Jong Kook lifted his hand and drew it closer to Ji Hyo as no words were spoken, only to get some whipped cream off her nose and it.

“I win.” He whispered, a small smirk placed on his lips, leaving Ji Hyo utterly speechless. The small gap was still conscious on both their minds – how could it not when their lips were a mere 5 centimetres away from each other, so tantalisingly close yet so far. A small stumble by either party would mean that their lips would touch, fulfilling their inner desires that were the unknowingly the same – half lust admittedly, half love.

“Damn, the pancake is burning.” Jong Kook quickly turned his attention to the pancake as the smell of burning travelled up his nostrils, as if nothing had happened, as Ji Hyo blinked her eyes in surprise.

“I’m just going to wash my hands.” She stuttered, making a fast exit to the bathroom. In the kitchen, Jong Kook had made another attempt at the pancake. It hasn’t even been a week and you want to kiss her he chastised himself. You’re an adult, control your hormones.

Meanwhile Ji Hyo was in the bathroom doing the same thing. “Oh my God that was awful.” She groaned, lowering her head to her hands in regret. “I can’t believe I even thought of....” She shook her head, as she walked to wash her hands before splashing water on her face to wake herself up, before drying them. “Get your act together Cheon Soo Yeon.” She muttered before heading out, determined not to have another incident like this again. Ji Hyo was never one to rush in a relationship, and neither was Jong Kook in all fairness, and often pulled out of such physical contact this early on in a relationship. Maybe it was the fact that they knew each other so well, something that was more than a friendship and just under a relationship, before they had made their relationship official or the fact that they both had similar mindsets in regards to a relationship, but physical contact had come to the forefront of both their minds. Awkwardness at skinship such as holding hands and hugs had been long gone just after about a year of filming Running Man making this easiness to be continued on even after they made their relationship official. Almost naturally, the next stage of physical contact came to the two adults’ minds – a kiss – even though they both berated themselves for having such thoughts, as if it was a major sin.

“Do you need any help oppa?” Ji Hyo asked as she reappeared in the kitchen, trying not to show her awkwardness.
“Uhh you could just get the drinks ready I guess.”
“Smoothie will do right?”
“Uh – huh.” The short answers reflected the nervous tension that hung above in the air, although both tried to get past it. Jong Kook plated up the pancakes, even having some for himself, as Ji Hyo sorted the drinks; a simple coffee with milk for herself and a fruit smoothie for her boyfriend. Both sat down on the living room sofa and started to eat, a strained silence hanging over them.

“Ji Hyo- yah-“
“Oppa-“ Both said at the same time, causing both to chuckle out of nervousness.

“You go first.” Ji Hyo pointed before eating.  

“Did you have anywhere you wanted to go in particular next week? I’m due to take a couple of days off next week so I wanted to match it with yours.”
“I’ve always wanted to go to an aquarium with my boyfriend.” She gushed.

“I remember... you said that when we went to the aquarium during Running Man.” He chuckled. It had been around episode 30 when Ji Hyo had announced that he wanted to go to the aquarium date with her future boyfriend but Jong Kook was still sure that his feelings for her were platonic. Looking back, Jong Kook should have known that his feelings towards her weren’t business like or platonic for that matter. At that time, he had used the excuse of not knowing her very well to explain to others why he seemed to be distant with her but with time it was difficult for them not to get close with her. Her bright personality, with the show not necessarily showing this, and in particular her kindness attracted him the most. He was a man, maybe due to past hardships or due to being in the spotlight from a young age, who found it difficult to trust others. Yet for some reason, Ji Hyo made Jong Kook open up to her, even confiding in things that he hadn’t told his own family or his close friends. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t trust them, he trusted them with his life, but it was more that he felt more comfortable with Ji Hyo, and more quickly. It was weird – spending time with her had always left him happy and with a sense of safety, as if he had a safety net, even when he tried his best not to feel that way. He felt that with Ji Hyo, no matter what he did, she would always support him through thick and thin.

“You remember?”
“Of course. I remember almost everything about you.”

