Then Came You

The Crystal Clear

She saw him everywhere. At the billboards, on tv, shopping cart, bus stations, subway stations, even he's smile shone through the window of her apartment right now. So bright, so handsome, so perfect.

She met him once, the commercial. She still remembered how she almost fainted when her agency told her that she got an offer to film a commercial with him. It's still crystal clear how his name wrote on the script. Kim Soo Hyun. That's the name. A person she never dreamed to be partnered with. Not once, not in a million years.

She knew who she was, she realized her position. Well, yes, this wasn't her first commercial, she'd done that before, numerous of them. So many handsome men ever be her partners, she even partnered with G Dragon, just a few months ago. But this is different. This is him, this is Kim Soo Hyun, the man she always admire, the one whose acts always brought tears to her eyes, the man she praised openly in her drama.

She remembered how she jumped and squealed in her room the night after she signed the contract. How she couldn't sleep for nights before the shooting day come. How her heart pounded so hard if she thought about it. Her sister and mother kept asking was she okay, because she could smile at all sudden, no matter what she did. She could suddenly smiled when she ate something, when she took a shower, even when she took out the trash.

It is engraved in her mind when the D-day came. Her heart beat so hard, her chest hurt. She smiled to every person that day, that confused her manager. Her hands were shaking, she tried so hard to hide it. She sat restlessly on her changing room, heart sunk when they called her name, telling her that the set is ready. This is it. This is it. She walked slowly to the rooftop, preparing not to humiliate herself in front of the man she was about to meet. In front of the rooftop door, she took a very deep breath, tried to ease her heart beating.

But when she got there, there was no sign of him. Well maybe he late, all her the trouble breathing she had was for nothing. She then smiled, feeling embarrassed for acting so extra. Of course he wasn't here yet, he's the star of this commercial, they need to wait for him, not the other way around. So she sat at her directed position, studying the products she's about to promote, taking any directions from the PD, rehearsing her acts according to the script.

When suddenly the door opened again. There he was. He smiled so brightly that the sun felt defeated and hide away. He bowed to everyone, smiled to all of them. Then their eyes met. She felt her heart jolted, she couldn't help but shivered. She examined the hairs on her hand, they were all standing up. She saw a shadow hovering over her, took her sight up, and there he was, standing all mighty in front of her, so close that without realizing it, she scooted back a little.

"Hi, Kim Soo Hyun. So... Seo Yea Ji?"

She stunned a little then answered in hurry, "Ye..."

"It's hot isn't it?" He sat next to her.

"Pardon?"

"Well I guess it's nice that it's hot today, good for lighting, don't you think?"

Oh My God, that smile. "What? Ye..." She nodded.

"Are you nervous? Me too actually. But we have to give our best shot, Seo Yea Ji-ssi... Fighting!"

That smile again. She felt dizzy.

She didn't say much on during the shoot. First, because she was nervous, who didn't? Sitting there next to super star, with his smell embracing her, so fresh that made the air around him tasted like ocean. Secondly, she was a little confused, because this man beside her, the, once again, super star, looked more nervous than her. He kept laughing, looking away, saying that the scenes are so hard, why? Not once she ever thought that a super star can be nervous too. Those things made the shoot a little easy, because he kept making her chuckled.

Time was passing by so fast, it all finished all the sudden. They have wrapped the shoot. So she bowed saying thank you to everyone, tidying up her things and left to change her costume. Just only a few steps before her changing room door, she heard footsteps behind her, and a familiar voice graced her ears.

"Jeogiyo... Seo Yea Ji-ssi?"

She turned around, "Ne?" What? What did she do? She didn't left anything on set, did she? Even if she did, why would he chased her like this? It's none of his business.

"I know this is sound rude, but I just wanna know, can I have your number?"

She went blank for a second, her manager poked her hand a little, pulled her back to reality.

"Ne? My number? Of course. Why not, sunbaenim?" She laughed nervously, stirring her purse.

"Here's my card."

"Kamsahamnida. This is mine. It was so nice working with you. May we have same project together again. See you Seo Yea Ji-ssi."

"Ye..." She bowed so deep that when she get up he was already gone. Her manager was just smiling seeing everything.

That night she couldn't sleep. She kept squealing and turning around on her bed, holding his card on her hands. She sniffed his card, it smelled like him, fresh like the ocean. She kept starring at the card, couldn't even imagine the he gave her card by himself. Him. Kim Soo Hyun. Gave her his card. Her. Seo Yea Ji, a rookie actress that no one paid attention to. She hold his card in her hand, his smell swayed her to sleep.

But that was three years ago. He never called her. Not even once. She would've guess that. Of course he didn't call, why would he? She realized that years ago. So she kept her hard work. She loves this industry, she thought she will continue working and giving her best, so they can recognize her, they can notice her, and maybe, just slightly maybe, he can too.

Two days ago she saw his movie at the cinema, not attending the VIP Premiere of course. The movie was good, a little unusual, but good, even though she felt her heart sunk to her stomach when she saw the bed scenes. Well, that's him she knew, always give 101% at his work.

Unfortunately most of people are not as pleased as she was about the movie. In just two days, every major entertainment headlines bashed the movie, suddenly everybody was a critic, saying all short of bad things and review about him and his work.

He must be devastated. He must be crushed. She knew that he always proud of all of his work, seeing it bashed and destructed like this must taking a big toll for him. He's used to praises and compliments. He knew he's good and he worked hard for it. She was used to be underrated, used to go unnoticed, but not him. She's so worry about him.

Should she call him? Or text? Or Facetime? No, definitely not Facetime. So what should she do? She looked at the window again. His face was still there, still smiling. But that didn't stop her for feeling worry. She reached her phone, checked the time. 01.56 am. Is it okay to text him at this hour? Is it appropriate? She scrolled her phone book to find his name. Typing and erasing her text over and over again, until one time she took a deep breath and type,

"Kim Soo Hyun sunbae-nim, gwenchana-yo?"

And hit "Send".