"Good Morning, Son Yejin-ssi."
I am greeted by the director the moment I opened the door on the venue of our script reading. For the record, I am the last one to arrive and the whole cast and staff are already waiting.
I am dressed in a simple black t-shirt and a tattered jeans. While my hair is back in a loose ponytail, tied with a piece of lace, and wore tiny pearl earrings. I didn't make an effort to dress up, after all, simplicity is beauty. I glance at my co-star Hyun Bin-ssi. He wears a plain white long sleeve paired with blue jeans looking so elegant.
He brushed his long silky hair swiftly and stands up to greet me and offer his hand for a handshake. "Good Morning, Yejin-ssi. It's not our first meeting but I'm glad to be able to work with you finally."
"It's my pleasure to work with you too."
It's true. It's not our first meeting, we have met on several events before but really didn't have a proper conversation. Just a simple "hi", "hello" and a "Congratulations" when we both attended an award show.
"Shall we start?" The director tapped both our back to signal us to start.
The script reading went for hours. All of us in the room are absorbed in the lines we are reading. Our movie tells the story of a police negotiator striving to save two Korean hostages after they were kidnapped in Bangkok by an arms dealer from an international crime ring. When I received the script of the story, I've read it immediately. I was so curious about what will happen next in the story while reading it. Our Assistant Director who also happened to be the writer of the script also said that he wrote the it with the two of us, Bin-ssi and me, in his mind from the beginning.
I ended up exchanging number with Hyun Bin-ssi after. He initiated first and I gladly complied. He said he wants to spend some time with me to boost our characters' chemistry. But he had some personal matters to attend and I have other schedule to go to that's why we agreed to meet some other time when we are both free.
After a week, we both find a free time in our jam-packed schedule. We decided to meet in a coffee shop. I arrived exactly on time and Hyun Bin-ssi is already waiting at the table. He is sitting at the farthest part, away from the center. Afraid to draw any attention even if the cafe doesn't have much customers around this time to begin with.
"Am I late or you are just too early?" I joked upon arriving at the table.
"I'm just too excited I didn't check the time before coming here." He stand up and pull out the chair for me as I mumble a small thank you.
I ordered Caramel Macchiato while Hyun Bin-ssi chose Espresso when the waiter approached us to get our orders.
"Are we going to talk about our characters?" I started.
"We both study the script already. How about getting to know each other first? I think that's the most important matter here." he suggests.
I nodded in return, "That's a must."
We spend our free time talking about different things, some topics are probably considered out of the world. But it's enjoyable and it's been a while since I had a light and fun conversation with someone. I didn't expect Hyun Bin-ssi to be this talkative and playful. He is known to be an introvert and a man of few words. Or am I wrong with my information about him? I have to admit that the Hyun Bin I am with right now is kinda cute in contrast with his public image.
"Shall we drop our formalities now?" he asks eagerly.
"Shall we? Binnie?"
"Sure, Yejin-ahh." He mutters excitedly.
