A/N: I'm back! :DDDD          

                 Once again, Jihyo found herself gazing across the street at the Leessang Company building. There were less reporters milling about in the front this time, but she decided not to take any chances. She was about to duck around behind the building to the parking garage like last time, but before she did, the reporters in front of the building began making a lot of noise, filling the air with sounds of exclamations and the snapping of cameras. Curious, she turned to see what was going on. The reporters were running towards a black van with tinted windows that was exiting the parking garage. Her eyes widened. Maybe Gary was in that van! She took a step towards the van, but just then, a large hand clamped on her shoulder. Thinking that the person behind her was a reporter, she stifled a shriek and turned around, prepared to offer some lame explanation as to why she would be lurking around Gary’s company, but it turned out to just be Jongkook, donning a large gray hoodie with the hood up to hide his hair.

                  “What are you doing here?” He asked.

                  She let out a sigh of relief. “Oppa, you scared me!” She frowned. “I could be asking you the same question. What are you doing here? Didn’t you go back home to rest for filming Escape Crisis No.1?”

                  He shrugged. “I couldn’t give up just like that. Same for you?”

                  She nodded, and they turned back to watch as security guards came out of the building, trying to clear a path for the van to exit.

                  “Oppa, how are we going to get to the van?” she asked, but just at that moment, a lone figure slipped out unnoticed of the side of the building. He looked like a normal worker, dressed in jeans, a hooded sports jacket, and a white baseball cap, but even from the back, Jihyo immediately knew it was Gary. She elbowed Jongkook.

                  “Oppa, look there! Isn’t that Gary-oppa?” She hissed, pointing at Gary.

                  “Oh? Yah, I think you’re right!”

                  They watched as Gary crossed the street and disappeared behind a building. Jongkook glanced at her and motioned with a jerk of his head to follow Gary. She nodded, and they moved swiftly to follow after him. Gary kept walking down the sidewalk with his head down, though there weren’t a lot of people outside on the street.

                  “Where’s he going?” Jongkook asked loudly, even though Gary was only a few meters ahead. Jihyo pulled on Jongkook’s arm so he would lie flat against the wall and waited until Gary turned the next corner before jabbing him in the side.

                  “Oppa, don’t be so loud!” She hissed. “You’re going to get us found out!”

                  Jongkook shrugged. “Chances are, Gary’s so dense that he wouldn’t find out even if I clanged some cymbals together.” Jihyo glared at him and pushed him forward to follow after Gary a few minutes later.

                  The sun was beginning to set, casting a glow over the quiet alleyway that they were walking down. They’d been following Gary for around ten minutes, but he didn’t seem to be heading anywhere they particularly knew about. Where indeed was he going? And why would he be walking out in public, without his manager or anyone? Surely he could have just hailed a taxi to go home by then. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice Gary come to a sudden halt and would have run into him had Jongkook not yanked her back.

                  “How long are you planning to follow me for?” Gary asked without turning around, making Jihyo jump.

                  “You knew?” Jihyo asked, surprised. “Dang. Oppa, I told you that you’d get me caught! You’re so big and so easy to notice!” She hissed, thwacking Jongkook on the shoulder.

                  Gary finally turned to face them, sighing as he sagged against the wall of a brick building. “That is true, but also, the next time you decide to stalk someone, make sure you don’t have a giraffe following along behind you.” Sure enough, when Jihyo whipped around, she saw the familiar brown dyed hair of Kwangsoo peeking out from above a dumpster off to the side. She let out a big sigh.

                  “Kwangsoo-ya. Come on out. He knows you’re there,” she called. Kwangsoo peeked out and came out slowly from behind the dumpster, looking rather sheepish.

                  Gary looked up at the sky and sighed, taking off his cap to run his fingers through his hair. Then he looked back at them with a half smile. “You guys just don’t give up, do you?” He settled the cap back on his head and motioned towards the doorway of a small, funky looking bar. “I guess you had better come on in.”

                  They sat in silence around the small table that they were shown to until the waiter brought them five glasses and several bottles of soju and beer.

                  “I still don’t plan to change my mind, you know,” Gary told them as he poured them each a drink. No one moved to touch their glasses. Gary finished and picked up his glass to drink, pausing when he noticed how the rest of them were frozen in position, eyes glued to the table. “Drink,” he said, motioning with a finger towards their glasses. Still no one moved, and he hesitated before chugging the whole glass of straight soju in one shot. He poured himself another drink and downed it just as fast. Before he could finish off a third, Jihyo spoke up.

