What Are Friends For?

Chapter 1/1

Woo Dohwan's lips were blue. He grabbed at his abdomen and throat, gagging and coughing, staring wide-eyed at the half-empty glass of wine. Across the table, another young man watched him struggle.

"What's wrong?" He asked, but he didn't look concerned. Instead, a cold smile stretched across his face and he lazily swirled his own glass of wine.

"P-poison..." Dohwan groaned, before collapsing on the floor, twitching and foaming at the mouth. "H-help... please..." he wheezed painfully, but no one answered his cries. Finally, his eyes closed and the twitching stopped, his convulsing limbs falling limply to the floor.

"CUT!" The director yelled, and the crew started moving, checking lights and cameras, touching up makeup and rearranging the set. Dohwan sat up and the SFX artist wiped the red-tinged foam off of his chin.

"Woah, Dohwan-ah. That looked so real you almost scared me!" Lee Sangyi's makeup artist finished retouching his makeup, so he set down the wine to go to his friend, squatting next to him. "Good job, man."

"Thanks, hyung," Dohwan grinned and the two high-fived. The director finished watching the clip and walked over to the actors just as Sangyi dragged Dohwan to his feet.

"Dohwan-ssi, Sangyi-ssi, that was great!" The director gave them a mini round of applause as Dohwan brushed off his pants and adjusted his shirt. "Let's do a few more takes from a few different angles and then move on, shall we?"

"Sounds good, gamdok-nim," Dohwan and Sangyi bowed in unison, and they set about resetting the scene, with Sang-yi at one end of the table and Dohwan at the other. Dohwan rubbed his stomach absent-mindedly, feeling a bit off. He probably just needed to eat something. Thankfully, their lunch break should be coming up soon - he just needed to finish this scene.

Unfortunately, things did not go to plan. For some reason, no matter how well the two actors did, the director was convinced they needed more and more takes. Dohwan was forced to fall out of his chair and spit up fake blood-tinged foam so many times that he had lost count, and it was impossible not to swallow a little bit each time. It was edible, of course, but it wasn't helping his already grumbling stomach settle. Again, and again, and again, and again. As an actor, Dohwan was used to lots of takes but this was really ridiculous. After the umpteenth take, the director called cut and Sangyi finally broke.

"Gamdok-nim! Please, can we take a break? It's been hours and hours and no one has eaten. We're all hungry and tired." Sangyi gestured at the other actors and the film crew, who looked like they were half a take away from quitting their jobs. Dohwan nodded in agreement along with the SFX artist, who was beginning to run out of her supplies. The director was silent for a minute as he reviewed the footage.

"Alright. Take twenty minutes for lunch, everyone, then it's back to work." he grunted. The entire room seemed to sigh in relief. Dohwan wiped the foam off of his chin for the millionth time and got to his feet. He felt the weight of nausea settle in his stomach, and he reached under his shirt to rub his stomach again.

"Are you okay, Dohwan-ah?" Sangyi noticed the hand over his friend's middle. "Do you feel sick?"

Dohwan smiled, letting his hand drop. "I think I just need to eat something. Let's go grab lunch, hyung!" He swung his arm over Sangyi's shoulder and the pair made their way over to the cafeteria.

Looking at the menu and smelling the food being made in the back made Dohwan's stomach churn uncomfortably. He quickly ordered something bland and sat down to eat at a table with Sangyi. The two friends talked and ate, enjoying each other's company. Dohwan was able to ignore the growing nausea for a while, but it seemed like adding food to the mix was not a good idea.