Page 26 of Flip the Script


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You can’t trust anyone in this business.It’s something I’d heard one of my classmates say before, and now I wonder if it’s true. Despite everything he said, Mr. Kim didn’t think Bryan and I were enough to make this show succeed. And even though we’ve been talking for the last couple of weeks, Minjee couldn’t even tell me the major fact that she was joining our show asmy rival.

Although I was heartbroken when Minjee and I stopped talking, one silver lining in losing my best friend was the fact that my classmates and teachers would stop pitting us against each other. But now we’ll have to compete again as co-leads, with millions of viewers tuning in every week.

The next morning, I sit down at the table just as Minjee walks into the conference room.

Everyone in the cast and crew gets up to greet her, bowing profusely. Some people even ask Minjee for an autograph when she walks by them. Minjee’s parents are Korean drama royalty, since her dad was one of the first Hallyu stars of the nineties and her mom has been playing the role of the “rich, scandalous housewife” on practically every daytime show since I can remember. Even my dad knows who her parents are, which is saying a lot since he doesn’t really watch TV.

Despite all the attention she’s getting from everyone else, I stare straight forward, making sure to only watch what’s going on with Minjee out of my peripheral vision. Under any other circumstances, I would have said hi and given her a hug, butknowing what I know now, I’m at a total loss about how to interact with her.

I’m determined to ignore Minjee for as long as I can, which proves to be impossible when she stops right beside me.

Since I don’t want to create a scene in front of everyone else, I finally look up at her face. Minjee takes off her sunglasses and grins down at me, just as warmly as she did when we video chatted. Only now she looks way different, with her long curls now cut in a short, sleek bob. Compared to how soft and gentle she looked with her bare face and pink pajamas, she’s now all dramatic contours and sharp edges with her intense makeup and studded leather jacket.

I’m so shocked by how different she looks that I find myself staring at her, jaw slack, until she meets my gaze.

“Long time no see,” she says, giving me a wink. “Have you been well, Hana?”

“Have you been well?” is usually an innocuous Korean greeting in and of itself, but the edge in Minjee’s voice makes me wonder if she means it as a threat.

It’s so weird seeing Minjee here. And it’s even stranger that after all we talked about during our video chat, we’ve been cast in opposing sides of a love triangle where we’re going to have to “fight over” the same guy on-screen. If only we weren’t being reunited because of some glorified cat fight.

“I’ve been great!” Now’s definitely not the time to reveal how I’m really feeling. “How about you?”

Minjee shrugs. “Been better, been worse.”

Why didn’t you tell me you were joining the show?I intently meet her gaze, wishing she could somehow read my mind.

My expression must have givensomethingaway because Minjee reaches out to squeeze my arm. She briefly leans down, like she’s about to say something to me, but doesn’t get the chance before Director Cha says, “All right, everyone, let’s get started. Since we only have a few scenes to film today, we thought it’d be a good idea to do a table read with Minjee-ssi so she can get a feel for everything before she starts her own scenes. Please feel free to ask me or any of the ADs if you have any other questions.”

Bryan, who’d been sitting on the other side of me, gets up and goes around me to pull Minjee’s chair out so she can sit.

Since when has he ever been the perfect gentleman?I wonder. Bryan and I have been working for several months nowandI’m supposedly his fake girlfriend, but he’s never once done something like that for me.

If he noticed that Bryan’s acting weird, Director Cha doesn’t say anything. Instead, he just remarks, “Please turn to page four, when Minjee-ssi’s character is first introduced. Bryan, please start us halfway down that page, where Hyun starts talking.”

“Sure thing.” Bryan begins to read in character. “You look really familiar. Have we met before?”

The question’s meant to be genuine and not a pickup line, since Hyun’s supposed to recognize Danbi, Minjee’s character, from his past lives. Even though he’s just reading off thescript at this point, Bryan executes the confusion and wonder in his voice perfectly, and Minjee returns his authenticity with believable confusion of her own as she cocks her head to the side and reads, “That seems highly unlikely, considering that I just moved from Busan. Have you ever visited there?”

Even though Minjee is from Seoul, she somehow manages to pull off the twang of a convincing Busan satoori. I feel a spark of jealousy. It takes all my effort and energy just to sound natural in Seoul standard Korean. I can probably pull off a good American Southern accent, but I can’t even imagine speaking in different dialects of Korean like Minjee is doing.

Don’t let all of this get into your head, I remind myself.Just because Minjee is a great actress doesn’t mean you’re not good enough.

“No, but...” Bryan continues.

“Hyun-ah!” I exclaim, since it’s my turn to come in. “What are you doing after school today? Do you have plans for this weekend?”

God, she sounds so desperate, I think, feeling bad for my character even as I’m reading my lines. Things were going so well with her and Hyun before this, too. But now he has a whole other love interest more than halfway into the series because people didn’t think just Sora alone was interesting enough. Even though my character is not a real person, I feel like I somehow failed her, too.

“Oh, Sora-ya, I’m busy this weekend,” Bryan says as Hyun. “I’ll see you around?”

“Oh, okay, sure.”

If we were acting out the scene, I would have walked away with some of my dignity intact. But since we’re all sitting at the same table, I have to just stay there and watch as Bryan and Minjee continue on with their lines.

“If you want, I can show you around the school,” Bryan reads. “I know everything must be overwhelming, being at a new school and all that.”

“Thanks,” responds Minjee. “I’d appreciate that.”

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