[ 08/14/2012 Restaurant Pal Ja Mak Chang 9:30p]

Gary

Luckily Leessang’s studio was only located minutes away from the restaurant, so he was the first to arrive. He set about having the staff arrange the private room upstairs he usually reserved for his personal guests. He got the grills heated up and ordered the special house beef and a few other sides as starters. He knew despite Ji Hyo’s size she could eat a lot of food and most likely would order more as the evening went on. He grabbed three bottles of soju from the bar downstairs and told his hostess to send Song Ji Hyo up whenever she arrived.

While he was busy answering text messages and letting people know he would be occupied for the night, he heard a knock on the door. The door slowly opened and in walked Song Ji Hyo wearing a simple pair of skinny blue jeans and a cream colored top and sneakers. He stood up to give her a hug and walk her over towards her seat. “Ah Ji Hyo-ah, it’s been a long time” he said. As they embraced, some of her hair swept across his face and he breathed in the fragrance of her shampoo. It took everything in him to keep his knees from weakening as he basked in that scent of almond and green tea. He kept the hug from becoming too for if he closed the distance anymore while he was feeling this way, other things in him would stir and he couldn’t afford to make her uncomfortable. Gary grabbed her hand and led her to the seat opposite him and handed her a menu. He sat down opposite her and tried his best to not show any goofy smile because his heart really was in the clouds right now. It had been such a long time since they were around each other like this and she looked just as lovely as ever. As she read the menu, he noticed she had a little more makeup than usual on tonight; her skin was glowing, he could see some blush and lip gloss. Noticing the hue of the gloss brought his focus more strongly on her lips. [Those red lips… Stop it Gary!] He quickly looked away and stared at the menu, trying to calm the heat that had begun to spread from his ears to his neck. Once he felt himself under control he asked “so what do you want tonight?”

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Ji Hyo

It had taken a second for Ji Hyo to get out of the car at the restaurant. She had a slight nervous feeling in her stomach that she didn’t understand. This was just Kang Gary, her oppa of the last two years; there should be no reason she should be feeling this way. She decided that she was being foolish and just payed her thoughts no more mind. She checked her appearance in the mirror, added a touch more lip gloss and got out the car. The hostess offered to her upstairs but she declined; she already knew which room Gary would pick, the one in the corner that had a side view of the street. Directly across the street was the bakery Paris Baguette and from the second floor you were directly in front of their Eiffel Tower neon sign. Gary always said that view made him feel like he was spending nights in Paris, she chuckled at the thought of his words. He was always saying things like that; in the past he would whisper them to her between takes. She really missed that, since they haven’t been partners in a long time there hadn’t been any inside jokes shared between them. That really made her a little sad for a second.

She knocked and opened the door to catch Gary in the act of tidying up the table. “Ah JiHyo-ah, it has been a long time” he said. Before JiHyo could respond Gary pulled her in for a hug and as soon as it arms went around her she paused for just a microsecond. She noticed the hug didn’t get any closer and she thought Gary must have felt her freeze and it made his uncomfortable. [Pabo JiHyo], she thought. [He was trying to be friendly and you go and freak out.] She really couldn’t understand what was wrong with her. She must be feeling guilty towards Chang Ju, she reasoned with herself. He was out working and here she was about to get drunk with one of her co-workers. Well she would enjoy herself just tonight; there was nothing going on with her and Kang Gary and nothing ever had. She was being too ridiculous and set about making the rest of the evening comfortable for the both of them.

Hearing “what do you want?” surprised her right out of her thoughts. She had to do a double take to even understand what he said. “Yae Oppa?” she replied.

“Ji Hyo we just got here, how can you be so “Mong” already?” laughed Kang Gary

 “Ah Oppa, I was so focused on the menu, that I totally didn’t hear what you said.”

KG: “Uhh hmm ok. Order whatever you want, Oppa will take care of it; been a long time since we’ve had dinner together.”

JiHyo raised a shot of soju and with a large smile on her face said “Oppa we should toast to that. To old friends getting back together. Gunbae!!”

KG: “Gunbae!!” in unison with her and quickly throws his shot back.

“Okay Oppa, I know what I want…Kogi and a lot more soju. Haha”

 [later that night]

They had been drinking the last two hours, recounting their favorite running man episodes and favorite guests. As the soju kept flowing, they felt that old connection between them more and more. Gary would tell jokes and doing impersonations of their cast mates. Because she didn’t hang out with the guys a lot outside of running man, there were a lot of funny stories about the guys she hadn’t heard. Like Gary, Haha and Gwang Soo had tricked Jong Kook Oppa on his birthday by having Gwang Soo dress up as a fangirl and intrude into his house. Gary said he was completely in a school girl uniform with a wig and makeup. Jong Kook had completely flipped out but could do nothing because it was all in good fun; Gwang Soo was one of his close dongsaeng after all. Ji Hyo couldn’t remember when she’d laughed so hard. [Omma] she missed this; truly missed the guys. She knew she really needed to start connecting with her co-workers again. She was probably bored with just Chang Ju because that was the only person she would see other than a few dinners with her co-workers. By now she could tell that she was a couple sips away from being completely drunk. She could usually handle her liquor a bit more but it had been so long since she had any soju. If she kept drinking she wouldn’t have the mental capacity to even call her unnie for a ride home.

KG: “So JiHyo how are things with Baek Chang Ju Hyung? I’m surprised that he didn’t come out with you.”

JiHyo felt a little bit uncomfortable talking about Chang Ju right now but Gary was just being polite so she answered his questions. “Things are good. He has a lot of important business meetings, so he’ll be pretty busy the rest of the week.”

