The drive back to Anyang was filled with awkward silence and tension. Jong Kook had made his displeasure known by purposefully ignoring Gap Jin the whole day; he acted like the manager didn’t exist. It was the safest thing to do since Jong Kook understood himself enough to know that acknowledging the man in any way would reignite the hot coal that had been brewing on his head ever since he learned about what he’d done to Ji Hyo. It wasn’t the right time or place to address the matter.

There was traffic, and Jong Kook was beginning to lose his patience. He bounced the ball of his foot and kept tapping his fingers. “Can we speed it up?” he asked their driver, who mumbled an apology because there was nothing he could do. Jong Kook huffed and looked out of the window, thinking.

He recalled the earlier shooting, which thankfully had gone quite smoothly even though he’d sensed some animosity directed towards him. It was obvious that either Gwang Soo or Haha had ratted him out to Jae Suk, because the senior had looked disapprovingly at him several times when the cameras weren’t rolling. Gwang Soo himself had avoided him, and Haha had been throwing him the evil eyes the whole time. Jong Kook couldn’t help but smile on remembering how they had somehow managed to hover around Ji Hyo whenever Jong Kook was in the proximity as if wanting to keep her away from him. Despite the misunderstanding, he was glad that his friends truly cared about Ji Hyo.

Ji Hyo herself had been aloof; there hadn’t been any reasons for her to interact with him anyway, so perhaps it had been the reason. He wasn’t worried about it—no, if the fire that gleamed in her eyes whenever their eyes happened to meet during the filming was an indication, then Jong Kook really didn’t have anything to be worried about. He began to feel warm as his thought wandered. Ji Hyo hadn’t been the first woman he’d ever fallen for but Jong Kook had never felt so strongly as he felt for her.

The woman had crawled into the innermost part of his heart, grown roots around it, and settled there like it had always belonged to her in the first place. Jong Kook wasn’t complaining; how could he, when he was the one who’d invited her to get into his heart? He wanted her to be in his heart—just like he hoped so much for him to be in hers. But what if it never happens? The insecure part of him asked. You’ll die of a broken heart. He closed his eyes and pressed his eyelids with the tips of his fingers. Heart mends, he said. It always had. Not this time, it won’t. He told his disquieting thought to shut up, unable to refute what it’d just said for he had known it all along—this love for Ji Hyo was far greater than all his past flings combined, and that he’d surely die if she broke his heart.

***

“Jong Kook-ah, we have to…”

“How dare you speak to Ji Hyo like that?!” Jong Kook roared, cutting Gap Jin’s sentence, just as they entered his apartment. He slammed his fist on the counter; the sound echoed throughout the room. “How dare you meddle with my private life?! Who gave you the rights?!”

Gap Jin raised his arms in surrender. His face scrunched in fear; he’d never seen Jong Kook this mad before. And he had never been at the short end of the younger man’s rage. “I was just trying to protect you,” he defended himself.

“From what?!” He flung his arms upwards in a challenge. “From what, Hyung? I don’t need your protection!”

“From being used by a woman! You’re making a career suicide, don’t you know that! She’s not good for you.”

“That’s not for you to decide! I see whomever I want to see—love whomever I want to love.” He pointed his finger at the older man. “You might be my manager, but you have no rights interfering with my personal life.”

“Love?” Gap Jin was thunderstruck. “You ‘love’ her?”

Jong Kook looked him straight in the eyes. “I do,” he replied. “With all my heart and soul, I do.”

“You’re making a big mistake, Jong Kook-ah.”

He raised his chin defiantly. “That’s my prerogative.”

Gap Jin shook his head. “You’re blind. That woman is using you to boost her dying career.”

“Be careful, Hyung,” Jong Kook warned, “that’s the woman I love you’re talking about.” The manager scoffed, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Ji Hyo doesn’t need anyone to boost her career. She’s doing just fine on her own.”

“Yeah? With all the bad reps she’s been getting, let’s see how long she’ll survive in this industry.”

“Is that a threat?” Jong Kook sounded dangerous.

“I’m just stating the fact here.” He gave Jong Kook a cynical smirk. “I can’t believe that out of everything that could ruin you, it’s a woman that’ll be your downfall, Kim Jong Kook.”

“I don’t give a about my career.”

“Really? Let see if you’ll be singing a different tune when everything is in ruin.” Gap Jin walked away to the direction of his room. Then he stopped at the door as if remembering something. “You know what, Jong Kook-ah? When I spoke to Ji Hyo-ssi this morning, she said nothing about love. I remember she insisted that the two of you were only friends. And yet, here you are, talking like you’re together. It makes me wonder if she’s truly worth your so-called love. Think about it. I’m only looking out for you.” He closed the door behind him.

Jong Kook stood motionlessly next to the kitchen counter, glaring murder at the closed door. He couldn’t deny the truth behind Gap Jin’s words—there still hadn’t been any word of love coming from Ji Hyo. But she kissed me like she meant it, Jong Kook thought. Was he only building a castle in the air?

He snatched his car key and headed out. He needed some air, a place to think. He needed to get all this doubt and rage out of his system. And so, like what he always did, Jong Kook went to the gym.

***

Ji Hyo sat cross-legged on the sofa of her apartment. It’d been quite a while since she returned to this place; if she wanted to be honest, she didn’t like it here anymore. It was suffocating and cold and lonely. She hated this place with all her might. She wouldn’t have returned here if it hadn’t been for her manager. Sun Mi wanted to talk, and this was the only place safe enough to talk.

“Do you want anything to eat?” Sun Mi asked; she had a bowl of bibimbap in her hands. Ji Hyo shook her head. “That’s new.”

“I just want to go home.”

