Spark | Part 1
“I wonder what would give him that idea.” He spoke quietly, tucking my hair behind my ear.
I did my best not to laugh, “I have no idea.”
“Oh my god I’m so sorry!”
All of my things scattered across the floor. I was so flustered I forgot I was in Korea and should have spoken Korean.
It didn’t matter, the girl I had made contact with kept laughing and walking away.
I had said “sorry” out of habit, but the reality was she ran into me. I heard her laughing and joking with her boyfriend as I struggled to open the door to the building. I already knew she wasn’t paying attention.
Her lack of concern admittedly annoyed me. How could you run into someone knocking all of their things out of their hands and not care? Not even fake an apology?
I tried to quickly grab my things, but they were all over the floor. Thankfully it was just work stuff and nothing embarrassing. My three planners, a bag of pens and highlighters, sticky notes and paper clips, a few very important thumb drives my boss would kill me if I lost. Stupidly, the bag of small things was open so it all dumped out.
On top of that I was wrangling my purse trying to get through the door and holding my phone in my hand. It really was a recipe for disaster. I’d just expected other people to be aware of their surroundings and not run into someone clearly struggling.
I was cursing everyone out in my head and angrily shoving pens and stupid paper clips into the bag.
“I’m so sorry.” A man’s voice spoke to me.
The girl should be apologising. Not her boyfriend.
“Don’t worry about it.” I said kindly not even bothering to look up at him. I grabbed the thumb drives and made sure I had all of them and that they weren’t broken.
My boss was pretty laid back and kind, he was one of those “cool bosses.” I could basically do whatever I wanted as long as I got work done and didn’t mess up. Losing or breaking a thumb drive with his work on it would definitely be a big mess up.
The man handed me one of the planners.
“Thank you.” I said as I finally looked up at him, he smiled apologetically. It was so surreal seeing him. I knew who he was, everyone knew who he was, he was one of the biggest idols in Korea currently. I’d known about him for years when he debuted with his group.
I smiled again and looked away gathering my things into one big hazardous stack, I realised I was just sitting there staring at him.
His hair was dark, though he usually had it bleached or dyed. I loved his dark hair. His lips were the perfect plumped heart shape and his jaw was a sharp angle.
He spoke in Korean to his girlfriend as we stood up. The parts I could understand, he was asking her to apologise. She responded in a sickly sweet whiny voice, that she didn’t want to. One word stuck out and made me immediately dislike her. “Babo.” It was the Korean word for “fool.” Her boyfriend immediately chastised her. I felt awkward enough already having spilled everything on the floor, I didn’t need to witness their fight and be called names in another language by a bratty celebrity.
“Thanks again.” I said with a smile and walked towards the elevator. He looked at me as I walked away, the quick glimpse I got he had sorrow in his eyes. He kept talking to his girlfriend. I pressed the elevator button carefully so I didn’t drop everything again and waited.
The whine in her voice was absolutely unbearable. She sounded like a child begging her parents for a lollipop. The elevator dinged and the doors slowly opened. I looked back at him, he was already looking at me. His eyes were still full of “I’m sorry.” I offered a sympathetic smile and got onto the elevator.
…
I sat my things on the kitchen counter. Finally home after a long day, all I wanted was to crash. Other than the incident in the lobby at work the rest of my day was pretty nondescript. A friend of mine had gotten me the job when I first moved here a month or two ago. Time had gone by so slowly, but so quickly at the same time, I already lost track of my short time here.
I was the personal assistant of a CEO for a record label. My boss, Kim Jae Won, was also a producer. He was amazingly talented and could create an entire song, music and lyrics, in the span of an afternoon. It was incredible.
I was honestly so blessed to be able to work for him. He was inspiring and friendly. Not one of those slave driver bosses that made me do meaningless tasks just to prove a point. I’d always been intrigued by the music industry so I was more than happy to work alongside him. The pay was amazing, the work was easy for the most part, and everything was laid back. It really was a blessing.
I sat down on my bed after getting out of the shower and had a flashback to this morning. The way his eyes looked. “His” stage name was Zico, that’s what everyone called him. I hadn’t heard people use his real name in years. Which was unfortunate I thought, I actually really liked his real name, Jiho.
