[written for "Radio_Active"]
Toss, turn, toss… Ria was having trouble falling asleep. Being in another bed than her own didn’t make it any easier. The sheets felt unfamiliar and the mattress was bigger and less soft than those at home. To make matters worse, Ria had never really been the type of person to fall asleep just about anywhere.
If Ria could have avoided a stay at the Park Hotel, she wouldn’t have been here now, but she was obliged to it. She was in her trainee period to become a photographer and was given that great opportunity to accompany South-Korea’s most successful photographer on his job to photograph the models of Seoul’s Fashion Week. It would have been crazy to turn that offer down. However, fashion shows and fancy hotels weren’t really the things Ria was after…
“Think of something nice…” Ria mumbled to herself and tried to find that slow pace of breathing, that state in which you’ll fall asleep. The clock ticked 12 am and Ria felt herself drift off as she counted along with the soft ticking.
However, her sleep got disturbed not long after, because nature was calling her. Badly. Now she had two choices: to hold it in and go back to sleep (which was practically impossible) or to put on her bathrobe and walk to the (unfortunately shared) bathroom. At first, Ria challenged to try the impossible, but being fully awake once again, she decided against it and kicked the sheets off. ‘So much for some good night’s sleep!’ Ria thought as she took her bathrobe from the chair beside the bed.
The hallway had a spooky glow, coming from the small yellow lights on both the walls. Tiptoeing her way to the end of the hallway, Ria found the bathroom empty and sighed in relief. She wouldn’t have liked to encounter someone who’s also in need of a midnight’s pee. No, that would only have been awfully awkward. But luckily, no such thing, as Ria closed the door behind her and found (to her delight) that the light in the bathroom was gloriously bright.
When she opened the door to tiptoe back to her room, her soul almost left her body. If she had not been so shocked into speechlessness, she would have screamed so hard that people in China might have heard.
Before her hung a guy in pajamas. Silent, tall and both his hands gripping the windowsill above the bathroom door. His eyes were closed and his head rested against one of his (rather muscled) upper arms. What the heck was he doing?!
“Yah! Now is not the time to exercise, you know…” Ria whisper-said when she had recovered from shock.
No reaction…
All kinds of thoughts went through Ria’s head. From how handsome he actually was, quickly replaced by irritation because of his bad manners, to worry that he might be dead. She coughed a little before she poked him in the side.
Finally, reaction!
The guy released his grip on the windowsill and fell down with a thud, landing on his butt, right before Ria’s feet. He didn’t let out so much as a sigh and Ria became more and more convinced that this guy was undeniably and utterly crazy… Within the blink of an eye the guy stood up and towered above her. His eyes were something between open and closed and he was goofily smiling at her. She had to admit, he looked beyond gorgeous and his scent was a masculine intoxication (definitely on a high yummy-level). However his behavior was a total joke…
“Excuse me, can I pass?” Ria asked, after being stared at by eyes that were semi-closed.
“Do you sell… Ddukbokki?” came a sleepy reply.
“Eh, no of course not…” Ria answered.
“No, we don’t… want ketchup… with it…” came another distracted and sleepy reply.
Something about the way the guy was speaking, the way he lacked to show any emotion, told Ria this guy was just sleepwalking. Realizing it all now, she wanted to laugh out loud, send him back to his room and try to catch a few hours of sleep. If only she knew where to send him…
Looking around she realized she couldn’t just leave him behind. There was a stairway at the end of the hallway and if he walked to over there, he might just tumble down the stairs and hurt himself.
“What’s your room number?” Ria asked the guy, already knowing he probably wouldn’t give her the answer she was looking for.
“Dongwoon… that’s me…”
Not his room number, but now she knew his name. A new idea came to mind. There were always receptionists working, right? If she could bring this Dongwoon to a receptionist, they would be able to bring him back to his own hotel room, wouldn’t they?
Reluctantly Ria stood watching the guy as he continued to stare at her through his eye lashes, made a sudden turn and started walking in the direction of the elevators, opposite the side of the stairway. Again the question, whether or not she should take care of him getting back inside his hotel room, troubled her. Sure, it wasn’t her responsibility at all, let alone that she should bring him back to his bed, but it wouldn’t be right to let him walk on, would it? So she made a decision. Quickly she ran to Dongwoon, grabbed one of his wrists and punched the button of the elevator. Ria was going to take him to a receptionist.
