Park Sun Mi was surprised when somebody called her name out as she stepped out of the CJES building, more so because the person was the last person she’d expected to see at that particular place. “Kim Jong Kook-ssi!” she exclaimed loudly before immediately clamping shut with one hand, hoping that nobody heard her. “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here.” She looked around, panicked.

“I need to see Ji Hyo.”

“No, you don’t,” the manager hissed, feeling protective of her charge. “What you need to do is leave.” She stepped aside but Jong Kook followed through, preventing her from leaving. “Seriously, Mister?” Sun Mi glared at him; what did he think he would achieve by playing this game? “Move. Away.”

“Not until you tell me where she is.”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s a lie.”

“What game do you think you’re playing, huh? Kim Jong Kook-ssi, even if I know where she is, what on earth makes you think I’m going to tell you?”

“Please,” Jong Kook pleaded. He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “Please, I’m begging you. She’s not replying to my messages. My calls went through voicemail. It’s been almost a week. I’m going crazy.”

Sun Mi was quiet, taking her time to get a good look at Jong Kook. The man was clearly not in a good state: there were dark circles under his eyes, and he looked uncharacteristically unkempt. A twinge of pity rose in her heart, but then she remembered Ji Hyo and all that had happened to the woman and Sun Mi squashed the pity down. “She doesn’t want to see you.”

Jong Kook was equally angry. “She ‘doesn’t want’ to or she is ‘not allowed’ to?” he barked. “Won’t or can’t?” He balled his fists, trying to keep his emotion in check as he understood that this wasn’t the right place nor the right time to lose control. “Answer me, Park Sun Mi-ssi—does Ji Hyo not want to see me, or is she not allowed to see me?”

“What difference does it make?” Sun Mi retorted coldly. “She’s not here anyway. That ‘won’t’ or ‘can’t’ doesn’t matter. Now please step back.”

He didn’t budge. “It makes all the difference in the world.”

“And do you think this is the right time and place to discuss it?”

The question was like cold water on Jong Kook’s head. He could read between the lines: Sun Mi was giving him a warning. Somebody might be watching. Somebody might be listening. And that somebody could harm Ji Hyo. “I won’t let anyone hurt her.”

Sun Mi scoffed. “Huh? Have you taken a good look in the mirror lately?”

Jong Kook blushed at the not-so-subtle accusation. He’d heard about how fierce Park Sun Mi could be with her words, but this was the first time he’d experienced the full force of it.

“I’m serious, Kim Jong Kook-ssi. You need to leave,” Sun Mi repeated. “If not for yourself, for Ji Hyo.” She glanced around again. “If she cannot be contacted, don’t you think that you need to respect her decision?”

“Is it, though?” Jong Kook asked, elaborating when Sun Mi shook her head saying that she didn’t understand him, “Is it really her decision? Or is she too afraid to see me because she thinks that Bae—… someone is going to punish her for it?”

“Either way, it’s still a decision she’s made, isn’t it?” Sun Mi replied. “Why can’t you just let this go? Why can’t you just let her go? What’s in it for you, anyway—she told me about that stupid arrangement you both made. If it just pretends then just let it slide. Things will die down in a week or two.”

“I love her,” Jong Kook blurted out. It was the first time he’d said it out loud and as the words rolled out of his tongue he realized how true it was. “I can’t let her go without her knowing. I love her.” He swallowed a lump in his throat. “I can’t let her think that what I did was just pretend—well, yes, probably at the beginning I thought it was just pretend. But along the way, I realized that it wasn’t. I love her for real—I am in love with her.”

Sun Mi was at a loss of words. She went agape, staring at the man before her confess his love for Ji Hyo without thinking about his pride.

“So please, Sun Mi-ssi, I’m begging you. I need to see her. And I promise,” he paused as if it was painful to say the rest of his sentence. His voice was small when he continued, “I promise that if afterward she says she doesn’t want me, I’ll leave her alone. I won’t disturb her anymore.”

***

Ji Hyo had been spending her week off at her parents’ house. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had this much free time in her hands, and she couldn't decide if she was enjoying herself. After years of being busy all the time—every second of her life accounted for—this idleness was almost unbearable for her. Her logical mind told her that she should have been cherishing this moment with her family; she’d have to return to her crazy schedule in less than three days anyway. But her body sang another tune; it was itching to do something else than just rest even though she was still aching in some places.

