“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! Why did I ever fall in love with you?! I hate you, you…” And Jihyo cried without finishing the sentence. She didn’t know what she was felt. She had no clue. One moment she was angry, the next she missed him but right now she felt betrayed.

Jihyo who was about to sleep kept waking up just to check her phone for any calls or messages.  Jong Kook had mentioned that he was going to call her. But it never came. She had waited for two hours before admitting defeat. Out of hurt and anger, she threw her phone hard across the room. It hit the door and fell hard on the floor. The screen went blank and the screen protector could not save the damage. The phone lay on the floor, damaged, broken and the screen in pieces.

Jihyo curled in her bed, nuzzled her nose deeper into one of the pillows on her bed. It gave off a familiar smell. Kim Jong Kook. He had slept on it yesterday and his smell had attached itself onto it. Her sobs became violent and she was shaking, her heart aching more and more. She threw the pillow away from her, and stayed away from the spot where he slept the night before. Exhaustion soon followed her and she fell asleep, crying.

The doorbell rang the next day and it woke the grumpy Jihyo up. She looked at the mirror and saw her reflection. Her eyes were swollen, definitely from the night before and her hair was somehow messy but yet still in place. The doorbell rang again and again. She rubbed her eyes and walked to the door to open it. Min hee, her manager was at the door, breakfast ready in her hands.

“Owh… you look terrible. Are you okay?”

“Neh…” jihyo answered with no emotions.

“Omo! Unnie, what happened to your phone? Yah! What’s wrong?”

“Don’t know. Don’t want to talk about it. Don’t care. What time do we have to leave?”

“Unnie….”

“What time do we have to leave, Min hee yah?”

“Ermm… We have one and half hour.”

“Owh. Okay. Let me prepare then. “

Jihyo showered and changed and ate breakfast in silence. Min Hee did not dare to ask her any question. Min hee was Jihyo’s cousin and now she was her manager. They were very close to one another and knew each other’s characters. Right now, she knew how angry Jihyo was and decided to just sit through her anger.

They remained silent until Min hee had to brief Jihyo about her schedule.

“Unnie. After this script reading, you are free for the rest of the week. On Monday, we will shoot for running man and it requires all the cast to spend the night on the cruise at Busan. So… I will prepare whatever is necessary. But you need to prepare your essentials. Clothes wise, I will brief the coordi about it okay?”

Jihyo just nodded without much care. Cruise with that idiot. Oh well. Jihyo was obviously still angry.

“Unnie, do you need me to get you a new phone?”  Min hee asked timidly, still eyeing the broken phone on the floor.

“No…. No. no.” Jihyo said it three times.

It was the definite number one rule in Jihyo’s life. Everyone who was around her would know of this rule. Whenever she said anything 3 times, she meant it. So far, nobody had able to go against her whenever she had made her decision. Knowing this, Minhee could do nothing else except sigh quietly and hope Jihyo would cool down enough to share her problems. The whole day she just watched as Jihyo went through the script reading, playing the role of the cold queen well, fitting her mood.

Jong kook meanwhile was still asleep during the time Jihyo was doing her script reading. He finally woke up when Gap Jin banged on his door to wake up as he wanted to settle some of Jong kook’s CF contracts. Jong kook just woke up and carried on his daily activity, still not remembering anything about Jihyo. It was as if he was meant not to remember her. Usually whenever he woke up, he would text something to Jihyo as a motivation support, a fighting. Today, he seemed to not remember her at all.

The afternoon stretched to night and Jong Kook still did not realise about the missing Jihyo in his life. He could sense that something was amiss. Like when he was watching t.v, he kept thinking of calling someone but kept calling the wrong person. He felt emptiness and a void but he could not remember what. What did I forget?Jong kook kept repeating to himself. And as he was preparing to sleep, Gap Jin entered his room and talked to Jong Kook.

“Jong kook ah. Myuk PD called and asked to meet him tomorrow at this address here. The time is also stated there.” Stated Gap Jin, passing Jong Kook a post it with the address and the time to meet. “You need me to send you there?”

“No…. thank you.” Pondered Jong Kook, and Gap jin left his room, closing the door. He found it weird that Myuk PD wanted to see him. Usually, it was Jo PD would meet them to brief them for a secret mission or meetings to improve the show ratings and programs. He set his alarm two hours before the meeting time and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Jong kook was all prepared to meet Myuk PD. He wore his sports attire thinking that he could go to the gym after the meet up, since he assumed that it will be short. He sat at the private corner of the café, eyes closed waiting for Myuk PD to make his entrance.

