Chapter 840. Sequence 11

They had a break just before the kiss scene. Gaeul put down her script and looked at Giwoo, who was talking to the camera director. She had been observing him for the past few days, but she wasn’t able to find anything suspicious about him. He was still as kind as ever when looking out for the staff and as serious as ever when he was acting. He should catch her eyes if he was scheming something, but he was clean all around. Maru said that he would never be able to become friends with him. Even though he said that there was a possibility that Giwo had changed for the better, he also said that his relationship with Giwoo would never change. From that, there seemed to be a reason. What could it be? Did Maru find a flaw in Giwoo that couldn’t be seen on the surface?

“I’m so nervous right now. You see me sweating?”

Kang Giwoo acted nervously in front of the producer. He also put on a smile like a young boy. Although she had come across many actors on sets, she had not come across a man who gave off such an innocent image. If it was before, she would have smiled while looking at Giwoo being nervous like a child, but perhaps thanks to her bias, she now observed his smile and actions very closely. Was it from the bottom of his heart? Or was he just putting on a show after calculating everything? She also considered the possibility that Giwoo had changed for the better, but for now, she placed more weight on the fact that he might have grown up to be the evil prankster that he was. The rumors about him as well as the things she heard all pointed to the fact that Giwoo was innocent, but her suspicion did not die down. This just went to show that she trusted Maru’s words that much. If time passed and her suspicions were completely resolved, she would explain the circumstances and apologize, but until then, she was planning on being wary of him.

“Don’t you two need a rehearsal?” the producer asked Gaeul.

Gaeul placed her hand on Giwoo’s shoulder and winked.

“Director, we don’t need things like that. We’ll finish the kiss scene in one go, so don’t you make a mistake.”

“If that’s the case, I’m good. Alright then. Let’s get started.”

Gaeul sat on the chair in the lounge in the hospital. This was the scene where she found out that the medical accident of the unni she knew in the story was actually a setup and she was having a hard time emotionally. It was then that Giwoo approaches her, hugs her, and proceeds to kiss her. It was a stereotypical romantic plot. As this scene also showed the reliance the man and the woman had for each other after having just been caught up in the dark political struggles of the hospital, the director emphasized its importance several times.

“We need to do this in one go, right?” Giwoo said, next to her.

“We do. Don’t you get embarrassed and just come straight at me. I’ll accept everything.”

“Alright, Miss Han Gaeul. You’re very reliable.”

The producer approached them after Giwoo tapped on her shoulders. The producer explained the movements they should take as well as the background behind their act. As one side was supposed to be crying, while the other was supposed to be agitated, the kiss scene had to be a dynamic one, so they had rehearsed several times beforehand.

“As you know, the heart-racing excitement of the first kiss is the best. If you keep repeating it, your emotions will dry up. The earnestness, the abstractness, the sweetness, and the excitement of the first kiss - let’s try getting all of that in one go. Also, Giwoo, you turn to the left, while Gaeul, you turn to the right. That will make the scene look the prettiest. We’ll make it as short as possible so that both of you don’t get emotionally exhausted, so let’s do this in one go.”

The producer stepped back. The camera was installed and the lights started emitting light. After giving a glance at the boom mic above her head, she exercised her lips and mouth by going ‘vrrrr’ with her lips. Just as the director said, she wanted to finish this in one go. Although she was an actress and this was supposed to be an act, it was still a kiss. When she had her first kiss scene, she grabbed a senior actress and asked if she didn’t have any personal feelings at all. That senior actress said that she was truly in love with the person in front of her at that very moment. That actress was married too.

Gaeul calmed down and got her emotions together. This wasn’t the right time to think about what kind of person Kang Giwoo was. It was time to fulfill her role in the drama and share love. She put the background in her eyes before dissolving herself into her character. The pain given to her by the truth poked at her heart. Her chest hurt, and she was in desperate need of someone who could caress that pain. She breathed slowly and grabbed onto that rope of emotions. Gaeul had completely become the character in the drama.

When she dug deeper and deeper into the character in the drama until she could no longer differentiate between her own emotions and the character’s emotions, she heard the cue sign. The lines in her head had seeped through her entire body instead of just being lines that were going to be uttered from her mouth. She said her lines as though she was looking back on something she had experienced.

She stood up from her seat and denied the reality that unni had died in vain. Her eyes became hot. Her throat tightened up, and it became hard for her to breathe. Giwoo, who came in after opening the door, grabbed her arm and told her to calm down. However, being told to calm down was too cruel of a measure when she just found out the truth. Her chest hurt. Her heart felt like it was being ripped to pieces. Her legs were shaking and it was hard for her to stay standing. She needed somewhere to lean on; she needed a refuge that would allow her to forget about this stifling reality temporarily. She leaned on the cabinet and curled up. Her body, which felt like a lump of fire, cooled down immediately. The reality that she could not handle shook her entire body.

Giwoo hugged her abruptly. Gaeul struggled in his arms before spitting out a trembling breath under his warmth and hugging him back. The wave of sadness spread throughout the body that she came into contact with. When the agitation that wreaked havoc inside her body became calm, she lost strength in her body. She left her entire body weight to Giwoo, who she was leaning against. At the same time, Giwoo’s face became closer. Their lips met and their breaths connected. She could see Giwoo’s semi-closed eyes. His pupils, which were centered, sneakily moved towards the left. He was avoiding her gaze.