Dongwoon hadn’t struggled at all when she took his wrist, but as soon as the elevator beeped, the doors opened and Ria wanted to pull him inside, he stood rigid as stone and wouldn’t step inside. Sighing, Ria gave up and let the elevator doors close again without getting in. What was she even thinking? Walking around with hotel guests like she’s an umma that brings her children to bed. Spending time on a sleepwalker who’d probably go out of his room again, while she actually needed these hours to sleep…
Over thinking all those reasons why she could better go to sleep, she resolutely left Dongwoon for what he was and marched back to her own hotel room. She didn’t notice Dongwoon was following her like a shadow, until he stepped through her opened door just before she did.
“What the…?” before Ria could finish her sentence, Dongwoon had snuggled between the sheets on her king sized bed and let out soft, content snores.
Ria stood for a moment, as she saw the happy sleeping face of Dongwoon and wondered what she should do. She scratched the back of her head. Although the bed was king sized, Dongwoon had taken the liberty to lay in the middle of the bed. Although it was probably the best idea to wake him up and tell him to leave, she just couldn’t. Instead, she took another blanket from the cabinet and went to lay down on the couch herself.
CHAPTER 2: That Day
When Ria opened her eyes, the first thing she thought was that she was still dreaming. The sleepwalker from her dreams had both of his arms around her, hugging her from behind. His forehead rested between her shoulder blades and his warm breath was blown down her back every time he breathed out. It all felt so real…
It wasn’t until she wanted to sit up, that Ria realized everything was real. For a brief second she panicked. Why was she on the bed? Didn’t she went to sleep on the couch?! She didn’t remember… Another question, possibly the most pressing question, was: Did anything happen between them? To Ria’s relief they both wore their pajamas and nothing seemed particularly odd. Except for the obvious fact of the guy’s presence, of course.
Today was going to be Ria’s first day as a trainee, therefore she needed to wake up early. She looked at her alarm clock. 7:30 am, time to wake up… Carefully she lifted up Dongwoon’s arm that was on her waist. If she went to the bathroom to get washed and dressed first, he could sleep for a little longer. After that, Ria would have to wake him up and tell him to leave.
When Ria came back from the bathroom, he was still there, sleeping on his back with his mouth slightly opened. He looked like a little kid and Ria felt a weird need to take care of him. However, she couldn’t let him sleep, she had to be his rude wake-up call due to her own schedule.
“Wake up~…” Ria nudged his shoulder lightly. It wouldn’t be too nice if she ripped away the sheets, would it?
A protesting groan escaped Dongwoon’s throat as he closed his mouth, turned on his side and pulled the sheets higher up. A stronger determination was needed and Ria decided to just jump on the bed for a moment. Why on earth should she wake him up with total politeness, when he had invaded her goodnight’s sleep, her room and even her bed?!
Within a second she stood jumping next to him, until he sat up straight and started yawning and rubbing his eyes. In the moments that followed Ria could see the magical transformation from the cute boy Dongwoon seemed to be, to the handsome guy he really was. Now this perfect being had turned into a charismatic persona with just the addition of a certain look in his eyes. Ria stood enchanted as she, for the first time in his presence, held her breath and felt her heart skip a beat.
Dongwoon looked around with a frown, before looking at Ria. His eyes grew wide and he stood up from the bed, bowed politely and then grinned sheepishly.
“I’m sorry for being here… I must have gone into the wrong hotel room…” Dongwoon apologized.
Ria was still a little baffled by the whole revelation of Dongwoon’s charismatic side. She stepped off the bed and smiled politely.
“It’s okay, I guess, you were sleepwalking before you, ehm, slept here…” She said and felt her cheeks turn a little rosy.
“Well, this is pretty awkward, isn’t it? I’m Son Dongwoon, by the way. Well, I’ll be going now.” Dongwoon said and bowed once again before turning and walking out of the room.
Ria felt sad that she didn’t even told him her name, he had just walked out and she had been too dazed to do anything more than watch him leave… With a sigh Ria sat down on the bed and thought about the whole episode for awhile. Of course it would have been awkward for him to stay longer, or to have any sort of normal conversation with her, but she wouldn’t have disliked it, Ria realized.
