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The silence continued, but now it was because it was finally Jo Suk’s time to shine as a K-Drama fan. Forced to live together! A contractual marriage? That’s my favorite trope! Jo Suk, having “drunk the kimchi juice” (as in gotten way ahead of himself), was busy on his phone, his fingers flying as he left the same message in two group chats.
Ms. So and President Ha’s phones lit up first, and then the phones of Hye Na, Min Ah, and Yoo Min.
“Why is Hye Na here?” grumbled Jae Woon as he took his seat at the cafe after ordering the usual for himself and Da Young. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was the manager of this cafe.”
“Who is the manager of this cafe?” wondered Da Young aloud as she took a seat across from him.
“Beats me.”
As usual, Min Ah and Yoo Min were the baristas, but for some reason, Hye Na was behind the counter today, too, like when they had come to the set in their coffee truck. And all three of them were staring at them, even as Min Ah and Yoo Min deftly prepared their drinks.
“Weird vibes,” Jae Woon murmured.
Usually, they would be called to pick their drinks up at the counter, but Min Ah popped over with both drinks, startling the two of them. “You two really look like you could use the coffee, like you didn’t sleep a wink last night,” she said with a strangely mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Oh, um, I’m not sure what would make you say that,” stammered Jae Woon, grabbing his iced Americano.
Da Young took her iced latte. “Are you saying we look like crap today?”
“Hm…You both look tired but not unhappy,” Min Ah replied with a grin. Yoo Min averted her gaze while Hye Na wiggled her eyebrows at them.
“Well, thank you for the drinks!” Jae Woon said, standing up to flee. It was like the three of them knew something he and Da Young did not, and whatever it was, it was making him uncomfortable. “Let’s go, Joo Ni. We’ll be late!”
“Wait, one more!” Yoo Min quickly hurried over with the iced caramel macchiato for Jo Suk.
The two dashed out of the cafe. “The vibes in there are always so weird, I swear!” Jae Woon muttered under his breath as he handed Jo Suk his drink and the two settled back into their chairs to go to the set. Jo Suk pretended not to know anything about the vibes to which Jae Woon was referring. He focused on his sweet drink, even as his phone blew up with messages from both groups.
As soon as they arrived on set, Yul Hee rushed over to Da Young and pulled her away before Jae Woon could object. “I was so worried about you!” Yul Hee said with some reproof.
Da Young hung her head as she actually did feel bad. She could tell from Yul Hee’s slightly less radiant complexion that she had been worried sick about her. Nothing got in the way of Yul Hee’s glow most of the time.
“I’m sorry,” Da Young said. “I couldn’t handle it. It was all too much. I just needed some time to myself to…to digest and deal with it all. You know, right? About…” She couldn’t bring herself to say “the bookstore.” Her mind immediately moved on from that thought, waving it away where it could do no harm.
“Yes,” Yul Hee said. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. You know you’re not alone—you’ll always have me! You can stay at my place for as long as you need. I would love that.”
Da Young smiled awkwardly, realizing that she herself did not want that for some strange reason she couldn’t quite put a finger on…
Yul Hee studied her friend’s face, immediately putting her own finger on the pulse. “I know you stayed at Jae Woon’s last night…I thought that might be a one-time thing. Did you two make an arrangement…?”
“Not…exactly…” Da Young replied, feeling some heat rush up to her cheeks, which Yul Hee also immediately read.
Maybe I shouldn’t have said “arrangement”? Yul Hee thought.
The actress firmly forced down the corners of her mouth that were trying to form a sly grin. The insane effort to control the wiggling resulted in a terrifying expression that Da Young luckily did not notice as she was too busy finding the ground super fascinating all of a sudden. Crew members who were straggling by, though, felt all the weariness leave their body and rushed about to do their work as far away from Yul Hee as possible.
She sent up a quick prayer to the acting gods and managed to finally wrestle her mouth back into a casual line. “Okay, then, so are you coming over or not?”
“I think…” Da Young waited a beat or two. Her next words were said with more resolve: “I’m going to stay there for now.”
Yul Hee’s sly smile appeared for a brief second. When Da Young looked up at her friend, Yul Hee looked normal and supportive. “Okay, as long as you have somewhere to stay and feel comfortable there.”
“I do.”
“Good.” Now the smile on Yul Hee’s face was genuine and warm. She gave Da Young a hug equally genuine and warm. “I’m glad you’re okay…well, as okay as you can be for now.” She pulled back and, staring straight down into Da Young’s eyes, said more firmly, “If he ever ticks you off, you just rush right home to me, you hear?”
Da Young smiled and nodded. “Of course.”
