Chapter 91
Only after speaking thoughtlessly did the worry hit him: ‘What if this person actually comes?’ However, there was no way Do-heon could have misunderstood his subtle rejection, and he wasn’t someone with enough free time to visit a filming set.
“With all the side dishes and the homemade sauces I packed, it’s quite heavy. I’ll help load it into your car later.”
Just then, the employee who had been in the kitchen entered the dining room unexpectedly. Cheong-yeon jumped in surprise like someone caught stealing and turned his head to whisper to Do-heon.
“I need to eat now, so I’ll hang up. Anyway, I really can’t make it on Friday!”
As soon as he ended the call, the employee started explaining various ways to store the side dishes.
She didn’t seem to care who Cheong-yeon had been talking to, but his heart pounded heavily from feeling somehow guilty.
It was already embarrassing enough to be staying at Do-heon’s house for days after divorcing him; he didn’t want his sponsorship relationship to be discovered on top of that.
“But why did you pack so much? I live alone and won’t be able to eat it all.”
Cheong-yeon, now with his phone in his pocket, surveyed the table filled with packed side dish containers.
“If you take out only what you need for each meal onto a separate plate, even though it’s a bit troublesome, they won’t spoil for quite a while. And the pickled vegetables are meant to be aged for months anyway, so it’s fine if there’s a lot.”
Since he couldn’t ask her to unpack what was already neatly sealed in airtight containers, Cheong-yeon responded with a dazed expression that he understood.
“Oh, by the way, ma’am. Is my face very swollen?”
Cheong-yeon, who had been eating the braised short ribs, suddenly turned his head toward where the employee was standing and asked, as if he’d just remembered something.
“Your face?”
She paused momentarily, then carefully examined Cheong-yeon’s face with puzzled eyes.
His manager’s reminder to be careful not to let his face swell since there was a photoshoot tomorrow was weighing on his mind.
He was worried that his face might be more swollen than usual after repeatedly crying and passing out from Do-heon’s relentless attentions.
Ironically, he had lost weight, but he was distressed about potential issues with his facial condition, which was the most important.
“Your face… looks gaunt, like someone who hasn’t eaten for days. You need to eat more.”
“R-really?”
It wasn’t untrue, since he had barely eaten for days. Though he wasn’t sure if he should be grateful to Do-heon for putting him in this state, at least his face wasn’t swollen, which was a relief.
“Oh, by the way. I saw you on the drama yesterday, and… are you returning to acting?”
The employee carefully brought up the broadcast after observing Cheong-yeon’s reaction. It seemed she had been holding in her curiosity all this time.
Cheong-yeon’s hand, which had been busy with chopsticks, lost its way and stopped in mid-air. His ears perked up at the mention of the drama.
“Yes. How was it?”
“My goodness, how amazing! Everyone around me said it was entertaining. I was so surprised when I first saw you. I was confused for quite a while, wondering if it was someone who looked like you.”
“Did my acting seem awkward?”
“Not at all. You performed so naturally, like a snake slipping over a wall, that I wasn’t sure if it was really you. I even had to search the internet to confirm it.”
Though it might have been just a polite comment, the praise made him feel good. Cheong-yeon laughed, “Heh,” and took a sip of water.
Come to think of it, he had been about to check the reactions to the drama when Do-heon’s text message arrived, so he hadn’t even read a single article properly. Cheong-yeon thought that once he got home today, he would rest properly while closely examining the online reactions.
“You look good on screen, but the vibe is different in person. I understand now why people say celebrities look better in person.”
“Right? I look better in person, don’t I?”
“That goes without saying. Much better.”
His shoulders straightened at the employee’s agreement. Cheong-yeon was touching his chin with a satisfied expression when he suddenly remembered what Do-heon had said in bed, and his brow furrowed.
‘It’s a shame. People watching the drama won’t know how much prettier you are in person.’
Saying such perverted things while watching someone earnestly acting. It was an embarrassing teasing that made his face hot just recalling it.
Was it because of the rut? It was still hard to believe that such words had come from the mouth of the Moon Do-heon he knew.
“By the way, did the Director give permission for you to act?”
The employee carefully asked as she watched Cheong-yeon, who had just finished a bowl of porridge.
“Permission? We’re not together anymore, so why would I need that man’s permission? Whether I act on TV or sing, it’s my choice.”
