So sorry for the delay. I have been busy with work and working out some kinks in my personal life. Needless to say, these things do not help to inspire me to write (as you can see, even the title isn't creative) :P I'll be free soon, and I'll get back on track. Stay tuned ^_^
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Today is the 2nd session with Ji Yong. Seung Hyun did his bits so well that he didn’t have to come in today, so it was just me, Ji Yong, the sound engineer and a producer.
“Let’s do the chorus again,” Ji Yong said into the microphone. “You’ll need to turn up the sex appeal,” he giggled.
“Oh sure… piece of cake,” I replied sarcastically.
“Hey… you’re a sexy girl… so just feel it and do it,” he laughed.
“Yes sir,” I replied with 2 thumbs up.
It’s a bit weird to have someone younger than me direct me and tell me how to sex-up my singing. But here I am, about to go solo, and I had one of the youngest, most talented artistes in Korea coaching me.
The music started playing, and I started singing. I finished the line, and Ji Yong cut off the music.
“Close…” he said. “Almost the mood we’re looking for. But I know you can do better,” he said. “Try thinking of something that can get you in the mood; Jae Joong hyung?” he laughed.
“Ya!” I exclaimed, and I could feel myself blushing.
Sure… I’m no 18 year old virgin, but having someone 5 years younger than me telling me to think dirty and get in the mood was starting to embarrass me.
“Come on, Sierra… come on!” he said, and that cracked me up.
It always cracked me up when he said that because it would make me think of the Coffee Prince parody he did with the rest of Big Bang for their concert. It’s not just his speech. His general appearance was a key to keeping our meetings interesting. Today he was in his usual high-tops, BAPE jacket… the full ensemble. He’d taken off his beanie and put on a headband to hold back his hair. It was a glittery diamante studded headband.
“Did you steal that from somewhere?” I laughed when I saw it earlier on.
“Nah… some fan gave it to me,” he laughed.
“That’s nice… wish my fans gave me headbands,” I laughed.
“I’ll bring you one the next time we’re meeting,” he smiled.
Ji Yong had a really large forehead for someone so small. Sometimes it kinda looks like he’s balding in the front, especially when he pushed his hair back like that. But I suppose his cuteness makes up for everything; balding or not. Then again, the Chinese believe that it’s a good thing to have a large forehead… it usually means you’re smart and you would do well in life; as proven with his success.
He may be younger than me, but he was my coach until we get this album done, so I had to listen to his advice. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. I tried to think about something sexy… a sexy incident which had taken place in my life, and I was no longer surprise where my brain had brought me to… sometime, long ago, when I was with Yun Ho.
It was one of those nights where Skye and Shoei had gone out to the gym with the guys from Super Junior, leaving me and Yun Ho home alone. We were sitting in front of the television, watching an English movie of my choice, 50 First Dates. You’d think that an Adam Sandler movie was far from sexy. It was always absurdly funny, never sexy, but ending of this movie was so touching.
I snuggled up to Yun Ho as we watched the ending, where Drew Barrymore showed Adam Sandler all the drawings she had done of him, not even remembering who he was.
“Would you remember me like this?” Yun Ho asked, and dropped a kiss on the top of my head.
We were laying side by side, me on the edge of the sofa. He had an arm tucked under my neck, and had the other resting on my hip. Our legs were entwined with my feet tucked under his to keep warm.
“I might… but I won’t be able to draw your face so accurately,” I giggled.
“Fair enough…” he said.
“I could always draw you as an animal; a symbolic representation of you. What would you like to be?” I teased.
He just growled in response and nuzzled my neck, causing me to squirm because it tickled. My laughter died as we watched the ending, where Drew Barrymore wakes up to a video where Adam Sandler has documented the whole journey of their relationship to remind her each morning how far her life has gone along since she had forgotten it. Yun Ho’s arms tightened around me as the scene progressed.
I was lulled into a state of mind where I was drunk on the romance on the screen, and from the warmth of being in his arms. I always felt protected when I was with Yun Ho. That was how any girl would feel when with him. As the credits rolled up, I turned to face him, and he leaned down to kiss me softly on the lips. I guess there is no need to discuss what went on from there.
