~*~

Kim Jong Kook has done many crazy things as a grown up person and a kid. However, nothing beats the quandary he found himself in at present due to lack of better judgment. He never imagined it would be this hard. Sure, he has taken care of his brother’s kids before. One thing that escaped his mind was that his nieces and nephew were past their toddler years; they could manage to take care of themselves without having a grownup following them 24/7.

He had been trying to be nice and play the good hyung. This is what you get for trying to be too nice, Jong Kook, he inwardly scolded himself trying to remain calm and not bolt in fright. He; The Commander, the Great Tiger, was afraid of a little boy no older than a year. But as he stared at the crying baby in front of him his thoughts of remaining calm flew out the window. His hand fumbled with his jeans’ pocket trying retrieve his cellphone. He needed help ASAP.

Jae Suk? No he has a child to take care of as well. With all traveling and filming he was probably taking some well-deserved forty winks.

He kept on scrolling down his contacts with a frown on his face. The frown deepen as his contacts got limited with every downward moment of his finger.

Gary? No. Jong kook was sure Gary has no experience once so ever taking care of a child. He could just picture his rapper friend losing it along with him. He didn’t need someone to double the anxiety.

Kwang Soo? As much as Jong Kook loved his Giraffe friend, he would have to say no. He was probably going to end up taking care of two kids instead of one.

Suk Jin? Jong kook remembered he had a family reunion with his wife out of the city till Running Man started filming next week. He was out of the question.

His finger stopped on the screen of his cellphone. His gut told him yes, but his instinct told him no. It wasn’t a good idea to have her around his place. Besides there were times when they got in each other’s nerves. From day one, they had gotten started at the wrong end of the foot. She contradicted him at every chance she got and he snapped back in return. When the sky was blue, it would be purple to her. It seemed like they could never be on the same page. Save the fact that when it came to winning, they synced perfectly. Deep down, Jong Kook knew the reason why his reluctance and wayward behavior regarding his female friend, had him in a frenzy.

She unruly him. She made him feel things he wasn’t ready to explore yet. He didn’t want another one-side love like the one he had experienced with Eun Hye. His feelings weren’t returned. She had just wanted to be friends. Apparently she had seen him more like a girlfriend with muscles than boyfriend material. Jong Kook had wanted to be more than just another available body to her whenever she needed someone to hang around with.

A high-pitched cry cried out again making him cringed back. To hell with self-precaution. She could drive him batty all she wanted as long as she helped him turn the volume down on the shrinks that were tearing his sensitive hearing. He would be lucky if he made it to old age without hearing aid at this rate.

No time for being picky. She’s the only one available and she’s a woman – which is a good thing. She would know better than a struggling tiger dancing around to calm down a crying child, he thought sarcastically as an insight joke.

 Let’s just hope she agrees, his mind countered back. If he was logically thinking he knew she was under no obligation of helping him with his dilemma. His family was out of the question. They would gladly point out his bachelor status and lack of wife and kids. He could just hear his mother nagging at him about settling down with a nice decent girl. Something about his biological clock ticking.  Really? He didn’t know he had an expiration date. According to his mother, he did because she wasn’t getting any younger and neither was he.

Thanks mother for pointing out the obvious and calling me prehistoric. A grin appeared on his generous lips as he forgave his mother right there and then. Sooner or later, he will give her what she wanted in due time.

Jong Kook ran his fingers through his already-messy hair before hitting the send button without thinking about it twice. He was going insane. He was even answering himself. That desperate he was. He could just picture Jae Suk and Suk Jin hyungs laughing and shaking their heads with their fingers pointing of him. Blackmailing for sure would have been the only outcome involving those two. He would never hear the end of it.

“Here goes nothing,” he muttered as he put the phone on his right ear. With the other hand, he lifted the crying one year old Dream from the sofa. Ha Ha would have a cow if he saw his son in despair. To be honest, if he had seen himself taking care of his own son like he was at present, he would have kicked himself in the rear end – not that he could to begin with.

Ring

Karma couldn’t be that horrible towards him as he tried to hush the child that kept on wiggling on his hold like no tomorrow trying to get away from him. He should have said no the first time Ha Ha had mentioned his dating trip with his wife and needing of a babysitter. Essentially everyone had something to do but Jong Kook. He disregarded the twinge he felt at the thought of being alone and single once again. Everyone had a life but him it seemed. Regardless, he wasn’t going dwell in self-pity mode. He felt like he was already in a hole he dug himself into to begin with.

Ring

Pick up, pick up. The mantra on his head became his supplication. How hard was it to pick up a phone call? The glower that appeared on his face as the seconds passed, and the ringing continued, would have had Kwang Soo hiding for mercy till the moody tiger had ran down his temper to the ground. For all he knew she wasn’t probably home or she could be busy. Then again, he had accidently heard her saying to Kwang Soo she was spending her day catching up on movies and relaxing her feet. Running Man was a tiresome show indeed. Jong Kook knew that first hand. He had been in other variety shows before Running Man. Although he had to admit; this show was more mentally and physically demanding than the former ones.

