Chapter 2: Misleading

“Please, don’t let me believe something that does not exist. I’m already living in the world of make-believes…but my heart is something real.”

CHAPTER 2

MISLEADING

Shin Hye breathes through the glass on her window and doodles a star on the moistened area. She smiles and immediately feels silly. Just like Go Mi Nam, eh?Ahh.. when will this madness end? She muses as she stares blankly at the fading star on the window glass. This must be stopped before it gets the better of me. She has been down with a fever (which her manager was suspecting to be flu for a few days now) and the much-needed bed rest she has been craving for quite sometime now is hers to enjoy but not being around a camera crew and a script gave her something more dreadful to do than a root canal --- analyzing her feelings. It is a bad habit of hers whenever she is bothered by something -- thinking things over and dissecting her feelings until she gets to a rational thing to do about the issue at hand. And whatever she is feeling now is slowly turning to be a problem. You’ve got to be kidding Shin Hye. It was just a role. Your character fell in love with him. It was a great love story. It was a happy ending. Now, it’s time to move on. Act like the professional actress you want to be. Stop it.

She shakes her head in self-disgust. It is such a childish thing for her to feel like this. Falling for a co-star? What a moronic thing to do. There must be some way out of this…a rational way! She grabs a pen and a notebook and started writing.

Why do I feel this way? Because I think I like him.

Why do I like him? Because he is such a great person to be with… and well, he is cute. Then what is the problem with that?

It’s because a part of me wants him to like me, too. But I don’t think he does.

So what should you do?

Un-like him. Bear in mind that he is just another oppa who is just friendly with me.

Yes, that’s it. Don’t let yourself be carried away by the fan support, Shin Hye, she tells herself. You fell in love with Hwang Tae Kyung just like how a thousand other fan girls out there did. But you’re not Go Mi Nam. Not anymore. And Keun Suk is not Hwang Tae Kyung.

~***~

“Does Shin Hye know about this gig already?” Keun Suk asks his manager over the phone as he reads on his email the script for the Melon Music Awards hosting gig sent to him. He had accepted the hosting job even before You’re Beautiful wrapped up but he was told earlier that week that there have been some changes done to the format of the show and he smiled when he found out in the email the changes they were talking about…it was Shin Hye. The producers decided to incorporate the Hwang Tae Kyung-Go Mi Nam mania in the show since he was already hosting the event. Shin Hye will co-host with him in the 2^nd part, he was told. This would be great news for the fans of the drama, the producers said and he couldn’t agree more.

“I think so. Her manager has confirmed her commitment to the show already. But I think she’s down with the flu right now so she wasn’t able to meet the producers earlier,” his manager replied.

The phone has been ringing for the third time before Shin Hye’s sleepy voice came on the line. “Oppa?”

“I told you you’re going to get sick if you don’t watch it, didn’t I?” the all-too familiar voice is stern but a hint of his usual teasing is hard to miss. “Is your flu contagious?”

Shin Hye gives a small laugh. “It’s just a fever, oppa. Not the dreaded flu. And I would never have missed that skiing trip for anything anyway, so stop reminding me that you chickened out to be out in the cold while we had a blast skiing up and down those slopes!”

“Don’t rub it on my face, wonder girl. My old brittle bones just couldn’t stand the cold, you know. Must be such a great feeling to be so young, huh?” he chuckles heartily that Shin Hye catches herself smiling warmly on the other line.

“Ahjussi!”

“Yah! Who are you calling Ahjussi? Pig-Rabbit!” he said in his Tae Kyung voice and Shin Hye starts to feel her heart actually melting. That’s Go Mi Nam’s heart, not mine, she tries to remind her brain quickly.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in a holiday, oppa?” she asks, changing the topic so she can re-start her malfunctioning heart once again.

“I will be leaving later this week which reminds me why I called you in the first place. Did you receive the Melon hosting script yet? I have it in my email just now and I was happily surprised that you’ll be co-hosting the event with me.”

Happily surprised. Does that mean…? Stop it, Shin Hye! “ Yeah, actually I just got it this morning but I just skimmed through it but I think the concept is fun, right, oppa? Mi Nam and Tae Kyung hosting, that’s a nice concept.”

She heard him laugh again. “I agree. That will be a nice fan service for all YAB fans out there.”

Fan Service. That’s a nice way to put it, she muses.

“…so I’m wondering if we can meet before I leave for my short vacation to read through the script together even just for once? But if you don’t feel well, maybe we can just do it when I get back,” he said and she can’t help but marvel at how he takes his job so seriously. He must want to check if we click hosting the event together, she thinks. Well, I would like to see him, too.

“I should be feeling better and totally rested by tomorrow, oppa. And that would also give me time to review the script more thoroughly. So I can meet you at your agency by…what time?”

She heard him laugh again. “No, let’s not meet at the agency. I know of a small café near my place that serves great food. The place is usually quiet at around 2 pm which would be just perfect for us to read and brainstorm through the script.”

Shin Hye feels her cheeks starting to burn. “2 pm is fine with me, oppa.”

“And since you just live a few blocks away from me, I’ll just pick you up, ok? Rest well, Shin Hye.” And before she can utter a reply, Keun Suk has put down the phone.

Now, that didn’t seem like I just asked her out on a date, did it? Keun Suk asks himself as soon as he cuts the line. The last thing he wants to do is to scare her.