✏️How to Write a K-Drama: Chapter Six
The "First Date" 💓
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He opened the door and stood right by her. “Here,” he said in that same gentle tone of voice. He opened the umbrella as she turned to look at him—and hit her full-on in the face as the umbrella popped open with surprising force.
“Ack!” Da Young groaned, her hand going up to protect her eyes.
“Oh my god!” Jae Woon exclaimed, quickly trying to shut the umbrella, but apparently it had been abandoned at the cafe because it was broken. It wouldn’t close, and he accidentally hit her again on the head as she crouched over, nursing her wound.
The baristas rushed out of the cafe. “Are you okay, ma’am?” one shouted while the other, the one who had asked if he was bothering Da Young, stood in front of him with her arms wide open as if he might lunge for another attack. According to her nametag, she was Pyo Min Ah. She said to him, “Sir, we will call the police if you keep this up!”
He could see the headlines now: Actor Do Jae Woon Accused Of Assaulting Woman With Umbrella.
Out of nowhere, they heard snorts. Jae Woon was confused at first, but realized the sound was coming from Da Young. She was trying to hide her laughter, and suddenly, she looked very young to him. He couldn’t quite look away, mostly because she looked so different. It was like her mask had slipped and she was human underneath, after all.
“Sorry, sorry, it’s fine. I’m okay,” she said between little chortles, and then explained the situation to the baristas.
Min Ah, frowning the whole time, looked at Jae Woon with some skepticism. “I see…We do know who you are, of course. You’re an actor who frequents our cafe, but we’re not one to make a fuss or make our customers uncomfortable or anything.”
The other barista added, quite unnecessarily in Jae Woon’s opinion, “Also, we’re not fans.” Sung Yoo Min, as written on her nametag, was taller and slimmer. They both looked to be college students, maybe recent graduates.
“Let’s go back in, Jae Woon,” said Da Young, already opening the door. “Sorry for all the trouble, ladies.”
Jae Woon grumbled to himself that she didn’t apologize to him but followed her in all the same. They sat at the table by the window.
“Sorry,” she finally said. “I guess I was taking revenge for being called a sasaeng fan, but I wanted to see what you would do, too. Most of the time in love stories, the two protagonists first have a meet-cute. It’s hard to create something organic when we already agreed to meet here, but still…I was curious. And you didn’t disappoint. I mean, you totally did in the romance department, but at least I was amused.”
“Glad you were amused,” he muttered, taking a sip of his Americano. “Besides, can’t you use our first meeting as the meet-cute? It was pretty dramatic.”
She paused, her mind flashing back further than he realized. Then, she thought about the encounter he was actually referring to. “I’m not sure I’d want to make him a star,” she mused. “It’s kind of typical.”
“Then maybe he was running away from loan sharks.”
“That’s a different genre. Very 2000s.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said with a shrug. “The 2000s are kind of coming back, anyway. Well, chaebols will always be popular. Maybe the two protagonists start with a blind date gone wrong.”
As long as he was acting and focused on his work, he’d be okay. He abruptly stood up, swept a hand through his hair, then sat back down brusquely, hands in pockets, becoming an entirely new person. He looked at her coolly with the air of somebody who had places to be.
“Let’s make this quick,” he said, his voice instantly deeper and more mellow. Da Young tried to hide the fact that she was both taken aback by and drawn to this sudden air of complete confidence and classiness. Her eyes looked around like, “Where did Jae Woon go?” and then latched onto the baristas’ eyes, asking, “Are you seeing this?” The baristas nodded in unison. They could all swear he was suddenly in a high-end three-piece suit with his hair swept back sleekly. Da Young felt chills. He was good.
“You don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be here, but this is the only chance I get today for a meal, so…” He snapped his fingers. The baristas started and wondered if they should go over there. Yoo Min hesitantly scurried over, but when he looked up at her with mild confusion, she slowly backed up all the way to the counter again.
Da Young pulled out a notebook and a pen from her bag. He was surprised to see the pen was a cute pink one with a fluffy ball on top that seemed to shimmy with every movement.
“So what would be next?” he wondered aloud.
Once her notebook was open to a blank page, Da Young said, like she was asking for his favorite color, “I was thinking you could confess your feelings for me.”
A memory crossed Jae Woon’s mind, so quickly he barely caught it, pulling him out of his character like a cold splash of water. “I never did that before,” he said.
She looked at him in surprise. “Never? Have you never dated before, either?”