The ticking from the clock reminded her to get going. She didn’t need to use the Park Hotel’s food facilities, since the photographer was going to treat her to breakfast to get to know her a little better and to talk about the when and how of her traineeship.
A delightful breakfast and an interesting conversation with South Korea’s #1 photographer later, Ria was on her way to the real job. She drove in a limo with the photographer, whose name was Baek Joon Gu, to the location of the shooting, which was a large empty sports hall, set up as a huge glamour stage in a colorful spring theme.
“You see the lights there? These are for the general lighting. Now these babies here…” Baek Joon Gu said, while pointing at the huge white umbrellas, “they do the real lighting. They are the ones responsible for that healthy glimmer, that radiating glow on the model’s skin.”
Ria followed him to the umbrellas and took a closer look at the things as Baek Joon Gu explained how they influenced the photo made, when using them.
When it was time for the models to take their places, Ria was settled right next to Baek Joon Gu, so she could see what he was seeing, but also what he was doing. When the first model went to stand on the set, Ria noticed they were going to shoot photos of male models and the theme was rather exposing. The first model was wearing an open shirt with short sleeves and blue denim shorts. The model didn’t need many directions as Baek Joon Gu was clicking away with the camera. Within 10 minutes, the model was done and another took his place. Then another and yet another. It all went very quickly and by the time it was the last few models’ turn for the camera, they were ahead of schedule.
“Thank you, next!” Baek Joon Gu said and smiled while waving his arm in a theatrical movement. “Ria, since we have plenty of time, I suggest you take the photos and I’ll give our next model the directions.”
Smiling broadly, Ria took place behind the camera and waited for the next model to show up on the set. When he did, she thought she needed an eye check. Right before her, bare-chested and in white shorts, stood the guy she caught hanging on the bathroom’s window sill, the guy that crawled into her bed just a mere 12 hours ago… With eyes huge as black pebbles in a stream, Ria stared at him, until he looked back, recognized her and smiled in return. It really was him, after all.
“Ria? Are you going to take photos? Or should I show you another time first?” Baek Joon Gu’s words brought her back to the present and without much hesitation she started the photo-taking.
“That’s right~! Lift your right hand a little higher… Great~!” Baek Joon Gu began actively shouting his directions at Dongwoon, who was enjoying the enthusiastic attention he was receiving.
Ria was once again completely enchanted as she was looking through the lens of the camera, while Dongwoon was throwing all kinds of attractive looks directly towards the camera and thus to her. He even winked and smirked seductively. Ria had to keep reminding herself to keep taking photos, for it became too easy to just stare at him. Suddenly a thought struck her mind… Why was he winking? It wasn’t like a photo could capture it, unless he kept his eye closed for a little longer… Did it mean… he was winking at her?
…And now he was blowing kisses? Ria blinked her eyes to make sure she wasn’t imagining it all. If she hadn’t stopped listening to Baek Joon Gu, she would have known Joon Gu gave him those directions, but that was merely because Dongwoon had created such an atmosphere in the first place.
Blinking didn’t change anything. Dongwoon kept stirring her heart with his playful flirting. It seemed totally out of character, knowing how charismatic he looked before, but he was perfectly capable of being desirable in a playful manner as well.
“Okay, that was fantastic!” Baek Joon Gu wrapped up the shoot and thereby ended Ria’s few minutes of pure enjoyment.
Instead of going right back to the dressing room, Dongwoon stepped off the set, grabbed a bottle of multivitamin juice and walked straight up to Ria.
“I didn’t know you were going to be my photographer!” he said amazed and smiled one of his charismatic smiles, one that suited him best and made Ria swoon on the inside.
“I didn’t know you were going to be my model!” Ria laughed, realizing this was the time to introduce herself. “I’m Ria by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Ria. Was I a good enough model for you?” Dongwoon asked, sincerely, but still in a light-hearted manner.
“You’re the best!” It was out of her before she could over-think it. “I- I mean, you were pretty good…”
Dongwoon smiled broadly, he had totally gotten her true feeling on the model-photographer relationship. He did well, very well and she was definitely impressed.
“Thank you!” he said and kissed her on the cheek before turning and entering the dressing room.
Ria stood there, frozen, did he just kiss her? On the inside she danced a victory dance and on the outside she had trouble suppressing a huge smile. While on the other side of the dressing room door, Dongwoon was doing exactly the same thing…
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