The way he looked when he handed me my things was exactly like the movies. He smiled and his eyes lit up. It was almost heart stopping how handsome he was in person. I’d seen him years ago when he and his group came to the US for a tour. He was heart stoppingly handsome then too. He honestly hadn’t changed a bit. Maybe just slightly older and there was something else behind his energy. I assumed his military service had changed him a little. I can’t imagine it not changing someone.
I brushed my hair and kept thinking about this morning. His girlfriend was absolutely awful. Of course I wanted him to be happy, but how could someone be happy with a partner like that? She literally did not care that she knocked me and all of my things over. Her whiny voice popped into my head and made me cringe. That voice could ruin anything, it had officially ruined my somewhat happy thoughts about Jiho. I decided it was time to turn in.
…
“Lennon, I have a last minute meeting today for 11.” My boss, Jae Won, tapped on my desk as he walked by.
I nodded, “got it.” I opened one of my many planners and wrote down “meeting 11” in the open space.
“Oh,” He turned around and walked back to my desk, “I’ll need one of the studios available. Can you make sure one is prepped for today? Just make sure a free thumb drive is there and my notebook if I forget it.”
“Yeah, of course.” I smiled and made a mental note of it. He was one of those typically handsome guys. The most perfect bone structure, dark hair that was perfectly placed with not a single hair out of place. On top of being incredibly kind, he was handsome. Unfortunately for the females of the world, he was married to his work. I didn’t have a crush on him, he was my boss after all, but him being handsome definitely made long work days easier.
“Thanks, you’re amazing. By the way, Gray said he was going to stop by to drop off a track.” He sat half way on my desk. Gray was my friend who had gotten me the job here. He was a producer and performer and very talented in both arenas. “Perfect, I’ll make sure to get it from him.” I stood up and gathered the files I was organising. I tapped them on the desk as Jae Won spoke again. “Are you sure you two aren’t dating?” He furrowed his brow, “Not that it's my business.” He held his hands up. I’d be uncomfortable if I felt like he was asking for his own benefit, but it honestly just felt like an innocent question. I laughed, “Me and Gray? Absolutely not. He's one of my best friends.” I walked over the other wall where a sleek matte black file cabinet sat and shoved the files in.
Gray was also handsome, of course he was, but I didn’t feel that way about him. Admittedly we were kind of flirty, but it was really just us messing around. Neither one of us was serious about it.
“Best friends can date.” He shrugged and slid off my desk, “Eleven.” He wagged his finger in the air as he walked away reminding me of his meeting. I wouldn’t forget. He might, but I wouldn’t.
…
A few hours later I went to one of the empty studios and got everything ready. I knew Jae Won would forget his notebook, it wasn’t even in his office when I found it. We have a seating area in our office‘s lobby where my desk is.
There’s a lush leather couch and a few chairs surrounding a glass coffee table that probably costs more than 6 months of my rent. His notebook was sitting on the coffee table. He’d be wandering around trying to find it swearing he “left it right here.”
I sat it on the desk in front of the computer and sat a pen next to it along with an empty thumb drive. I put a couple of water bottles on the table for them to have if they needed it. I made sure the room was clean and organised and even though he didn’t ask me to, I went ahead and turned on the computers and the system.
I went to my desk to grab everything I’d need. I’d sit in on his meetings unless I had a lot of work to get done. These studio meets were actually pretty fun. I got to watch him and the artists create music or come up with a concept for a music video. It was incredible to see the things he came up with.
Jae Won walked up to me looking at his watch, “Everything ready?” He asked.
I nodded, “Yep, I already put your notebook and thumb drive in there.”
We started walking past the sitting area.
“Perfect. I’ll go turn the system on.”
“Already done.” I called after him.
He turned around slowly, “You turned the system on?”
I nodded, “I’ve seen you do it plenty of times, so I went ahead and did it to save you time. I hope that’s okay.”
He smiled, “Initiative. I like that. You’ll be mixing tracks next.”
I opened my notebook, “oh no, I doubt that.” I smiled as I wrote down the date on the top of the page along with a couple other details that helped me keep track of things. I usually kept notes of his meetings just in case he forgot something.
“Here’s our star.” He smiled looking past me.
They said their hellos in Korean and Jae Won began to introduce us. “This is my assistant Lennon, she’ll be sitting in on the meeting if that’s okay with you.”
“Of course.” I immediately recognized his voice. I looked up from my notebook to see Jiho. It had been two weeks since the incident and I had begun to forget the way he had looked at me. Those butterflies had begun to disappear, but were suddenly back in full effect.