Cheong-yeon firmly refuted her with a tone suggesting it was absurd.
“Y-yes, of course. I just asked in case. Would you like more porridge?”
“No, I’m too full to eat more. That was delicious. I really should get going now.”
“Already? I’ve packed all the side dishes here… Um, Mr. Cheong-yeon, perhaps…”
The employee trailed off while fidgeting with a large insulated bag. Cheong-yeon raised his head and stared at her as if asking what the matter was.
“We recently received a call from your grandmother in the United States. She was wondering how you were doing… She still doesn’t know about your divorce, so I’ve made excuses a few times that you were out.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, he had been so busy since his grandmother left for the United States that he had forgotten to send her greetings. With the divorce being a secret to her, it must have been awkward for the employees who couldn’t transfer calls to him whenever she contacted.
Telling Do-heon would have likely resulted in an insensitive response to just make something up. He was always like that about anything outside his company business.
“Maybe you should give her a short call later…”
“I will. I forgot about it, so thank you for reminding me. But with the broadcast already airing, do you think my grandmother still doesn’t know about the divorce?”
“She is in America, and the Director said he wanted to hide it from her as long as possible to avoid shocking her.”
That was such a typical Do-heon answer.
“…I understand. Then I should greet her as usual. I’ll contact her sometime tomorrow, according to the American time zone.”
As Cheong-yeon nodded, the employee’s face brightened.
*
The next day.
It was a day when many things weren’t going well. First of all, his condition wasn’t great. He had planned to rest thoroughly as soon as he left Do-heon’s house yesterday, but he wasted a lot of time in bed looking for reactions to the drama. His brain was pickled in dopamine, and he couldn’t sleep at all.
It would take several sleepless nights to check every article, post, comment, and summary that was coming in real-time.
Of course, not all of those reactions were related to him, but since it was a drama he appeared in, he was eager to check all opinions personally.
Fortunately, the public evaluated rookie actor Yoo Cheong-yeon quite positively. Although comments about JT Group and his ex-husband occasionally appeared, they weren’t officially reported or covered by influential media.
In fact, any content or articles that had been published when he married Do-heon had been cleanly deleted, and it had long been erased from people’s memories.
Moreover, as interviews and photos of actor Yoo Cheong-yeon were being released one by one according to Kwon Hye-na’s pre-arranged plan, they were appropriately pushing away past-related content.
Given Cheong-yeon’s unusual background, her strategy of minimizing gossip and rumors seemed to be working.
The problem was that he hadn’t properly prepared for today’s photoshoot because he had been anxiously searching and checking these things one by one.
“How many times do I have to tell you to pay more attention to your poses? Do I have to coach you on such trivial things? Is this some kind of academy?”
The photographer, who had been eyeing Cheong-yeon skeptically from the beginning of the shoot, finally shouted at him. Cheong-yeon checked his appearance in the monitor and lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?”
“…”
“Well, you came without even knowing the concept of the shoot, so I doubt you’re genuinely sorry.”
The photographer sighed loudly in front of all the staff.
The atmosphere on the set was cold. The staff, careful not to upset the photographer, watched their every move, not even breathing carelessly.
The shooting would resume, only to be halted again by the photographer’s complaints. They had been at a standstill for over an hour already.
Cheong-yeon, who had barely slept, forced his unusually heavy eyelids open and apologized several more times with bowed head.
From a distance, his manager and Min Hye-rin were watching him with concerned faces. Seeing his manager especially conflicted about whether to intervene, Cheong-yeon desperately signaled him to stay put.
“I’ll make sure to study the concept thoroughly before the shoot next time. I’m sorry.”
“No, this rookie. I seriously don’t understand. How can someone who just debuted, green and young, come to the studio trailing along without even knowing what he’s wearing or what product photoshoot he’s doing? Does that make sense?”
“I… I’m sorry.”
The photographer was right. Until now, Cheong-yeon had just been dragged around by his manager like a doll, following Kwon Hye-na’s instructions, so he hadn’t even thought to ask about the shooting concept in advance. He had assumed this was just a simple media release photoshoot that she had planned.
Cheong-yeon only learned upon arriving at the studio that this was a collaboration shoot with a specific product. There was no way such an unprepared shoot could satisfy the photographer. The advertiser watching the scene seemed to think the same.
Though he had belatedly received a detailed explanation and understood what kind of photos were needed, it seemed far from enough in their eyes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