“If he tries anything…”
“He won’t.”
“Why do you sound disappointed by that?”
“I’m not!”
Yul Hee was giggling and poking fun at a gradually reddening Da Young when Kyung Hwan came by. “Oh, there you are, Joo Ni. I hope your trip back was good and you got some rest.”
Da Young only grew redder thinking about the concept of resting. Would she get any rest at Jae Woon’s? Wait, not because of—you know what I mean, she argued with herself. Yul Hee kept poking her cheeks in fun, able to read her friend’s thoughts.
“Remember I said I wanted to talk to you about something when we were on Jeju Island?” Kyung Hwan continued, not noticing the writer was flustered and ignoring the weird actress as he had trained himself to do by now.
“Oh, yes–”
“Director!” a crew member called out.
Kyung Hwan quickly apologized to Da Young, adding, “We’ll talk!” and hurried away.
“What was that about?” Yul Hee asked, puzzled.
Da Young shrugged. “He’s been wanting to talk to me alone since we were on Jeju Island.”
“Oh?” Yul Hee asked, her eyebrows rising so high it practically disappeared into her hairline. “You know…he’d make a great second male lead in the fake K-drama that is you and Jae Woon’s fake love story. Why don’t you have him sign a contract, too?”
“I don’t think I’d need to. He’d be up for it for the sake of our real K-drama,” Da Young said nonchalantly.
“You’re no fun.” Yul Hee pouted.
Won Joo watched the two ladies from a distance, frowning. He had been worried about Yul Hee but she looked back to normal. Had she gotten back in touch with that Da Young lady? he wondered, but as he kept staring at the two of them, he couldn’t help feeling like he was missing something.
After a few more seconds, he gasped. “Is Ms. Eun Joo Ni Da Young?”
Despite his puppy-like appearance and naive personality, Won Joo was quick. Quicker than Jae Woon, who popped up behind him.
“What’d you say?” Jae Woon asked, sipping his Americano.
Won Joo almost jumped out of his skin. “Oh! Uh, sunbae…Um…” I don’t think he knows about this…and it’s not my place to say anything… “Uh, nothing.”
“I thought you said something about Ms. Eun Joo Ni.”
“Yeah, I was wondering…if I should talk to her…about…” Won Joo racked his brain, and then he thought of another truth to avoid having to say a lie, “about whether she would add something more about a childhood connection between the two leads. That’s my favorite trope!”
Jae Woon grimaced and grunted. “I don’t know how many childhood connections people could have. I’m pretty sick of that one in K-dramas. I was in a couple of those. I hate it more when the writer puts it in very late and for seemingly no reason. Like, sometimes, it’s just so unnecessary…”
Won Joo immediately looked like a sad puppy, which made Jae Woon feel guilty. “But that’s where the drama is! It’s so fun! And then their relationship feels so special all of a sudden!”
“It’s not anything anyone can control!”
“That’s what makes it special!”
“I’d rather she left that out.”
As the two continued arguing, Ha Na arrived and watched them from afar, amused. She had had an interesting conversation just minutes before leaving for the set.
–
“So did you find out any more about these pictures?” asked Ha Na, sitting back in her chair in her office while her assistant stood over her desk on the other side.
“There wasn’t much more to find, really. It was as I said before: the three of them, actress Han Yul Hee…” The assistant pointed at the young girl in the old picture. “Song Da Young, now known as writer Eun Joo Ni…” She pointed at the other young girl. “And Do Jae Woon…” She pointed at the familiar handsome face of the actor. “They were all child models who worked closely together for many years. They were apparently very close, especially Da Young and Jae Woon.”
Ha Na stared at the picture with raised eyebrows and an amused grin.
“So…” The assistant cocked her head at her boss. “Should we run the story?”
–
Ha Na continued watching the scene unfold before her. Yul Hee and Da Young had walked up to Jae Woon and Won Joo to see what they were arguing about. The two men had moved on to whether the man with the cold exterior and soft interior or the simp who was a total green forest was the superior love interest.
The editor’s eyes narrowed in on Da Young, who, when she thought no one noticed her, would softly gaze at Jae Woon but quickly look away whenever he turned even slightly towards her.
The gears were running at full speed in Ha Na’s calculating mind. Jae Woon, that poor fool, clearly doesn't know. He hates remembering his past. And he especially doesn’t like lies or liars…
A smile crept onto her face.
Whatever shall I do?
End of Part Three.
Next week on 🌟How to Write a K-Drama🌟
I can’t get too comfortable here…maybe the sooner I leave the better…she thought, but her heart would never allow her to dwell on this for long, and so the guilt was shoved into a dark corner, where it would only get heavier.