                  “Kang Gary… we’re sorry for… following you around today without your permission,” she began. “I’m also really sorry for how I yelled at you earlier… I went a bit over the line-”

                  He waved his hand to cut her off, hastily swallowing his third glass. “Nah, it’s alright, Jihyo-ya. It’s my fault for being such a quitter,” he said bitterly, the liquor starting to slur his words together a little bit. He poured another glass and downed it before continuing. “Running Man’s…. Hard. It’s not just because of the concert incident. It’s hard to film Running Man, to have to meet the fans’ expectations of me. I,” he put a hand on his chest, “I am just a singer, you know. I never asked for any of this. Sure, fame is great. But I feel tied down to my image on the show now. There’s so much pressure.” He tipped the soju bottle into his glass yet again, and Jihyo felt saddened, watching him drink away his sorrows. She wanted to stop him or comfort him but didn’t know how.

                  Kwangsoo grabbed the soju bottle away from him. Gary looked up at Kwangsoo curiously with half lidded eyes, and they all watched as Kwangsoo tipped back the entire bottle of soju into his mouth, downing it in one shot just as Gary had earlier.

                  Jongkook’s eyes widened. “Yah, Lee Kwang Soo, your tolerance for alcohol is really low! Watch it!”

                  “I don’t care, hyung.” Kwangsoo told him, wiping the remaining drops of soju off his chin and turning to Gary. “Hyung. I understand. I too feel so much pressure. Having the idiot role on the show is making it harder for fans to take me seriously in acting roles.And maybe that’s why I can’t get many lead roles.” He opened a new bottle of soju and poured it into his and Gary’s glasses. Jihyo looked on in shock when Jongkook, who never ever drank at any time other than the New Year, snatched up Kwangsoo’s cup and drank it. He set the glass down with a clank.

                  “Gary-ah, Kwangsoo-ya, I get it too. I have to play the villain on the show, and many people think that I’m actually being rude when I play rough during filming, yet they complain when I don’t act like my tiptop condition. They don’t know that I can get injured and tired too. I’ve thought of quitting myself countless times.”

                  Jihyo watched them silently, then spoke. “See, Kang Gary. We all have the same experiences, the same worries and thoughts. I, too have experienced being tied down by my character on the show, making it difficult for me to portray my image as an actress. It makes me feel like I don’t even have control over myself,” she admitted, a little hesitant about being open and honest in front of Gary for the first time, but something inside her told her to do it, so she continued. “I can understand how hard it can be, but we can stick together through these hard times, since we’re all going through the same thing. We can help you, oppa.”

                  They were silent for a moment while Gary the soju glass. Then he looked up at them.

                  “I would gladly quit,” he told them. “It would be easier for me. I could focus more on being a musician. I would be able to stop holding back my true self because of my character and fully express myself through music. And that way I can protect you guys from having the show receive negative backlash. I would gladly leave, but…” Tears spilled out of his eyes, and he hurriedly wiped them away. “But I’d miss you guys,” he said. “I really would. I meant it, Jihyo, when I said that I consider you guys as my family because we’re so close. There really is no place I’d rather be than hanging out with you, no matter how tiring the show can be.” He rubbed away at his eyes again, grinning sheepishly. “Gosh, I’m so embarrassed right now. But guys, I really enjoy being together with you. I don’t think I could leave the show like this. I… I want to stay. To stay and fight this battle that I started fighting together with you.”

                  “Hyung…” Kwangsoo cried, choked up. He threw his long arms around Gary’s neck. Jongkook joined in on the bear hug, and the three men hugged for a while before glancing back at Jihyo, who was watching them with with watery eyes and a pleased smile of her own. She was so glad to hear Gary let go of his thoughts and was ecstatic to hear that he was willing to return to the show. They’d really done it. They’d overcome a huge roadblock in their friendship.

                  Kwangsoo lifted up a long skinny arm, leaving space for Jihyo to join in on the group hug. She rolled her eyes. Heck, she thought. Might as well. She moved forward and let the three big guys envelop her in their circle of bawling. When they finally released each other and stepped back, Gary cleared his throat.

                  “So, do you think that we can make the filming happen on Monday and make up the time that I missed? I know Monday is Chuseok…”

                  Jihyo grinned. “We’ll make it work.”

                  And on the day of, after the opening, when she saw Gary handing out bottles of apple juice in apology to the staff, she smiled, standing off to the side to put on her mic. She noticed a fresh bottle of apple juice sitting on the clothes that the staff had prepared for her and picked it up to read the note attached to the bottle with a pink ribbon.

    A special thanks and sorry to the wonderfully blank Mong Jihyo, the note read. Thank you, Mongji, for not giving up on me.