“Lennon, I'm sure you’ve heard of Zico. We’ll be helping him with his next music video.”
I smiled kindly at the tall guy in front of me, “Of course. It’s nice to meet you.” I bowed slightly to show respect.
He returned the smile and bow, “It’s nice to meet you too, Lennon.”
I swallowed hard and tried to keep my face normal so he wouldn’t notice how hearing him say my name affected me.
“The studio is all ready if we’re ready.” Jae Won spoke, breaking my eye contact with Jiho. I noticed my boss smirk just as someone grabbed my waist from behind and shouted “ah” scaring the absolute life out of me.
I gasped as my boss and Jiho laughed. I put my hand on my heart to feel it pounding.
A familiar man child stepped next to me, it was Gray.
“I. Hate. You.” I said slowly and slapped him with my notebook.
He was smiling, extremely proud of his efforts. “Mind if I steal her for a sec?” He calmed his laughs and spoke to my boss.
Jae Won nodded and Gray and I walked back to my desk.
“You’re awful.” I said to him as I set my notebook down. He wrapped me in a hug as I turned to face him.
“I’ll make it up to you, how about lunch? I’ll buy.”
I squeezed him and agreed, “Jae Won thinks we’re dating.”
Gray pulled away slightly, “Oh he does?”
I nodded looking up at him.
“I wonder what would give him that idea.” He spoke quietly, tucking my hair behind my ear. I did my best not to laugh, “I have no idea.” “We could, you know.” His arm tightened around my waist. “But why limit myself to just one woman, that wouldn’t be fair to every other girl in the world.” He sighed and pulled away suddenly.
He was such a dork. This was why people thought we were dating because one of us would do something ridiculous like that and we would be the only ones knowing it was a joke.
“You have a track for me, don’t you?” I sat on my desk with an outstretched hand.
He shook his head, “It’s all work with you isn’t it?” He smiled and handed me the drive. I looked past him and saw my boss talking to Jiho.
Jiho looked at me, his smile had faded a bit. He always seemed to be a little sad whenever I saw him. It was upsetting to see someone I’d respected and who’s career I’d followed for years look so wary all of the time.
I took the drive and put it in my pocket for safe keeping, “You know you could’ve just emailed this or air dropped it right?”
“Yeah yeah.” He groaned. “Then I wouldn’t get the joy of scaring you.” He laughed. I smiled and rolled my eyes, “I’ll see you for lunch.”
I started to walk away from him, he took my hand, “Wait.” I faced him again, his joking silly demeanor had changed to a more serious tone, “You work all of the time, you’re going to get burnt out, trust me. You need to go out and have fun.”
I made a face at the suggestion, “I don’t know about that. You know how anti-social I am.”
“You’re Jae Won’s personal assistant. How have you avoided going to events?”
I shrugged, “Just lucky I guess.” I joked. His serious face didn’t change. I sighed, “Fine. We’ll do something this weekend.”
I’d try to get out of it, but I was sure he wouldn’t let me this time.
He smiled finally, “Good. I’ll see you for lunch.”
I walked back to my boss and tried to ignore the feeling of Jiho watching me.
We all walked into the studio and the two of them began talking about the music and the music video they were envisioning. They both were so similar, my boss and Jiho. Both were incredible producers and writers and they both were very much married to their work. Once they started talking about the music they zoned in and everything on the outside didn’t exist.
My boss’s phone buzzed on the table and he didn’t even notice. I grabbed it and checked the email. I responded to it for him just as another one came in. I wrote down the info for an event he had been invited to last week and made a note to remind him about it.
I looked up, Jae Won was listening to the song the music video was for. He was in his own world when he worked. His phone rang this time, he reached over and silenced it without even looking at the screen. I glanced at his phone and saw “Eomma” as the caller. I grabbed it and stepped outside to answer it. It was his mom.
It wasn’t uncommon for me to answer his calls or emails. He had quickly entrusted me with literally his entire life. I said hello and let her know he was working. I usually had the pleasure of speaking with her at least once a week as Jae Won was always busy with something. She was a very sweet and understanding mom, and always had a chat with me for a few minutes even though my Korean was still awful and her English wasn’t great. It was her anniversary with her husband and she was calling to remind her son of the dinner he agreed to go to.
