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What surprised me the most about the show?
You mean besides the fact that Ki Tae is even more attractive than I thought humanly possible?
The biggest surprise was how much waiting around we do in between shots.
It’s all hurry, hurry, hurry!
Wait, wait, wait.
I should pack a book. But I somehow always find someone to talk to, so I probably wouldn’t have time to read it anyway.
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Letty sat in her folding chair with Ji Ah kneeling in front of her. She leaned over Letty’s fingernails with absolute concentration as she painted tiny silver stars on top of the clear bottom coat she’d just applied.
“Sweetie, you are so good at this!” Letty said. “You could be a professional makeup artist.”
Ji Ah grinned as if she understood her and started a long explanation in Korean, the bulk of which went completely over Letty’s head. She knew quite a few basic words from all the Korean television shows she watched, but Ji Ah used a lot of teenage slang that Letty hadn’t mastered. Letty did catch two things the girl said: Jin and mean.
“What? Jin was mean to you?”
Ji Ah nodded so hard her ponytail loosened. She proceeded to explain in detail what her reality husband had done. Letty understood nothing, but she could tell from Ji Ah’s tone that it must have been a typical teenage misunderstanding. She groaned in sympathy and rested easy in the knowledge that her own sweet, sensitive Ki Tae would never do anything to upset her.
In the early days of Letty’s drama watching career, she had to pay close attention to the subtitles and sometimes even rewind them if the actors spoke too quickly, but 5 years of binge watching advanced her language skills from nonexistent to a creaky intermediate level. Letty understood love confessions, gangster threats, and secret birth mom declarations with no problem. Carrying on a conversation with a living, breathing high schooler, however, was a whole different ballgame. But at least she understood the different ways of addressing people and was pleased to note that Ji Ah had taken to calling her unni, the word Korean girls used for older sister.
Ji Ah finished painting the last star on Letty’s pinky nail and sat back on her heels to admire her handiwork.
Letty held up her hands and twirled them back and forth in sparkly circles. “Yeppeuda!”
She used the Korean word for “pretty” so Ji Ah would be sure to understand. The young girl grinned and returned to her own camping chair to check her phone. Beside her lounged Mimi with her prerequisite sleeping mask in place and a gold blanket swaddled around her from neck to ankles. She resembled a very fashionable, beautifully preserved mummy.
Letty fanned her nails in the air until she was sure they were dry and wrapped her own pink, fuzzy blanket around her shoulders. This, along with a hot pack stuffed in a place where no one could see it, made a sufficient barrier against the crisp winter air.
“I wonder if this is what a hot flash feels like,” Letty murmured.
She pulled out her laptop from the bag at her side and updated her blog for a while. What would she do without this outlet to share her thoughts? Writing took on a whole new meaning while she was surrounded by so many people she couldn’t communicate with clearly.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She checked it and found a text from a co-worker back in the States.
Hope you're enjoying your vacation. Where do you keep the lockbox keys?
Letty sighed. Someday soon, her glamorous life as a Korean television star would end. Not that she really wanted to be an actor. Or famous. But it was nice doing something more exciting than guarding the keys for the lockbox and answering telephones.
Letty sent a quick answer and put her phone away. The crew bustled around her carrying cameras and lights and other equipment she didn’t recognize. In the distance, she spotted Ben talking to the young woman that sat on the right of the director’s chair with the notebook when they filmed. Ben motioned to the outfit the woman was wearing and she clasped her hands behind her back and twisted her body back and forth as she smiled up at him.
“So he likes what you’re wearing,” Letty muttered. “No need to get all starry eyed about it.”
The pretty assistant leaned a little closer to Ben to whisper something and he laughed.
“The woman must be a part-time comedian.” Letty humphed in her chair and wrapped her blanket a little tighter around her.
After what seemed like an unnecessarily long conversation, another person walked up and joined the two. They all chatted for a minute before Ben waved goodbye and trotted over to where Letty was sitting.
“Getting your flirt on early.” Letty shook her head and tsk-tsked at him as she concentrated on her computer screen.
“Huh?” Ben’s eyebrows raised. “What do you mean?”
“You and the assistant director.” She indicated where the two had been standing.
“Hee Young?” Ben spun around to cast a glance at the woman. “That wasn’t flirting. I just told her how pretty her sweater made her look.”
