‘Our chemistry would have been better,’ Oska thought as he looked at the two of them. Oska and Risa started acting around the same time, and they even acted together in a romantic drama. It was the very first romance drama that Oska had acted in.
They were shipped together for a couple of months before it died down when Risa had another project. Yes, Oska still remembered.
The staff, however, held in their squeals as they looked at the two.
The tension between them was great, and Risa seemed a bit wary of Zeno, which was perfect for her character. Zeno, on the other hand, was becoming more handsome in their eyes.
Truly, his handsomeness wasn’t one you can ever get used to! He was the type of man who became more handsome the more you looked at him.
Hajin gave a lopsided smile that could’ve been charming if it wasn’t so maddening. “A servant? might be worse than a servant.”
Dasom frowned, folding her arms. “What do you mean?”
The young man gave a theatrical bow full of mockery. “Hajin. Resident stray. Brought in from the cold out of pity and political necessity.”
Dasom stared at him, confused. Hajin… That name stirred something she had overheard in whispers. The problematic illegitimate son of Crown Prince Wang Suk?
Her nose wrinkled slightly. “And here you are, loitering around like you own the place.”
He grinned, and for a moment, Dasom hated how good-natured it looked. “Isn’t that what you’re doing too, my lady?”
Dasom scowled, but before she could think of a cutting reply, she really looked at him—the easy way he stood, the careless glint in his eye, and the sun catching in his hair.
And for one horrifying second, her heart skipped a beat.
Dasom straightened at once, fanning herself aggressively to cool the sudden heat rising in her cheeks. She would not—could not—be flustered by some half-royal stray who couldn’t even tie his sash properly.
Hajin watched her with an annoyingly knowing smirk, hands tucked lazily behind his head.
“Careful,” he said lightly. “It’s a long way down from that pedestal.”
Dasom glared at him, every bit the furious lady of the court, but her heart, traitorous, disobedient heart, fluttered anyway.
The camera zoomed in on Risa’s face, catching how her cheeks reddened slightly. The crew was impressed. She could even act out such physical changes?
To be fair, Risa wasn’t that amazing—at least, in her opinion. The only reason why her cheeks were red was because it was Zeno with whom she was acting. She felt like she had committed a crime for finding him this attractive!
“Cut!” Daeshim PD exclaimed, enjoyment heard in his tone. “That was great. Let’s get some more takes and call it a day, don’t we?”
Risa felt like she couldn’t do it anymore. However, Zeno appeared unfazed. She pursed her lips. Where did her professionalism go?
“Yes, Director,” she said after a while.
With that, the two of them continued filming the scene, with Risa’s heart fluttering every now and then. She pushed it to the back of her mind, though, knowing it would distract her from the filming.
After a while, the two were finally finished with their scenes. Risa felt like she had done a workout even though they just acted.
Zeno walked away from the set pretty quickly, and for some reason, Risa followed after him. However, she stopped in her tracks when she heard him muttering something under his breath.
“Love, huh?”
***
Risa couldn’t look at Zeno properly after their scene the other day. They had a couple more scenes throughout the week, but Risa could turn off her feelings for a bit in front of the camera.
This time, after she had finished with her scenes, she lounged outside the pavilion while eating the potatoes her manager had boiled for her. She sighed as she grabbed the last one from the basket.
“These damn potatoes are tasteless,” she muttered, but still took a very large bite, almost half of the entire potato.
Just then, Zeno stopped right in front of her, making her choke on a potato piece.
She hit her chest and lost the ability to cough. Goodness, how could this happen to her?
Choking in front of her idol! She might as well die. Risa wanted to tell Zeno to just let her rest in peace. However, she couldn’t even speak! All she could do was pathetically clutch her throat with both hands!
Zeno’s eyes widened. That was the universal sign of choking. 1With that, he went behind her and did the Heimlich maneuver. After a few hard thrusts, the potato got dislodged out of her throat, falling onto the ground and appearing like a deformed fetus.
Risa pursed her lips. She hated this. Zeno, on the other hand, appeared nonchalant. However, that made her even more embarrassed.
“I—I need to go,” she stammered, about to leave, but Zeno held onto her wrist.
Risa tightly shut her eyes. ‘Zeno, please make this easier for me.’
“Where did you get those?”
“Huh?” she asked, confused, turning to him slightly.
Zeno pointed to the deformed potato on the ground, and she grimaced at the sight. She quickly looked away.
“My manager boiled them for me. I think they harvest them on their own a few meters away,” she muttered.
“Anyone can just take the potatoes?” he asked. If he had dog ears, they would have perked up by now.
“As far as I know, yes,” she responded, still feeling a little embarrassed. She didn’t know where their conversation was going and why Zeno was so passionate about the potatoes.
“Hmm,” he hummed. Just then, something clicked inside his mind. He suddenly but gently pulled her toward him, momentarily making her forget about her embarrassing choking episode.
Zeno looked at her with such bright eyes, even brighter than how they normally looked, that she felt her heart skip a beat once again.
“Can you… take me there?” he softly asked.
Clutching the throat is truly the universal sign of choking!