Kang Gary just smiled and said while taking another sip of soju “Ok, I understand. Glad to know that you’re happy.”

Ji Hyo tried her best to put on a happy smile. “Yeah, I’m really happy Oppa. Chang Ju Oppa is a great guy. But what about you Kang Gary, have you not found someone?” Ji Hyo had heard about the many girls seen out with Kang Gary but she just attributed it his new status as a really popular singer. She hadn’t really payed much attention because none of them seemed significant plus she had her own relationship to work on. But his answer to her question bothered her.

KG: “There was one girl.”

JiHyo felt a slight prick from hearing that; a small tightening in her stomach that made her slightly uncomfortable. “You had never mentioned anyone before Oppa, who is she?”

KG: “It doesn’t matter. She’s gone and I can’t reach her. I have no regrets though; I enjoyed the time we spent together and the many happy memories we shared.”

The more Gary spoke about her, the more the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach increased. [Did I eat something wrong, I don’t feel sick; what is this?] Though she was uncomfortable, she was even more curious about this woman in Gary’s life. JiHyo poured another glass of soju, she would need more alcohol to ease this feeling in her stomach. “Oppa since you won’t tell me who she is, tell me about her?”

KG: Well, to me… she is like water. I completely drown in her presence; everything about her washes over and carries me away until I’m lost in the sea of everything she it. A treasure and a beauty rare in this world. On the outside she is beautiful but there is this inner strength in her that makes her gorgeous. I really don’t even think she knows how absolutely amazing she is. I catch myself staring at her for no reason at all. When I hear her laugh, my day is instantly brighter. She has this beautiful cream colored milky skin that glows and contrasted so deeply with these amazing, soft red lips. She literally takes my breath away. But like I said before, she’s gone. All I have are memories and unspoken words.

JiHyo could see in his face that he truly cared about this woman. She’d been drinking soju ever since he started talking about her and it had done nothing to erase the feeling she was having; it actually seemed to increase it. She was well aware that she was quite drunk by now but the thought of going home really made her unhappy. Up until now she had really enjoyed herself. [Damn that perfect woman from Gary’s past and damn herself for asking]. If she thought twice about it, she could say this feeling was jealousy. [Nah, that’s not right]. She was happy with Chang Ju, she had not reason to be jealous. Ji Hyo reached down and picked up her last bit of soju when Gary grabbed her hand.

KG: “Ji Hyo-ah, I think you’ve had enough. It’s really late, let Oppa send you home.”

JiHyo froze when Gary touched hand. That tingle she felt move up her spine earlier that evening was back again and this time it was even stronger. It shocked her so much, she yanked her back from Gary but the movement was too fast for her lack of balance in her drunken state that she ended up falling over out of her chair.

KG: “Mianhe Ji Hyo, Oppa didn’t mean to scare you. But let me send you home; it’s too late to call Kyoung-ah Nuna. I didn’t drink as much tonight so I’m ok to drive”

“Yae Oppa, I think you’re right.” Ji Hyo didn’t know what to say as Gary helped her up. All these weird feelings and reactions were both scaring and confusing her. She really had had a lot to drink tonight and really didn’t have the mind to try and figure it all out. Kang Gary helped her into his car and they drove mostly in silence, other than JiHyo giving him directions to her apartment. JiHyo just stared out the window thinking about that woman he cared about so much and that tingle she got when he touched her hand; both of them bothered her. After arriving home, she had a hard time going up the stairs to her apartment so Kang Gary gave her a piggyback. He said it reminded him of old times. As JiHyo rode his back up the stairs contemplating the events of the night, she realized she wanted to know something.

“Oppa?”

“Hmm, Ji Hyo-ah?”

“Can I ask you something?

“Yae…”

“That woman…did you love her?”

“Yae, I did love her.”

Hearing that suddenly made her really tired. She thanked him and said goodnight when he made it to her front door. She told him that she’d see him on Monday and that they should do dinner again soon. Popped two pills for the headache she would have in the morning; drank a cool glass of water and passed out in the bed. She was too drained to handle anything else that night and too tired to try and figure out what was going on with her. Luckily, due to all the alcohol is her system, sleep came easily.

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[Gary]

Gary didn’t know what he was thinking telling JiHyo all that stuff. When she asked him, he should have just said there was no one else. But there were things that he had a hard time keeping inside and it really felt good to finally speak them. But he payed attention to her expressions while he spoke and she didn’t seem to realize that he was talking about her. She actually seemed to be focusing more on drinking than anything else; that both relieved and saddened him. What could he expect; she didn’t have any feelings for him. He probably shouldn’t have grabbed her hand like that either but he was worried. He could tell she was pretty drunk and didn’t want her to get sick. The ride to her house gave him the time to settle his thoughts. He really didn’t want the night to end but it was already so late and it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to be out with her this late without her boyfriend around. He felt so happy that he got to take her home; this was the closest he’d ever been to her house. He got really excited when she had a hard time going up the steps; it was the perfect excuse for him to touch her again. They used to do piggy backs all the time; she’d ride him and he’d ride her sometimes. The warmth of her on his back and the smell of almond and green tea gave him all the strength he needed to make it up the stairs. Driving back he realized it was too late to go back to the studio so he just drove past and went straight home. He threw his keys and wallet on the table, grabbed a bottle of water and layed down in bed. The night has been a success and he was too excited to think about anything else other than the smell of almond and green tea that clung to his shirt. Luckily, due to the lack of alcohol in his system, sleep came easily.