✏️How to Write a K-Drama: Chapter Thirteen
Trapped again. 🚪
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Da Young gasped, turned, and shoved Jae Woon into her home, slamming the door behind them. First, they had to run from his fan. Now, they had to hide from her parents.
She quickly pushed him into her bedroom to the left as she heard her mom exclaim below, “Oh! She must be home. We’re here!”
Da Young shut and locked the bedroom door behind her. It wasn’t unusual for her to ignore her parents. They would assume she was deep in a writing session, which usually would be the case. She shuddered at the thought she was ignoring them this time because she was hiding a man in her room. She told herself, Technically this has to do with my writing!
She turned to Jae Woon, who looked understandably bewildered, and put a finger to her lips to shush him. He nodded, some fear in his eyes now as he realized the implication of being caught alone with their daughter in their home. Sure, he and the writer were both well into their adult years, but that likely wouldn’t resolve anything.
He looked around her rectangular room in the meantime. It was small and simple. She had unwittingly pushed him onto her bed that was against the wall and covered with a soft pink blanket. Her desk was in the corner, a wooden wardrobe in the corner behind her seat. A square window with dainty lace curtaining was situated between the two. He sensed that she had grown up in this room, but something was off. It was rather empty. The walls were covered in faded flowery wallpaper but were otherwise bare. There were slightly faded spots where she might have once taped up posters and pictures.
Da Young heard her father rush to the bathroom, shut the door, and engage in an activity that released ungodly sounds. Her mother shouted, “It wasn't the stew,” before heading into her room to change.
Da Young sighed and went to sit next to Jae Woon on her bed. They sat there for a few seconds, realized what they were doing, and jumped up in surprise.
“Sorry,” Da Young said, “but I'm not sure when you can leave…Do you have a busy schedule today?”
He shook his head. “I'm good…as long as we don't get caught. Not the best first impression to leave on your parents.”
You really don’t need to leave any impression on my parents, she thought. Unfortunately, Da Young knew he would because they'd recognize him right away and jump on him.
“Well, make yourself comfortable,” she said, gesturing at her bed as she moved to her desk. She opened the lid of her laptop like she was going to get to work, but there was no way she would be able to focus with a relative stranger in her room. The only person she was able to work with in the room was Yul Hee.
Someone knocked on her door and Da Young jumped again, exchanging panicked looks with Jae Woon.
“Uh, what is it?” she called out.
“Honey,” her mother said from the other side of the door, “are you alright? Checking in on you because your father is trying to blame his stomachache on my stew. Did you have any?”
“I’m fine!”
Jae Woon became alarmed when he realized he had to cough. His eyes bulged out as he fought the cough with his entire being, his whole body tensing up as every single muscle was called to action to suppress it.
“Okay, good!” her mother said.
Feeling safe, Jae Woon relaxed and a small, low cough escaped into his hand.
“What was that?”
Her mother’s voice by the door was so loud and clear it almost felt like she was right next to Jae Woon. He could feel his heart leaping out of his chest. Da Young shot him a panicked look, and then she coughed as similarly to Jae Woon as she could.
“Just swallowed wrong!” she said between weak coughs.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Are you coming down with a cold?”
They heard the slight rattle of the door knob as her mother placed her hand on it, and they both nearly jumped out of their skin.
Da Young quickly shouted, “No, it’s fine! Just saliva being saliva. I’m busy, Mom! Talk to you later.”
“Hm…okay, sweetheart. Don’t work too hard now!”
They finally heard her receding footsteps, but this time, they waited a whole minute before they let themselves relax even a little bit. She shot a glare at Jae Woon who looked apologetically back at her. She sighed and sank back into her seat.
“You should lock it,” he whispered.
She gave him a look, then pointed at the door knob. “Wow, I never heard of a lock before. Look, that’s very old. The lock hasn’t worked in forever.”
After a while, still on her bed, he crawled over to where she was sitting. “Do you need to change your ceiling light or reach for something high on your bookshelf?”
She shook her head. “What did you normally do with your girlfriends when you visited them?”
He stared at her for a hot second then looked away. “Not sure that’s the kind of drama you’re going for,” he yelped. He might have crawled towards her, but he now practically flew back towards her pillows like they could protect his honor.
She opened up her laptop. She wasn’t sure she could work with him in the room, but she could try. Da Young stared blankly at the writing she’d done so far. She had about the first two episodes written out. Her agent, who was also her editor, had suggested she started putting in more intimacy in the following episodes. She looked at Jae Woon, who pretended not to notice. She gestured him over. He eyed her warily and crawled back towards her but even more slowly than before.
“What?” he whispered.
“There’s always a scene where the girl falls on the guy or he falls on her. I want to do something like that but innovative, so let’s practice.”
“That’s why I asked if you needed someone tall! There’s always a moment where the two are really close to kissing but not quite there to build up that suspense. What are you thinking?”
“Hm…lie back on the bed,” she said. He obeyed. She thought about this as she stood over him. They were both very focused to the point they almost forgot her parents were in the house…or the very weird position they were in.
“Wait, maybe get back up,” she whispered. He stood up. He was quite a bit taller than her. How was she supposed to fall on him? She glanced around her room. She looked up. Okay, the female protagonist noticed that one of the bulbs in her ceiling light needed to change. The male protagonist would insist on changing it for her so she wouldn’t get hurt; plus, he was taller so it’d be easier for him. Stubborn and proud, the woman would insist on handling it herself. Da Young positioned her desk chair below her ceiling light and climbed on top.
“Be careful,” Jae Woon whispered. The chair wobbled and rolled slightly under her, so she grasped his arms which he had lifted automatically to help her. She stood up a bit precariously.
“And then…she would fall into his arms, they’d land in the bed, and they’d stare into each other’s eyes…but that’s so basic!” she said just as what she narrated happened in real life. At her aggravated final words, the chair rolled back slightly and suddenly, causing her to lurch forward. He wrapped his arms around her to catch her as they fell backwards onto the bed, but the whole thing ended up being even more violent than expected—because their mouths smashed into each other.
Da Young and Jae Woon stared into each other’s eyes with no love, only shock. She lifted herself enough to break the kiss, but his arms were still around her torso, holding her tightly. This caused her to snap back forward for another smack, another lip collision.
Just then, they heard a muffled voice shouting to somebody else outside. The door opened, someone gasped, a bag of food fell onto the floor, and they both turned their heads to look at the person who had barged onto the scene.
Next week on 🌟How to Write a K-Drama🌟
My editor wants intimacy? Well, she’s going to get it! she thought to herself, then realized it sounded like a weird threat.