SCENERY / Taejin

5. Change of Scenery

Once around the end of 2017,
we were all in the practice room when one of our staffs told us that someone from KBS had come. They wanted one of us to be in a new drama.

We all turned to Jin-hyung. This was what he has been waiting for a long time now. Hyung initially studied to be an actor and this was gonna be his big break. We couldn't be happier for him and I mentally squealed inside, excited to finally see him act.

But the next day, I got called to the office instead. They wanted me. I was honestly surprised.

"But why me?"

"You fit the character really well. It's gonna be a huge drama. You're gonna get big exposure,
V-ssi.  This is your lucky day."

Lucky? Maybe for me.
But I felt a little guilty. This was something Hyung wanted the most. And I felt like I was stealing it away from him even though it was nothing like that.

Hyung and I often sat in the terrace with snacks late at night like we had done on my first day here years ago. The apartment had changed, the view had changed and I had definitely changed too.

But Hyung was always the same. The same kind, caring, sweetest person I know.
He was more excited than any of us for my debut as an actor. And the tone is his voice, the sparkles in his eyes- you can just feel the genuine happiness he was feeling. For me.

It just made me suffer more. Please don't be so perfect, hyung.

"Hey hey.. you'll even be meeting and working with girls. It'll be a nice change from this stuffy room full of sweaty boys." Hyung was laughing.

"I heard it's gonna be a cast of  6-7 or more male characters and just one main female character," I replied with a blank face.

"( ﾟ_ゝﾟ) woah ..that's unlucky,"

" ¯\_( ° _ ° )_/¯ "

And then both of us were laughing.

"Anyway, tae-tae, It'll be a fresh change of scenery. The rest of us will be leaving to film Bon Voyage in a few weeks too. How fun will that be,hmm?
We get to travel at the same time. Look at us being able to afford all these and more? Can you imagine how far we've come since our first midnight snack date?"

Fresh change of scenery?
Haha..Gosh, if only you knew.

___________

A few weeks into my acting job and I made many new friends again. The actor hyungs I worked with had to guide me through all of it cause I was a nervous wreck but they were so cool about everything and hung out with me often even though I was the clueless, annoying maknae.

I started spending more time with them outside filming too. It was not only for fun but I was also distracting myself from pondering too much about Jin-hyung. It was becoming more and more hard to be in the same room with him, without having the urge to just jump on him and confess.

Even when I came back late to the dorm, I would try to avoid being with him alone as much as I could.

One day at dinner after shooting had ended for the day, one of my Sunbaes, Park-hyung called me over to his side.

"Taehyung-ah.. you're single, aren't you?"

It totally caught me by surprise. But I replied slowly.

"Y-yes, I am."

He grinned. "That's good,that's good. The thing is...
I know it's sudden and it's gonna be hard with your Idol and acting schedule right now. But..
There's someone who's really been pressuring me to set you up with her."

Before I could answer, Sunbae continued, "She's (name). You've heard of her, right? She's still a rookie actor. But she's slowly becoming known on the big screen too. She was my junior in acting school and she's really nice. And she's been bugging me non stop asking for you."

"If you really don't have anyone right now, do you mind getting to know her?"

I knew her. She was a pretty girl. And her personality on TV had earned her a loving audience in a short span of time.

"Come on, Taehyung-ah. You'll like her. You need to be liking people,date and stuffs at your age now."

But I already liked someone.
Someone who has no idea how much I like him.
Someone who instead asked me to 'have fun with the girls'.
Someone who's responsible for all these emotions I'm wrestling with.
Someone I needed to get off of my mind asap.
Somehow..

"Sure, Sunbae." I answered smiling.