Our Story - Binjin

Chapter 15: Adjusting to "Normal"

Hyun Bin and Ye-Jin start almost immediately on their new projects "Rampant" and "Be With You" respectively. The first few days were disconcerting. Why? They felt like they should be on the Negotiation set, or rather, if they were honest to themselves, they wanted to be on the Negotiation set.

Both were seasoned actors who were used to switching between sets. On top of that, their new projects were with actors they're familiar with. Hyun Bin with his close senior Jang Dong Gun and Ye-Jin with So Ji Sub, whom she worked with when she first debuted and was almost like an older brother.

It's common for actors to need some time to separate from their characters. Only, in this case, it wasn't their characters that they couldn't let go. If they were honest with themselves, it's because they could no longer see each other on set.

That said, the age old saying that time heals all wounds is true. After some time, they adjust back to their "old" normal – normality before they met. They threw all their focus into their new projects, they worked hard, laughed hard and things started to feel normal again. Although, every once in a while, usually under the cover of night, when they were too tired to control their thoughts, images would flash in their mind. For Hyun Bin, a charming eye smile that was so bright his eyes hurt. For Ye-Jin, a deep dimpled smile that could melt hearts. They would unconsciously smile as they recollect that time together.

Side stories on our leads:

Ye-Jin on Be With You set

Ye-Jin's first day on the Be With You set was almost comedic. Director Lee Jang Hoon was not aware Ye-Jin had cut off her tresses for The Negotiation and literally froze, with jaw dropped, when he saw her. So Ji Sub was talking to the Director and didn't notice Ye-Jin until the Director suddenly stopped walking. So Ji Sub froze for a few seconds and broke into loud laughter.

Ye-Jin tried to smile and for once, her signature eye smile came across as awkward due to her sense of guilt. "I'm sorry, Director Lee, I should have told you in advance."

Her apology was disrupted by So Ji Sub's continued laughter. "Ye-Jin," So Ji Sub said when he finally stopped laughing. "You haven't changed at all. You're still giving people surprises. I was expecting things like that when we filmed but I didn't expect it to be on the first day!"

Ye-Jin turned her pleading eyes towards So Ji Sub, almost as if saying please Oppa, help me put in some good words here.

So Ji Sub shook his head and turned to Director Lee, "Actually Director Lee, it's not all a bad thing. Soo-Ah (that's Ye-Jin's character) is supposed to be the mother of an eight year old boy, if her stylist can add a few more centimetres to her hair length, that would be a good length for the image we are portraying."

Ye-Jin quickly latched on, "Oh yes, I spoke with my stylist before I got the cut, we can definitely do hair extensions, it won't be a problem. We were prepared to use a wig if it really didn't cut it, I mean worked."

Director Lee tilted his head sideways and stared at her, almost as if he's imaging how it would look. "Alright, let's do that and try in today's test scene. I can't believe Director Lee Jong-Suk made you cut your hair. He's just lucky his project got slotted first. I'll see you both later."

Ye-Jin heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Ji Sub Oppa," she smiled at him. "I couldn't sleep well last night because of this."

"As if I would believe that, you couldn't sleep well for all of 5 minutes?" So Ji Sub laughed at her. "I'm sure you planned for this before you cut your hair."

Ye-Jin grinned. "I really have to work on my expressions to gather sympathy. This is the second time it failed."

So Ji Sub snorted. "Who else saw through you? That's a smart person."

Hyun Bin's image flashed across Ye-Jin's mind and she smiled. "He is."

Hyun Bin on Rampant set

Hyun Bin's co-star in Rampant was with his close senior Jang Dong Gun. He had been looking forward to the chance to work together. They had known each other for more than 10 years, were part of the same celebrity baseball club and played golf together.

Filming was physically demanding as he had a lot of action scenes and Hyun Bin was resting in his dressing room after completing a particularly challenging scene. He had a cup of iced Americano in front of him. Jang Dong Gun walked into the room and took the chair across Hyun Bin.

"Hyung," Hyun Bin greeted. "Are we supposed to go over already?"

"No, no, I came early," Jang Dong Gun gestured for Hyun Bin to continue sitting. "I just wanted to check in on you." Jang Dong Gun noticed the iced Americano. "Since when did you drink Americano? This must be Kang Sora's influence." He laughed. "I told you life would be different once you get attached."

Hyun Bin winced internally. Kang Sora was like him, also a tea drinker. Coffee goes with a pair of sparkling eye-smiles. Unaware, he sighed out loud. He had somehow picked up the habit of drinking ice Americano when he's feeling particularly tired. He didn't want to think about where he picked up this habit and told himself it's because of the five thousand dollar premium coffee invoice he paid last month. Coffee has to be effective if people consumed that much in slightly more than a month.

Jang Dong Gun heard the sigh and asked, "What's wrong? Is it not going well with Kang Sora?"

Hyun Bin shook his head and laughed, "We're fine. Actually, we're both too busy to even meet, much less fight, Hyung. It's all good."

Jang Dong Gun frowned. "Bin, that's not fine for a couple. You have to make more effort, otherwise, it won't go anywhere. Dating is a different ballgame for people in our industry. You know that as well as me." He patted Hyun Bin on the shoulder. "I'll see you later, I'm going to prepare for the next scene."

"See you later, Hyung," Hyun Bin nodded and turned back to his thoughts. He already knew the next steps for him and Kang Sora – that wasn't the problem. The problem was the pair of eye-smiles who kept popping up in little parts of his life, even without the owner doing anything – that was the biggest part of the problem.