Granted it wasn’t some hot and heavy incident. It was the simple passion of being in each other’s arms… and getting drunk on the unspoken love we shared.
I sang the chorus again, my mind fresh with emotions I had recalled from my past. I could feel my heart pouring into the microphone, expressing that deep hidden emotion that would convey the message of the lyrics and the music. As soon as I ended, Ji Yong started clapping.
“Bravo!” he said. “That was IT! What were you thinking of?” he asked.
“You?” I joked, and I could’ve sworn he looked a bit uneasy, but laughed anyway.
It’s always an obvious betrayal to Jae Joong whenever I thought of Yun Ho. The guilt would rush to my head, and I would always feel like as if I’ve actually cheated on Jae Joong whenever my mind took a trip down memory lane with Yun Ho. I will probably never get over my past, and this was one of the reasons I have not been able to commit to Jae Joong when it came to talking about our future.
Jae Joong was as dependable and Yun Ho, and he’ll definitely make a good husband, but I’m still at that crossroad in my life where I’m deciding when would be the best time to settle down. It’s too early anyway, since it has only been a little more than 3 years since S-Cube debut, and I’m about to go solo. I’m thinking it wouldn’t even hurt for me to wait till I was 30.
After the recording session, we’d more or less started moving on to my other songs; those that I would be doing solo. I had a choice of 1 cover, and I chose Alex’s ‘Sarangha-o’ (I Love You), since I was such a huge fan, and I had to have a ballad in my album, to prove that I could sing. In fact, I had almost every genre in my album. There’s R&B-Hip Hop with ‘Crazy’, ‘Sarangha-o’ was the cover-ballad, there was a pop song called ‘Make Me’, a disco song ala Kylie Minogue called ‘Cutting the Strings’, a rock song entitled ‘Wut?!’ and another slow song, just to prove I could sing, called ‘This Is My Life’.
I was practicing the song during my break at the film set when Jae Wook came to sit beside me.
“Hello,” he smiled.
“Annyeong,” I replied, and smiled back.
“You’re not helping me practice my English,” he complained.
“You’re not helping me practice my Korean,” I answered, and he laughed.
“So I heard you’ve been really busy,” he said.
“How did you guess?” I said, pretending to be shocked.
“Well… seeing how they’re rushing us with the filming… that kinda tipped me off,” he said.
“Oh… Mianhae…” I smiled.
“So are you gonna keep practicing your song?” he asked.
“It’s actually top secret, so I can’t let you hear it,” I said in a stage whisper.
“I won’t tell the press,” he smiled.
“Hmm… you swear?” I said.
“Yes… if I tell anyone, I would be attacked by a crazy fan on the way home,” he laughed.
“Okay,” I laughed.
I took a deep breath, and I started singing ‘Saranghao’ (I Love You), by Alex.
눈을 감아요 그대 두근거리는 이 밤
nuneul gamayo geudae dugeungeorineun i bam
그대 귓가에 흩날리는 내 마음을 받아 주오
geudae gwitgae heutnallineun nae maeumeul bada juo
왠지 서투른 나의 이 노래를 받아주겠소
waenji seotoreun naui i noraereul badajugettso
이 뜨거운 마음
i ddeugeoun maeum
눈부신 그대 두 눈을 난 사랑하오
nunbushin geudae du nuneul nan saranghao
그 안에 숨쉬게 해주오
geu ane sumshwige haejuo
푸른 밤 하늘 가득 채워 놓은 두 마음
pureun bam haneul gadeuk chaewo noeun du maeum
변하지 않겠다고 내 손을 잡고 말해주오
byeonhaji angettdago nae soneul japgo marhaejuo
아름다워요 그대 우리 둘만의 이 밤
areumdawoyo geudae uri dulmanui i bam
그대 모습에 스러지는 내 마음을 잡아주오
geudae moseube seureojineun nae maeumeul jabajuo
왠지 어색한 나의 이 약속을 받아주겠소
waenji eosaekhan naui i yaksogeul badajugettso
이 뜨거운 마음
i ddeugeoun maeum
눈부신 그대 두 눈을 난 사랑하오
nunbushin geudae du nuneul nan saranghao
