Chapter Text
The last day on a set always felt strange. Nobody ever admitted it out loud. Instead, everyone busied themselves with little tasks that no longer mattered. Someone carefully peeled names off dressing room doors. Hair and makeup stations were already half packed away. Costume rails rolled past one after another. Crew members hugged, laughed, promised dinners they genuinely meant in that moment.
Yerin wandered through it all with a paper cup of tea in one hand, trying not to think about the fact that tomorrow she wouldn't be coming back.
"Yerin." She turned. Luke was standing a few metres away, one hand in his pocket.
The other rested on a medium-sized box wrapped in a green paper with a light blue bow. The colours weren't casual. They were respectively Sophie and Benedict's favourite colours. He suddenly looked nervous, more nervous than she'd seen him in months.
Yerin smiled "What have you done?"
His eyebrows lifted "Nothing." Yerin didn't believe him
"I know your face."
"What face?" He asked.
"The one where you've planned something." She replied.
Luke sighed in surrender "...Maybe a little." She walked over.
"You bought me a present?" She asked surprised by the moment, although she also had a present for him at her flat. She was supposed to give it to him in a couple of days, when it was his turn to celebrate the end of filming.
"Yeah, but it's nothing really..." Luke replied, still a bit nervous. She looked down at the box.
"You wrapped this." "I did." "You watched YouTube?" "...Maybe." Yerin laughed
"You once told me you don't know how to do that, but it seems to me you did a great job. I appreciate, Luke."
"It's not that much, come on now..." he replies.
"I actually appreciate how attentive you are, even just with a wrapping paper. I appreciate the details." She insisted, before reaching for the ribbon.
"No ripping," Luke warned.
She looked up immediately. "I wasn't going to." She said shaking her head.
"I know."
"You know I save wrapping paper." "
I know."
"You know me quite well by now."
His smile softened. "I've had ten months to pay attention."
Something about the way he said it made her pause. Not dramatic, just... true. She carefully untied the ribbon and folded the paper neatly beside her.
Luke shook his head "You're impossible."
"I've been called worse."
"You have." She lifted the lid, then froze. Books. Rows of them. Beautiful editions, some hard covers, some clothbound.
She looked up at him. "...Luke."
He suddenly found the floor fascinating. "I may have got carried away." He said rubbing the back of his head.
She picked up the first one. White Nights. A smile spread across her face instantly. "You remembered."
"You said you wanted to read it."
"I did."
"You kept asking me about Dostoevskij every lunch break."
"You made him sound interesting."
"He is interesting." She laughed.
"I know."
She turned the little book over in her hands. "You know..."
"What?" he asked looking at her with a smile, while she was observing the cover in her hand.
"I listened to your audiobook."
Luke closed his eyes laughing a bit "No, you didn't."
"I did."
He rubbed the back of his head again "And you never told me until now."
"Well, I did it recently and I liked it."
"You are legally required to say that."
"I'm really not." She smiled at him before reaching for the next book. A Little Life.
She looked up immediately.
Luke pointed at it before she could even speak "Right."
She burst out laughing because his expression had become incredibly serious.
"I'm warning you."
"I haven't even opened it."
"I'm warning you anyway. Again."
She folded her arms, amused
"Go on."
"That book..." He searched for an adequate description "...is emotionally tough. I've already told you this 2 or 3 times I guess, but you've always insisted on wanting to read it so...I had to include it."
She laughed louder. "I'm serious."
"I know you are."
"No, genuinely." He leaned slightly closer "There were moments I had to put it down."
"You finished it though."
"I did. Well, I had no other choice doing the play, right?"
"And?"
"It is one of the most extraordinary books I've ever read."
"But?"
"But it broke my heart repeatedly."
She smiled "So you're recommending it."
"I'm... recommending it with supervision."
She laughed so hard she nearly dropped it
"With supervision?"
"I expect updates."
"You expect updates."
"I need to know you're emotionally functioning."
She shook her head, still smiling
"You're ridiculous."
"I care." The sentence came out quietly. Without performance, without thinking. Yerin looked at him for a moment longer than either expected.
"You care or you're trying to find new reasons to receive 7 minutes of voice notes?"
"Does both of them count?" he replies observing her intensely.
"Let's make them count, then." Then gently set the book beside the first. She continued unpacking.
The Shadow of the Wind. "I've never heard you mention this."
"I was saving it."
"For?"
"You."
She looked up "Why me?"
He shrugged "I think you'll understand it."
"That is not an answer."
"It is."
"It's a mysterious answer."
"I quite like mysterious answers. But anyway, it's a genre you usually like."
She smiled, setting it down carefully. She counted them once "...There are ten."
Luke nodded. "I know."
She looked between the books and him. "You did that on purpose?"
He smiled. "One for each month." Silence, but not awkward.
She slowly looked across all ten titles. Some she'd mentioned once in passing. Some he'd chosen himself. Some she'd forgotten she'd ever talked about.
"You remembered all of that?"
Luke looked at her "Well..." He shrugged "You said them."
"Yeah but months ago."
"I know."
"And you remembered."
Another shrug. "I listen."
Yerin laughed softly "You really do."
Luke reached into the box again. "Oh..It was supposed to be read before checking the titles, but it slipped under the books." He pulled out a small envelope tucked beneath the books. She opened it.
