✏️How to Write a K-Drama: Chapter Eleven
The second date. 🪖
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She tilted her head, thinking back to what she had written. She shrugged then walked past him. He sighed and turned around to follow her.
Time for date number two.
Jae Woon thought they would go back to the cafe and pore over her writing from the previous night. He was so curious and wanted to know what she had come up with. He bombarded her with questions like a curious toddler.
“Did the two protagonists somehow meet in a broken freezer? Is it the fake dating trope? I was thinking…what if the two main characters were forced on this awkward blind date together that neither of them wanted—but they were actually on the wrong blind date. There are two couples! They get mixed up. The guy thinks she’s well off like him, but she’s actually poor.”
“Let me guess, he’s a chaebol?” Despite her dry voice, her ears, against her will, perked up with this idea. Who’s the writer here? she thought. Well, it’s too late now. I already have my basic premise down.
She happily ignored his next questions and led him to a busier area of town. People, particularly young couples, were milling around, looking at some of the stands selling items, like headbands and vintage cups, or hurrying to get somewhere.
Da Young explained, “There’s always a moment where the guy, who insists he couldn’t possibly ever fall for the girl, finds himself suddenly drawn in by her charms. You know, bright lighting, rosy filtering, slow motion, the works. We’re going to practice that scene.”
“You’re practicing your charms? Or I’m practicing my acting ability by pretending to be charmed by you?” he asked drily, scratching his head. “Are we practicing moving in slow motion?”
Da Young stared at him for a beat, then said, “You could practice getting hit by a white truck.”
“So charming already,” he said, his eyes lighting up as a testament to his good acting skills. “Also, been there done that. I’m an expert at the deer-in-headlights look.” As if she might doubt him, he immediately looked up in shock, widening his eyes and opening his mouth in horror in an exaggerated manner that almost made her laugh.
She managed to keep it together. Ignoring him, she went on, “Picture this. This man hates being in crowds. He’s not used to it. He’s rich—”
“Of course he is.”
“He’s used to being surrounded maybe by a small entourage of bodyguards or having his secretary accompany him everywhere, but he’s never walked among the plebes.”
“The plebes?”
“Plebeians.”
“Ah.”
“He and the commoner woman find themselves walking the streets. It’s his first time in a long time being in such a thick crowd—he suddenly finds himself short of breath. He’s having a panic attack. He seems to remember one time when he was young he was out with his mother and got lost. He was just a young kid. He was swallowed up by the crowd. He cried for his mother…”
“Oh geez. He’s phobic of poor people.”
“And then!” Da Young had a gleam in her eyes. She was so focused on the visual she was describing to Jae Woon she didn’t notice his eyes on her, admiring how her eyes lit up as she became animated. However, as they were professionals, they both placed Han Yul Hee as the female lead in question in their imagination.
Da Young continued, “And then! Just as he’s about to faint! Someone grabs his arm. He looks up. The woman’s concern only shows for a brief second before their eyes meet and she warms him up with the brightest smile and pulls him along with her so he won’t get lost in the crowd, looking back at him every once in a while with that same bright smile, showing him it’s okay, she has his back.” She sings the famous line from a popular song for situations like these: “Starlight is shining down, sha-la-la la-la la-la.”
He quickly disguised his snort of laughter as a cough. “So you want to try this out?” he asked once recovered.
“Yeah, I want to see how feasible this is and whether it actually is romantic, and then what could happen after.”
“It seems feasible and, with the right lighting, anything can be romantic,” he confirmed.
She gave him a look. “Would kicking you in the groin again be romantic with the right lighting?”
“Maybe in slow motion with starlight is shining down, sha-la-la la-la la-la.”
His unexpected retort almost made her smile—almost. He was quicker than she had thought. Not physically quick enough to avoid her elbow jab and groin kick but mentally sharp enough for verbal jarring. A thought suddenly popped in her head: He’d get along with Yul Hee.
Da Young turned back to him and said, “Let’s go,” before beginning to wade into the thick crowd. He sighed and lowered his cap further over his forehead. He was wearing sunglasses and a mask, as always. He sometimes wondered if this was overkill and made him stand out even more in the crowd, but better safe than sorry. He also slumped his shoulders a bit to look smaller, like he wasn’t trained to have the perfect, confident posture of a celebrity.
