Friday, December 25, 2009

Chapter 3: Awakening



“I never expected you to happen. You’re not the one I’ve been looking for. This is insane.”




CHAPTER 3

AWAKENING


Keun Suk is a guy who knows exactly what he wants and knows how to get it. He isn’t the type that would bend down to what is the norm rather, he is one who would go against the tide, sometimes just for the heck of it. This has been evident in the choices he has made in his life and in his career in show business. “I don’t want to be tied up doing what every one else is doing. I want to establish my own brand by doing my own thing,” he once told his manager when he was just starting. And this attitude has somehow helped him establish a reputation in the industry as a versatile actor and entertainer. He experiments with just about anything he can put his hand onto, even with fashion. He is aware how the media and his fans often get confused of his choice of quirky fashion. But he enjoys trying out new things and offering new sides of himself to the public. He believes that he should never let them get bored by showing up in a safe, little package every time he steps into the limelight. That’s just so boring. He picks out project that he thinks would make him grow more as an actor and he makes sure he enjoys himself in every thing he does. Blessed with a good, distinctive manly voice, good looks, a passion for acting and entertaining, and an undeniable charisma, he has slowly but surely started building a name as a Hallyu star.

But everything has a price, he learned this early on in his career. Starting out so young, he practically grew up before the public eye. And although he is thankful for all the blessings that have come to his career these past 13 years, he also had made a lot of sacrifices to make it this far. He had made a lot of compromises, sometimes involving his family and people close to him, that at one point he felt he had to draw the line somewhere. So he did…by not drawing any line between his public and personal life.

He shows up in public places with his non-showbiz friends in regular clothes in regular days. He tells personal and family stories in interviews like he is talking with old friends rather than in national TV. He updates his fans of his random activities outside the limelight. He lurks like a regular fan in his fan sites and forums and goes to university just like anyone else. He even rides in trains and public transport without attempting to disguise himself. And yes, he even dates openly in public, to his manager’s chagrin. “My life doesn’t have to stop just because I’m an actor. I need to live it the way I want to, just like any regular guy,” he would reason out whenever concerns about his privacy are under debate. And so they just let him be.

Come to think of it, I haven’t been in a relationship for quite a while, he muses as he lays on his bed. He had been buried in work for the past 3 years that he never noticed that it has been that long since he last had a girlfriend. Oh, there had been girls, all right. Girls that would approach him in a party or at a club, the sort of girls whom he knows he would unlikely remember again the next day either because their faces were buried in deep make-ups or that he was too wasted to remember them. And those kinds of meetings hardly register to him to warrant even a follow-up call from him (assuming that he actually bothered to get the girl’s number the night before).

Not that he is wanting from female companionship, anyway. He is surrounded by too much female love at home thanks to his mom and grandmother, one of the advantages of being an only child. He has a lot of close female friends, too, from school and from the industry. Enough girl friends to have people speculating if I date them for real or not, he chuckles to himself. Every now and then he would come across speculations about him and some random female friend of his in online forums, whether they are actually dating or not and he would just laugh it off because unknown to many, the girl in question would often be the real girlfriend of one of his buddies. Besides, he never dates his female friends, not in a romantic way.

And more importantly, it’s because he, Jang Keun Suk, still believes in love at first sight. And you don’t fall in love at first sight with your friends, right?



The first time he saw Park Shin Hye up close, he thought of her as just a pretty, little sister. Nothing more.

It has been almost a year ago when he first met her all grown-up and dolled up. It was at a script reading they did for a CF they would be doing together. Oh, she finally grew up, he thought to himself while introductions were made. Before that meeting, he already had researched on his co-star and was satisfied and quite impressed with what he found out. She had been acting for quite a while, did a lot of CFs already, a good singer and an excellent dancer based on the video footages he watched about her. He remembered they already worked together once, years ago but it was just a small project and they only had a few scenes together. But at least, that would be a start, he thought.

He had worked with her once when they were in their early teens in a sitcom when she appeared as a guest and he was a mainstay of the program but he never had the chance to get to know her personally. Besides, he remembered her as too shy behind the cameras, sticking to her manager’s side the whole time they were shooting. But now, looking at her beautiful eyes and shy but warm smiles, he immediately noticed that she somehow discovered the art of charming people since they last met.

“Jang Keun Suk sunbae, it is nice to meet you again,” Park Shin Hye smiled and greeted him warmly.

Keun Suk laughed at her too formal words. “Park Shin Hye, let’s not get too formal. Calling me sunbae makes me feel sooooo old,” he said, and she laughed softly. “Call me oppa instead.”

“Ahrasso, Keun Suk-oppa,” she smiled warmly and he noticed how a small dent on her chin moves as she twisted her lips for a smile. A chin dimple! How cute, he thought. He never noticed that in her photographs before.

As the director and production handed them the scripts, they were briefed on the concept of the CF storyboard.