The little bit of her consciousness that she had left behind clicked its tongue. She herself was putting everything into this character. She could not tolerate him moving his eyes away. No matter how embarrassed he was, no matter how much he didn’t like this, he had to put everything aside and put everything he had into this moment. She moved the hand she placed on his waist to his neck. At the same time, she pushed her lips even closer forward. Her entire body felt hot. It was a fire created by the woman who loved Giwoo as well as the actress who wanted to finish this in one shot. She could see Giwoo’s pupils being colored in panic. Gaeul sent her love and rebuke through her eyes – do it properly if you’re an actor.

Giwoo took half a step forward as though he had come to himself. Gaeul was satisfied with that. After all, if they were going to act out the lingering energy of a kiss, the emotional distance between them was supposed to shrink. After finishing that dynamic kiss, she slowly pulled her head back. Giwoo, who pulled back, moved his head forward again as though he was possessed. He seemed to have forgotten about the camera.

Gaeul naturally lowered her head so that Giwoo’s lips touched her forehead. The moment the long kiss ended, she took a step outside of the character. If she was still swept in her emotions, she would have put her lips against his as well. She put her forehead against Giwoo’s lips as though it was the first kiss before looking at Giwoo’s eyes. She could feel disappointment in his gaze. It seemed that he had been absorbed in his character as well.

Gaeul slowly took a step back before covering her lips with the back of her hand. She was surprised by the unexpected kiss, but at the same time, she made a relieved expression. As the peak of emotions of acting was past her, she was returning to Han Gaeul again. She had to finish the act before she completely left the character and it started looking disconcerted. She grabbed the lounge door and left. Although she had only gone past one wall, her heartbeat had returned to normal. The emotions that consumed her entire body soon disappeared like rainwater being drained. One of Gaeul’s sources of pride was that she had never met difficulties when tuning her emotions. Sometimes, she even thought that she had a problem with herself because she was too good at cleaning up her emotions. She could control her emotions freely as though she had been doing this job for a very long time.

She walked around the wall and looked at Giwoo, who was still in the lounge. The producer was waving his hand over his head. That was even bigger praise than ‘well done.’ Giwoo walked around the lounge aimlessly before sitting on the table. He was expressing his regret for his impulsive action and the lingering emotions without looking too flustered. No wonder people went crazy over Kang Giwoo. His acting was better than his appearance.

“Alright, we’re done!”

The director clapped twice before standing up. The staff, who had been holding their breaths until now, also became relaxed. Gaeul brushed up her hair before approaching Giwoo.

“Good work.”

“Uh, yeah.”

He seemed dazed. Gaeul was about to ask what was up with him but decided not to. It was probably because of the emotions he wasn’t able to wrap up properly.

“It was very good. Both of you come here. I don’t think you’ll want to do that again.”

Gaeul tapped Giwoo’s shoulder. Giwoo, who was in a daze, nodded and started walking.

* * *

Giwoo looked in the mirror. An idiot with his eyes half-open was looking back right at him. Only after wiping his eyes with cold water did the idiot disappear. He had done kiss scenes several times. If it was just a kiss without the scene, an uncountably many times. The only kiss he placed meaning in was the first kiss that he got from a noona he met at a family meeting when he was young. Starting from the next one, kissing was just like an ordinary procedure just before going to bed with someone. To get heated up by just rubbing his lips against someone else’s was ridiculous as he had experienced too many things. In one way, kisses were a light form of skin contact, perhaps even lighter than a handshake.

Giwoo recalled Gaeul in his arms. Up until the moment he hugged her, he was thinking about something else completely different. He was thinking about how to use the information he got from Mijoo to bully Han Maru. However, the moment he saw her eyes as her lips touched his, his head turned blank. She was bold and relentless. It was a completely different feeling from the other actresses that he had done kiss scenes with. The eyes that looked straight at him and that gaze that rebuked him to focus properly were charming. He was swayed by her, who was acting like she was in love with her entire body. Although he didn’t have the lead, he didn’t feel that bad. In fact, he felt so disappointed when their lips fell apart that he did something that wasn’t even in the script. He still had the lingering feelings of the moment they touched their lips together.

I want to keep hugging her – that impulse swept his entire body. Even though he knew that it was just an act, his heart was moved. Giwoo shook off the water from his hands. He regained his calm and put on his signature smile. It was a flawless one. It also meant that he had calmed down.

“Han Gaeul.”

There was a need to check one more time. Whether it was a mistake in emotions through coincidence or if he actually wanted to have her. Of course, someone like Han Gaeul wasn’t bad. Perhaps thanks to the kiss scene, he even felt that she wasn’t that lacking as his partner. So she was dating Han Maru, huh. The man in the mirror put on a twisted smile.

“Someone who has value needs to be next to someone who recognizes that value.”

He was going to make her his and just throw her away if it didn’t seem right. It might be rather interesting if Han Maru picked up what he threw away. For now, though, he decided to watch so that he could see whether she was someone he should embrace or just make use of.