Chapter 6 - That Place, That Time

Shin Hye went quiet as she absorbed the implications of Yong Hwa’s addition to the script.

The pair were strolling down the halls of the empty building.  The only sound being the scuffling of their feet.  Now and then they would pass through a stream of moonlight coming in from one of the windows, and every time they would drink in each other’s faces.

Shin Hye was fully aware that she was in love with him.  She’d loved him for months actually.  She adored everything about him; from his shy-awkwardness around the cameras to the cheekiness that came out when his guard was down.

Little by little, she had been caving in to him during the evening.  It was unusual to spend so much time alone with him, and without the distraction of others, she was fast losing the battle against their chemistry.

Shin Hye had allowed herself to be lulled by Yong Hwa’s deep voice as he described to her both Lee Shin’s pain and Ki-Young’s struggle.  She was touched that he didn’t alter her ideas for the script, even though he had said that they were too complicated for fans.

“I like it,” she said, trying to sound like he wasn’t affecting her in other ways.  “It covers alcoholism and the effect Lee Shin’s father still has over his son.  It also shows Lee Shin being youthful and selfish as he steals Kyu Won’s first kiss away from her.”

“I thought you’d like that.”

She nodded.  “And Ki-Young’s phone call?  Yong Hwa, that’s perfect.  Joon Hee would understand less about what was going on than Ki-Young.”

“You know that the director would never agree to it,” he warned her.

“I know,” she sighed.  “Still it is nice to think about different possibilities, isn’t it?”

They reached the top of the main stairs and paused.

Something brushed against her fingers, and she watched mutely as Yong Hwa put her hand firmly in his.  Whatever fight she had left went out of her when she saw the yearning in his eyes, and they walked down the stairs together, feeling the energy grow between them as they moved.

Halfway down, he stopped.

Not removing his hand from hers, he casually walked around so that he came face to face with her.  His brown eyes were mirroring the anticipation she was feeling.

He leaned into her, and she could smell the familiar combination of cedar and anise that she always associated with him.

Yong Hwa broke into a smile that made her heart ache.

Slowly, he let go of her hand, and walked backwards down the rest of the stairs.  His footsteps were loud and strong; his eyes remained on her the entire time.

In spite of herself, Shin Hye moved to keep up with him.  She followed him down the steps, her eyes not dropping from his, afraid to lose him to the shadows.

She wanted to hope that she was wrong about him; she wanted to be proven wrong so badly.

It was unfair that she was so smitten by him.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and stood perfectly still as he let her close the distance between them.

As she walked down the last two steps, her heart rate shot through the roof, while her ability to breathe had become unreliable.

She put her hands on his outstretched arms, and embraced the mix of emotions rushing through her head.  She buried herself in his warm chest, and somehow, amongst the pleasurable tangling of their hands and bodies, their lips met.

Their first kiss was clumsy and explosive, like plunging into the deep end of a pool of water.  The tension between them came rushing out all at once; and his taste and smell was so intoxicating that she pushed against him, demanding everything he had.

And he gave her more than she could handle.  His hands moved over her in long forceful , making her lose her balance.  She felt herself bumping into something hard, and a part of her became aware that they had stumbled against a door.

It wasn’t shut properly, and they continued to fall backwards against it until it stopped moving.  It hit the wall with a shudder, and while the ground vibrated under her feet, he crashed against her, and a loud moan brought about by arousal escaped her lips.

“You finally came to me,” he uttered in between earth-shattering kisses.  “I was going crazy.”

She bit back the urge to cry at the tone of his voice.  He was so intense.  She was so overjoyed, and yet scared at the same time.

She wanted to believe him.

They shared a few more kisses before he let go and took one step away from her.  His lips were red and swollen from rough handling.  He cracked a smile as they fought to catch their breaths.

“Let’s go back outside before we do something...not smart,” he suggested.

She blushed.  He’d read her mind.  Responsibility had been about to fly out the window.

He claimed one of her shaking hands and they strolled back out into the cool night air.  He kept his distance from her, giving them both a chance to calm down.  Passion was a very dangerous thing, and Shin Hye had discovered that she was already imagining doing things to him that no self-proclaimed Christian girl should be imagining.

“So, do I have boyfriend privileges now?” he asked shyly.

Shin Hye dimpled, and let out a long breath.  “Yah!  I think you just used them all up before.”

“Really?  Are you sure about that?”

She smiled, and then a thought occurred to her.  “You know that we can’t tell anyone we’re...”  She didn’t want to say the word ‘dating’ in case it seemed like she was rushing him.

He forced a smile on his face.  Once again, they had to suffer for their art.  “I wanted you all to myself anyway,” he said, squeezing her hand.  “Dating is impossible when fans are involved.”

She frowned.  “It will be hard.  Our schedules are crazy.”

“We’ll talk to our managers.  We’ll work it out,” he said earnestly.  He could sense that she was getting nervous about something.  “But for now, why don’t we try working on that script.”

Her brow furrowed.

Yong Hwa looked at her.  “Why?  You don’t want to?”  He blocked her path.  “I know something else we can do.”

“No!”  She laughed at his teasing, and gave him a shove.  “We’ll work on the script.  We should start writing something down.”

They walked back to the rotunda at a leisurely pace.  As they approached the sleeping director, Shin Hye frowned.  The old doubts about Yong Hwa had begun to creep back into her mind like a disease.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her, sitting down at the director’s typewriter and hitting a few keys at random.

She shot him a weak smile, and picked up her tablet.

“Nothing.  Let’s get to work.”