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collectsfallenstars · 4 years

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

*Kim GoEun x Lee Minho Fanfiction **Based on an interview where they were asked what their lasting impressions of each other were. LMH answered it was their first scene together in the BBQ Chicken restaurant and KGE answered it was seeing LMH at Gwanghwamun Square. Also included in this fic is their time in the BIFAN Awards 2015 when they barely knew each other.

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.

And that's when she saw him, Kim Tan, golden and glorious under the California sun on the opening credits of "The Heirs." It was almost embarrassing how quickly her face had heated up after only a few seconds of watching him surf. She had always loved the beach, that was for sure. But she had never seen Kim Tan on a surfboard in the beaches she had gone to. Droplets of ocean water hanging from the tips of hair falling over his forehead, eyelashes, nose and lips were all it took for Kim GoEun to understand why Lee Minho was in a league all on his own when it came to star quality.

But he was never Lee MinHo to her. He was Kim Tan, the California surfer. Kim Tan, the lonely misunderstood heir who would fight to the bitter end to keep his love. Kim Tan, who stole kisses with a donut. Kim Tan, who opens his arms wide and closes them around his girl and makes her feel like no one else in the world mattered. He was, quite possibly, the biggest crush of her entire young life.

So when only a few years later at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in 2015, she had been seated two people away from him, she hadn't known what to do with herself. She knows she was there for two awards but she can only remember staring at the floor and trying very hard not to look over to her right because her Kim Tan was there. She was there as an actress so she should at least try to act like one and not some tween with a big crush. And she had been good, managing to avoid openly staring at him by avoiding eye contact with absolutely everyone.

But when they called her name onstage and everyone around her had started to congratulate her, it had been impossible not to look. She chanced a glance at him when someone on her right side had murmured congratulations. She could swear their eyes met for the briefest of moments but she couldn't be too sure. She had felt her face heating up from embarrassment and had to turn away before he could notice. Not that he would actually be looking at her but mostly for her own dignity and self-preservation.

She doesn't remember how she got up the stage but she did. She was proud of the work she had done, she was. Four movies as a main character was no easy feat. But this night will forever remain in her mind as the night she first saw Kim Tan.

But the first time she met Lee Minho was a different story altogether.

She was older at 29 years old, no longer the blushing college girl who was unsure as to what path to take. She had thrown herself into acting, embracing her path at full throttle because if there was one thing that passing of her beloved grandmother had taught her, it was that she only had one life to live. So when she had been offered the unconventional role of Lt. Jeong TaeEul, a blunt, pragmatic detective who falls in love with a monarch from a parallel universe, she didn't even think twice before saying yes to Kim EunSook, the woman who had given her the bright loving light of Ji EunTak. And when she was told that the monarch she would fall in love with was Lee MinHo, she merely threw her head back and laughed heartily, remembering the silliness of her early years in the business. She was different now.

And so, when the main cast had gathered together in Kim EunSook's office on day in July of 2019 and she had taken the opportunity to get to know them a little bit. She knew she was going to miss the first Table Reading as she had not yet wrapped up with the filming of her musical, "Hero." It had been easy to spot his tall handsome form, even from the corner of the room.

"Sunbaenim!" she cried as she rushed over to him, bowing and shaking his hand while smiling brightly up at him. "Kim Tan the handsome heir, I finally meet you! I had the biggest crush on Kim Tan when I was 22! I'm your fan! Thank you for making my dream come true!" Then she gave him two thumbs up and started shaking them near her face.

Lee MinHo had burst out laughing at her dorky but nonetheless adorable introduction. He had a strange laugh, Goeun thought, but liked the sound of it anyway. It was the kind of laughter that started in the belly and knocked around in the chest, his whole body shaking in an effort to contain it. She liked his kind of laughter, she decided as she craned her head up to look at him.

When his laughter had subsided, his hand went up to wipe some of the tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes and caught the edge of the black baseball cap she had worn that day. It tumbled out of her head and fell to the floor. But before she could even bend to pick it up, he touched her gently on the shoulder and shook his head a little. Then he crouched low, swiftly snatched her black ball cap from the ground and got up.

She held her hands out to receive it but to her surprise, he brushed off whatever dirt it caught from the floor and placed her ball cap back on her head. It slid on easily but she could still feel how his hands made sure it was snug. Then he placed his hands on her shoulders, bent a little to look at his handiwork. She found herself turning her face up to let him see it was okay. He really, really had the most beautiful pair of deep-set brown eyes. Seeing them up close caused a little riot in her but she held it together.