그 안에 숨 쉬게 해주오
geu ane sumshwige haejuo
푸른 밤 하늘 가득 채워 놓은 두 마음
pureun bam haneul gadeuk chaewo noeun du maeum
변하지 않겠다고 내 손을 잡고 말해주오
byeonhaji angettdago nae soneul japgo marhaejuo
스쳐 지나는 많은 사랑과 체념 속에
seuchyeo jinanun manheun saranggwa chenyeom soge
아름다웠던 우리 달콤한 입맞춤
areumdawottdeon uri dalkomhan ibmatchum
눈부신 그대 두 눈을 난 사랑하오
nunbushin geudae du nuneul nan saranghao
그 안에 숨쉬게 해주오
geu ane sumshwige haejuo
푸른 밤 하늘 가득 채워 놓은 두 마음
pureun bam haneul gadeuk chaewo noeun du maeum
변하지 않겠다고 내 손을 잡고 말해
byeonhaji angettdago nae soneul japgo marhae
그 마음 변함이 없다고
geu maeum byeonhami eoptdago
내 품에 안겨 말해 주오
nae pume angyeo marhae juo
When I finished, I noticed that the stylist and makeup artist were also watching, and Jae Wook had a really straight expression, frozen on his face.
“Well?” I said.
“That was great!” he broke into a smile, and clapped.
The stylist and makeup artist clapped too.
“Look… now everyone knows,” I joked.
“Well… it’s kinda like the case of a princess with a beautiful voice. When she sings, all the woodland animals would come to listen,” he winked.
“You’re crazy…” I laughed. “So you’re saying I have kongju-pyeong?”
“Aniyo…” he protested, laughing at my self-depreciating joke. “You definitely do not have kongju-pyeong. You’d have kongju-pyeong if you spent all your break times selca-ing and uploading the photos to your mini-hompy.”
“I guess you’re the expert,” I shrugged and smiled.
We chatted for awhile more, and it was time to get back on set. Darren wasn’t around today, so we focused on scenes with Jae Wook and myself. Yuk Hee was also here to film the scene today.
‘Girls on Top’ has been getting decent ratings. We weren’t on the top of the charts since Darren and I weren’t big names, and it was really the addition of Jae Wook to the cast that helped our ratings climb.
{Girls on Top: Episode 16, Scene 5}
“Shut up!” Yun Mi yelled at Maya.
“Yun Mi-ah… please go to Ho Young, he needs you,” Maya pleaded.
“You’re just expecting me to help you pick up the pieces after you’re done with him.”
“I never meant to destroy him,” Maya said regretfully.
“Then you should have let him come to me when it was still possible. How do you expect us to carry on now? He’s so hung up on you, and he’s totally given up on his life.”
“Don’t you care for him? I know you can help him. You can change his mind and help him forget. I wish I could help him, but Si Won and I…”
“You should have let him go and gone back to Si Won from the beginning,” Yun Mi said. “It’s too late now…”
“Yun Mi… I…”
“Enough!” she said, and turned to walk away.
Maya sat down on the bench nearby and covered her face with her hands.
“Is it so tough?” Si Won said as he walked up to her.
“Si Won,” she smiled through her tears.
He sat down next to her, and put his arm around her shoulders.
“Maybe I should return you to Ho Young,” he smiled wistfully.
“I’m fine… I’m fine…” she said, trying to collect herself.
“I’m serious, Maya,” he said. “It’s bad enough I’m dying, I don’t need to see another die just so I can have my wish.”
“I owe you this much, Si Won,” she said, looking at him and reaching up to stroke his face.
“I know you love me,” he smiled. “But you love him more…”
“I’ve given him up. Even when you’re gone, I’m still your wife. I made a promise to you.”
“I was selfish to have asked for such a promise.”
“This is our fate,” she sighed. “I was meant to be with you in your time of need, and I will always be with you.”
Si Won gazed at Maya’s face, his face expressing his love and appreciation.
“Saranghae,” he said, and he kissed her softly on her lips.
Maya returned his kiss.
{End of scene}