“Everything huh?” Ji Hyo teased, sticking her tongue out.

“Of course.”
“Like what?”

“Like how your eyebrow furrows when you concentrate on something or how you prefer iced Americano over cold fruit smoothies because you need the caffeine to wake up.” He chuckled, knowing that that Ji Hyo’s sleep meant that she desperately needed caffeine to wake her up for filming. It was almost a double – edged sword as she needed sleep to help recuperate what her body needed but at the cost of taking ages to wake up fully. “How you prefer to watch “My Love, Don’t Cross That River*” over romantic comedies on first dates. The fact that even though you can use chopsticks well, you still struggle to de – bone fish properly so you need help for the smaller bones. The fact that you put spicy canned tuna to kimchi jjigae* to make it nicer and spring onions in ramyeon*.”
“It’s nice if you add it in!” Ji Hyo defended herself much to Jong Kook’s amusement.

“I just don’t understand why you eat it in the first place.” Jong Kook grumbled.

“It’s nice oppa.”
“It’s unhealthy.”
“That’s why it’s so nice.” Ji Hyo fired back.

“It’s besides the point… Point is I know you pretty well Ji Hyo – yah.” Jong Kook smiled, giving up trying to argue that ramyeon was unhealthy.

“I gathered. And equally I know you quite well.”

“Oh?”

“Even though you don’t like ramyeon because it’s healthy, you still have it about twice a year. You nibble on chocolate – dark albeit – occasionally to get some energy if filming has gone on for too long and although you don’t really drink coffee you occasionally drink espresso for the caffeine during the winter when filming can get dreary. You have a cheat day once every six months where you eat whatever you want which just includes eating the fat of the pork at a barbeque restaurant. You regard family and close friends as the most important people in the world then your fans of course. You find it difficult to hate people but you dislike some people, with the majority of these people being people that have betrayed you or people that you care about. If I told all of them, I’d be here forever.” Ji Hyo trailed off at noticing Jong Kook staring at her, a small smile which formed on his lip, stirring an ounce of uneasiness in her. “What?” She asked, chuckling nervously.
“Nothing… you’re just beautiful.”

“Are you ill oppa?” Ji Hyo chuckled, as heat rose to her cheeks. Despite the number of times she had been called beautiful, she still got embarrassed and shy when hearing it, especially from Jong Kook. Of course, hearing it come from his mouth directly made her feel even more embarrassed yet made her feel genuinely beautiful. At other times it was just a compliment that was just thrown for the show’s sake, not necessarily genuine, yet with her boyfriend it felt genuine – both inside and out.

“You really are beautiful Ji Hyo – yah and I’ll tell you every day if I have to.”

“Stop, you’re making me blush.” She chuckled, but her smile and actions defeated her words as she smiled and leaned her body in towards Jong Kook more as he hugged her once tightly.

“Right, as much as I hate to leave you I’d better go and get home to finish the files that I need to send over to Jung Nam hyung and Mikey tomorrow.”
“I understand oppa.” Ji Hyo nodded as they walked towards the door holding hands, knowing that Jong Kook had to send files over to Jung Nam and Mikey so they could make some progress on the next album but of course she couldn’t help but feel a little sad at their time being cut short, although many would argue that staying a whole night plus the latter half of the day was plenty time.

 “Good luck for your filming Ji Hyo – yah.” Jong Kook whispered, as he hugged her in front of the door.  

“Don’t stress too much over your album oppa.”

“Says the person that’s most easily affected by stress out of the two of us.”

“Touché.” She muttered, giving up.