A dinner he failed to mention to me so it wasn’t written down. Which meant he definitely forgot about it.
I stepped back into the studio. I didn’t want to interrupt him, but I had to. I touched his shoulder pulling him out of his work trance. He looked at me expectantly.
“You need to call your mom back.” I said kindly and handed him his phone.
“Oh, thank you!” He grabbed it and quickly stepped out.
I wrote down his dinner date in my planner and was suddenly aware that Jiho and I were alone in the studio. It was deafeningly quiet.
“I think he’d be lost without you.” He finally spoke.
“Nah.” I looked up at him, he was leaning back in his chair. He looked more comfortable than I felt. “He’d be fine. He just wouldn’t make it to any meetings or appointments on time or ever.”
Jiho laughed quietly. That smile was something I always wanted to see. It was quiet again. “I’m sorry about the other day.” He adjusted in his seat, sitting more upright.
I shook my head, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.” I nervously tapped my pen against my hand. I hated that he was apologising for his girlfriend’s behaviour. She was the one that should be apologising. Not him.
“I know.” He leaned forward resting his arms on his knees. “Yuri didn’t mean to run into you. She’s clumsy, she felt awful.” He stood up for her. It was admirable, but also frustrating. I knew he was lying, how could he want to stand up for her?
I nodded slowly in disbelief. I wanted to call him out, but I didn’t want to just outright say I knew he was lying.
“Jinjjayo?” I asked if that was really how she felt.
He closed his eyes knowing he was caught. “You speak Korean?” He asked opening them.
“Enough to know she didn’t exactly feel bad.”
He sighed, “I’m sorry. I really am.” He put his hands together, almost begging. I hated it.
“Jiho please stop apologising.” I offered a sympathetic smile. “It’s really not a big deal.”
His face softened and the corner of his lips started to pull into a smile. “What did you call me?”
My heart sank, “oh my gosh I’m so sorry.” I let his real name slip. We were in a professional setting, I should have stuck with his stage name. That’s what he seemed to prefer going by, literally everyone called him “Zico.” It felt like I was overstepping and inserting myself into his life by using his real name.
“Now it’s my turn to tell you not to apologise.” He smiled and sat back in his seat. I wanted to apologise again, but Jae Won walked in and got right back to work.
An hour later they had straightened out all of the details for the concept of the video and Jae Won said he’d take care of everything else.
“Lennon, we’ll be doing a casting call for the leading lady on Friday, so—.” I had to cut him off, he of course didn’t remember.
“Sorry to interrupt but Friday won’t work. You have a meeting with the shareholders and those usually last a majority of the day.”
He sighed, “Of course I do.”
He hated those meetings as much as I did. They were so boring. Just a bunch of people sitting around a table talking about the direction of the company and how they think it should be run and Jae Won patiently and politely defending his company and his choices.
“Then you’ll have to go for me. You know my standards better than anyone. Zico will be there so he’ll know what he wants from a creative and personal aspect and you’ll be my voice of reason when he chooses someone who isn’t up to par.”
Jae Won playfully slapped Jiho’s shoulder. Both guys smiled at each other as if there was some secret guy code happening here. I decided it would be best if I just ignored it. I was extremely unsure about standing in for Jae Won. It was a lot of pressure to try and do things exactly how he’d do them. If I didn’t measure up to his standards and help choose the perfect girl I’d fail him completely. It was an honour he felt he could trust me enough to do this, but I’d almost rather sit in on the shareholders meeting with him.
I was also still uncomfortable and embarrassed from using Jiho’s real name. I could feel he wanted to talk to me when Jae Won walked away and I was not wanting to chat about my mess up. I handed my boss the thumb drive Gray gave me earlier and quickly left for my lunch “date” with him.
…
The rest of the week had been much of the same day in and day out, me basically running every aspect of Jae Won’s life and making sure he and his company stayed running smoothly. I only had the added anxiety and dread waiting for today when I’d sit in on the casting call with Jiho trying to find the perfect girl for his music video.I made sure Jae Won had everything he needed for his shareholders meeting. We both gave each other a look of encouragement before I left him to the wolves and I went to the casting call. I walked in and Jiho was already sitting at the table looking at his phone.
Call him Zico. Zico Zico Zico. I had to remind myself not to let his real name slip again.
