In Between the Lines | Completed

Chapter Three | First Impressions

A strange man was basically pawing at her and touching her chest without asking.

I'm so gonna get sued...

"Oh God, oh lord, I'm sorry... I wasn't trying to touch you—not that you're not a beautiful—my apologies, I—"

The woman looks up slightly, her light green eyes narrowed as I continue to stammer my apologies to her. She doesn't say a word as she tries her best to remove the coffee from her shirt with little to no success.

A knock comes at the door, and I stand and rush over and pull it open to find a surprised Du Shin-Il staring at me. He looks past me and his jaw drops, eyes wide.

"Shin-Il, I need you to—"

"Miss Jones, are you alright?" Shin-Il interrupts me, speaking in hurried English, pushing past me and making his way over to the strange woman sitting on the couch. He grabs more paper towels and offers them to her without hesitation.

Which was the smart thing to do you idiot. Not sexually harass her and open the studio up to a lawsuit.

She mumbles something I don't quite catch but my guess is she isn't wishing me well as Shin-Il fusses over her. I stare at my friend in shock, not understanding where his concern for her is coming from.

Are they dating?

"I'll send for a new shirt and send this one to the drycleaner immediately, Miss Jones. I'm so sorry, I don't know what Mr. Lee was doing in here, but I'll handle the situation and get you some fresh clothes immediately. Just let me know your sizes and I--"

"Du Shin-Il, in America it's considered quite rude to ask a woman for her size, regardless of someone's intentions," a melodic voice responds with a chuckle. The woman stands up from her place on the couch and motions to the basket of show merchandise. "I'll throw one of these sweatshirts on for the time being, but I would appreciate you taking the shirt to the drycleaner."

"What is happening?" I ask staring between the two.

"English please." Du Shin-Il rubs the bridge of his nose.

"What, why? Why do I need to speak—"

"I don't speak Korean. If you know English, I would appreciate everyone on the crew and talent teams speaking in English for the time being while I adjust to the language."

"What, why? That's a lot of effort for just one person, don't you think?"

The nerve of one woman asking to be catered to. Who does she think she is? I think to myself.

"Lee Young-min—" Shin-Il warns. "You should—"

"It's alright. I'm gonna have to get used to the outrage people will have trying to adapt to English," the woman sighs, eyeing me up and down as though evaluating if I'm worth any amount of time in her presence.

Wow, snobby much?

She turns back to Du Shin-Il and says softly, "Why don't you wait outside, I'll change quickly and leave my clothes on the desk so they can go to the drycleaner. Thankfully it's just the shirt and not my pants as well, so it's not a total loss I guess," she sighs. "Besides, I'm more comfortable in a sweatshirt than a blouse anyways, so this must be the universe's way of telling me to be myself," she smiles.

"Of course," Du Shin-Il nods before escorting me to the door. His grip is firm on my wrist as he pulls me along. I open my mouth to argue but the glare he shoots me freezes me in my tracks. "I'll leave you to change; I put your latte at your spot at the table on Stage 3."

"Thank you, Mr. Du. I'll be out quickly, apologize to everyone for me for being tardy. Hopefully they'll understand."

Shin-Il grabs me by the arm and forces me out the door.

"Shin-Il...what is going on?"

Rubbing his face, Du Shin-Il seems to have aged ten years since he had opened the door to the room.

"What is going on," he says clearly in English, shooting me a look not to argue. "Is you're trying to get fired from this show..."

"No, I'm not! I just think her request to speak in English is ridiculous. It's not like all of our conversations need to be understood by her! She's not—"

I pause, realization coming to me.

"You called her Miss Jones."

"Yes."

"As in Vivian Jones."

"Also, yes."

"So that means..."

"You just insulted the very woman who agreed to give you a shot in this show and possibly pissed her off to the point of firing your ass."

Oh shit.