Let Me Count The Ways

1: The First Time They Saw Each Other, Really Saw Each Other

Lee MinHo and Kim GoEun were two seats from each other at the BIFAN Awards 2015 and had no idea that four years later, they would play lovers in "The King: Eternal Monarch" and be closer than ever.

The first time he saw her at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in 2015, he didn't even recognize her. Stage lights and camera flashes had turned her sleek white dress almost into a sunbeam and he found it hard to look. But then he also found it hard not to look as her left leg peeked through an almost dangerous but still tasteful slit up her thigh as she walked to her seat. She moved with an almost easy sensuality, as if she wasn't even aware of it, and it contrasted so much with the bashful way she kept her eyes on the ground, bowing slightly to every person she passed by. He remembered clocking her as, "Cute. Must be a new actress, " and then turning to speak to the person who had tapped on him on his right shoulder. She had ended up sitting two seats away from him. And that was that.

Halfway through the awards show, he was startled almost out of his seat when they announced Kim GoEun as the recipient of the Special Mention for the Best Actress Category for "Chinatown", and the girl he had marked as "cute new actress" started getting up from her seat. He had seen "Chinatown" with his friends a few months ago and he could clearly remember the young teenager who had played the feral little debt collector/killer. Her performance had looked so effortlessly intuitive and he could clearly recall how he even told one of his friends that the kid was going to go places someday.

He leaned forward, turned his head and tried to stare at her as discreetly as possible. He couldn't comprehend how she had gone from that little ragamuffin in "Chinatown" to this beautiful young woman. As an actor, he should have been used the transformation that actors and actresses go through when occupying a role but hers was just extraordinary. He was at awe and just a little bit intimidated with what she had achieved in such a short time. He made a mental note to look up her work and watch them in his off time.

People around them had started congratulating her and he could see a little flush creeping sweetly up her round cheeks. And when she glanced over at his direction, her eyes met his briefly and he had smiled at her, trying wordlessly to convey how amazing he thought she was in her movie. But then she had quickly looked away and smiled at the ground. It was almost endearing how she had tucked errant strands of her hair behind her ear before gathering her dress so she could walk up to the stage.

He could also, very clearly, remember the flash of heat that ran up spine when she had turned to face the stage and he saw the back of her dress. There was none. Well, there was, but it looked like someone had cut it out to make way for her angel wings. The delicate line of her spine was exposed, flanked on both sides by her shoulder blades where her angel wings could have been and it continued down her back until the sweet curve of the bottom of her spine had thankfully disappeared back under fabric once more. He swallowed hard, crossed his legs, and attributed the heat to the stage lights.

So 4 years later when his sister had told him that after his military service, he was going to be at helm of a Kim EunSook drama with Kim GoEun as his leading lady, his entire being had buzzed with electricity. EunGyo. HongYi. IlYoung. Hong Seol. Ji EunTak. He had seen them all and he wondered what it would be like to see all those characters collapsed into a single existence when he meets her again, for the first time.

The first time she saw him, she didn't see him at all. Back in college after finishing "Eungyo," she was just a normal student enjoying normal everyday things like going out for barbecue, chicken, beer, movies, and the occasional tv drama. "The Heirs" had created such a huge buzz in 2013 that she had felt compelled to watch it.