Chapter 26
Seoul, Korea
Convenience Store
Rain was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for him, looking up at the sky.
“We should head back,” Kita said.
She nodded. “It is getting late,” she agreed and offered him the bag. “Hydrogen peroxide for your vest, shirt and jacket,” she explained. “You have it soaking so it didn’t dry. Splash it with the peroxide and the blood will disappear without damaging the fabric.”
Kita took the bag. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I did,” she assured him and started walking back towards the hotel. “I’m the one that bloodied them after all, thus it’s my job to fix them or replace them. I’m sorry you had to hear that.”
He walked with her. “I should be the one apologizing that you had to hear it.”
“I’m used to it,” Rain explained. “If the makeup artist uses the wrong shade of eyeshadow, it causes my eyes to appear more green than drab olive as they are, and that causes rumors about colored contact lenses. Purples cause my eyes to look more green. If I wear my hair down or don’t trim it, or have a good hair day even, they report that I got expensive extensions in China or Russia in order to hide the truth of the procedure. If I don’t wear sunblock when on location in a sunny area and get darker, they say that I hate my Korean heritage and natural lighter creamy yellow complexion. My teeth grew in straight, and I only used a retainer when I was in my teens at night because I was grinding my teeth from stress, the doctor said-”
“You have nothing to explain to me,” Kita interrupted.
“Huh?” Rain asked, looking over at him. “Oh. I forgot you were even here for a moment,” she admitted and he gave her a look. “I was reminding myself of all that, if you must know. When there’s nothing to run with, they will find something to run. Some of it is so outlandish that even the public doesn’t buy into it, but it sells magazines and advertising spots. It’ll only get worse now that someone leaked pictures from the set.”
He didn’t understand.
“Your current project?”
She nodded.
“Why is it delayed?” he asked; Lula didn’t find a reason that she divulged.
Rain sighed, shaking her head. “You’ll learn soon enough since you aren’t going anywhere any time soon.”
That made him smile a little, but she didn’t act as if she saw.
“Hwang Sang-Hee is a very talented actor,” she said. “He’s starred in American and Canadian movies that were critically acclaimed even, won him some awards, but also took him down a very dark path. When overseas, he got into drugs and drinking. The drugs were a passing thing because when he overdosed it scared him so much that he hasn’t touched them since. The drinking though, that was harder for him to beat since he always had a problem controlling himself when he drank.”
Kita looked at her curiously. “None of that was in the article with the pictures, was it?”
She shook her head. “Of course not. Hwang Sang-See is a Prince that can do no wrong. The current delays for On the Moon Love Swings is two part. One is production costs skyrocketed due to poor budget control and a young director that wants to make a name for himself with a vision the budget can’t facilitate. The other is because Hwang Sang-Hee is unable to film the final needed scenes because he’s in rehab in Europe.”
Kita nodded his understanding; there were many places in Western Europe that catered to discrete services that could ruin a family or career if they were made public.
“What does any of that have to do with you?” he asked, confused.
“The last time Hwang Sang-Hee was on set, we were running lines,” she said softly, watching her feet as she walked, her arms wrapped around her waist. “He had been drinking, and started arguing with his manager and the director, then the production assistant, producer… Anyone in his line of sight he fought with. Being the fool that I am, I was trying to keep the peace when he started throwing things, and I got in the way.”
Kita pulled her to a stop and forced her around to face him. “What did he do to you?”
Rain offered a small smile. “It doesn’t matter. Someone leaked pictures from the set. There’s just enough in photos that it’ll vilify me once more and I’ll be the center of scandal and be tabloid fodder. If you want to leave now because you are sucked into it, I completely understand. I wouldn’t want to be around me with this coming either.”
She flinched when Kita wiped away the tear that rolled down her cheek with his thumb.
“Seon Rain, now more than ever you need me,” he told her, his voice soft.
Another tear rolled down her cheek and he was quick to wipe it away for her.
“Seon Rain, as long as you permit me, I will protect you. It is my solemn vow to you that you will be safe when in my care,” Kita promised with a slight bow of the head.
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