“See you soon my beautiful ace.” Jong Kook pulled away, matching Ji Hyo’s eyes as she looked up at him. The height difference wasn’t by much to be fair, with exactly 10 centimetres separating the two, but the fact that Jong Kook was taller and looked down to match her eyes made Ji Hyo feel as if he would shield her from everything. It was unspoken that all the Running Man members would protect each other no matter what with all of them vowing to protect Ji Hyo in particular. It was partly due to the fact that she was the only female, making all the men’s older brother, or younger in the case of Kwang Soo, instinct come out. They knew that she could take care of herself, Ji Hyo was strong and independent, but she was also sensitive and took certain issues to heart. Her cute altruistic and innocent parts of her personality sometimes meant that people took her for granted and not necessarily rewarding her in proportion to her efforts. Suk Jin and Ha Ha didn’t necessarily show their closeness to Ji Hyo on screen in comparison to the other members but they did cherish her as much. They offered their support to her when she had broken up with her boyfriend (and also offered to kill the guy after they found out he had cheated on her) and had sent round her a basket full of her favourite goods, including ice cream, scented candles and a gift coupon for her favourite clothes shop to help her. For Jae Suk, since he had first met her he had always been charmed by her natural beauty and easy – going personality and had stated multiple times that she was the most beautiful actress of all celebrities that he had met. It was almost natural for him to take the older brother role – he had two younger sisters himself – and a role that he had taken very naturally. He always had a soft spot for her and always offered his support for her if she had needed it, and if she accepted it which was another issue altogether, often giving advice to her regarding life and variety shows as well as convincing her to stay on Running Man when she had doubted her own position there. As for her on – screen boyfriend, Gary may have had possible romantic feelings for her at the beginning which slowly settled to having a sibling relationship soon enough. In truth, the two rarely spoke outside of filming unlike other members but he had always offered his support to her when needed. Kwang Soo, the only younger brother to Ji Hyo, often bickered on screen with her and was the most frequent members, aside from Jong Kook, who bought out Ji Hyo’s “angry” side. He genuinely did treat her much like an older sister which was a role reversal for him being the older brother, and treasured how much Ji Hyo had supported him as an older sister as well as his sunbae, often giving him messages of encouragement when she knew filming was long. So it almost seemed natural for him to return the favour, comforting her and offering her his house as a place to stay. Although Ji Hyo had the full support of her members who were almost like family, Jong Kook had always been the one who had protected her the most – meeting her by the Han river at a ridiculous time in the morning when he was woken by her crying on the phone and giving his shoulder as something for her to lean on. He had been the one that Ji Hyo most confided in, entrusting him with secrets that she had never told anyone else, including her own family, including stuff from her childhood. No matter what, from the start, it had always been Jong Kook that Ji Hyo was most in tune with, something invisible that other members couldn’t compete with which didn’t go unnoticed by other members.
“See you soon Sparta.” Ji Hyo whispered back, squeezing his hand tightly as Jong Kook waved behind him before heading out. Ji Hyo sighed before going to wash her face and change into something more comfortable before she headed back to the living room to read through her script for the next day. She had just finished the second page when the doorbell chimed prompting Ji Hyo to chuckle – trust Jong Kook to forget something before leaving.

“What did you leave behind?” Ji Hyo chuckled as she opened the door widely to Jong Kook biting his lips nervously.

“This.” He whispered as he stepped forward, closing the gap between the two. His hands immediately rested on the back of her neck, pulling her towards him as he planted a small peck on her cheek before running away, not looking back.

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Word Count: 2401

A/N – My Love, Don’t Cross That River – it’s a film that follows an elderly married couple that’s been married for 70+ years until the husband dies. It’s a good film but not the best thing to watch on first dates XD

Kimchi jjigae – Kimchi stew. Normally using more fermented kimchi (fermented vegetables, mainly cabbage) which is normally added with pork, tofu, onions etc. It’s a good comfort dish and is very popular in Korea.

Ramyeon – instant noodle. Unhealthy but so convenient because you just need to add boiling water to it.

Hey Runners! Ok so this was meant to be posted last week but I re – read it and wasn’t happy with it so edited it. So sorry for that delay.

You didn’t think that I’d give you a kiss scene so early would you XD

I hope you’re all well? I haven’t seen the latest episode (the one that aired yesterday) and probably won’t get time until the end of this week. To those who’ve watched it, how was it?

I’ll try and get one chapter up before I start my internship but because I’ll be working 9 – 5 it’ll be hard to update regularly from then onwards.

Anyway, hope you are all well!