Tongue-Tied

Tongue-Tied

“Reject!” Shin Hye says, tossing a script to where Keun Suk sits at the opposite end of the couch. Sitting cross-legged at the other end, she shakes her head vigorously, scrunching her nose. “No way are you going to act in that drama, Oppa.”

Keun Suk looks up from his laptop to see the script lying in front of him. He flips it to see the title and shifts his eyes back at Shin Hye, “Why, this is one of my top three on the list. I like the story. It’s an adult drama.”

Shin Hye lets out a deep sigh, crossing her arms across her chest. “The lead guy has a kissing scene every other two pages in that script! Will this ever be allowed on primetime? Seriously?”

He chuckles, touching her shin playfully with his right foot. “Ya! That was the fifth script you tossed out because of the kissing scenes! Come on, don’t be too prudish. You know it’s just work,” he winks at her.

They are lounging inside Keun Suk’s agency on a Friday night, busily reading over some scripts sent to Keun Suk for his review. He has asked Shin Hye’s help to decide which of the scripts he would consider doing next for a drama or a movie. But from the rate things are going, it looks like he will have to decline all the scripts given to him if he wants to placate the girl with a very worried face sitting in front of him just now.

“Ahhh!” Shin Hye screams softly. “Why did I ever allow myself to date Jang Geun Suk?”

Keun Suk feigns shock, clutching his heart, he exclaims, “Ouch! And I thought dating an actress will make my life less complicated.”

She sticks out her tongue. “Oppa,” she sighs. “I don’t think I can bear seeing you kissing another girl, even if it’s only acting.” She turns her sad puppy-dog eyes to him, cupping her face with her hands.

He giggles, eyes shining. “Are you doing an aegyo right now?” he asks, putting down the laptop on the table. “Can you hold it for a second?” he flips out his cellphone from his pocket. “So I can record it?”

Shin Hye instantly straightens up the second his phone came into view. “Aniya, aniya!” she says, stifling a laugh while blocking her face. “Aissh! I am seriously pouring my heart out to you but you are just making fun of me!”

Keun Suk tries to wrestle her hands away, aiming for a good shot of her face. “I’m serious, too. I just want to film this so I can preserve the memory of Park Shin Hye trying to talk me out of doing kissing scenes!”

“Oppa!” she yells in protest. She covers her face with a script. “I didn’t tell you not to do it. I know it is work. I just…” she trails on sheepishly behind the inch-thick sheets of paper.

“You just…what?”

She lowers the script down to reveal her face. “I know how you do your kissing scenes!” She bites her lips anxiously. “Oh, just the thought of you doing numerous NGs with whoever just makes me want to have a heart attack right now!” she jokes to camouflage the redness on her cheeks and the worry in her eyes. Because, truth be told, she is really getting jealous now from the mere thought of it.

Keun Suk looks at her, aghast. “Oh. I’m sorry but I don’t remember now how I do my kissing scenes. My last drama is now a fuzzy memory to me. Refresh my mind,” he tells her, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

She hits him on his arm. “You.are.a.big.flirt.”

He guffaws at her remark. “Hey, I may be a flirt but I am always a gentleman. Why? Did I ever take advantage of you in a kissing scene before?”

His question makes her think of one kissing scene they did in Minamishineyo that really gives her the goosebumps whenever she remembers it. Her cheeks grow hot at the thought. “You did not take advantage. But you…you made me do things I do not normally do!”

Keun Suk laughs, clearly enjoying the sight of her blushing. “What? What did I do?” He asks curiously.

Shin Hye bolts out of her seat, face all red. “Nothing!” she says, walking away from him. Grabbing and opening a bottle of water from the table, she turns to him, “We are stopping this conversation now. Please,” she begs.

“Ya!” Keun Suk yells at her, a big smile plastered on his face. “Come here and sit. We are not done talking until I say so,” he orders, patting down the space beside him on the couch.

“No!” she stomps her feet in protest. “Just pick whatever script you want from that pile. It’s okay with me,” she attempts to change the topic.

Keun Suk ignores her, deep in thought all of a sudden. “Aha!” he snaps his fingers after a minute. “Are you, by chance, talking about that ‘bobo’ we had after the movie scene? The one at the rooftop?” His eyes are gleaming with mirth. The naughty look on his face tells Shin Hye that he now knows what she was referring to earlier.

She shrieks in defeat. “Oppa, don’t. Please don’t make me remember that. I swear I’ll die in embarrassment!”

“The one when you kissed me back when you really did not have to?” Keun Suk can not stop laughing now, enjoying how Shin Hye squirms in embarrassment. She walks towards him, giving him a few hits with her balled fists. “Stop laughing. It’s your fault anyway! You always made me do embarrassing things!”

Not bothering to dodge her hits, he grabs her hands, pulling her towards him, to sit on his lap. “Sit still and listen to me,” he says, trying his best to keep a straight face.

She pouts, shutting her eyes and shaking her head. With her hands tightly in his grasp, she feels vulnerable sitting on his lap like this which makes her squirm even more.

He swiftly plants a kiss on her pouting lips. “Open your eyes and let’s talk about that kiss scene once and for all. Just to set things straight between us,” he teases her again.

Her eyes fly open with the smack on her lips. She meets his eyes bravely. “The script for that scene did not say anything about moving your lips but you did!” she accuses him.

He grins. “You’re right, it did not. But we discussed it with the PD remember? We agreed that since it would be Tae Kyung and Mi Nam’s kiss after they knew of each other’s feelings, it would be best to show a more passionate, realistic kiss to the viewers. Right?”  

Shin Hye locks gaze with him for a second, trying to refute his statement with her eyes. But then, he is right. They did agree to do a more realistic kiss for that scene. “But you did not have to let me respond like that!” she protests, covering her face in shame at the memory.

Keun Suk hugs her, stifling his laughter yet again. “Shin Hye, you only did the right response to my kiss. You kissed back. No big deal. And the angle that got aired on TV didn’t show the part when you respond to my kiss anyway,” he explains casually, earning him a slap on his arm.

“But the PD saw it, the whole crew was there. And now they even included it as BTS shots!” she cringes in terror.

“Shin Hye,” he utters her name softy, his hands on her nape, mimicking the way he held her in that scene. He looks at her eyes tenderly for a second before shifting his gaze on her lips, letting his eyes linger there. Then slowly, he softly covers her mouth with his own. Savoring the softness of her lips, his kiss deepens. He playfully nips her lower lip, forcing her to gasp, parting her lips ever so slightly but enough for him to drive home his point. He reluctantly pulls away from her, ending the kiss.

“See that? If I kiss you like that, you can never hold your lips shut and motionless for too long,” he explains, caressing her lips with his thumb. “So there is no need to be embarrassed about your reaction in that scene. It was perfectly natural to kiss back.”

She pouts, not entirely convinced. “But the PD edited it out. That only means it was not realistic enough.”

He laughs at her naivete. “Shin Hye, maybe they thought it was too realistic for Go Mi Nam’s character. I mean, imagine her kissing Tae Kyung back like that. It would be too surreal, right?”

Keun Suk runs his fingers through her hair. “But not to you. Nor to me. I certainly was not complaining when we did that,” he whispers in her ear, his warm breath making her ear ticklish.

You are right. I did that kiss on purpose. It’s a guy thing, you know, to want to test the waters before plunging in for a wild dive. When you kissed me back, I knew I was on the right track.

“Like right now,” he concludes, trailing kisses from her jaw to her soft, waiting lips.