The next morning. Hye Yoon, who woke up at 5 AM, was grumpy from early morning. There was a sense of unfairness in her sleepdeprived eyes.
“Ah… Why does this keep happening…”
The words written on the screen of her cell phone. The cause was a missed call from Ji Ho after midnight and a short message.
[I wanted to hear your voice, but I can’t seem to time it right. (12:32 AM)]Despite her blurry eyes, his regret was clearly seen. Especially because he rarely ever whines. In fact, it wasn’t Ji Ho who had to match the time. It was her, who finished earlier, who had to adjust.
“Hmm… He’s suggesting to give it a try…”
So, as she slowly woke up, another kid was waking up inside Hye Yoon’s heart. A kid who was brightly burning with will for the first time in a long time. Along with a vow to win no matter what.
Even if she had to sleep late today, she wanted to hear Ji Ho’s voice. The kid in her heart was not only chirping, but was already rolling up her sleeves.
Hye Yoon too moved her fingers.
[I will definitely pick up today. Contact me when you’re done. (5:07 AM)]“Ugh!”
“Aren’t you tired? I should have made you exercise a bit before you came.”
Woo Jun pressed hard on Hye Yoon’s shoulder, which was momentarily closed. Although she was surprised and hurt, causing her expression to wrinkle, it felt a bit refreshing as he continued to press.
They were 12 hours into the shoot. Today, apart from a onehour lunch break, there was no wasted time. It was that tightly scheduled, and everyone on the production team, including the actors, made no mistakes.
The tension that had shot up, the somewhat chilly weather, and the fatigue piling up, all made her body feel colder. She shivered slightly from time to time.
“Oh, Min Ju replied. She said she’ll come early on Monday. Will you really be okay?”
“Yes! Of course.”
Woo Jun’s forehead furrowed at Min Ju’s message that suddenly came to mind. Seeing his worried face, Hye Yoon nodded more vigorously. She also made her big eyes look even bigger, partly to distract from her fatigue.
Min Ju’s trip to Busan was delayed due to Hye Yoon’s passionate proposal.
There was originally no shooting on the weekend, and even Thursday’s shooting was cancelled due to the forecast of rain. She wished Min Ju wouldn’t rush down for her, who didn’t need much styling, especially for just half a day on Friday.
“But wouldn’t it be better if Min Ju came early? She should come quickly and dress you up even a little. Considering how ugly you are.”
“You’re really…”
“We’re going to start shooting again!”
At the staff’s booming voice, Woo Jun moved his steps with a playful expression. The shadow of Woo Jun returning stretched long in the sunset.
The redtinted sky lightly settled on Hye Yoon’s cheekbones. It seemed to comfort her, saying that it would end in just an hour or two.
Rrrr Rrrr
Hye Yoon did her best. After the shooting ended past 8 o’clock, she held her phone tightly in her hand, except when taking a shower. She reviewed the script, which she had already memorized by heart, in order to stay awake and did some light stretching as well.
Rrrr Rrrr
As if the phone was ringing in her sleeping hand, the child in her heart pounded her body with a hammer. Begging her to wake up.
……Hello.
“Oh, she picked up.”
It was not yet midnight. Ji Ho was considering hanging up if the call didn’t go through one more time. So, the small voice over the receiver felt more affectionate.
…….
“……Are you asleep?”
Of course, it seemed like she had eventually stopped, as her voice was too soft.
……No.
“Chuckles. You sound like you’re sleep talking.”
Hye Yoon, who somehow managed to speak even while deeply lost in sleep during the late hours of the night, was admirable. Ji Ho was in the car returning home. The time did not pass faster just because she was making an effort.
Nevertheless, it did not cross midnight today. And he thought he should hang up the call, having luckily heard even a single short word from her. It didn’t seem like a situation to be greedy.
“Let’s just sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”
……No. I…… I picked up this call…… because…… yesterday…….
“Oh my, I’m sleepy…….”
Ji Ho chuckled in a low voice. It felt like the drowsy child in Hye Yoon’s heart was clumsily picking up any words and throwing them out of her mouth.
So, he really was about to hang up.
Hmm…… I have…… a lot to say…… I……
He stopped at the sound of her saying that she had something to say.
“Yes. Go ahead. ……I’ll listen to everything.”
Because he really wanted to listen to everything if it was like that. Anything.
I……
“Yes.”
……I miss you.
“…….”
Ji Ho…… a lot……
Just like a barely connected call, her words came out intermittently.
Hye Yoon, while saying that she had something to say, gave him the words he wanted to hear. She was a woman who somehow knew how to give him more than he expected, filling up both of his palms, whenever he expected just a fingertip of hope.
“……Well, why should I be the only one?”
Hye Yoon, who was fully intoxicated with sleep and didn’t even know if she was dreaming or awake, handed him dreamlike words while he stood firmly in reality.
The feeling of missing her seemed to stretch as long as the distance that separated them.
…….
“……She fell asleep, our Hye Yoon.”
And beyond the receiver, no further words could be heard. Only her rhythmic breathing that was barely audible even when concentrating. Ji Ho listened to those faint breaths for over 10 minutes.
“What is this…….”
The eyes of Hye Yoon, awakened from sleep, found focus in an instant. The call log with Ji Ho from last night recorded on her phone.
A full 17 minutes and 53 seconds.
‘My goodness…… I don’t remember a single second of almost 20 minutes of conversation?’
She felt goosebumps rising up to her throat from the utter surprise. Hye Yoon’s small thumbs hesitated over the consonants and vowels on the phone screen for quite a while.
It felt very rude not to remember anything at all, but pretending to know everything wasn’t right either. Frustrated, she bit her lower lip tightly, and eventually decided to confess.
[Ji Ho, it seems we had a call last night. I’m really sorry but I don’t remember anything. I must have picked up in my sleep. It was a long call, I didn’t say anything strange, did I? (5:10 AM)]“Haah…….”
She let out a deep sigh looking at the perfectly sent message. Considering the time difference between Seoul and Busan, she had to shudder in anxiety for at least three hours. Until his reply came.
Swoosh
However, right below her message, a new message swiftly came in. Without any delay, silently.
[You don’t remember, do you? You were crying and making a fuss about missing me last night. (5:11 AM)]lu lu lo la ▪️ net (lululola.net)
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
