back to their night together; of her walking down the stairs in the dark and closing the distance between them.

She didn’t realise it at the time, but it had been her leap of faith.

Afterwards all the old insecurities had crept back in and confused her.

She had plunged all in, and then changed her mind like a coward.

Stupid-stupid-stupid.

Not anymore.

Shin Hye opened her eyes.

“You love me!”

It rang out as a fact, simple and true, and she revelled in how right it felt.

Unseen by her, Yong Hwa’s face twisted in pain.

He blinked back tears not belonging to Shin.  It had hurt him when she hadn’t trusted him from the start...

...But it nourished his soul to hear her say those words.

He’d been so afraid that she’d hurt him with her mistrust, and now it could all stop.

Tomorrow, Hyun Jin could guts as many brownies as he wanted.

Yong Hwa’s shaking hands let go of Shin Hye’s and he slipped them around her waist, pulling her tightly against him.

“Yes,” he said violently, inhaling her sweet perfume, and kissing the sensitive area below her right ear.  “That’s right...that’s right.”

At the corner of the building, Director Pyo smiled at the two lovers and left them to spend their precious time alone.

He had wanted to show them a new romantic idea for the script, but it could wait...

It is getting late at the musical retreat, but some of the students are still awake, laughing and talking on the stage floor.  It’s the same one where the talent show had been performed earlier.

A beach wind blows outside, making a haunting sound as it circles the building.

Lee Shin is handed an acoustic guitar.  He thinks he’s being subtle when he glances Kyu Won’s way, but everyone knows what he’s thinking, and they settle back to enjoy a meaningful love song.

It comes out sounding like a lullaby, and some students visibly unwind to the tune.

Joon Hee lies his head down in Ki-Young’s lap, and sighs in contentment, ignoring the strange looks he gets from some of the others.

Ki-Young follows his lead, and Joon Hee’s scruffy hair.  He won’t hide what he feels anymore.

Joon Hee makes him smile.

Shin’s voice continues to soothe his audience.  He courts Kyu Won with his eyes, drawing her in, making her feel as if every strum of the guitar is meant for her.

At first she’s defiant.  She refuses to be fooled by what looks like love in his eyes, but by the end of the song, she is wavering.

Perhaps he really does like her, after all.

Shin Hye and Yong Hwa were sitting in the back seat of her van after successfully completing the last scene for the night.  Their heads were touching as they read Director Pyo’s typed idea for the script.

“He thinks he’s going to get his ratings by throwing us together more often in front of the camera,” said Yong Hwa, tossing the script aside and wrapping his arms around his beautiful Shin Hye.

“Poor Director,” she said sleepily.  “Too bad our secret means some very awkward kissing scenes for the drama.”

Yong Hwa smirked.  “That...plus I’m really scared your Abeoji will scrutinise the scenes for any signs of enjoyment.”

She tried to shove him with her elbow, but he was holding her too tightly.

“Ah!  Shin Hye!  I bruise easily,” he teased.

She ignored him and wriggled around on the seat to kiss his eyelashes, his nose, and then his mouth.  They knew it would be the last kiss until tomorrow, and they wanted to make it last.  However, the seatbelts were frustrating their attempts to get closer, and Yong Hwa was tempted to rip them off and conveniently forget that Manager Jun was in the front, driving them.

“Yah!  I’m not paid enough to put up with that,” said the bulldog manager, recoiling at what was happening in his rear view mirror.

“I’m allowed to do it when it’s in the script,” muttered Shin Hye as Yong Hwa kissed the sore tips of her fingers; but they reluctantly settled back into holding each other.

“Yong Hwa,” barked Manager Jun.  “Sing a song so that I know you two aren’t up to anything back there.”

The singer rolled his eyes and fished around for Director Pyo’s rejected script with one hand.  Once found, he shook out the creased paper and held it up to the reading light.

“Do you hear me?” he hummed against Shin Hye’s ear, making her blush.  “I’m talking to you, across the water, across the deep blue ocean.”

He her hair while she snuggled closer to him.

“Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying.”

He pointed at her part of the song.

“Ah,” she pulled the script towards her.  “Boy I hear you, in my dreams; I feel your whisper across the sea.”

She felt him resting his head on top of hers, and smiled.

“I keep you with me in my heart,” she chanted in a hushed tone.  “You make it easier when life gets hard.  I’m lucky I’m in love with my best friend...”

Lucky to have been where I have been

Lucky to be coming home again

Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

They don't know how long it takes

Waiting for a love like this

Every time we say goodbye

I wish we had one more kiss

I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

July 14 2011: You’ve Fallen for Me PD Switch Rumours Denied

July 25 2011: Park Shin Hye’s Accident Causes Last Minute Script Changes

July 29 2011: You’ve Fallen for Me PD Unlikely to Resume Directing

October 6 2011: Park Shin Hye says ‘I want to give love to Ghana’

October 8 2011: CN BLUE Jung Yong Hwa, a recognized Musician in Japan

*October 19 2011: Around 7000 Fans Flock CN BLUE’s Japan Major Debut Mini-Live Concert in Shinjuku

*October 20 2011: Park Shin Hye signs with IMX and starts activities in Japan

*November 2 2011: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop scores high ratings...this drama is directed by Pyo Min Soo, who is a respected PD.

THE END

Thank you everyone who read, subscribed, commented and laughed at my little fic. I'm sorry that I had to end it, but the original story was only meant to go for 9 chapters. If you like a little heat with your korean drama, then you might be interested in my next project, The Insomniac Bodyguard Meets A Cure.