In the past, I’ve made the mistake of deleting paragraphs upon paragraphs from my manuscript when I felt like I didn’t want them there anymore. Sometimes I forget and do this when I edit/revise, but I’d like to think I’m a bit wiser now.
You see, erasing scenes from our stories doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad. I mean, there must be some reason you wrote them down in the first place, right? Maybe they’re not pushing the story forward, or they look out of place. Maybe you’ve found a better way to include them in the story.
Whatever your motivation was, those huge blocks of text are now lying somewhere within the pages of your early drafts, forgotten. I know, because I have a lot of them too. This Deleted Scenes segment is a way to show you what I’ve scrapped from my manuscripts, and maybe show you some fun stuff that never made it to the books.
This first one I’m sharing is from Scandalized. ^_^
Non-Disclosure Agreement
(a deleted scene from Scandalized)
This was a flashback that was originally part of the book’s Act 1. It features Fi Legaspi and Gabriel Park and the early stages of their friendship.
* * * * *
“Fi, what are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for Yihwan. He’s still inside, just picked up something, I think.” Fi’s teeth chattered from the cold. Amethyst Entertainment’s lobby wasn’t so equipped for the cold Mid-November weather, but she hadn’t expected to wait this long anyway. Yihwan told her he only had to retrieve something upstairs.
Gabriel was putting his gloves on when he approached her, the look on his face confused. “But Yihwan left with Haera about ten minutes ago…” he mumbled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.
“… what?”
“Maybe he called you?”
Fi dug her bag for her phone and found out that it had died. “Shit.”
“How long have you been waiting here? Jesus, you look so cold…” Not wasting another moment, the man took his coat off and put it on her. She already had two layers of clothes on, but they weren’t enough, judging by the way her shoulders trembled.
It didn’t take long for Gabriel to realize that she was shaking not because of the cold, but because she had begun to cry.
“Fi? What’s wrong, are you feeling sick or something?”
“No. I’m—I’m gonna be fine. I should go home now.” She carelessly wiped her tears away and stood up, shrugging Gabriel’s coat off her shoulders before turning to leave. Confused, albeit genuinely concerned, Gabriel caught up with her by the door. Fi kept her head bowed down, not wanting him to see her face.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me, but I can’t let you go out like that. Take the coat at least, okay?”
She nodded.
Gabriel stepped forward and put the coat over her shoulders again, tugging at the lapels gently to pull Fi closer. In a heartbeat, she was pressed against him, head tucked under his chin, his arms wrapped around her small frame.
* * * * *
It took Gabriel around three hours to get Fi to talk. They were sitting in this rickety old noodle shop that, according to her, had become her hideaway since she came to Seoul to study. Though a bit tricky to find, it was of a convenient distance to her old dorm, and the food was cheap and fairly decent.
“I’m pretty stupid, aren’t I?” Fi asked, breaking the dead air between them after revealing that she had feelings for Yihwan, and that she just felt hurt at how she would always get shafted in favor of Haera. Not that she really had the right to get jealous; she knew where she stood, after all. “Doesn’t hurt any less, though.” She was smiling, but it was such a bitter smile, Gabriel could swear it made his shikhye taste bad.
“It happens. You are the moth to the proverbial flame.”
She let out a mocking laugh. “I know. Why did he have to burn so brightly?”
They ate in silence, Gabriel failing to come up with something else witty or thoughtful to say. He kept his eyes on her, however, making sure she didn’t drink too much soju.
“Gabe…?”
“Hm?”
“Just in case I haven’t told you yet… this is a secret, alright?”
“If you want me to sign a non-disclosure agreement, I can do that too.”
She chuckled for real this time. If she didn’t want Gabriel, or anyone else for that matter, to poke at her wounds earlier, she felt thankful now. Breathing didn’t seem so difficult, at least.
“Thank you.”
Scandalized is available on Amazon and print-on-demand.
Want more deleted scenes? Let’s see if I can dig up some more. Fingers crossed, maybe I can even ask your favorite #romanceclass authors to share theirs too! <3