“You already know that there would be a kissing scene in one of the CFs in the series, right?” the director asked the two actors seated across each other at the conference table. The two nodded.

“But what I didn’t tell you, Shin Hye…” the director said, addressing her with an apologetic smile, “ ...is that the concept wouldn’t require just a simple peck on the lips kiss, but a more real, passionate one. Do you think you can do that?”

All eyes on the table descended on Shin Hye who sat there with her mouth slightly agape and her eyes on her manager. The manager smiled at her and then turned to the director. “Well, it’s Shin Hye’s decision if she wants to do a more daring kiss.” Turning back to Shin Hye, the director waited for her reaction.

Shin Hye slightly embarrassed, bowed her head and clears her throat before speaking ever so slowly, looking at Keun Suk in the eyes, “ Keun Suk oppa, please take care of me,” which drew claps from everyone except for Keun Suk, who immediately replied in a poker face, “ Well, director, you didn’t ask me yet if I can also do that kind of kiss?” which garnered laughter from everyone.

“I’m joking, of course, Shin Hye,” he quickly added with a wide grin. “Thank you for trusting me that I will take care of you. I will try,” he joked again. And just like that, the ice was broken between them.

The much-talked about kissing scene was shot without any delay. Keun Suk made it a point to talk about the scene with Shin Hye before the camera started rolling. He gave her pointers on what he would do and asked her if it would be okay to do this and that. At first, just before their lips first touched, he felt Shin Hye’s chin slightly quiver. Sensing her nervousness, he deliberately faked a sneeze and asked for a cut. “Please give us a moment to talk the scene over one more time,” he asked the director before ushering Shin Hye to a corner.

“You were trembling,” he told her, concerned in his voice.

“I’m sorry, oppa. It’s just that I never made a passionate kiss scene before. I—I,” she wavers, “I have never ever kissed like this in real life.” Her head bowed in embarrassment. Her embarrassment made her so vulnerable which tug a soft string at his oppa’s heart. Poor little thing.

“Then let’s make our own little script for this scene so we can pull this through without too many NGs,” he said, his mind getting to work. He must help her get at ease or else they would end up kissing all day and night with too many NGs from the director. That would be more uncomfortable for her. “Imagine that you like me so much that kissing me would make you so happy and complete. Like being in love. You just have to close your eyes and savor the kiss. You don’t have to move your lips or your head. I will do the rest. Just trust me. But just relax, okay? I’m not a good kisser myself but just pretend I do a good job, okay?” he joked which made her smile.

“There, that’s easy. Smile, relax, take a deep breath. Imagine that we do this everyday. We’re in love, you’re waiting for this kiss. I’m Brad Pitt,” he heard her giggles even before he saw the dimples on her chin appeared.
“Oppa, I don’t like Brad Pitt,” she confessed, laughing while shaking her pretty head.

“Oh, okay. So I’m just Jang Keun Suk, then,” he replied, and they laughed together.

The kiss scene went smoothly after that. True to their agreement, she stayed relaxed the whole time they kissed and the number of takes after that which the director saw it fit to take. The initial nervousness he sensed in her gradually vanished after each take and she earned his respect for being so adept to his adlibs. When he tilted his head, she adjusted hers too, mimicking his actions and when he saw the finished shots, he found no traces of any nervousness or awkwardness on her at all. She acted like a natural and he immediately liked her for it. A natural actress, he observed. This kid will certainly go places.



Did he find her attractive then? He asked himself, still lying on his bed, throwing and catching a tennis ball in his hands. No, his mind said. She was cute and pretty, that’s a fact. But she was too young for his taste. He liked his women matured and a little older. That was kind of a challenge to him, actually, to pursue a noona and make her fall in love with him. He had had girlfriends that were older than him and strangely enough, they were those that really lasted for a long time. It’s not that he never gets attracted to girls her age or those younger than him but he has found himself drawn more to older women. He really doesn’t know the reason but maybe because he finds them less giggly and immature and sugar candy-coated than their younger counterparts. Truth has to be told that if there’s anything he cannot stand in a girl it would be immaturity and childishness. Growing up in a home full of doting older women, he is used to having matured women for company and somehow that’s the first thing aside from the usual physical attributes he looks for in a girl he plans to date. And more often than not, he rarely finds girls around his age who are matured enough for his taste. And more importantly, these girls, as opposed to the women he liked, often do not have the maturity to understand his kind of job. This is where he really draws the line. He can never date someone who will constantly get jealous and compete with his job. He has learned that lesson a few times in the past.