“Hey, I hope you haven’t been waiting long.” I sat down next to him. I made sure I was early, so he was really early. He smiled and sat his phone down. “No, about five minutes.” “Oh good.” I looked at the papers in front of me, there was a paper for each girl with all of her info and work experience. He cleared his throat, I could feel nervous tension between the two of us. I wasn’t sure if it was all my nervousness or if he was nervous too. Which made me even more nervous. What was he possibly nervous about? Did he think I’d screw it up? I was just a personal assistant, I really had no right to be here choosing what girl would be in his music video. “I thought we could go over what I’m looking for.” He spoke. “Sure.” I turned to face him and realised how close we were. I shifted uncomfortably. I hated that I felt uncomfortable around him, but I did have a serious crush on him and I had for years. He had a girlfriend, and he was a client for my boss. I had to put my own personal feelings aside and just look at him like he was just another client.
“What’s your ideal girl? For the music video I mean.” I quickly added, I felt my cheeks redden. So much for pushing my own feelings aside. He hid a smile, “I was thinking of someone shorter than me.”
I nodded, it wouldn't be difficult, he was almost 6 feet tall.
“Dark hair. Kind, sweet.”
It was weird he wanted to go over what he wanted. Normally they tell the casting agent what they’re looking for and the agent picked the people who physically fit what the client was looking for.
“So maybe someone innocent looking?” I offered. I’d never done this before, I had no idea how to choose someone based on these random descriptions. He shook his head, “She doesn’t have to be innocent.” He sat back and thought for a moment, “Someone who you want to be around because there’s something intriguing about them. Someone who doesn’t leave your thoughts no matter how hard you try to distract yourself. She could look innocent, but you’d also know that she wasn’t. She’s more mysterious than innocent.” He had seriously thought about this more than I thought was necessary. It really showed how much he really took every aspect of his career seriously.
“Does she have to have dark hair?” It seemed to be a pretty arbitrary descriptor just for a music video, “Like if she has every other qualification and is perfect for the role, but has blonde hair.” He shook his head seriously, “No. She has to have dark hair.”
Who was I to stand in the way of artistic vision?
I nodded, “Let’s hope we don't have many blonde girls show up.” I smiled.
He returned the smile and told the assistant to bring in the first five girls. I looked at him and we both tried not to laugh as the five girls stood in front of us. Two of them were blonde, one had red hair, and the other two were brunette. This would either be a very quick and easy process or it would be extremely difficult. Especially considering we had to find a girl today since they started filming tomorrow. Jiho immediately put the non brunette girls’ info sheets into a pile on the side. He wasn’t even considering them. I had no choice but to do the same. I smiled at the girls and thanked them for their time. I didn’t want to come out right and tell them they didn’t get the job.
A few hours later, we had narrowed the list of girls down to 15 brunettes and we had to choose our “it girl.” One by one we had each girl come in, Jiho kept making up reasons he couldn’t choose them. I tried not to think his reasons were ridiculous, but they really were. One girl didn’t have the right shaped eyes, one girl’s hair was too short, and one girl, he didn’t think she was mysterious enough. We were running out of girls and time.
One of the few girls left was standing in front of us and I knew he was about to nix her.
I held up her info sheet so my voice would be muffled, “Zico, you can’t keep saying no to choosing a girl. We’re running out.”
“I just don’t think any of them are what I want.”
I sat the paper down and sighed. I looked back at the girl. She was pretty, had long hair, and her eyes were bright. She was perfect in my opinion. She did look nervous though, but I couldn’t fault her. Two people were sitting in front of her judging her and one of those people was a handsome idol. A frustrating, but handsome idol.
I smiled at her, “Zico, can you go stand next to her please?”
He looked at me, shocked I’d even suggest it. “What? Why?”
“Please go stand next to her. I want to see how you two look together.” I tapped my pen on the table and waited for him to get up.
He reluctantly got up and stood next to the girl. He didn’t look happy one bit. I wasn't sure what it was, but it felt like he was being difficult intentionally, like he didn’t want to choose any of these girls. Something was going on and I was going to figure out what it was. “Zico, can you put your arm around her?” He put his arm around her shoulders and gave me a look that told me he was unimpressed with my tactics. It was actually humorous. I suppressed a laugh. They did look good together, but as soon as he put his arm around her she got all giddy and started laughing nervously. He shook his head. I agreed, she wasn’t the girl unfortunately. I told her thank you and asked for the next girl to be sent in. Jiho started walking back to the table. “Zico, stay up there please.” “Yah, why do you hate me?” He sulked.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I looked at the two of them and already knew he’d find an issue with her. “Put your arm around her.” He did. I waited for her reaction, none came. Instead she put her arm around his waist and leaned into him. So far she was our front runner. “Thank you. Now can you two look at each other and hold hands and just look like a happy couple.” The last part was mainly for Jiho.