Letty chortled. “And you don’t call that flirting?”
“Nope. I also told Ducky I liked his new haircut, and I can promise you I wasn’t flirting with him.”
“His new cut does look nice, doesn’t it?” Letty shut her laptop and put it away in the bag. “I told him it made him look ten years younger, not that he understood me. You’ll have to tell him what I said later.”
Ben agreed to pass on the compliment. He reached inside his coat to pull something from an inner pocket.
“I have a gift for you.”
“A gift? But it’s not even Chuseok!” Letty referred to the Korean holiday that was a lot like Thanksgiving, but with presents. She jumped up from her seat, held her hands out and wiggled her fingers. “Gimme! Gimme!”
She did a little running dance in place as she waited. Ben reached out and took both her hands in his. Letty looked up in surprise. When he stood this close, she had to crane her neck to see the top of his head.
“I just want you to know,” he said, “this is from the bottom of my heart.”
Letty stared into his dark brown eyes, wondering what he could mean. Did this gift have a special significance? Was this some sort of confession like in the dramas?
She opened her mouth but felt something warm between her fingers. She looked down and found Ben placing an extra large hot pack in her hands.
Letty looked back up at him with her lips twisted. “From the bottom of your heart, huh?”
“You don’t want it?”
He reached to take it back but Letty crushed it to her chest before he could grab it.
“I didn’t say that! Who am I to refuse a gift from the heart? I’ll use it in good health. So is the next scene almost ready?”
“This one is taking longer. It involves another challenge between the couples, so they’re setting up the water cannons.”
“Water cannons?” Letty shivered at the thought. “I'm not in the mood to turn into a human icicle. I guess I’ll just have to win!”
“That’s the spirit. In the meantime, we should head over to the food truck. They’re about to serve lunch.”
Letty bolted for the eating area without another word.
“Hey! Wait for me.” Ben hurried to catch up with her and they reached the food truck before the line grew too long. He passed Letty a metal lunch tray with separate compartments for the different foods and stood aside so she could go first. The grumpy woman that everyone called Auntie stood inside the truck and ladled out the portions from giant bowls of rice, kimchi, noodles, and veggies.
Letty received a small spoonful of her favorite type of kimchi, the kind made with crunchy radish bites. She picked one up with her fingers and shoved it in her mouth.
“Auntie! Mashisoyo!” Letty gave the woman in the truck a big thumbs up with her star-spangled nails as she told her it was delicious. She popped another bite of the radish kimchi in her mouth and licked her lips. “Mmmmmmmmm. So good.”
The woman shrugged and shook her head.
“No really.” Letty refused to let it go. “It’s fabulous.” She held up both thumbs this time and bounced her chin up and down.
The lunch lady’s cheeks glowed and she placed another generous spoonful of the spicy vegetable dish on Letty’s tray.
“Wow.” Ben stared in shock. “I’ve never seen her give seconds to anyone.”
“Auntie and I had a nice long conversation the other day while you were off running an errand for the director.”
“I didn’t know she spoke English.” Ben turned a confused gaze to the woman placing the regular, small portion of kimchi on his tray.
“She doesn’t. But that didn’t stop us. She was stressed and spent a long time telling me all about it. Sometimes you just need someone to vent to, even if they can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
The two picked up silverware at the end of the food line, settled their trays at a plastic table, and pulled up matching stools. Letty had just taken her first bite of the japchae noodles when a familiar booming voice sounded over the megaphone.
Ben sighed and set his spoon down. “They’re ready to film.”
“Don’t give up now. I bet I can finish my tray faster than you can.” Letty shoved a giant helping of rice in her mouth and chewed at top speed as her cheeks bulged out in the most unattractive manner.
Ben laughed and picked up his chopsticks. “Challenge accepted.”
They both ate as if someone was timing them with a stopwatch and had almost emptied their plates when the second megaphone warning came.
Letty picked up her last bit of kimchi with her fingers and shoved it in her mouth as Ben was reaching for his final bite.
“I won!” she crowed as she hopped to her feet. “Should I tell the director you’ll be awhile?” she asked with an innocent look on her face.
“Don’t you dare!” Little grains of rice spit out of Ben’s mouth as he spoke. He scrambled from his seat, they tossed their empty trays in the wash bin and raced for the set as fast as they could.