She felt a bit trapped, and despite being relieved that she didn’t have to lie anymore to her parents, there was this small part of her that regretted having told them about it. Every single member of her family is now keeping an eye on Ji Hyo, watching her every movement like a hawk; her father had even confiscated her phone. The attention was suffocating, no matter how good the intention was.

“What are you thinking about?”

Ji Hyo looked up and found her brother standing over her, a glass of cold barley tea in each hand. She accepted one offered to her and waited till he sat down on the porch next to her. “Nothing in particular,” Ji Hyo admitted. “Just how boring these couple of days have been.”

“You’d been whining about wanting to take a very long break,” Seong Moon reminded her sister. “Now that you have it you don’t want it—what a fickle.”

Ji Hyo rolled her eyes. “I want a self-imposed break, one that I can actually enjoy by going to nice places to recharge. This one is forced on me.”

“Aboji has his reasons,” said Seong Moon, hoping to placate her.

“I’m not blaming him. Besides, it’s my producers who banned me from coming to set. And I guess Sun Mi Unnie told the others and they also decided to postpone all my filming sessions.”

“Well, I can’t see the problem.” The younger man shrugged. “You deserve this break. Those crazy people should’ve seen it without having to wait till you almost died.”

“It was only a hairline fracture.”

Seong Moon frowned. “Noona, can you stop making it sound this light? You were in a car accident. Worse things could happen.”

“But it didn’t.”

“Yeah, no thanks to Kim Jong Kook, though,” Seong Moon grumbled under his breath.

“It wasn’t his fault.”

“It was.”

“Seong Moon-ah…”

“No, it was!” he yelled, springing to his feet. “Stop saying that it wasn’t his fault! Stop protecting him! He wasn’t paying attention to the road—he told the police so himself. It was his fault that the accident happened; his fault that you were hurt; his fault that Baek Chang Joo targeted you!”

Ji Hyo stared at his younger brother with wide eyes. Seong Moon was a happy-go-lucky person; it took a lot to make him annoyed. But this—he was more than annoyed. He was angry. “Seong Moon-ah,” Ji Hyo started.

“No, don’t ‘Seong Moon’ me! You listen to me!” he roared, “The accident wasn’t your fault. You getting into this mess is not your fault! It’s his fault—it’s Kim Jong Kook’s fault!”

“That’s enough, Cheon Seong Moon!” Ji Hyo said coldly, effectively stopping her brother’s rant without raising her voice. “What do you know, really? You don’t even know half of the story. How dare you blame Jong Kook Oppa?”

“Noona, I—…”

“Shut up!” she growled. “I know you’re trying to protect me, but it doesn’t give you the right to throw him under the bus. Kim Jong Kook has been nothing but a gentleman! He wouldn’t have been in this mess if it hadn’t been for me! Yes, he did stupid things—but he did all of them with his best intention, for me. His only fault is that he is too kind. It’s his bad luck that he has to know me.” Ji Hyo put the drink on the porch and stood up to leave. “And Seong Moon? Don’t you dare yell at me ever again.”

The doorbell stopped Seong Moon from replying. He exchanged a look with Ji Hyo, who was frozen on the spot.

“Nobody knows you’re here, Noona,” Seong Moon said softly, trying to reassure his sister who looked like she was seeing a ghost. “It’s probably just the neighbor. You go inside; I’ll deal with them.”

Ji Hyo stayed where she was, calming her heartbeat that jumped into overdrive while watching Seong Moon walk to the gate to open it. You’ve turned paranoid, Ji Hyo said to herself, how are you going to go back to work if you are scared of a doorbell?

Her train of thoughts was cut off by Seong Moon’s angry voice. She could see the setting of his jaw and how his hand gripped the handle of the gate tightly. Fear began to fill her body again, but in the end, curiosity won. Foregoing her shoes, Ji Hyo walked barefoot to the gate to see who was coming.

“Jong Kook Oppa?”

A/n: Still feeling angry about something at work; hence the stream of updates. I need a better stress-coping mechanism. On the side note, I'm thinking of bringing this story to an end in a few chapters; of course I'm not going to make promises on when I'll be updating next. Thanks for still reading and commenting.