“Lennon.”
I clasped my hands and set them on the table, “Zico, remember when Jae Won said I was going to be the voice of reason? I’m doing that now.” I smiled at him just to let him know I wasn’t trying to be mean, I was just trying to protect my job and his music video.
He began acting the second he turned to face her. They held hands and started talking happily to each other. “Hey, how's it going?” Jae Won spoke quietly as he put his hand on my shoulder and sat down in Jiho’s chair. “Awful.” I answered honestly. He looked at the pair in front of us, “Why does he look uncomfortable?” “You noticed that too?” I held up the info sheets to block our conversation from the pair. “He’s not said yes to one girl. Just a bunch of maybes.” Jae Won looked shocked, “Why? Did he give a reason?” “They’re not what he’s looking for.” I responded quietly, “Girls were immediately a no if they weren’t brunette.” “What?” Jae Won’s voice was full of shock, “He didn’t tell me he wanted only brunettes. How many girls do you have left?” He looked at the stack of papers on the desk. “She’s our last and our best. This morning he had a whole list of requirements. Brunette, kind, shorter than him.” I tried to remember all of Jiho’s requirements. Jae Won sighed and looked up at the couple in front of us. They were no longer talking, but standing awkwardly looking at us waiting for something.
I smiled, “Thank you. You did great! We’re going to discuss some things and we’ll let you know what we decide. Do you mind waiting in the hall for us?” The girl bowed and walked out. “She was perfect.” I said as Zico came back to the table and knelt down in front of it.
“She seemed like a good fit.” Jae Won agreed.
Jiho shook his head, “I wasn’t feeling it.” I felt defeated. I let my boss, myself, and Jiho down.
I sighed, “Zico, we don’t have any other choices. She was the last girl. She met all of your qualifications.”
Jae Won leaned back in his chair lifting the front two legs off the ground, “Zico what’s with the qualifications? You didn’t tell me you had any. If you did, we could have gotten a better list of girls for you to choose from.”
Jiho had those sad eyes again, “I didn’t think about it until last night. Sorry.”
Jae Won looked at the idol in front of us, “How did Lennon do today?”I blinked and looked at my boss. I was taken aback by his sudden conversation change. Jiho smiled, “She did great. She was very helpful and understanding of my vision for the video. Until she became “Jae Won’s voice of reason.”” He smirked.
I couldn’t help but smile as I looked down at my lap.
Jae Won sat his chair back on the floor and held up the list of qualifications I wrote down, examining every requirement. He took a moment before speaking again. “Zico, go stand over there again.” The idol did what my boss asked him.
“Lennon, go stand next to him.” I quickly looked at my boss. “You can’t be serious?”
“I just want to see if it works. Please go stand next to him.”
I reluctantly got up and stood next to Jiho. He towered over me.
He laughed quietly, “payback.” I looked up at him, he was finally smiling.
Before I could say anything, Jae Won spoke again, “put your arm around her now.” He was doing the same things I did. Jiho put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. Without thinking, I put my arm around his waist. I tried to quiet the part of me that was internally screaming. Jae Won nodded, “Do couple things.” He waved his hand in the air.
I dropped my arm from Jiho’s waist and stepped away, “I can’t do that.”
Both men asked “Why?” at the same time. I looked between the two of them.
“He has a girlfriend.” Jae Won leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, “It’s just acting.” He said it as if it weren’t a big deal at all.
I wasn’t an actress, that was the issue. Any type of couple thing I did with Jiho wouldn’t be “just acting” for me. I didn’t know how to separate my personal feelings from the “acting.”
“Pretend he’s Gray. Do what you’d do with Gray.” Jae Won spoke again. Once again he was determined Gray and I were dating. However, it could be helpful. Gray and I were just friends, flirty, but friends. Maybe I could just treat Jiho the same way. Keeping in my mind he was a client, but innocently flirt with him only for the next two minutes.
