Ji Hyo arrived at the running man set early in the morning. The other casts had not arrived yet so she waited there with the filming crews. It was 7.30 a.m. and she admitted she was still sleepy. She couldn’t stop listening to Jong Kook’s voice last night. Even at that moment she could still hear his voice echoing in her mind. Out of a sudden, her phone rang loudly. She picked the phone immediately, not wanting to bother the crews with the loud sound that the phone made.

“Ji Hyo-ah, this is Chang Joo oppa.”

“Yes oppa, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t forget about our dinner tonight, okay?” Chang Joo reminded her innocently. The blank Ji Hyo was shocked. She didn’t even remember its time and place, since she didn’t really listen to Chang Joo when he asked her 4 days ago.  

“It is tonight?? Umm can you tell me again where should we meet, oppa?” Ji Hyo was actually a little bit anxious. She should’ve really said no if she knew that the dinner was on Monday. She sighed, knowing that she would be exhausted after the filming was over but yet she still had to come to a dinner with her boss.

“Aigoo, don’t tell me that you forget about everything…. I’ll be waiting for you at the new restaurant across the office. Do you know it?”

“Yes, I think I know.” Ji Hyo didn’t answer his first question on purpose. Making Chang Joo disappointed wasn’t her interest.

Right after she hung up the phone, the other running man casts arrived at the set. Jong Kook was there too, walking behind Jae Suk and Suk Jin. They all greeted the crews with their happy faces. Well, Jong Kook didn’t seem happy. He seemed tired and depressed. Ji Hyo stared at him with mixed feelings inside her. She could feel storms raging in her head. She really wanted him to smile at her, but she also hoped that he wouldn’t. The fear of falling in love with him crept into her mind. She sighed, waiting for him to look back and her. Ji Hyo watched his every move, wondering what he would do if their eyes met.

So this was what happened when their eyes met: Jong Kook smiled at her with a pleading look. It was kind of hard to understand what was the meaning of that expression. While Jong Kook was being unclear with that misterious smile, Ji Hyo looked at him with a blank face. She was too slow to realize that Jong Kook was looking back at her. When she noticed that the smiled was actually addressed to her, it was already too late. Jong Kook had looked away with a pain in his heart and with the worst scenario in his head. She really hates me.

The games were actually fun, if Jong Kook didn’t avoid Ji Hyo all the time. The misunderstanding between the two friends were growing bigger and bigger. None of the two could fix it. They were too busy denying the facts that they were having a fight. Ji Hyo blamed Jong Kook for making the situation between them more awkward, and Jong Kook blamed Ji Hyo the same thing. But the two coward people didn’t dare to say that to each other. They didn’t even dare to look at one another.

The whole conclusion was, that day was awful and was getting even more awful. Ji Hyo still needed to attend the dinner with her CEO, and her manager was late. With so much anger in her mind, she even thought she would fire manager unnie. But Ji Hyo’s unstable emotion was not logical, so she just kept that thought in her mind. She sat on a bench waiting for her van to arrive. She was exhausted. Her leg was hurt because she fell during the game. She tried to hide it since the afternoon and now she suffered a lot due to the pain it caused.

This is absolutely the worst day ever. My legs hurt, I’m exhausted, and Chang Joo oppa still wants to see me tonight. He is being irrational for making me go to the dinner after the filming. I can call him and cancel the dinner, but I’m afraid he’ll get hurt by my decision. This is getting even worse, Jong Kook oppa walked to this direction! Ji Hyo inhaled and exhaled deeply, preparing for a battle with her own feelings once again.

“Ji Hyo-ah, where’s your manager? I thought she’s going to pick you up.” To say this few sentences, Jong Kook had to build his confidence first. He was really afraid to talk to Ji Hyo but he couldn’t stand seeing her sitting alone there.

“Ah Jong Kook oppa….” Ji Hyo said, pretending to be surprised to see him, although it was actually a line that she had been repeated a few times before Jong Kook got there.

“Do you want oppa to take you home?” Aiish, he is using that ‘oppa’ word to call himself again. I’m going to die because of his cuteness!! Ji Hyo looked away, trying to act cool to hide her overexcited face.

“No oppa.” She said plainly with a blank face, but with so much thoughts mixed in her head.

“Okay….”  Jong Kook sighed and turned away without saying goodbye or anything. He hesitated for a moment and then walked back to her in a rush.

“See Ji Hyo-ah, I’m really sorry about that night. I really am sorry….” He stood still expecting Ji Hyo to say something. But the woman stayed silence.

