Dinner Party
Undeniable ChemistryJi Hyo closed the first script after skimming through the last page and stood up to bid goodbye to her fellow co-stars. After four long hours of reading and fixing the script with the discussion about how the writer and director imagines the drama to be filmed like - the day is finally over and night has finally kicked in. Although there is a part of her that is extremely excited about this role and drama, the other part feels as if she wants to run away from it all. Her eyes darted over to where Ji Hoon stood as he also bows and bid goodbye to everyone.
How is this even remotely possible? After nine years of successfully not seeing each other or being involved in another drama together, one week can cause it all to tumble down. During the script reading, she couldn't pay attention because a thousand thoughts were going through her head. What if this was planned by him? Why would he plan this? What exactly are his motives? Unless she is just having all kinds of delusional thoughts and this all could just be a coincidence.
"Ji Hyo," she blinked back to reality when someone called her name. "Can we talk?" It was Ji Hoon, somehow in her train of thoughts he managed to walk around the conference table without her noticing. "Just five minutes "
From the corner of her eye, she could see some of the actors and even the writer looking on. Not wanting to cause any trouble or tension for a drama that barely started, she nodded her head. Taking her bag and script in her hand, she walked out of the room and over to a hallway that seemed private enough. "Five minutes."
Ji Hoon cleared his throat, gripping onto his own script with two hands because he's as nervous as ever. "This is honestly just a coincidence, I swear." He knew what she would think of him if he didn't try and defend himself. "I received the offer days ago and decided to do the drama since it's been awhile for me. I thought I just needed a nice three month acting drama gig before I start a movie." He paused when Ji Hyo looked up with her eyes mentally shooting daggers at him. "I didn't know I would be in the drama with you. If I did, I wouldn't have accepted the offer."
"Just like how you didn't accept the Running Man offer?" Ji Hyo questioned, her arms crossing over her chest. "I can understand with the drama but what about the show? I'm a member of the show for five years. Anyone who is in the entertainment business knows about it so you should too. Why didn't you decline the PD's offer? Why did you accept it?"
He exhaled. "Because I thought it would be okay." Ji Hoon turned around when a group of workers walked by, he smiled and greeted them with Ji Hyo. "It has been more than nine years. I sincerely thought all was forgiven."
"All was forgiven?!" Ji Hyo repeated with a slight disgust in her tone. She covered her face for a brief second as she took a deep breath. Shaking her head, she slowly made her way out of the hallway. "I can't do this." Just when she thought that she was alone, she could sense that he was following her - insisting on finishing the five minutes that was given to him. Ji Hyo slowly made her way out of the building and was about to call her manager when she saw Dong Wook walking up to her. "Dong Wook-ah!"
Dong Wook smiled as he waved to her. "Came to pick you..." he stopped talking when he caught Ji Hoon walking out of the building. His smiling face soon vanished into instant anger as he rushed up toward the actor, his hand gripping onto Ji Hoon's collar. "What do you think you are doing here?!" Ji Hyo immediately ran over to the two men, begging for Dong Wook to not make a scene. "Ji Hyo, was this jerk bothering you?!"
Ji Hyo shakes her head after she managed to pry his hand off of Ji Hoon. "Let's go." Gripping onto his wrist, she start hoping that her best friend will listen to her and that no one had witness the scene that just happened.
. . .
Jong Kook exhaled deeply as he watched the Entertainment Nightly News finished talking about his scandal with Yoon Eun Hye. It's almost in a way tiring for him to rehash all these bad memories again. The last he spoke about it was to Haha and Jae Suk, the two people he knew would understand his troubles ten years ago. His eyes glanced over to the front counter as Haha was finishing counting the money that his restaurant made for the night. With only two days passing, Jong Kook honestly doesn't know if he is able to pull it through alone like this. Who knows how long will this scandal surface for everyone to forget about it and move on with their own lives.
"Hyung," Haha said as he walked over with a bottle of beer in his hand. "I've been waiting for you. I didn't know if I should call or not since your phone would be blowing up enough due to this mess." He handed Jong Kook a bottle of water since he doesn't drink. "How are you feeling?"