Then he caught a few strands of her hair that was flattened against the left side of her face and smoothed it behind the delicate shell of her ear.

"There, perfect."

Then, a megawatt smile.

And 29 year old Kim GoEun felt like someone had tugged her heart back into her 22 year old self.

"Ah, I'm afraid the Kim Tan you know is old now," he said ruefully, his eyes holding a little bit of his earlier laughter. "I don't think it's your dream that came true though. I believe it was mine, GoEunsshi. I have wanted to work with your for a long time now."

With great effort, she tugged her heart back to her 29 year old self and forced her pulse to stop ringing in her ears. She had prepared for her role as thoroughly as she always did. But she hadn't prepared for this, for him being like...this. How did his co-stars not fall at his feet all the time? No one had warned her that he would be this effortlessly magnetic. How was she going to last 7 or 8 months of the onslaught of his charm without making a fool of herself?

She smiled back at him, told him, insisted actually, that it really was more her dream that came true. But in her head, she ran a mantra that would be her armor for the long months to come, "A smile is just a smile. It does not mean more. Do not want more." With that, she gave one last bow to him and flitted off to Woo DoHwan. And that was the last that Lee Minho would see of Kim GoEun for the next few months.

It was November when he finally saw her again.

He had arrived at the set a good 30 minutes before shooting began. It was a booth tucked away in one corner of a BBQ Chicken branch, right against a glass wall. He took his seat and tried to settle his racing mind. On hindsight, it had probably not been a good idea to marathon all her movies and her two dramas before this first shoot. Watching Kim GoEun's growth on film and tv had only driven home the point that she was out of his league.

He had never been an insecure actor. He just knew his strengths and used them to his advantage. He also knew what he lacked and had tried his hardest to make up for them. And if he couldn't, he would avoid putting himself in a situation where he would be forced to show a weak hand. But after watching Kim GoEun work with legends like Lee ByungHun, Jeon DoYeon, Kim HyeSoo, and Gong Yoo, he had come to the conclusion that he had absolutely nothing to offer her that she hadn't gotten before from all the other actors she had worked with.

So he sat there in BBQ Chicken, fiddling with his thumbs in trepidation. And then, almost as if by gravity, his head turned to the side and through the glass wall, he saw her white van roll to a stop out on the street. She stepped out, her gait light. She had been made to wear outfits that seemed to swallow her up, tennis shoes, baggy jeans, loose fitting black polo shirt, and topped by a long moss green winter coat.

But for all her character's visual heaviness, her delicate round face looked lit from the inside with the light of a thousands stars. He had seen this light on her when she was Ji EunTak and couldn't comprehend where she had hidden it when she was IlYoung. He watched her shove her hands in the pocket of her coat as she half jogged, half walked to the entrance of the restaurant. Almost as if she felt his eyes on her, she turned her head to search through the glass wall for him and when their eyes met, her face broke into a smile so wide it that he found himself smiling back at her just as wide. She waved at him excitedly before finally walking through the entrance.

He stood up and hurriedly pulled out her chair for her. He heard a giggle before she spoke, "Sunbaenim, such a gentleman!"

The production team had changed her hair. Gone were the soft straight strands his fingers had touched underneath her ball cap on the day they met in Kim EunSook's office. They had given her bangs and waves, like Hong Seol in "Cheese in the Trap," but had stayed away from a harsh change in color. He wondered if her hair was still just as soft.

"You didn't have to do that, though. We're not on a date!"

Her light easy manner was so easy to respond to. So he tipped his head to the side, looked at her askance and said, "Ah, but Lee Gon and TaeEul are."

One eyebrow curved up as she folder her arms across her chest, a light smile on her face. "But TaeEul is paying for the meal, right? How is that a date, sunbaenim?"

He pouted and put a hand on his chest in mock hurt. "I'll be giving you an entire Kingdom. That should count for something, right?"

She pouted right back at him and reached out to tap him on the side of his arm. "TaeEul doesn't need kingdoms, Pyeha. She needs chicken and beer." She scrunched up her nose at him and added, "Better luck next time, yeah?"

Outwitted, he accepted defeat and playfully hung his head in shame. Then he peered at her through his bangs that flopped boyishly on one side of his forehead and smiled at her warmly. They had fallen into their roles so easily in the first few minutes that they had been together, as if Kim EunSook had written them into the characters instead of the other way around. He had a feeling that playing this role would change his life, he just didn't know how.

