Nobody moved. Nobody said anything. She squeezed herself between her once idol, star, and crush, and an aggressive stranger. Her face was just couple of inches away from his, looking straight into his eyes. Oh! And her hands were still on his solid chest.
Awkward. And exciting... Shit!
Yeong Ye-Jun was staring at her too, speechless, one eyebrow raised. She felt Mr. Kim behind her backing off.
Thank God!
She quickly removed her hands and took a step back. What a reckless decision... Noelle could easily have gotten hurt. And she felt dozens of shocked stares aiming on her. But she would continue to be reckless.
She grabbed Ye-Jun's arm and said in a low voice: "We need to go. Now."
Noelle pulled his arm and was quite surprised when he actually started following her. She dared not look around and walked quickly away from the gathered crowd. Only after a while did she realize she wasn't heading toward the actors' trailers.
When she was far enough from the crew, she stopped and released his arm. Her fingers were kind of itching. She had been holding his arm, right? Now her brain was itching too. She had to face him now.
Fuck!
Noelle turned around and saw him giving her a sidelong glance. She had no choice but to attack.
"Why are you so irresponsible? You created a lot of fuss back there. Rumors will spread like wildfire," she said.
"Why should I care? Sang-Jun and Chloe will take care of everything."
"They always do, right? Cleaning up after your mess? Try not to create one for once."
Yeong Ye-Jun narrowed his eyes and examined her. His gaze weighed all her expressions. What was he looking for?
"I'll try... You're my personal assistant now, so I should value your advice," he said with a mocking smile.
"Why did you get into a fight with him?"
"I told you. He's a fucking prick. He doesn't respect anyone and acts like the boss. I explicitly asked for him not to be involved in this project, but Chloe wouldn't listen," he explained.
"You're overreacting. He seems like a nice guy. He was always kind and polite to me," Noelle contradicted.
"Yeah, probably because he was hoping to sleep with you," he said.
Noelle gasped. Had he no shame? "What?" she asked, her cheeks feeling warmer.
"Don't flatter yourself. He hits on every woman on set—except the leading actresses, of course. He knows they're out of reach. But he likes to think he's a player," Ye-Jun said.
Noelle lowered her eyes, trying to hide her uneasiness. Was she shocked because that Kim guy possibly wanted to get into her pants and she hadn't realized it, or because Ye-Jun was speaking about this so casually?
"Oh no!" Ye-Jun suddenly said, gasping theatrically and tapping his lips with his fingers. "Apologies! You don't happen to like him, right? Did I go and offend your sweetheart?"
Noelle's blood was boiling. How dared he make assumptions—false ones at that? She could see him smirk and wanted badly to smack his beautiful cheek.
No. Not beautiful. Just cheek.
She clenched her fists and said as professionally as she could manage: "I just need to help Mi-Suk and keep you out of trouble until she gets here. Please, let's go to your trailer."
Ye-Jun kept smiling broadly. "Yes, ma'am! As I said before, I value your opinion. But first... can I ask you for a small favor, since you're here now?"
"I'm not your assistant today."
"But I said I value you... Come on! I want your help so I don't create any more fuss."
She decided not to risk further problems. "Okay, tell me what you want," she said, and they started walking toward the trailers.
"Well, it's Ms. Myong. She finished her part early today and left. I lent her my tablet this morning and she forgot to return it. As she was leaving, I reminded her of that, but she isn't very considerate, you know. She didn't bother to go back and fetch it. She just gave me the keys and told me to pick it up from the table. Her words exactly," Ye-Jun said, pulling some keys from his pocket.
"Don't you know how to use keys? Is that why you need my assistance?" Noelle asked, clearly intending to jibe at him.
"No, I do know how to use them. But I thought, 'Ye-Jun, what if someone sees you coming out of her trailer and takes a picture? What if it goes public and people misunderstand? What if my lovely Mi-Ok sees it? What will she think?' But since you're here now, you can fetch it for me," he concluded.
Noelle was amazed. Amidst his protests and his fight with that guy, he had the nerve to think about his tablet. Why on earth was he carrying a tablet, and why had he lent it to his co-star? And why did he want it back so quickly? "Why such a rush?"
"There are things in there that... must not be seen."
"Give me the keys. Where's that table?" she asked.
"Thank you... Well, the trailer should be like mine. Once you open the door, go straight ahead—it should be on your right," he advised, handing her a specific key, one with a red hue.
Noelle hesitated. She stared at him for a long moment, but then grabbed the keys.
The stars' trailers were in the most remote section, close to a bunch of trees. Each had one back door, and production had even set up wooden space dividers for extra privacy.
Yeong Ye-Jun's and Ms. Myong's trailers were next to each other. Noelle had fetched things for Ye-Jun before but had never entered his trailer. She had no idea how the inside looked, but surely it would be easy to find a table and a tablet on it.
"I'll wait here for you. And be quiet—we don't want anyone to hear us," Ye-Jun said as they stopped in front of the door.
Noelle shook her head in disbelief. There was no one around, but she'd just do as instructed. She only had to keep him contained until Mi-Suk arrived.
She put the key in the lock and opened the door. The trailer was dark inside, and a heavy fragrance filled her nostrils. It wasn't unpleasant, just too intense—like a hundred cinnamon candles burning in that small space.
She moved forward, glancing to her right, but saw no table. The space wasn't large. Where could it be hidden? She turned around—and froze. On the opposite side, where the table should have been, a big sofa stood.
Freaking shit!
Noelle was facing a completely naked Myong Chae-Youn, sleeping on that sofa.