Jong Kook shrugged his shoulders. "Tired."
Haha shook his head. "I can't believe that they're making a big deal out of this. It's something that happened ten years ago, why do they keep egging on about it."
Only a chuckle could come out of Jong Kook's mouth. He appreciates his close friends care and anger for him, it's almost a relief to have met good people in his life. "Aigoo, let's talk about something different! How is my little Dream doing?"
Just the name of his son caused a bright smile on Haha'a face. "He's getting big, hyung. Next thing you know, I'm going to worry about where is he going to school and teach him all these stuff. It still doesn't feel real."
Jong Kook smiled. "Let's just hope he looks more like Byul than you when he grows up."
Haha laughed as he took a sip of his beer. "You should start make a family, hyung. You're not getting any younger. Have you found someone yet?"
"You think finding the right one is easy? I've tried the blind dates that you and Jae Suk hyung suggested for me but they weren't ideal." Jong Kook thought back to the countless of dates that he had to go through last year, just thinking about it gives him a headache. "It's strange. What if Ji Hyo was right about love? It could be something useless." Of course, he wouldn't dare and give up on his hope to find the right one. He just couldn't help but wonder if Ji Hyo was onto something. In reality, he is a candidate for someone to grow old alone. "She believes that love is something useless and stupid, she doesn't care about it."
"Jinja?" Haha arched an eyebrow, curious if he was hearing this right. It can't possibly be true. Why would someone as sweet and caring as Ji Hyo dismiss love like that? And that's when Haha thought back to when he saw her texting someone with a bright smile plastered on her face. "You were texting her on Monday, right? When we were filming and heading toward the first mission location?"
Jong Kook nodded his head. "Why?" A grin only came out of Haha as he shrugged and continued on drinking his beer. "Why?" Jong Kook repeated the question, wondering why his close dongsaeng suddenly have a strange look on his face.
"Have you thought about Ji Hyo?" Haha questioned.
"Ji Hyo? Yeah. I wonder if she is sick or well enough for filming just like how I think about you guys all the time." Jong Kook glared at him after a couple of seconds of thinking of his expression. "YA! Don't be thinking about anything crazy!"
"Crazy? Why would it be crazy? Hyung, if you think about it - you two match very well." Haha insisted. "In some cases, it seems just about right."
Jong Kook threw his empty water bottle at him. "I only think of Ji Hyo as a close dongsaeng!"
"That's what I thought about Byul for years, didn't I?! Seven years, we were both friends and never thought about anything more. But one day, I realized that she was the one. You know, your crazy little theory about how you never know when someone is the one until one day just struck you! That's exactly what it was." Haha placed down his beer bottle onto the table, completely excited about the thought that Ji Hyo and his hyung could be soulmates. "What if Song Ji Hyo is the one for you?"
Jong Kook rolled his eyes. "Are you drunk? Stop thinking about the crazy stuff and close down the shop so you can go back to your family."
"Family! You can have one if you sincerely put your mind into it! Just think about it, hyung. Ask yourself this - is Song Ji Hyo my soulmate?" Haha persisted as he was being dragged by Jong Kook to hurry and close down the shop. "Hyung!"
. . .
"Tell them that you want to step down or that you fell ill and can't possibly do this drama!" Dong Wook insisted as he slammed the bathroom door. He has been in the bathroom for more than fifteen minutes and he just can't stop thinking about it. "You can't do this drama with him!"
Ji Hyo exhaled as she covered herself with a blanket. "I can't," she uncovered part of her face so she could see him. "Do you know what that will make me look like to the cast and crew? I'll be known as someone who has agreed but dropped out because of a dumb personal reason?"
"They won't know what the reason would be if you don't actually tell them." Dong Wook replied. "Ji Hyo-ah, I'm begging you. Doing this drama is only going to do harm to you and your mental capability. Don't you remember telling me what happened between the two of you?" He walked over to the couch, sitting right next to Ji Hyo as she laid on it. "I'm worried for you."
She smiled and held onto Dong Wook's hand. "I know you are but this drama, I want to stick with it because it's something I really want to do. I understand that working with him again is going to be hard and I'm going to hate it - but I just have to pull through."
