Loud Banging on the door.
Kamou dragged her body and opened the door. Miss Min, her manager was stunned to see her drunk at this time of the day. It was eleven in the morning, she came in to check whether Kamou was ready for work.
"Oh my! What have you done to yourself?" she said looking at her condition.
Kamou's was barely able to stand straight, intoxicated her eyes remained half open. Her face was a mess with strains of dried tears on her checks, mixing with her makeup. Not only her face but the whole room was a mess, the air filled with the smell of alcohol. Floor littered with numerous things, dirty napkins lying around. The bedsheet tangled with the cushions, it looked like the room was hit by a storm.
Miss Min took Kamou to her room where she made her sleep on her bed. Being her manager, she was responsible to handle this mess, she couldn't let anyone know about this. She would deal with Kamou later, for now she had other things to take care of.
The manager took out her phone to inform the director and her superiors at the agency that Kamou was very sick and wouldn't be able to work today. The director was a little disappointed as it would cost him a day of shooting, but he understood and offered help if needed. After that she went to Kamou's room to tidy up the mess she had made.
**********************************
Kamou woke up from her sleep in the evening around 6:00 p.m. She looked around; she wasn't in her room yet it looked familiar.
"Finally, you are awake." Miss Min taunted standing at a distance.
Kamou looked at her confused, not clearly remembering how she ended up in her room. She tried hard to focus and remembered what happened early morning. After Juho left she went to her room and sat there drinking, trying to reduce her pain. She never thought the alcohol would cause her to miss him more. She drank and drank, yet his disgusted eyes flashed in front of her. Kamou drank more then she could handle. She remembered puking once and then she went to her bed tired. She has a slight memory of someone banging her door and she went to open it.
"Trying to remember what happened? Huh?" Miss Min mocked. "Let me tell you."
Kamou turned her head towards her manager as she started to speak. The words that came out of her mouth had so much of anger and disappointment in them.
"You missed a day of your shoot. You were so careless; you could barely stand up. Do you know what would happen if word gets out?"
"I have been here with you since your trainee days. I know how hard you worked and now that you got a big project, possibly something that would ensure a position for you in this industry, you are acting up. I don't know what happened to drive you this crazy but are you really ready to ruin everything for it?"
Kamou sat there silently listening to what she was saying with a straight face. It was one of the rare times in her life when she lost control. She was really mad at herself.
"I am sorry sister Min." she apologized.
"You don't need to say that to me, say it to yourself. Make sure to get to the shoot tomorrow and do your best."
"I understand. It won't happen again." She assured.
"It better not. I risked my job for you. I won't be covering up for you again. You better behave now."
A sad expression formed on Kamou's face. She ended up disappointing so many people in one day. It was all fine until she ended up having feelings. It was these feeling that are causing this chaos, she should stay away from them as she did earlier. She decided she would close herself again.
"I informed everyone that you are under the weather. You are resting today and will be able to get back to work by tomorrow. Make sure respond with the same story if anyone asks."
Miss Min's tone softened a bit looking at Kamou. She knew something big happened for her to react like this. Miss Min had been with Kamou for a long time, she knew her to well.
"I know it's hard but trust me everything is going to be okay. You can talk to me anytime you want. I am saying this as a big sister and not your manager. I have seen you grow from a trainee to a full-time actor. You have worked hard for this and I can't let you do that to yourself. It's your time to shine now, all those efforts and hard work has started to show result. Please don't ruin it."
"I am sorry, I don't know what happened to me. I lost my balance." Kamou said genuinely.
"That's what being a celebrity is. You can never lose that balance. No matter how hard it gets in your personal life gets, you need to always be smiling for the camera. It's new for you but I know you will learn this soon enough." Miss Min assured and left.
Kamou slowly got out of bed contemplating on her conversation with Miss Min. She went to her room taking sometime alone, gathering her broken pieces together. She had to come back from this stronger.
***********************************
Juho came back to Seoul exhausted, hopeless and broken. It wasn't the lack of sleep that was bothering him, it was his broken heart. It was almost two days without sleep for him. He walked into his apartment tired.
Keeping his suitcase on the couch, he went straight into his room. His exhausted body dropped on the bed, trying to sleep. As he closed his eyes, sleep never came and the only things that came rushing to his mind were her memories. He held himself back all this time but now he was in the comfort of his home, he let it go.
Soon the room was filled with little sobs as he cried his heart out. It was the end for their little love story and he knew they would never be together. Yes, he would see her, at parties, award shows, events, but they would act like strangers. It was so heart breaking for him. It started and ended with them being strangers.