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It has been a long time since bumalik si Wonwoo sa Mother Ignacia; last time he remembered walking through these halls, it was for a meeting sa isang miniscule role for Wansapanatym. Wonwoo and his manager, Jun, went straight to the conference room specifically prepared for the meeting. Agad binati ni Wonwoo ang director and producer para sa episode na ito, pagkatapos ay umupo sa seat kung saan nakalagay ang name niya. ‘This is really happening’ naisip niya.
Fifteen minutes later dumating na din ang fellow lead actor niya. Laking gulat nga lang ni Wonwoo at hindi ang batikang actor na si Jongin Kim ang pumasok sa conference room kundi ang cousin nito na si Mingyu Kim. Mas lalong nawindang si Wonwoo noong makita kung sino ang kasunod ng binata. Naramdaman niya ang biglang pagkapit ng kamay ni Jun sa kamay niya, pa simpleng sumulyap si Wonwoo sa reaksyon ng nauna; kaharap nila ngayon si Minghao Xu ang ex ng manager niya.
“Oh, we thought Jongin Kim will play role of Mike” Tanong ni Jun sa producer ng palabas.
“Sir Jongin is not available po kasi. We will just let the two actors get acquainted muna then we will proceed with having them interact in front of a camera.”
Tumayo si Wonwoo at nagsimulang maglakad papunta sa matangkad na lalake sa may entrance ng conference room. “Hi, I’m Wonwoo Jeon, nice to meet you.” He held his hand out for the other man to take.
“Hello, I’m Mingyu Kim, nice to meet you too.”
Pinagmasdan ni Wonwoo ang kabuuan ng mukha ng kanyang magiging kapareha; friendly eyes, matangos na ilong at isang malaking ngiti ang sumalubong sa kanya. “First acting job mo to?” Straightforward na tanong niya kay Mingyu; bakas ang surprise at hint ng hiya sa mukha ng kanyang kaharap.
“Yeah, it is. You don’t mind naman di ba? I just really wanted to try acting too.”
“No, of course not. I’ll do my best para ma-enjoy mo itong experience na ‘to.”
Bago pa sila nakapagmove on ibang topic tinawag sila ng director and they were made to sit together in front of a camera. “Can you guys please interact naturally?”
The two of them were confused, di nila alam anong topics ang dapat pag-usapan para magmukhang natural ang interaction nila.
“So do we need to laugh ba?” Nag-aamba ang tawa sa mukha ni Mingyu.
Wonwoo gave his co-star a reassuring smile, “Sige nga try mo tumawa on demand.”
The other man pouted and said, “Ay, pero I would look like I’m losing it if I laugh.”
Wonwoo gave a little chuckle, despite his tall stature this man in front of him is just like a puppy, huh?
The two of them were too focused on playing it up from the camera that they did not even hear the director say, “Okay bagay nga sila on cam.”
After the test, they read through the script and was able to get a feel of the character that they were going to portray. Nanibago si Wonwoo sa fact na he had so many speaking lines, usually kasi tiga - ‘yes, no, oo nga pare’ lang naman siya. It took close to two hours bago matapos ang entirety ng episode. They were also given a timetable for the workshops they had to take, a schedule on when they will meet the actual people behind the characters and the target date when they will start filming, and with that they parted ways.
While stuck in traffic, nagdecide si Wonwoo na magresearch about his co-actor; and in his quick google search, he found out na part pala si Mingyu ng, Kim Family, aka THAT well-known showbiz clan. Ngayon it wasn’t a surprise for him kung paano ang first sabak ng kapareha niya sa mainstream TV ay sa isang weekend show na may primetime spot, he was well-connected pala.