Dong Wook shook his head. Just the idea of his best friend being with someone that has done her such harm in the past, it's heartbreaking. "This is why I love you." He smoothed out some of the hair that was sticking out on her. "You complain about your pain but you always seem to manage on persisting toward what you want."
Ji Hyo nodded her head. "Because I'm stubborn."
. . .
It's the day before the next filming for Running Man and the cast has gotten a call to come in for a dinner party. Occasionally, things like this always happens. When the cast and crew agree on all their hard work for the past year, they decide to come and celebrate together with food and drinks. Without VJs holding onto their cameras, members running as if their lives are on the line - no. It's just a night of speeches, jokes, laughter and pure happiness of people enjoying their time together. This time, the event is being held at a banquet hall in one of the most famous hotels. It's almost a wonder on why is the event being held at such an important place.
Kwang Soo got out of his van and waved goodbye to his manager as he made his way up the stairs and into the hotel. Being greeted and guided by the hotel staff, he slowly entered the huge banquet hall - completely in awe on how huge it was but also by the decorations that the crew had placed around the room.
In the middle of the stage was a Running Man cake with balloons and presents surrounding it. There were about ten to fifteen tables, enough for everyone that is attending. "Wow, why are they making a big deal about the dinner party this year?"
Gary made his way in while talking on the phone. He waved hello over to Kwang Soo before taking the closest seat near him. "It's okay, you can come to the party. I've asked the PD already." After a few seconds of hearing to what the person on the phone has to say, he laughed. "Okay." Ending the phone call, he stood up from the seat and immediately jumped onto Kwang Soo's back. "Ya, did they tell you why they're holding it here for?"
He shook his head as a response. "Hyung, who were you talking to?"
"Gil," Gary replied as he looked around the banquet hall. "He's coming over in few minutes. PD said to invite as many people as we can, they're trying to make a big deal out of this or something." Gary shrugged his shoulder. "I asked Gil to come since he's the only one available."
Kwang Soo became flustered, not knowing about this information at all. "Should I call someone?" Taking out his phone from his pocket, he looked through his contact to see who could be available for tonight.
. . .
Ji Hyo waved goodbye to her manager as she grabbed her phone from the seat and jumped out of the van. "Omo," she laughed after almost falling onto the hard cement ground. "These heels are uncomfortable."
Her manager shook his head. "I told you to just wear sneakers."
"Oppa, at a banquet hall? You don't know anything." She smiled as she made her way up the stairs but stopped when she saw a familiar van pulling to the front. "Hyung!"
Jong Kook chuckled as he got out of the van and made his way over to her. "How's the drama filming going?"
Ji Hyo shrugged her shoulders as she walked into the building with him. "It's going okay," it actually is for her so far. Although, it has only been three days into the shooting and she wouldn't bet on it going smoothly for long. "I'm glad to see you smiling."
He burst out laughing. "Why? Should I be drowning in the puddle of hate I'm receiving?"
"Hate? Why would anyone hate Kim Jong Kook-ssi for?!" Ji Hyo asked in pretend shock. She patted his back as an encouragement. "Fighting!"
Jong Kook couldn't help but smile as he put his arms around her shoulders as they walked into the banquet hall. "Gary! Kwang Soo!"
The two boys turned around and greeted their friends with smiles on their faces. It's only been four days since the last time they've seen each other but the feeling of missing one another has already hit. "Noona!" Kwang Soo screamed as he ran and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Ji Hyo laughed as she was being spun around in the room. "You're making me dizzy!"
Gary nodded over to the stage. "Do you think those presents on the stage are ours?"
"I don't know, could be." Jong Kook replied.
After twenty or so minutes, everyone that is involved in or with Running Man has arrived and happily greeted each other as they took their seats. The members decided to sit together and make their conversation as they wait for their PD to stand on stage and say something. "Everyone! Thank you for coming to the annual dinner party! It's amazing to see that we still enjoy these events." He raised his wine glass. "Thank you for working, running, and always being with us! To Running Man's fifth anniversary!"
"To Running Man's fifth anniversary!" Everyone screamed together with their glasses up.