“I need to talk to you.” He said flatly. Jong Kook wasn’t that patient to wait for Ji Hyo’s answer. He grabbed her hands a little bit harshly, forcing her to stand up from her seat. He led her to his car which was parked a few meters away from there. Ji Hyo, whose leg was still hurt, could only walk slowly. Jong Kook’s steps were big and fast, she couldn’t catch up. The woman lost her balance and soon she fell to the ground. Jong Kook stopped immediately when he realized that Ji Hyo’s hand was no longer in his grip. He looked back and found Ji Hyo holding her right legs in pain.

“Ji Hyo-ah, are you alright?! What’s wrong with your leg?” With a quick act, Jong Kook leaned down next to her. But she didn’t respond. She kept holding her legs in pain while looking down.

Ji Hyo’s leg wasn’t really that bad. Yes, it was painful, but the pain in her heart was even more painful. She never saw Jong Kook being that harsh to any woman before. Dragging her towards his car like that without even noticing that she couldn’t walk properly. How could he do that to me? What did I do wrong?! He is so inconsistent. He avoided me then he asked me politely weather I wanted him to take me home or not, then he dragged me harshly. What did I do wrong oppa?!

Then the whole thing she had been thinking about came out in tears. She cried in the middle of the parking lot without even worrying about her own image. Fortunately, there was no one there. The crews were already going home. Ji Hyo thought about everything: the night he said he was hurt, the morning she forced him to go away, his songs she listened every night, the woman she saw coming out from the café, the moment when he took her home, the afternoon they spent together, everything! Out of a sudden it came out from nothing. Those mixed feelings hurt her more than anything, more than her right leg.

For the second time, Jong Kook saw Ji Hyo cried. He didn’t know what to say, but he knew it was all because of him. He realized he was being too hard on her. But what could he do? The woman kept sobbing without saying a thing. Seeing her like that made Jong Kook felt guiltier. I’m such a jerk! I’m such a fool. He could only repeat those sentences in his head. He wanted to say something but he couldn’t hear his own voice. Jong Kook ended up sitting next to Ji Hyo, looking at his shoes and hating himself for being such a jerk. He actually wanted to cry, and he actually would really cry if Ji Hyo wasn’t there. Men were all like that, often worrying too much about their own dignities.

“Oppa is really sorry Ji Hyo-ah. For everything. For dragging you like that, for being impolite to you, for being such a jerk to you.” Jong Kook finally apologized to her after he managed to keep calm and clear his mind. But Ji Hyo still didn’t say anything.

“Your leg is injured. Let me take you home with my car.” He said plainly as he lifted her up from the ground. Ji Hyo refused to accept his help and walk on her own.

That was the feeling that she couldn’t decline. The feeling of being useless. Being next to Jong Kook made her feel protected, but it also made her inconsistent about everything. This time, she was being inconsistent again for letting him took her to his car. Ji Hyo completely forgot about the dinner with Chang Joo.

Jong Kook opened his car’s door and let Ji Hyo sat on the front passenger seat. Then he went in too and started the car’s engine. But before the cars started to go, Ji Hyo said something.

“Oppa, you said you wanted to talk. Talk now before you started driving.” She said coldly, while wiping her tears away. Jong Kook turned the engine off but still didn’t say anything. He was quite worried that he would say something wrong and made the situation even more uncomfortable for both of them.

 “Okay Ji Hyo-ah. I need to know what did I do wrong that night. Did I say something that might hurt your feelings or anything? Oppa was drunk Ji Hyo-ah, I really didn’t remember anything.” Jong Kook said sincerely. He didn’t mean to hurt anybody.

“Oppa, do you really want to know the truth? Even if you might regret it?” Ji Hyo sighed.

“Yes.” It didn’t take long for Jong Kook to answer the question. He really wanted to know and he couldn’t wait any longer.

“When you were drunk, you told me you were hurt to see me with another man. From the way you said it I assumed you saw me together with Chang Joo oppa.”

Then there was a long interlude of silence. Jong Kook could hear his own heartbeat racing faster and faster every second. He was didn’t know what to feel. He was happy to hear that he had somehow confessed his feelings but he was also worried that Ji Hyo didn’t like him back. Some curiosity had disappeared though, now he knew that the man’s name was ‘Chang Joo’.

“So why are you being mad at me, Ji Hyo-ah?” He asked calmly, pretending to be innocent.

“Oppa, you really are a fool, aren’t you? You said it when you drunk. No matter how happy I was to hear that, I knew that you wouldn’t remember what you said on the next day. And I was right, oppa.”Ji Hyo’s voice trembled because she was going to cry again although she tried her best not to.

Jong Kook smiled. From Ji Hyo’s explanation, he could assume that she had feelings for him too because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t behave like that. Jong Kook looked at her teary eyes and softened his voice.

“Ji Hyo-ah, I admit I forget about what I said, but that doesn’t mean I forget about the feelings I felt when I saw you with that man."

Ji Hyo looked back at Jong Kook in disbelief.

A/N: Do you think it's going too slow?