After Story 252

“Cut. Okay.”

Haneul, who was crouching down under the dining table, stretched her legs out when she heard the director’s voice. She massaged her legs a little before approaching the director.

“How is it?”

“What do you think? It’s really good.”

“I feel like I couldn’t maintain my expression well when it started. Did it look okay?”

“If you’re so worried, then have a look yourself.”

The director showed her the just-taken footage. She looked at her own expression right after the action sign.

“I’m not sure about anything else, but there’s nothing to pick on with your acting. If the movie does terribly, then it’s my fault, so you just keep going like this,” said the director.

“Don’t jinx it. I believe that the film will go well.”

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“Right, right. My mouth is the problem.”

Haneul said goodbye to the director and the staff before getting the script she placed on the chair.

“Going home?” asked actor Cheon.

“Yes, home sweet home. What about you, oppa?”

“I’m also done here.”

“Didn’t you have some scenes left? I thought you did because you were waiting.”

“I’m waiting for the others because we said we’d go out drinking together.”

She could see two actors and actor Cheon’s manager walk over.

“Since I’m here, how about you?”

“Me?”

“If you don’t have anything, you should join us. Apparently, there’s a really good grilled lamb place, so we’re going to go over there.”

Another actress grabbed her arm and spoke,

“Haneul, this unni is buying, so you should join us.”

“I’d love to, but I have something to do. I’ll join you next time.”

“You said that last time too. Aren’t you too busy?”

“Tell me about it. I don’t know why I’m so busy either. I’ll definitely join you the next time we gather up.”

“Right. I’ll be inconveniencing you if I hold you back any further, so I’ll let you go this time. Instead, you have to drink with us next time.”

“Yes, senior.”

Haneul said goodbye to the actors and walked to the parking lot. Her manager, who followed her out with her luggage, spoke as she got in the car,

“Unni, you should get some sleep. You look tired.”

“It shows?”

“It was okay at the shoot, but it’s obvious now that you’re in the car. Are you not feeling well?”

“I’m not really feeling unwell. I just have a lot of things to take care of.”

“I guess that you do. I’ll drive the car gently so get some sleep. I’ll wake you up once we get there.”

“Okay, please.”

Haneul grabbed the sleep shades she hung on the door. Since the start of November, she had a bunch of work to do. She had the film she was getting ready to produce, her company work, and even a film shoot.

On days with a terrible schedule, she had to work until late into the morning of the next day.

She questioned herself several times whether she was being greedy. It was a waste of time to cling to something she couldn’t do after all. Fortunately, it was still within her limits. She was grateful for her body for being in her mid-twenties. If she was fifty, she would’ve run out of physical strength before her mind couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Unni, we’re here.”

She felt like she had just gotten some shuteye, but she had to take her shades off while waking up from a dreamy state. She could see the front gates of her apartment complex, and she couldn’t feel happier.

“Good work today.”

“You too, unni. Go home quickly and get washed and sleep.”

“Okay. You drive back carefully too.”

Haneul yawned as she stood in front of the elevator. As she was waiting after pressing the button, she had a rush of sleepiness. Her vision felt blurry for a moment. She stretched her arms out, saying that she should pull herself together when two hands suddenly grabbed her flank.

Startled, she turned around. Her husband was blinking at her.

“You surprised?”

“Anyone would be, you know?”

She sighed before leaning against Maru.

“Wait a sec, you’re heavy.”

“I’m too tired today. Hold on for a second. Also, I’m not that heavy.”

“Seeing your mouth so lively, I don’t think you’re tired to the point of passing out.”

“Should I pass out for you?”

Haneul smiled and loosened her entire body. From her legs to her arms, she let go of the minimum energy to maintain standing. She felt like she was floating for a moment before she was grabbed firmly.

“You’re heavy, I mean it.”

“Work hard.”

Haneul smiled before leaning against her husband fully.

The elevator opened. He put strength into the arm wrapped around her stomach and lifted her up.

“What were you going to do if someone was on the elevator?”

“It’s fine, we can cover your face up, sweetie.”

She flailed her arm towards her back and touched her husband’s face.

His chin, lips, cheeks, eyelids… she fondled him for a while before spreading her hands and covering his whole face.

“Now, no one will recognize you, right?”

“This woman’s completely bonkers. Did you have a hard time today?”

“Not just today. It’s been several days. I’ve been barely holding out, and thanks to a certain someone startling me from behind, I’ve completely lost strength. How’s that? Not my fault, is it?”

“I guess it’s that guy’s bad for startling you. But are you going to keep standing like this?”

Haneul turned around. She stared at her husband’s unshaven beard for a long time before hanging her arms around his neck. Slowly, she turned around to her husband’s back like a sloth.

“Yes, I guess having you on my back will be better.”

She got a piggyback from him, and that couldn’t feel better. Maru opened the door to the apartment. She flung her feet left and right. Her sneakers, which she didn’t wear properly and just crumpled the heels, fell off from her feet.

“You totally out today?”

With her still on his back, her husband crouched down and neatened the sneakers.

“Maybe this is why men work out.”

“I’m not working out to do this, but sure, I’ll give you this from time to time.”

She slapped her husband’s back, telling him to go to the bed.

“I think you have energy now.”