Ring

On the third ring a woman’s voice picked up. “He—“

“Ji Hyo-ah I need your help!” He blurred out before she even finished saying hello. Jong kook would have felt embarrassed and appalled of his manners for not even greeting her; but time calls for desperate measures. This was one of them. He didn’t want to have a certain Pororo on his tail. He rather be at the mercy of a lioness than a certain penguin giving him unremitting lessons on how to change a poopy diaper for the millionth time. He could even do it with his eyes close now. His mother would be proud.

~*~

Song Ji Hyo querulously waited for the elevator door to open. The glare she was shooting at the closed door would have made any sane man run away. She rushed herself out the door as soon as she hung up. Without thinking, she thought, looking at her clothes. Black old pants that have seen better days and a Lion King t-shirt. She was just about to see her favorite movie when she got ‘the frantic’ phone call from a certain someone who made her insides churn with feelings she wasn’t willing to consider a crush yet. Jong Kook was an enigma. There was no other way for her to describe what that man certainly brought of her. Ji Hyo had always pride herself in being reasonable and self-assure of what she wants. Nonetheless that all changed when she met the handsome Ballad singer Kim Jong Kook for the first time in person, face to face.

She had seen him on TV shows – given that he has more years of experience onscreen and singing. But nothing beat the unexplainable feeling that caused her irritation and lack of sleep for months to come regarding her unforgettable Running Man team member. She blamed it on his attitude. He was volatile. He liked to pick on the weaker human being. If Kwang Soo, or Ha Ha were considered opponents to him, she would have been the third runner up. Which led them to having unreasonable quarrels that had a certain Grasshopper break up their heated disputes. From then on, she made it her job to provoke the show’s tiger. He wouldn’t back down and inch, and she was just as prideful as her father mentioned once she was.

No, she doesn’t feel a spark whenever they get on each other’s face. She certainly doesn’t feel tingles all over her body when they accidently bump into each other. Or when his hand would grasp hers to take away any object she would find first than him. She certainly didn’t not, didn’t not, feel like her world would stop last week when she got a back hug from him – she had found his personal belonging regarding the show’s mission for that day, and he had tried to detain her from running away and calling out her crew to oust him out.

A shiver trailed leisurely down her spine at the remembrance of his musky aroma and arms around her being. His strong chest had caged her in perfectly while his big hands had entwine with hers to pull her closer to him. His strong tights had stopped her from running forward as he caught her in his embrace. She shook her head vehemently. Now was not the time to be thinking such nonsense when she knew Jong Kook didn’t even like her as a girl. Something about her being one of the boys and having atrocious manners regarding her seniors. She was family. He was putty in other women’s eyes but when it comes to her she was just another monotonous girl.

Ding

Jong Kook you owe me, Ji Hyo thought, making sure no paparazzi saw her step in the elevator. She didn’t want any surprise news in the morning of her being in one of her team member’s place. The media had a tendency to cause scandal. Whatever good they did regarding personal lives would be lost as soon as their hands weaved what their mind and eyes assumed to see. She was sure Jong Kook would appreciate the same sentiment knowing the scandal-free man for some time now. Any other time she wouldn’t have cared, but she reminded herself she was tired and wanted to get this done as soon as possible to return home to her TV and chick flick movies that were waiting for her patiently on her coffee table. Sad was the life of a single person, she alleged with dry humor.

~*~

Jong Kook opened the door on the second buzz the doorbell made. He disregarded his beating heart as his eyes landed on the slender figure standing at his doorframe with a look of inquisitiveness. He felt rueful as his eyes took in her dark circles and hollow cheeks. Ji Hyo had been taking more projects than any Running Man member hence her appearance. She looked tired. Maybe he could say he got it under control and send her home. The child in his hands had other plans as he started crying once again - having seen another person temporarily had stopped his bawling. Suddenly he felt like he needed a trophy for best actor for changing his mind for the hundredth time in one day. Or better yet, he needed mental psychological help. He went from being an impertinent jerk to her to shameful with gratitude for showing up to help him.

Before she even opened , a crying Dream was put in her arms. The crying child stopped for a second to look at the woman who now held him before he started crying once again.

The audacity. Ji Hyo’s eyes widen before they narrowed in a glare. “Yah! Kim Jong Kook, don’t you think you are being too much?”

“Yah! His weeping even has my neighbor’s dogs howling. They probably thinking I’m manhandling him or something. He won’t stop crying. I fed him; and changed his diaper two times already. I even took his sweater off thinking it was too warm for him,” he frantically said, counting his fingers as he elaborated what he did. He didn’t want to seem impractical. He was getting frustrated. At least he gave it a try. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He pulled the door wider to let her in. It wouldn’t do to have someone spot the actress in the hallway of his apartment carrying his friend’s kid in daylight. In that case he could have broadcasted his failure as a mansitter; Jong kook’s made up word for babysitter, he is a male after all. Not all sitters were female thank you very much.

Ji Hyo lowered her eyes to the baby in her hands instead of the handsome man who seemed to have been going out of