Ten months. Ten books.
One for every month we spent learning from each other.
Some you asked about. Some I couldn't stop thinking you'd love.
You once said you wanted to understand why I spoke about books the way I do.
I hope somewhere in these pages you'll find the answer. — Luke
Yerin hugged him, Luke hugged her tighter. Enough to feel like Benedict in front of the fireplace in that scene when Sophie tells him her father loved her and thought of her. She wasn't ready to finish this chapter, not just because she loved being Sophie and she loved telling her story. She wasn't ready to leave this routine behind, seeing Luke every day, spending all her day between laughs and giggles with him, but also their deep conversations in the makeup trailer. Luke shifted his weight from one foot to the other before breaking the hug. It was suddenly very important to him to know whether she'd actually liked the gift.
"So..." he said, trying to sound casual and failing spectacularly. "...too many?"
"No, not at all...they're perfect, I didn't expect it. Thank you...really."
There were tears in her eyes. Not many. Just enough to make them shine.
"Oh..." Luke sighed dramatically. "The face."
She laughed through her tears. "You always know."
"You get this little wrinkle here." He reached out and gently tapped the space between her eyebrows. "It appears whenever you're trying very hard not to cry."
She sniffled, laughing again. "I hate you."
"No, you don't."
"No..." She smiled. "I really don't."
For a second she simply looked at him. Not at the books. At him. "You know what's funny?"
Luke tilted his head "What?"
"I don't think you're aware of what you've actually done."
He blinked. "I bought books."
She shook her head. "No.You paid attention." His smile faded into something softer. "You listened.These..." She laughed quietly. "...I don't even remember telling you some of these."
Luke shrugged "You did."
"I must've mentioned this one once." She held up a book.
"Probably."
"And this one..." She picked up another one "...I said during lunch one day that it sounded interesting."
Luke nodded. "You'd just stolen one of my chips."
"I did not steal—" making a fake offended face. "You permanently lended it." She pointed at him. "I've started saying that because of you."
"I've noticed." He replied smiling.
She laughed, shaking her head. "Luke..." Her voice became quieter. "Most people hear you, but you listen." She looked at him with a tenderness that made his chest tighten, then she stepped closer. "So many gifts are..." She searched for the word. "Expensive, fancy, lovely. But this..." She looked back at the box. "...this took time."
Luke smiled faintly "It did."
"You had to think."
"I did."
"You remembered conversations from months ago."
"I remembered you." The words slipped out before he could soften them. Silence. He looked almost embarrassed. "I mean—"
"I know what you meant." She smiled.
Another quiet settled between them. Then, without another word, Yerin stepped forward. Luke barely had time to react before her arms wrapped around him. Not a quick hug. Not the kind people exchanged on wrap days. She held him properly. One arm around his waist. The other around his shoulders. Her cheek resting against him. Luke instinctively hugged her back. One hand settled gently between her shoulder blades, the other cradled the back of her head. He closed his eyes.
"You know..." she murmured against his shoulder. "I don't think anyone's ever made me feel this... known or seen."
Luke's breath caught. "You make me feel like..." She smiled softly. "...I matter in the little things."
He pulled back just enough to look at her. "The little things are the important ones."
She laughed quietly. "See?" Yerin said opening her arms.
"What?" "You say things like that without even trying."
Luke smiled. "I wasn't trying."
"I know." She looked at him for another moment before speaking again. "When I read these..." She glanced toward the box. "...I'm going to think of you."
"I was hoping you would." "And every time I finish one..." She smiled. "...I'm calling you."
Luke grinned. "I've been counting on it." She laughed.
"So this is actually a trap."
"It is."
"A very elaborate trap.You've secured at least ten phone calls."
"Minimum?" Luke asked for confirmation.
"Minimum." She shook her head, smiling wider. "You are unbelievable." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. A brief, gentle kiss.
"I prefer 'strategic.'" She laughed. Then her expression softened once more. "Genuinely..." Her hand found his. "Thank you for being the best partner in crime I could have asked for."
"You don't have to thank me for that, I did what was right." Luke looked at her for a long moment. Then squeezed her hand gently. "There was never much effort involved." She frowned.
"What do you mean?" He smiled in that quiet, unmistakably Luke way. "It's easy with you, Yerin..." Yerin felt her eyes sting all over again "And I couldn't have asked for a better co-star or a better Sophie."
"Oh, no," Luke laughed softly. "Not the face again."
"It is absolutely the face again." This time, Luke laughed as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Come here." She buried her face against his shoulder.
"I really do hate saying goodbye." Luke rested his chin lightly against the top of her head.
"So do I." "But..." He looked at the box on the floor "...I think we've just found ten reasons to meet for coffee."
She smiled against his chest "No."
Luke frowned "No?"
"Ten reasons to spend an entire afternoon talking."
He smiled. "That sounds much better."
"It does."
And standing there in the middle of a set that was slowly disappearing around them, surrounded by packed boxes and fading lights, neither of them realized that one year later, they would still be able to remember exactly how that hug had felt. Because sometimes the beginning of a love story isn't a grand declaration. Sometimes it's ten carefully chosen books... ...and someone who listened closely enough to know exactly which stories your heart had been waiting for