But this girl thinks like an ahjumma most of the time, a little voice in his head reminds him from out of nowhere and he has to agree. The three months spent shooting with the drama cast had given him a lot of time to get to know Shin Hye more. And each time she opens her pretty mouth, it gives him more reason to believe that she is an ahjumma trapped in a girl’s body. Her view of things reminds her of his own mother sometimes. She is not one who is afraid to speak her mind when she thinks she is right. Once, when they were taking a break from shooting and they were supposed to rehearse a difficult scene together with a lot of lines, he made the mistake of making her wait in a corner while he happily chatted and joked with the other cast members, totally forgetting their rehearsal. The next thing he knew, she was dragging him to a corner, shoving his script in his hands while talking in an ahjumma voice, “ Keun Suk ah, you must not let a nice lady wait on you, especially when she has already read the script for the next scene three times in the last thirty minutes without a partner.” Her tone was stern but her voice was adorably dorky that he could not help but smile apologetically. “I’m sorry, ahjumma. I got carried away listening to Hong Ki’s jokes. Won’t happen again. Now where were we, Go Mi Nam?”

Make no mistake, she is still a kid at times who loves to doodle, giggle, sing and dance around the set, but she is an old soul with a nurturing streak which often shows on the way she treats the whole cast and crew. Oftentimes, she would bring food on the set, makes hot tea or coffee, or just bond with everyone, giggling with the girls and sharing the latest baseball news with the boys. And among the three of them – Hong Ki, Yong Hwa, himself – Shin Hye is really just one of the boys that Yong Hwa would often poke fun at her (“Oh, you’re a girl today!”) whenever she reports to the set dressed in skirts. She never complains or pouts, not even when she is already sleepy and tired. “It’s all part of the job, oppa. I chose to be in this business, I must put up with these kinds of inconveniences, right?” she told him once when they were talking themselves out of sleep at 3 AM, waiting to shoot the next scene, with barely two hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. Whining and being a primadonna are clearly alien concepts to this girl, he remembers telling himself that moment. Awesome.

She’s pretty cool. There is that voice again. Admit it, you’re drawn to her. He has to agree with that. It feels like he has known her for a long time. They even know how to finish each other’s ad libs already that it startled him at first. There is certainly a connection. And right now, it is driving him to his wits’ end figuring that connection out. This is crazy, he laughed. Even his erstwhile infatuation with Ha Ji Won noona years ago didn’t leave him dazed and confused like this. That’s because he knew it was just an infatuation early on. It was as simple as that. But this…what is this?! She’s young, naïve, she calls me oppa and she’s a friend! Hey Keun Suk, you’ve got to be kidding me! He chided himself.

Could it be that I’m still feeling like Hwang Tae Kyung? I like her as Hwang Tae Kyung, not as me. Yes! That’s it. That should be it. I’m just into the character still.

Now you’re the one who is kidding me, mocked the little voice in his head again.

Keun Suk stares at the ceiling for a long while until he gets up abruptly and grabs his phone. There is just one way to figure it out himself and he knows exactly what it is. And being Keun Suk, he also knows how to do it.

He starts to dial Park Shin Hye’s number.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow your story become more and more interesting...you blend nicely the part of your imagination and the part of reality we know...good job..please update soon...I want to know what GS will say after he dial Shin Hye number...:) :)

jossa said...

Thanks, Agustien! I plan to update at least everyday since I have all the time in the world to write until january 4 (end of my holiday vacation). glad you like what I've written so far. ;)

Ummu Ainaa said...

yeah.. i want to know too..

bandado said...

I like your story very much, not only cause it is a story about Suk-Hye couple who are my favorite actors but also because of your writings. It make your story like a real thing which is happened in their entertainment world. Hope you will keep going on it:)..... and I realy realy want to know that what will happen in next chapters :)... sorry for my bad English :( hope you see what I want to say :(.....

jossa said...

hey guys, thanks for reading! i'm currently writing the next chapter...i will update later tonight (my time zone) which means, maybe in a couple of hours or so... thanks for the kind words!

Anonymous said...

I absolutely loved this chapter. This just shows how the connection overflows throught them. Yay! :)

jossa said...

@ leegirin -- this is a chapter that took me the longest to write...dissecting Keun Suk's psyche was tough. I don't the guy personally. But what made it easier for me was how open and public he really is...to his fans, to the media. There are a lot of sources to draw from. I enjoyed writing this chapter. glad you liked it, too.

Anonymous said...

ou la la
heheh JGS is a little confused
well PSH is really a sweetheart and if i were JGS, i would not hesitate to ask her out really...she's a fantastic human being...and what made me adore her more is her passion of action...watching tree of heaven made me realize how mature she is for her age...she can act...a very versatile actress indeed....
JGS ASK HER OUT ALREADY! LOL

sweet_rintje said...

what make this chapter more interesting is you draw out the character of Jang Keun Suk really well..you described it as real one..like I read about his real story..woow..bravo!!

Anonymous said...

indeed,an awakening on his side....jgs should realized that maturity of a person does not depend on the age...psh suits his personality,,,great chemistry...as they say,opposites attract....hope they are a real life couple...

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