“Owh. Anyeonghaseyo! Jong Kook ah, you’re alone? I assume Jihyo will be fine with any decision we will be making?” greeted Myuk PD as he entered the café that he had personally booked.

“Jihyo? What do you mean?”

“Erm… We’re here to discuss both of your relationship and what I can do to protect it. People are expecting a lot from the Monday couple, Jong kook ah. It’s the viewer’s favourite. The likes of it is as much as you and Yoon Eunhye shi. I don’t want this show to be the reason for the two of you splitting up. We’re still human anyway.”

But Jong kook was not listening to him anymore. Slowly, he let his hand run through his hair, his face aghast. He looked down at the table and closed his eyes.

“Jong kook ah, Kwenchanah? Are you sick?”

“I’m sorry, I have to go… Sorry for wasting your time.” And he left, hitting the wall with his fist on the way out.

Jong kook tried calling Jihyo. Once, twice and then his fingers just kept ramming the redial number, not knowing the number of times he had tried to call her. It was always saying that her number is unavailable. He sped off to Jihyo’s. It had been two days since he last saw her. He had said he wanted to call, and totally forgot about it. He could not believe it himself that he did not remember her at all.

“How could I forget her just like that…How could I when I met Jaesuk Hyung the night before so that I can improve our relationship…” Jong kook hit the steering wheels with his hands, frustrated with himself. “Mianhae Jihyo yah. Oppa did not mean it at all.”

He was praying that she would be there, and that’s all he hoping for.

The bell rang.

Jihyo opened the door and saw Jong kook standing in front of her with a messed up expression. He started to move in but Jihyo pushed him out. He tried once more, this time he grabbed Jihyo’s hand so that he was able to get in without her pushing him away. But Jihyo used her body to counter his entrance by blocking the door.

“Out.” It was all Jihyo said and she said it softly, with traces of anger.

“jihyo-yah please listen to me.”

“We’re done.” Jihyo cut his words.

“What?”

“We’re done. Me you together… No more. Done! History! Kkeut! “

“But Jihyo yah. This is unfair… Let me come in so we can talk. Jihyo yah. Listen to what I have to say. Please… I love you.”

Jihyo did not reply. Oppa, what would happen if I stop saying I love you? Would you still look for me? Would you still fight for us?

Jong kook tried his luck to get in again and this time round Jihyo just sighed. “No. Oppa. You listen… I said NO.”

One of Jihyo’s hands cupped Jong kook’s face, tears forming in her already swollen eyes. By the looks of it she had spent the night crying once more. She bit her lips, not wanting to say whatever she had in her mind. Seeing Jong Kook in front of her, made her angry; angry for hurting her. She let out a deep sigh and let go of her thoughts.

“Oppa, there’s no communication in this relationship. It’s always both of us saying I love you to one another or… or… we comfort each other when our trust towards one another waver. There’s nothing more than that. Oppa, just go home. Drive home safely. I’ll get Min hee to check on Gap jin to see if you get back safely.”

The door closed just liked that. Jihyo’s back was facing the door and she slid down slowly, clutching her heart and biting her lips so that Jong kook would not hear her crying out loud. Jong kook at the opposite side of the door looked incredulously at it, not believing what had happened. He could not think of anything else though. He drove back home and locked himself in his room. Once again, he found himself in a situation similar to two days back. He was trying to convince himself that the relationship was right and he loved her.

“Is it that hard to admit that you love me Oppa? No! You know what, don’t even mention love… Do you even like me?”

Usually now, Jihyo would snap him out of it and they would tell each other how much they loved each other but tonight, there was nobody to that for him. Jong kook ruffled his hair and paced around the room thinking what had gone wrong. But after a few rounds, he slowed down. Maybe it had not gone wrong. Maybe… This was the answer that he was looking for. He decided to give it a break too. Technically, he did request for a sign to show if he really did love her. The distance, Jong kook thought, would definitely help him figure out.

The distance did more harm to him than he had expected. For the next few days, he welled up in sorrow not knowing who to look for. He did not even go to the gym. When his gym mates called him, he just ignored the calls. True they were distanced before this and their relationship probably had not many memories, but knowing that they were completely done made him feel empty. Before he could randomly call her for a quick hi or tease. Now, he had nothing. He tried calling Jihyo the day before Running man filming but Jihyo did not answer him. Thinking that the relation had truly ended, he went for a perm, a new look to help him overcome his heartache.

The coming Monday, all the cast of running man gathered by the pier about to board the cruise that would spend a day in the middle of the Busan sea. Jihyo was the last to enter and she stood quietly beside Kwangsoo and Joongki. Jong kook could not help it. He wanted to see how she was coping with everything. Therefore when she walked past, no matter how much he told himself that they had nothing left, he kept eyeing her, watching her every movement.