“Shh. Go to the bed.”

Climbing down from her husband’s back, she lay down on the bed.

“You should get washed first.”

“Yeah.”

Although she responded, she didn’t have the energy to get back up. Now that she was lying down, she found everything bothersome. Maru sat down next to her.

“I can do everything else besides washing in your stead.”

“When will that technology get developed? Washing for other people?”

“I can tell you for sure that it won’t appear until I’m forty-five.”

“You never know in this life. Some genius might come along and develop it.”

“Seeing as how you keep talking nonsense, it looks like you really had a hard time.”

She reached her hand out to her husband with her palm facing up.

He massaged her palms without saying a word. Whenever she didn’t have any energy or had a bad stomach, she always had him massage her hands.

“I suddenly got a lot of work because of exports. I can’t stay out of it because there are many things that require my decision. There are many makers over there that have a similar product lineup to ours, so I couldn’t let my brain get any rest because I had to analyze our strategy.”

“And you had the shoot and checking Daemyung’s writing on top of that.”

“Still, once this is done, I won’t have any work at the company for a while, so I can get a breather.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard. You’re doing plenty well.”

“You’re right, sweetie. It’s plenty as it is now. I know that I can’t be greedy and that I should be satisfied with the happiness in front of my eyes than in the distant future. I really do, but when work comes my way, I can’t let go of any of them. Maybe it’s because I know a lot of things?”

“It’s true that knowing a lot of things increases your worry. But still, the first thing you have to think about is your body. You know that firsthand, don’t you?”

“Nothing can replace health. For our sake, and for Gaeul’s sake.”

She sat up.

“Did you know? When you massage me like this, it relieves my fatigue a lot?”

“Should I switch jobs then?”

“That’s a no. I want a monopoly on it.”

They grabbed hands, and she stood up thanks to Maru’s help.

“Go and get washed. Let’s eat something.”

“Is there anything to eat?”

“There’s pizza in the freezer. Three pieces left over from last time.”

“I’ll eat two of them then. I need some carbs today.”

She went to the bathroom and washed her body with some hot water.

She wiped the steamy mirror with her palm. A fatigued face could be seen in the foggy mirror. It was a miracle that it didn’t show up during the shoot.

After her shower, she left the bathroom. She grabbed a bite of the pizza that her husband had warmed up and drank some beer. Her brain, which had come to a halt as soon as she left the shoot, seemed to be reactivating again.

She talked to her husband about the things that happened today; what happened at the company in the morning, her lunch, and then the shoot.

“I would’ve attended that gathering today if I had a little more energy,” she said as she opened her laptop.

There were a few emails sent to her from her company. They were reports she had to look through without a deadline. It wasn’t an urgent problem, so she just checked them for now.

“How was it for you today, sweetie?”

Haneul looked at her husband with her chin resting on her arms. Having finished his shoot in the summer, her husband had been busy outside of creating content.

Advert shoots, photo shoots, and above all, he had a fan meetup to prepare for. As he was multi-talented, there were many things to prepare, such as singing and dancing.

He said he might as well do it properly and ended up spending even more time than when he was working on Yoonseok’s film, which eventually turned the fan meetup into a full-on concert. For a while, his fan meetup videos took over the popular video charts.

“Well, I’ve been playing around to my heart’s content,” he said as he rubbed his belly.

She frowned and pinched his belly. The sleek abs had disappeared without a trace. Though, the sensation was better this way.

“You’ve become more weighty in the past few months.”

“I should get some good rest when I can.”

Haneul fondled his belly for a while before letting go.

“They’re becoming more and more like you.”

She looked at the two cats on the sofa. They had become as chubby as her husband.

“I heard you start working again in January, right? You should start losing weight then.”

“I can never get used to losing weight no matter how many times I do it.”

He tried to take the remaining piece of pizza and put it in his mouth, but she snatched his hand before he could do so. Then she brought her face over and ate it.

“You had to steal that?”

“I’m not stealing anything. I was just helping you with your diet.”

When she smiled, Maru pouted before smiling.

“Should I make you something? You still look hungry.”

“No, I like it just the way I am now. I do want to eat more, but I have a shoot tomorrow as well. You know I get bloated easily.”

She took a sip of some beer and put down the can. Just then, her husband’s phone rang for a moment.

It seemed he got a message. It then rang several times as though he received several messages in a row.

“What could that be? I turned off the notifications for the group chat.”

He checked his phone. As he did so, his expression became brighter and brighter.

“What is it?”

Instead of replying, Maru showed her his phone. Yoonseok kept sending messages.

-We got a judge’s award at the Monte Brè Film Festival!

Following that was a series of cheerful emojis from Yoonseok.

“Looks like Yoonseok won’t get any sleep tonight.”

Congratulations – she added as she returned the phone.

“Monte Brè, so Switzerland?”

“Yeah. A judge’s award, huh? That’s a much better reception than I was expecting.”

“If it’s good enough to get a judge’s award at Monte Brè, you might get invited to other Film Festivals too, huh?”

“That’s likely. For now, the start is good.”

She quietly watched as her husband let out a sigh of relief.

“I told you this before, but don’t go too far ahead.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said with a smile.

Even during that time, the notifications did not cease.