By Zephyria 
Today was the day they were filming the scene where Kim Jae-hyun directly approaches the protagonist, Lee Yun-hee. Ji Eun-young checked the end position (where one should stand at the end of a moving scene) and handed her tumbler to a staff member from the character directing department. After taking a light breath, Ji Eun-young soon covered herself with a firm, cold impression and became Lee Yun-hee.
“All standby.” The assistant director’s voice was heard.
Ji Eun-young stood in front of the stairs of the Second Lecture Hall at the university that had been arranged as the filming location.
After sounds of checking the camera and sound equipment, the director called out, “Action.”
Lee Yun-hee lightly walked down the lecture hall stairs where sunlight was shining.
Shortly after, there was a pattering of footsteps, and Kim Jae-hyun appeared and greeted her, “Hello, senior. Good morning.”
Lee Yun-hee glanced at Kim Jae-hyun and said irritably, “Why do you keep following me? I told you to stop chasing after me. No matter what, I have no intention of dating you, junior.”
“Am I that unappealing to you?”
“Yes.”
“What part of me don’t you like? If you tell me…”
“If I tell you, what, you’ll change it?”
“Yes.” Kim Jae-hyun nodded firmly.
Lee Yun-hee folded her arms and looked him up and down. “Look, junior.”
“Kim Jae-hyun.”
“Pardon?”
“My name is Kim Jae-hyun. Please call me by my name.”
“…Fine. Mr. Kim Jae-hyun. Objectively speaking, you’re handsome. You’re tall and cool. But I don’t want to date anyone right now.”
Kim Jae-hyun stared at Lee Yun-hee after her roundabout rejection.
“No matter how handsome Mr. Kim Jae-hyun is or how much money you have, I don’t want to date men. So stop wasting your time and find someone else…”
“Then what about women?”
Lee Yun-hee, who had been speaking nicely, suddenly paused. She looked up at Kim Jae-hyun.
“What did you say?”
“You said you don’t want to date men. So would you consider dating women?”
‘What’s happening?’ Lee Yun-hee wore an expression of disbelief.
“Senior.” Kim Jae-hyun put his hand in his pocket, rustled around, and pulled out a snap pin with a ribbon attached. With a determined face, he snapped the pin into his own hair and said deliberately, “Unnie.”
“…Huh.”
“From now on, call me Jae-sook.”
Lee Yun-hee burst into a laugh of disbelief. But Kim Jae-hyun was serious.
“Do you still dislike me?”
“…”
Lee Yun-hee stared blankly at Kim Jae-hyun. He was saying, “Unnie, from now on, call me Jae-sook,” and she was at a loss for words, unable to tell if it was a joke or if he was being serious.
A solemn silence passed. Kim Jae-hyun fumbled to remove the snap pin he had placed in his hair. His face grew increasingly red. His eyes darted around.
He turned his back with a timid expression and mumbled, “Ah… you don’t like women either. You just don’t like me.”
As Kim Jae-hyun mumbled like a dejected child and tried to exit, a laughing sound was heard. Kim Jae-hyun hurriedly turned around.
“Do you like me that much?” Lee Yun-hee asked with a laugh.
Kim Jae-hyun silently wiped his reddened face and answered gruffly, “I don’t like you ‘that much’ yet.”
“Oh, really? Then how much do you like me?”
“About this much?”
Kim Jae-hyun slightly spread his index finger, then checked her reaction and widened the gap a bit more. Even so, it was just one finger segment.
Lee Yun-hee went “hmm,” then folded her arms.
“That’s not liking someone very much yet. I was thinking if you said you liked me a lot, I might consider dating you.”
Lee Yun-hee abruptly stopped smiling and walked down the stairs with a chilly attitude.
Kim Jae-hyun, left standing there blankly, followed her with a sad face. “Senior, wait. I think I misspoke.”
“What about being a female senior instead of a girlfriend?” Lee Yun-hee asked, spinning around as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Pardon?” Kim Jae-hyun asked back with a dumbfounded face.
“I’m saying I can’t be your girlfriend, but as a female senior, I could have coffee with a junior I know. What do you think?”
At that moment, Kim Jae-hyun’s face slowly brightened. From his gently folded eyes, honey-like happiness dripped down. It was a gaze that warmed the heart just by looking at it.
Ji Eun-young, who was acting as Lee Yun-hee, unknowingly became dazed. She momentarily skipped a line because of this, but soon professionally finished her line about going for coffee.
The director immediately gave the cut sign.
At the same time, Lee A-gon completely erased the smile from his face.
“Actors, this way please.”
The director beckoned to Ji Eun-young and Lee A-gon. On the monitor he was watching, Lee A-gon’s face captured in a close-up was being played back.