The PD cleared his throat as he takes a sip of his wine. "As you know, it hasn't been an easy week for some of us." Jong Kook stopped drinking his water and glanced over to the PD as they made eye contact from across the room. "Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes we're at fault but we always pull it through. At the end of the day, we're a family and we'll always will be. I will, no. We will always stick by to your sides no matter what!"
Jong Kook smiled and stood up, bowing as an appreciation to everyone on supporting him even if they don't know the whole story. After the vigorous clapping from everyone in the room, he sat back down and rejoined the conversation with the members. "Hyung, I heard you were going to do a show with Ho Dong hyung."
Suk Jin looked up in surprise. "Me? No. I got the offer for the variety show but it didn't fit with me so I declined it."
Haha took some food and chuckled. "Always going to stick to Yoo Line?"
"Yoo Line? Of course!" Suk Jin screamed, causing a burst of laughter for the whole table. "Ji Hyo-ah, I heard you're in a drama with Joo Ji Hoon-ssi."
She nodded her head as she chewed the food in . "Yes. It premieres on Wednesday, make sure to watch it!"
Kwang Soo poured more water for s as he spoke. "We will, the memory of the last drama we didn't watch is still raw." He pretends to be horrified and shuddered. When Ji Hyo did the drama with Choi Jin Hyuk, some of the members couldn't catch up with it because they were so busy. Due to that, Ji Hyo gave them a questionnaire on what happened and when they failed, she gave them the hair grabbing punishment. "I lost some hair because of that."
Ji Hyo laughed. "That is why you have to watch it, I saw your last drama."
"That's because it had Hyo Jin noona and In Sung hyung!" Kwang Soo said as he sat back down. "You were watching it for learning experiences."
The members continue to laugh with their own stories as e dinner party continued on. Within the next few hours, almost everyone was already full and drunk. Soon, a karaoke machine was brought in and people were singing endlessly - good or horrible, everyone was having a good time listening to them. This is what they loved about the crew, everyone is just so happy it's hard not to be affect by it and get the happy virus.
Ji Hyo propped her elbow onto the table as she listened and watched her VJ sing his heart out on stage. "Was it hard?"
Jong Kook turned around to face her, confused. "What do you mean?"
She adverted her eyes over to him. "Listening to bad things that are spreading about you, having something so raw and personal being known by everyone in the world?" Ji Hyo would hate it if something like that happened to her. She wouldn't know what to do with herself. For her, it's easy if one or two people know about it because it's the people that you trust. But it's also the fact that if the whole world knows about it, people are going to ask you questions nonstop and you'll feel as if you're doing a relay. Being asked the same questions and having to answer the same answers, it's sickening.
He took a deep breath, not fully knowing how he actually really feels about it. "It's hard, it is. A couple nights ago, I was wondering if I am able to pull through. What if it gets out hand and Eun Hye gets hurt in the process? It's not her fault for something like this to blow up. She and I both agreed that it would stay between us because we don't want to her each other further." Jong Kook watched as Ji Hyo was slightly getting red on the cheeks, she's drunk for sure. "Although, we used to date and have nothing to do with each other anymore. It's still not something you want to see happening. Letting someone else get hurt because of something out of your hand. It's okay if I'm hurt because I'm a man but for a woman like Eun Hye or any other person, it must be hard. To let people assume this or that about a relationship you had ten years ago." There was a slight pause. "And you know how people will look at her. It's hard enough that actresses like you have to deal with people's assumptions on how you should dress or look. Adding assumptions about a relationship you should or shouldn't have, that's just not okay but that's how world is."
Ji Hyo sighed as she drank another wine glass without stopping. "Hyung," she grabbed his hand and held onto it tight. "The way you think about women and love, why would anyone break up with you! You should be the ideal man for every woman in the world!" Jong Kook laughed as he realized that this is definitely drunk Song Ji Hyo talking. "You know what I think? Ignore the comments and rumors! Face it with pride and do what you always do, work hard!" She clicked her empty wine glass with his empty glass of water. "And let's hope that you find someone that you can devote to and cherish for!"
Jong Kook nodded his head as he laughed. "Thank you, Ji Hyo-ah." From the corner of his eyes, he could see Haha sending signals which he ignored.