Sun Mi regarded her charge contemplatively. She was going to say that this place was also Ji Hyo’s home, but there was something in Ji Hyo’s body language told her that it wasn’t the case anymore. She wouldn’t be surprised that one of the first things Ji Hyo would do when she’d got the time was to put this on a lease and find a new place to stay. “The company contacted me while you were filming,” she got straight into business.

“By ‘the company’ you meant Chang Joo Oppa.” Ji Hyo smirked. “What did he say? Aside from wanting to kill me and my family, that is?”

This nonchalant display of attitude wasn’t something that Sun Mi had expected from Ji Hyo. The actress spoke as if she didn’t care. Like they were talking about some old, boring news. A swell of pride grew in Sun Mi’s heart; she didn’t know what had happened over her stay at her parents, but whatever it was it had done Ji Hyo good. Sun Mi decided that she liked this new Ji Hyo.

“No, really, I meant the company,” Sun Mi corrected her. “The lawyers.”

“And?”

“They want to meet us—you. They want to meet you to talk about the contract.”

“I’ll give them my father’s lawyers’ numbers.” Ji Hyo stretched her legs out and lay down on the sofa, propping her upper body on her elbow. “I have no intention of meeting them in person.”

“They ask if there’s anything they can do to revise the terms of your contract.” Sun Mi’s words were half-muffled by the food inside . “I said I had to speak to you first. It can be beneficial, really, Ji Hyo-yah.”

“Nu-uh. Nope.” Ji Hyo shook her head. “I want to leave. I don’t care if it meant paying.”

“Ji Hyo, this is serious.”

“And you think I’m not?” Ji Hyo raised her eyebrows. “I’ve had it with that company. I’ve had it with Baek Chang Joo. So he wants to kill me and my family? So be it. What—he wants to hurt Jong Kook Oppa, too? Let him try. Kim Jong Kook is not afraid of the kind of him”

Sun Mi was utterly confused. “What on earth are you talking about?” Ji Hyo shrugged but offered no explanation. “Ji Hyo, what are you talking about? What’s this nonsense about him threatening to kill you?”

“Why do you think I was so scared of him?” Ji Hyo snarled, unable to stop herself. She sat up straight, slapping her chest as she spoke “Why do you think I just kept quiet? He promised he’d hurt me. No. He said he’d make sure that Kim Jong Kook would suffer if I didn’t do what he said. And so what do you think I did? Unnie, your stupid, idiotic Ji Hyo followed everything he wanted to! Every single stupid demand.”

“Ji Hyo…”

“No! You listen to me! No one’s listened to me!” Ji Hyo wouldn’t be cut off now. “Why do you think I kept on working even though all I wanted was to bury myself and die?! And why do you think I broke up with Jong Kook Oppa? Don’t you know how painful it was to break up the man you lov—… Oh!” she clasped her hand over , trapping the rest of the sentence. Her eyes bulged at the confession that almost blurted out of in the heat of the moment. Ji Hyo was dizzy.

“Ji Hyo? What’s wrong?”

She grasped her manager’s hand. It was a revelation to herself. What was I going to say? “Unnie…” she sounded stunned. “Unnie, I love Jong Kook Oppa.”

The manager looked at Ji Hyo in confusion. “Yes, I guess you do?”

“No, you don’t understand. I love Jong Kook Oppa.”

“Ji Hyo—honestly, you’re scaring me. I don’t understand. Of course you love him; you were in a relationship with him.”

How could she explain it to Sun Mi? “He doesn’t know,” was the only thing she could say. “I didn’t know.”

“Wha…”

Ji Hyo stood up so quickly she almost dragged Sun Mi off the couch. “I have to go.”

“What? Where?”

She smiled so brightly it lit up her whole face. “Anyang. Where else?”

“Are you mad?! It’s late!” Sun Mi followed her to the door and snatched Ji Hyo’s jacket off the actress’s hands. “I don’t know what this is about, but there’s no way I’d let you drive 50 kilometers away to Anyang just to see a man in the middle of the night! This is ridiculous!”

“I have to tell him,” was Ji Hyo’s only answer.

“We have this thing called a phone.” Sun Mi lifted her cell phone and waved it in front of Ji Hyo’s eyes.

“This is not something I can say on the phone,” she insisted. “I have to tell him myself.”

Sun Mi dragged her back into the living room mercilessly. “Yeah, yeah… it can wait until tomorrow.”

“But what if…” she faltered. What if he changes his mind tomorrow? What if he doesn’t love me anymore tomorrow? Insecurity began to gnaw on Ji Hyo’s mind.

Sun Mi exhaled audibly. She put her hands firmly on Ji Hyo’s shoulders. “Ji Hyo-yah, look at Unnie. Listen carefully: it can wait. I’ll even drive you off myself there first thing in the morning if you need me to, okay? He can wait—and now I want you to wait.”

“But—…”

“No buts! What? Are you afraid that come tomorrow he won’t still be madly in love with you?” Sun Mi flicked her charge on the forehead when Ji Hyo nodded almost imperceptibly. “Do you have to question it after your making-out session this morning? You stupid girl! If I was two minutes late I guess what I’d be witnessing would be more than him shoving his tongue down your throat!”

Ji Hyo reddened at the mention of the kissing. Sun Mi could be really crass when she wanted to. “Unnie!”

“What? Aren’t I right? Two more minutes and there would be a mature rating tag plastered on the doorframe!”

“Yah!”

“Now sit down and let me finish my dinner in peace!” She pushed Ji Hyo back on the sofa. “You have until my last spoonful of food to get your head together, Song Ji Hyo, then we’ll talk business. I know Baek Chang Joo can be cruel, but I never thought how much of a bastard he is.”

A/N: Shall we put an end soon to this story so that we can move on to a new one? I have another silly idea for this couple.