“No, it’s not that…” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Ohh…” she said slyly, making him look up to see an equally sly smile on her face. “I see. So you were always on the receiving end of confessions. Must be nice. So easy for you, hm?” She laughed. “Well, you’ve done plenty of confessions for your drama. Let’s see what you come up with.”
This was the hardest project Jae Woon ever had to work on so far—and filming hadn’t even started yet. First, he had to hit on the writer (but ended up actually hitting her). Now, he was being asked to confess his feelings for this strange woman he didn’t know in a small and empty cafe where the baristas already didn’t like him, were this close to calling the cops on him, and now were paying close attention to his actions as if to confirm he had zero game.
Jae Woon cautiously ventured, “Why does the man always have to confess? I think it’d be very modern and forward of you to have the heroine confess first in this drama. Why don’t you confess to me?”
“That’s very on brand for you,” Da Young said drily. She impatiently tapped her pen on the notebook. “Well since you’ve received so many love confessions, why don’t you think of the most memorable one and try it on me?”
Jae Woon could feel his breathing becoming more and more shallow. He paused and purposely deepened his breath. While he thought, Da Young studied him. His hair was slightly wavy and parted to give him a rather soft puppy dog look. He was glancing downward, and she saw that his eyelashes were naturally long, something many women coveted. Not all pretty boys aged well, but he proved to be the exception to the rule. His eyes were known for both their softness and their intensity, sometimes somehow both simultaneously, making him a rather versatile actor. Case in point, they were gazing softly down on the table, but suddenly they flashed upwards. She nearly jumped out of her skin.
“You know what—” she started, when he interrupted her. It was like someone had yelled, “Action!” and a slate had clapped in-between the two of them.
He continued holding her gaze, but she felt like he wasn’t really looking at her. In a low, gentle voice he murmured, “I thought I already made it obvious. Of course I have feelings for you. If you need me to spell it out for you, I will. Be mine.” I’ve already claimed you, anyway. His eyes focused on her once he finished, startling her as if the director had called out, “Cut!” just when things were getting good.
Da Young stayed quiet for a bit. The whole thing had started off rather romantic. She had felt her heart speeding up at first, his low voice deep and mesmerizing, but by the end, the delivery had felt dead. Soulless. Something was missing.
In deep thought, Da Young took a sip of her latte. Jae Woon took this chance to study the writer’s serious face. She was clearly zoning out and thinking about something. His eyes narrowed. What was she thinking? Something about her looked familiar, but he’d seen so many people in his life that it was hard to put a finger on it.
“Have we met before?” The words slipped out before he knew it.
She looked up at him, still taking small sips from her straw like drinking coffee was serious work for her rather than a leisurely activity. She finally swallowed and responded with, “Are you trying to hit on me again?”
“No!” he exclaimed. He quickly looked back to see if the baristas had heard his outburst. They had. They were still staring.
“Well, it was better than the umbrella attack. Maybe by your fourteenth attempt, we’ll have something to go on.”
He lowered his voice. “I mean it. Have we met before? And I mean before the whole sasaeng fan incident.”
“If you don’t remember, it’s pretty much like we never met, so what does it matter?” She leaned forward. “Now let me ask you a question. Do you like Han Yul Hee?”
He gawped. “No! Why would you say that? I already explained–”
“Then why are your ears all red? And why so startled? What do you like about her? I hear she’s hot-tempered.”
“There’s no way! She seems like the sweetest person on the planet! That’s what draws me to her—” He clamped his mouth shut.
“Aha!” Besides herself, Da Young couldn’t help boasting, even pointing at him and half-standing, the full pose screaming, “Gotcha!” like a kid of eight rather than an adult woman of twenty-nine. She slowly lowered her butt as he gaped at her, not because of her outburst but because he’d been caught. Okay, a little bit because of her outburst. It was like the almost-laugh outside in the rain, when for a brief moment she seemed younger than her age. Maybe she only ever got this animated when she was pulling one over on somebody, namely him.
She quickly sat back down. After a beat, she chirped, “Should we call it a day?”
“Just like that?” he asked in surprise.
“I think that’s enough for me to work on for now.” She paused, eying him as she put away her notebook and pen. “But I’d like to take you somewhere. Walk with me?”
Next week on 🌟How to Write a K-Drama🌟
“Why’d you bring me here?” he whispered, clearing his throat a bit. He was starting to sweat. No one, not even Jo Suk (or so he thought), knew about this particular interest of his.