Jiho grabbed my hand and gently pulled me back to him. “It’s just acting.” He repeated Jae Won’s words and smiled. “And maybe a little payback.” His hand slid across my lower back.With that movement, I knew it would not be the same as how Gray and I are. He was better at this than I was, but he was also used to acting and I had to admit he was really good at it too.
I put my arms around him, pretending he was my friend, “We could have avoided all of this if you would have just picked a girl.”
He scrunched up his nose and shook his head, “I didn’t like any of them.” He looked down at me for a moment. He was almost searching my eyes for something, but I wasn’t sure what it was. “I don't think couples talk about work this much.” he smiled sweetly. Little did he know, work was my life, I talked about it all of the time, I thought about it every waking second, I even had dreams about it sometimes.
Out of nowhere, Jae Won turned on the music for the video. It really was a beautifully sad song.
It was about a man and woman in a toxic “relationship.” It was all one sided. He seemed to love her but she didn’t seem to feel the same way, even if she said she did. The relationship started out good and on a high note, but it just seemed to crumble as time went on.
Jiho stepped away, still holding my hand. Dread filled me, I knew he was going to try to dance with me. He noticed my apprehension and smiled, “Shall we dance?”
I laughed, “No, absolutely not.” It wasn't a “let’s dance” type of song, I had no idea how this was going to go. He pulled me to him like they do in the movies and we began, poorly, dancing. We both couldn't help but laugh.
“It's not so bad, right?” Jiho spoke quietly so only he and I could hear. It really wasn’t awful, but being this close to him made it difficult to remember it was “just acting.” I wrapped my arm around him and stepped a little closer. I could feel his muscles below his clothing. His cologne enveloped me. I looked up at him, trying to pretend he was just Gray. They looked nothing alike. Gray was typically handsome. Jiho was like a handsome bad boy. I couldn't help but glance at his full heart shaped lips.
He slid his hand down my arm and to my waist. He leaned his head down resting his forehead on mine. We stayed there for just a moment and too quickly it was over. He pulled away again, smiled and spun me around before I clumsily crashed into him. We both started laughing, thankfully I didn’t feel embarrassed for almost knocking us both over. He dropped my hand and placed his on my lower back, his other hand slid behind my head.
He lowered his inches from mine, “thank you.” He whispered just before he pulled away, the music stopping as he did. I took a breath and tried not to show how flustered I was. We both turned to face Jae Won. He was sitting back in his chair, his arms folded, one hand cupping his chin. He looked back down at the list I wrote of Jiho’s requirements. He exhaled and leaned forward. “She's shorter than you, has dark hair, I think she's kind, you two seem to get along well..” He paused looking at Jiho, “What do you think Zico? It’s either Lennon or the girl that was in here a moment ago?”
I couldn’t believe I was in the running to be in his music video. I didn’t want to be in the running. This wasn’t part of the plan. I was just supposed to sit in for Jae Won, not become part of the “artistic vision.”
Jiho nodded, “Her.” He pointed at me.
“Wait, no.” I laughed nervously looking at him then my boss. “Jae Won, I can’t do it.” I quickly tried to come up with a reason other than “I will fall for him if you make me do this.” “I won’t have time to do it on top of being your assistant. The other girl was a lot better than me.”
My boss stood up and walked over to me, “Lennon, it’s a music video. They last a couple days tops, this one will probably just be one long day. We start tomorrow morning and when have I ever made you work for me on the weekends as my assistant?”
I looked him in the eyes and answered honestly, “Almost every weekend since I became your assistant.”
He pulled back, “Really?”
I nodded, “You’ll be totally lost this weekend if I’m busy doing the video.”
He took a breath and straightened up trying to come up with a plan. “We’ll both be at the shoot, you can still be my PA.”
Great. Double the work that I didn’t even want to do.
“I’ll pay you triple what I normally pay you this weekend. And the next two weekends you can have off completely. How does that sound?”
I had to admit it sounded really good. Not that I believed he’d leave me alone for the next two weekends, but it was worth a shot. I sighed and gave in. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Perfect. Both of you make sure you’re on time. We might be able to get through filming in one day. We start at 5am.” Jae Won patted my shoulder and walked out.
Jiho wrapped me in a quick hug, “Thank you.” He sounded almost relieved. “I’ll make it up to you.” He promised as he pulled away. And I was definitely going to hold him to that.
...