She turned and tried to smile but was caught off guard by the dark, hulking figure behind her. She couldn’t read his facial expression but the all-black attire seemed almost sinister, like he was glowering beneath it all. He noticed her gaze and held out his hand nonchalantly so she could grab it. Before she could, he suddenly grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her to his side as a delivery man wearing a huge backpack jostled by. He let go and she looked back up at him.
“Maybe you should be watching where you’re going,” he said.
She silently took his hand and ran ahead through the small rift in the crowd the delivery man had created behind him. She turned and smiled at him. She clearly was getting into the moment as that was a genuine smile, catching him off guard. He admired the view for a second before he only saw black and a bang reverberated throughout his skull. She had pulled him into an aluminum street sign.
“Oops,” she murmured. She was a bit more on the petite side and had easily ducked under the street sign without even noticing it. He was a bit on the taller side and had unfortunately been slammed right into it.
They tried again. She dragged him into a puddle that she had skipped over nonchalantly. She didn’t think to warn him about the curb, which he tripped over. She turned to smile again, but it was one that was both apologetic and trying not to burst into laughter. Her face was turning red at the exertion. Helplessly, he continued to let her drag him. He stepped in dog poop. He almost fell down a manhole. He choked on a string of lights hanging between two trees.
“Maybe it’d help if I stuck a picture of Yul Hee’s face on me,” she said, like that was the problem.
Checking the bottom of his shoes once more, he replied, “Please, not in public.”
“Oh, so it’d be okay in private?”
“That’s not what I said.”
Eventually, they neared a pedestrian crosswalk. Jae Woon saw that the signal was telling them to stop walking, but she was too busy looking back at him, a little worry wrinkle between her eyebrows. He braked and tugged back on his arm. She barreled back into his chest as a car sped through the newly changed light as if the driver had bad diarrhea. He looked down at her in his arms with the most unimpressed expression ever as she shot him an apologetic smile.
“I think that’s enough,” he said in a voice that was somehow both gruff and gentle. His hand grasped hers. “I’ll take the lead now.” He pulled her along behind him once the light changed again.
She stared at his broad back as he calmly crossed the street with her in tow. He turned slightly, but his face was shadowed by his cap. She wondered what expression he was wearing.
The two finally reached the end of the busy street. He stopped and faced her. “So? How was the experiment? I guess real life isn’t like a K-drama, huh?” He rubbed his head where he hit the signpost. “Maybe instead of a cap I should wear a helmet next time.”
“Hm. I still want to use that scene,” Da Young said stubbornly.
“Dog poop and all?” he exclaimed in disbelief.
“Hm…” She tilted her head. “Maybe? But it was a good experiment…I think I got what I needed.” The gleam was back in her eyes.
“You want to go back and write, huh?”
She looked at him in surprise.
“You have that look in your eyes,” said a young Jae Woon, smiling softly down at Da Young, who was daydreaming as usual. “I knew that’s why you were taking so long getting ready. Come on. We’re needed on set.”
He helped her slip on her cardigan, then took her hand as always, leading her out the door of the waiting room and towards the set.
Da Young jolted out of her reverie when she felt his hand squeeze hers, as if he was remembering the same moment. She looked up at him. He held up their hands.
“You’ve done at least this much skinship, no?” he asked.
“Yes,” she murmured.
“What? With who? I thought you had no experience. Did some guy just grab your hand?”
“Yeah, this guy I used to know just grabbed my hand, like all the time,” she said with a solemn air.
He frowned. “And you just let him? Was he a creep? Or maybe a cousin? Were you guys on the verge of dating or something?”
She pretended to think about it. “No, I was never on the verge of dating my cousin.” She almost laughed aloud at how his outraged face fell to a “you know what I mean” expression.
“Well, you have to be careful,” he said with the air of a wise monk. “There are many creepy men out there. If you ever feel…” He paused, wondering for a second if he was stepping out of line, but then shrugged, realizing this was his current role, anyway. “Since I’m ‘playing’ your boyfriend right now, if you ever feel like you’re in danger or feel unsafe, just call me or my manager if I don’t answer, okay?”
She lost the chance to respond as they heard a small gasp and a muffled shriek. The two turned to look at a woman who was staring directly at Jae Woon.
“Oh no…” Jae Woon was still holding Da Young’s hand. He held it up between them. “Let’s make a run for it.”
Next week on 🌟How to Write a K-Drama🌟
“I figured you needed some sugar from the busy day we had,” he explained, plopping back down into his seat with his refreshed glass of Americano. He sipped, then leaned forward toward Da Young, asking so casually she almost missed the mischievous glint in his eyes, “Want me to feed you?”