Then they moved into rehearsals and the shoot for the first BBQ Chicken dinner scene and he was given a front row seat to the show that was Kim GoEun. She chose to change the inflection of her voice first, using the sound to command the rest of her body with. Gone were the sweet, teasing tones of earlier and in its place were the short, clipped tones of an annoyed Lt. Jeong TaeEul. Sometimes she would move in a more boxed manner, like a boy, and it worked so well with her too big clothes. He was so busy observing every little movement she made, tracking all the changes, even as he threw his lines back at her, that he didn't notice that the real show was staring at him in the face.

When the cameras started to roll and their assistants had drawn back, they were left in their own corner of the restaurant. There was nothing between them now, no script in hand obscuring half their faces, no PA hovering about and brushing back strands of hair, nothing except for a table full of chicken and beer.

The AD clapped his hands together to start the scene and both he and Kim GoEun sprung into action. Where he sat just a little straighter, more stiff, she had slouched into her chair and began digging, no, stabbing into the chicken.

"Why aren't you eating?"

Round cheeks full of food and one hand with a fork buried into a chicken leg, she had looked at him dead in the eye with such force that he was taken aback, offended for both himself and his character that this woman suddenly had more authority than he and Lee Gon combined. He held her stare for a few quiet seconds, and then surrendered to the way his body wanted to respond to Lt. Jeong TaeEul's thinly veiled threat.

He dropped his eyes and stared at the chicken like petulant child.

"I don't eat food that wasn't tasted beforehand."

It was in this moment that he understood the power that Kim GoEun held with just her eyes.

He had never been an actor that used instinct and intuition. He had always found it too loose. He liked the discipline and control of studying a character, anticipating a co-actor's action and preparing three different responses to it. Acting for him had always been a mental exercise. But for the first time in his career, he did something he never thought he would do – he let go. And it only took one look in Kim GoEun's eyes to teach him that there was still something more he could pull from inside him if he just learned to let go.

This was probably how he had developed the habit of openly staring at her. It did strange things to him and he couldn't understand how looking at her face, and into her eyes, could connect him to parts of himself he never knew he had access to. As an actor, of course. So until she notices and tells him to stop, he decided he would catalogue every detail of her face, peer into her eyes and let them take him to places he had never been inside himself.

It's not as if she doesn't stare at him too. She does, and just as openly too. It's just that she stares at him at the same time as everybody does. So no one notices. Like that time in Gwanghwamun Square when Lee Gon and Jeong TaeEul meet for the first time, she had stared at him while traffic stopped on both sides of the road because everyone wanted to see Lee MinHo riding an immaculate white horse and dressed like a real life prince.

She drew herself back amongst the crowd of onlookers as Lee MinHo rode Maximus onto the square with the an unworldly grace. When the director instructed him to pause and take in his surroundings, she took the same instruction but focused her gaze solely on the man who had always been Kim Tan to her, but something about the way he looked now, sitting atop this majestic horse in such a regal manner, told her that it was time to let go of Kim Tan and let this man in.

She was off to his side so she was sure he wouldn't see her. It was cold that night so she had jammed her hands into the pockets of her black coat. He didn't look like the cold touched him. He didn't look like anything could touch him, sitting so tall on top of an already large animal who followed his every command. Backlit by the traffic lights and brushed by a gentle breeze, his dark brown hair framed his face in a soft curtain. It was a delicious contrast to the sharp lines of his dark thick eyebrows, tall sharp nose, high cheekbones, and down to the strong curve of his jawline. His broad shoulders was made even broader by the midnight black velvet jacket he wore that was embellished with gold filigree on the high collar and cuffs and gold buttons that ran down on both sides of the lapel.

This must be what little girls feel like when they dream of Prince Charmings, thought Kim GoEun. Because that's exactly what it felt like to look at Lee MinHo in the middle of Gwanghwamun Square – a dream. And she was a little scared that if she spent too much time in this dream, approximately 7 months of it, then she might never wake up from it. Or want to.

The breeze blew a little harder and she shivered. She drew her coat tighter around herself and bounced on the balls of her feet. An AD signaled to her and regretfully, or maybe just a little relieved to have a reason to, she turned away from watching Lee MinHo to begin preparing for their scene together.

She paused mid-step. Her heart beat, just a little erratic. She had just realized that tonight, she had not been looking at him as Lee Gon, but as Lee MinHo. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled, and said to herself, "It does not mean more. Do not want more." Then she opened her eyes, cleared it of the fog she herself had created, and marched with sure, measured steps towards this beautiful man with a white horse.

"Sunbaenim, you looked so handsome with Maximus!"

#lee min ho #leeminho #kim go eun #kimgoeun #the king eternal monarch #thekingeternalmonarch #fanfiction

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