"Omo," she whispered. "I need to go to the bathroom."
He stood up with her, worried if she could make it to the restroom alone. "Are you going to be okay?" He silently watched as she waved him off, making it on her own out of the banquet hall.
. . .
Ji Hyo exhaled as she washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror. "Cheon Sung Im, what are you getting drunk for? You have work bright and early in the morning!" Turning off the sink, she silently made her way out of the restroom. She never knew how quiet a hotel could be past midnight. It's almost as if she was sneaking in as a spy or something. As she made her way around the hallways, which she got lost with, she stopped walking when she heard a familiar voice talking.
"No!" Ji Hyo walked a little further near the opened room door, she leaned her head around the doorway to see who was talking. Even if the voice was familiar, she couldn't put a finger on who exactly it was. "No! Don't you understand what I'm saying?! You can't expose it!" Ji Hyo's eyes widened when she recognized the woman that was screaming her heart out was Yoon Eun Hye. Seeing as how this is not her business to listen into, she was about to walk away without being notice until she heard the next words coming out of Eun Hye's mouth. "YA! I'll pay you if you want! You have to help me. If they find out that I'm the one that exposed about the relationship with Kim Jong Kook then I'll be the one getting the hate." Ji Hyo could hear Eun Hye pacing around the room by the sound of her heels. "Do you think I'm stupid? Of course I will be at the receiving end of the hate! We have to wait for the right timing," Ji Hyo narrowed her eyes as she listened on. "What do you mean that's crazy? It's Kim Jong Kook! I will meet with him in a day or so, do you know how much I've missed him? I chose my career over him and till this day I regret it. I know the way I chose to exposed the relationship was harsh but at least they knew we used to date and won't have problem with us dating again."
Ji Hyo couldn't listen to this any longer. She doesn't know what to do with the information she just heard. Is it okay for her to say something to Jong Kook? He has to know that Eun Hye was the one that started it all as a plan, right? As she was busy walking and thinking with a thousand of thoughts going on in her mind, she failed to realized that Jong Kook was walking right front of her.
"Ji Hyo-ah," he called out for her as there was still a bit of distance between them. "Song Ji Hyo!
"Huh?!" Ji Hyo looked up as she was complexly startled which caused her to misstep her footsteps and wearing such high heels while slightly drunk is not a big help to keep her balance. With his fast reflexes, Jong Kook immediately rushed over to her side before she could fall from the ground. One hand wrapped around her waist tightly as the other blocked her head from getting hurt - a loud thud filled the room as they both hit the ground at the same time. The sound was from Jong Kook, being the only one that got the harsh impact by hitting his head. Ji Hyo exhaled and inhaled deeply as she tilted his head to left and right, making sure that he wasn't severely hurt. "Oppa! Are you okay? Does it hurt? Do you need the doctors?" Her hands touched his face as she looked into his eyes, making sure he was at least conscious. "Oppa?"
And that's when they realized that in this awkward empty hallway, they were both breathing hard from the harsh fall as she was on top of him and his arms were still around her this whole time. As much as they have worked and have been together for these five years, this was their closest skin ship they've had. With their faces inches away from each other, they both continued to stare without breaking contact because they just didn't know what to do with this type of situation.
. . .
(Author's Note):
Thank you so much for all your beautiful comments for the last chapter! As always, it really helped me with this. I honestly had to think on how to write this chapter because there was just so much going on but I finally figured it out! And for those who are wondering, Eun Hye isn't a bad person in this story - it's just a very complicated.....love square? Hahahah! I sincerely hope you liked it! Please do comment, subscribe & share your thoughts! (:
Question: How did you start to ship Spartace?
For me, I've always been a fan of Kim Jong Kook from the Family Outing days. I remember watching that episode when Ji Hyo was a guest on it and was completely like, "what if?" But at that time, it was merely impossible because how would they see each other again? WELL, VIOLA RUNNING MAN! As much as I tried to like the love line that they gave us, you just couldn't help but notice the natural interactions between our SpartAce. Besides loving the show and laughing because of our amazing cast, I live for the moments that the shippers find because they're just so beautiful (';
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