“You did really well, but the emotion is a bit too much, isn’t it? Kim Jae-hyun shouldn’t be looking at Yun-hee with such feelings yet. These emotions should come out in the latter half. Right now, it should just be at the level of looking at a woman he’s interested in.”
“Alright, let’s go again.”
Under the director’s instructions, Ji Eun-young and Lee A-gon returned to their original positions. They repeated the same performance. Lee A-gon acted a more static version of Kim Jae-hyun, but was once again told he was overdoing it.
It took five attempts to get the “OK.”
It wasn’t like Lee A-gon, who usually got an “OK” within one or two takes unless the other person made a mistake.
“Was the acting difficult? It wasn’t even a challenging scene.”
When they finally had a moment to rest, Park Hae-jun asked. Lee A-gon shook his head and then nodded.
“No, it wasn’t a difficult scene. I just had trouble managing my emotions because of what happened last night.”
“Last night?”
“The sex between you and me?”
“The pregnancy.” When Park Hae-jun didn’t understand, Lee A-gon leaned in and whispered in his ear. Then he blushed by himself. “When I think about how you might have gotten pregnant yesterday, I can’t control my emotions.”
“I’m so happy.” Lee A-gon stared at Park Hae-jun with eyes sparkling as if they had stars embedded in them.
Park Hae-jun, who had forgotten about the possibility of pregnancy, just blinked before letting out a sigh. “Lee A-gon, I’m seriously starting to worry about your future.”
“Why? Are you afraid I won’t earn enough money?”
“No. I’m afraid you won’t be able to manage the money you earn. Come over here.”
Park Hae-jun took Lee A-gon’s hand and led him to a place where there were no people. There was still a lot of filming left to do, and it would be troublesome if he remained in this emotional state.
“Lee A-gon, listen. I mean… I’m not pregnant.”
“I know that.”
“Really? You know?” Park Hae-jun asked in surprise, “You knew that? Then why are you talking about pregnancy?”
“Yes. I heard that pregnancy doesn’t happen that easily. I know it’s difficult to conceive a child on the first try.” Lee A-gon answered with a slightly prim voice.
Park Hae-jun rubbed his face with his hand.
Of course.
“Lee A-gon. What I’m trying to say is…”
As Park Hae-jun started to speak wearily, Lee A-gon focused intently, saying, “Yes.”
“What I want to say is… I cannot get pregnant.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“……”
Looking at Lee A-gon’s face, focused on him with sparkling eyes, Park Hae-jun couldn’t bring himself to speak further.
Dating him and lying that he could possibly bear a child for him—it was all to handle Lee A-gon. Park Hae-jun needed to make Lee A-gon successful as an actor, but Lee A-gon himself lacked the passion to become one.
So Park Hae-jun used the idea of a baby. ‘You need to act. So you need to be responsible for the baby.’ Lee A-gon moved according to his plan. He was working hard to take responsibility for him and the baby. He felt the responsibility of being the sole provider.
If this were revealed, it would be like losing the handle to assistant Lee A-gon. That couldn’t happen.
Park Hae-jun wasn’t sure if Lee A-gon would feel betrayed when he eventually learned the truth, but he believed that Lee A-gon would ultimately forgive him. Lee A-gon couldn’t push him away. He liked him too much for that.
“Lee A-gon, listen. In the future, if anyone asks you to sign documents, make sure to ask me or the company first. If someone asks to borrow money, never lend it, and if a man you’ve slept with before comes looking for you claiming you need to take responsibility for his child, don’t believe him. Understand?”
The kid was so innocent that Park Hae-jun couldn’t help worrying. Left alone, this kid seemed likely to fall victim not just to gold diggers but to anyone with ill intentions.
“Why would those things happen to me? I only want to have a baby with you and live with only you.”
“Yes, yes. I know, but just keep my words in mind.”
“I understand. From now on, I’ll only stamp where you tell me to and won’t do anything you tell me not to do. And don’t worry because only you can have my child.”
Sure, everyone says they’ll marry their first love. We’ll see later if anyone actually keeps that promise.
Park Hae-jun sighed. Anyway, he’d done what he could.
“Are you worried my feelings might change?”
“No. It’s not that. I’m worried you might end up paying child support to some other man.”
“You don’t need to worry. My feelings will never change.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because it’s impossible.”
“Why is it impossible? Everyone’s heart changes.”
“Not mine. Because I made a vow.”
A vow? What does that mean now?
Park Hae-jun thought for about three seconds before asking, “You made a vow to yourself not to leave me?”
“Hyung, don’t you remember?” Lee A-gon’s eyes widened.
His gaze seemed to ask how Park Hae-jun could possibly forget something like that, making Park Hae-jun wonder what he had done wrong.
“You made me take a vow. You told me to love only you forever. So I vowed never to leave you and to be only with you forever.”
“I did?”