I left Calvin in the room for a moment. I had no idea what they're talking about but I felt it's about my new drama. While he's inside the room, having a conversation with Jiro, I saw Chen Papa at the living room. I greeted him, "Good afternoon, Chen Papa!" "Oh. Good afternoon dear! How's your morning?" he asked. "It was bright morning. I cooked breakfast for Calvin," I replied. He smiled and silently laughed. I noticed it and asked, "Why are you laughing, Papa?" "Oh. It was nothing. I just remembered something in the past when he was around, I think... 18 years of age," said Chen Papa.
It was afternoon on that same day. I received a phone message from the drama producer of Carry My Love. It said:
Hi. Please be informed that your workshop schedule will be at 9am-5pm; scheduled days are as follows:
Monday and Tuesday - with main cast
Thursday - with Reen and Jiro
Friday - with Kyuhyun and Ryeowook
Take note that this workshop period is two weeks. Thank you.
Gosh! What a hectic schedule ahead. I had 8 days to improve my acting skill. How about others? Do they have also an 8-day workshop like mine? I hoped so.
I informed Calvin about the workshop schedule. He asked, “How many weeks does your workshop last?” “Well, it has a span of two weeks,” I replied. He raised another question, “Do you want me to fetch you going to and from the workshop?” “If you want to, then go on. If you’re available on those days to fetch me up, and then do it,” I answered. He agreed, “Oh. Remember that I’ll do everything for my beautiful wife. I’m your husband and I promised you that I’ll be the one to take care of you for the rest of your life.” I nodded with a sweet bright smile that he’s the only one who will see it.
It was Monday. I woke up around 5am. I was so excited. Well, Calvin was still sleeping and my habit was just smiled or laughed silently at him. I went to bathroom to take some warm bath and dressed up. When I went out, Calvin greeted me, “Hi, sexy! You’re prepared already, huh? Wait… I’ll just take a shower.” So he took a shower. I waited for few minutes. While waiting, I put some light make up on: powder, blush, and lip gloss would do. We’re both prepared to go to GTV building. He drove his car and I was seating beside him.
We arrived on time. We saw Jiro, Reen, Kyuhyun, and Ryeowook inside the studio. Jiro askedCalvin, “Why are you here? Are you now part of the drama?” Calvin joked, “Yeah. Why? Aren’t you happy?” We certainly laughed. Reen said, “But I know you’re not part of the cast.” “Yes. I am not part of the cast. But for now, my role is a private driver of Xiao Mei,” Calvin truthfully answered.Jiro cracked, “So… Can you take us home later after the workshop?” “Nah… Are you serious? It’s just my weekday work schedule is evening because I’m part of an entertainment news program except for Wednesdays and Saturdays,” Calvin replied. Jiro laughed a little bit and said, “Oh really? Congratulations!” Then he introduced people inside the studio randomly, “By the way, Calvin, this isReen Yu, Cho Kyuhyun, and Kim Ryeowook. They are our co-stars in new drama. Guys, this isCalvin Chen. He’s my co-member of Fahrenheit and Xiao Mei’s husband.”
I noticed Kyuhyun’s and Reen’s smiles on their faces. But when I saw Ryeowook’s face, it seemed he was surprised. Did he remember that I was his long-lost childhood bestfriend? I hoped we would have time to talk about our past later.
The workshop started 9:30am since our drama teacher arrived late because of his meeting with a movie producer in Taiwan. He’s very familiar. Was he the director of the Philippine movie My Amnesia Girl? Yes. His name was Wenn Deramas, one of my favorite directors in the Philippines. I was so lucky that he was going to teach us and give tips in acting. I was motivated enough at that time. And because of that, I easily cried when we had a drama skit.
It had been two weeks since the workshop started. We had had fun and learned a lot from Director Wenn. He thought that we were ready to film the series. We began filming two days after the workshop had ended. We met the director named Lin He Long. Calvin knew him because he was one of the main casts of Taiwanese idol drama Romantic Princess. Director Lin was the reason why several dramas he directed like Romantic Princess had been nominated in major categories of the Taiwanese equivalent of Emmy’s called Golden Bell Awards.
The filming went smooth though we had a lot of NGs. We first filmed the scenes to be shot in Taiwan. Then the first-unit production staff with Ryeowook and Kyuhyun went to Seoul while the second-unit production staff and I went to Manila for some important scenes. When I went to Manila for filming, my friends and cousins didn’t know that I had a new drama to shoot. I posted a picture with caption in Sina Weibo, “Mabuhay! I’m back at my hometown. I’ll be here in 5 days to shoot some important scenes in my new drama.” I received a lot of comments; majority was saying that they’re excited to watch it. I came back after five days. We needed three more days to shoot the ending before we wrapped up. We spent a total of seven months in filming the whole drama.
I suddenly forgot to ask Ryeowook if he still remembered that promise. I waited for few months until he and Kyuhyun had gone back for scheduled promotions that GTV’s event manager gave. Six months after Super Junior finished promoting their latest album, only Ryeowook arrived. BecauseJiro was in Guangzhou to promote his second movie, Reen was busy studying for final examinations, and Kyuhyun stayed in Seoul to take care of his mom who was confined in hospital, Ryeowook and I had to promote that drama two weeks before its airing date.
When we were in Taichung to promote our drama Carry My Love, that was the time we talked. Fans were screaming when an emcee announced, “Among the main cast, two are just arrived at the backstage to promote Carry My Love. You will meet them in few minutes,” he continued his spiel and thanked the event sponsors. While we were waiting to come out on stage, the full trailer played on the huge LCD screen. Fans loudly screamed with every romantic and sweet scenes of the drama. After the trailer had been played, emcee called us, “Please welcome two of the main casts in dramaCarry My Love, Kim Ryeowook and Rose Chiu!” We came out and waved to the fans. We played three games and the game participants received prizes. After we invited the fans to watch our drama, we entertained the media to answer few questions then proceeded to the van provided by GTV. We arrived at GTV building in 30 minutes. I invited Ryeowook to have coffee at Starbucks. Thank God there was no customer inside the coffee shop. We ordered two café latte espressos and took seats available at left corner side. He was uneasy to tell me something. After the barista called our names,Ryeowook stood up and picked our order. He noticed that I was wearing engagement and wedding rings on my left hand. He suddenly asked, “So you’re married. How about our promise when we were in childhood?”