Jihyo knew he was watching her. She feigned ignorance. She had spent the previous few days crying over him and skipping meals but not anymore.  She was not going to waste her time if he did not man up. Her phone was purposely not fixed as she wanted to avoid calls from him. Once she saw Jong kook looking at her once more, she stood closer to Joongki and slowly held on his arms, laughing while making things natural. Jong kook’s expression changed.

Jaesuk saw and felt the weird tensed moment between the commander and ace. He too chose to ignore it first and led a fun opening and introduced Lizzy as the guest. One of the main games was the love boat where they had to find a partner to get a running ball. Lizzy openly suggested that Jong kook and her should pair up and work together to get the running ball. Jihyo’s eyebrows arched up, trying to catch Jong Kook’s expression and he was definitely happy.

Meanwhile, the members continued to tease the newly made Monday couple. It had always looked like a one sided love and Gary had been the one putting the effort. Right now, she was about to make the decision. It was time for her to write down her confession and her choice.

Jong kook was also thinking what to write. He could easily throw away Lizzy’s name aside. He kept looking back to Jihyo, wondering what choice she would make. He knew he had to be professional but it was his feelings that he was cheating. He turned to look at Gary now, chuckling softly while playing with the ring that did not fit Jihyo’s fingers. His hands clenched hard into a fist. Turning back to the sketchbook, he wrote…

Help Oppa…    and on the next page, after much deliberation, he wrote Lizzy.

Jihyo saw the words written on the sketchbook as Jong Kook said it out loud for everyone to hear. But when he said ‘Help Oppa’, he was looking at one person; that one person who was standing at the opposite side of the boat, looking expectantly and hopeful. He gave a small smile while looking at her. Listen to my heart Jihyo yah.

Jihyo had a poker face on. She heard it loud and clear what he wanted her to hear. This time she hoped that he could hear her plea.

“Look at me…” Jihyo read what she wrote.

“While standing here, I could see him.”

The men were all getting excited. Gary was expectant. Joong ki was hopeful. Jong kook however just looked at Jihyo just as she had mentioned.

“I could see him… My incompetent man. Always wavering, always indecisive.” She looked at Jong kook, a small smile etched on her face before facing to the camera and flashing a huge smile.

“The ring can still fit right? Monday couple Jjang!” And fireworks greeted her choice and the success of the Monday couple.

That night just before they headed to bed Myuk PD and Jaesuk both brought Jihyo and Jong kook respectively to the open deck. Jong kook and Jihyo had no choice but to face each other.

“Stop being childish, both of you. Jong kook ah… I know you. What is it that makes you feel so scared in this relationship? Jihyo yah… One more chance, that’s all I ask of you.” Jaesuk started to make peace out of the two.

Myuk PD just stood there and watched. But he knew that they needed time alone. So once he and Jaesuk felt that Jong kook and Jihyo would not kill each other, they walked off to their resting venues.

“Jihyo yah…” Jong kook started.

“No. Oppa…” Jihyo just replied.

“What do you mean no? That was meant for me isn’t it? Your incompetent man. Always wavering. Always indecisive. Why can’t you ask me why I am all that? Why do you think I’m always wavering or indecisive? Huh? Do you think I'm all that?” Jong kook held on Jihyo’s hand tight.

“Oppa!” Jihyo gasped. “It hurts!”

Jong kook immediately let go of her hand and held on her shoulders.

“All I request right now is one thing. Just spare me a bit of your time. A little bit Jihyo yah. Please... After that… it’s your choice. You can let me go, if you want to.” Jong kook tightened his grip on her shoulders. He was trying not to cry as he looked at her. Oh, how he had missed her.

Jong kook waited for her acknowledgement. Everything would be according to her, that day. She deserved it after what he had done.

Jihyo's eyes were looking straight into Jong kook's eyes. She was falling for him again. The strong commander, the one he saw who was in control. Him hwho was strong. Him who could protect. Him who could lead her and hold on to her. WIth that, slowly, she nodded.

He had a chance, that’s all he knew. 

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A/N: Really busy with work and preparation for new semester in college. Last day being home today. Have to fly away for school. So... I'm spending a lot of time with my family. And i don't really like this chapter. Kinda cause I kept stopping after 3 paragraphs and then it got hard to get into the mood to write and had to continue later.

But I REALLY REALLY REALLY hoped you enjoyed it! 

Aww. :( I really hope I didn't hurt Jihyo that much. 
It's more Jong kook's focused anyway. I've always felt that Jong kook is very sensitive behind the camera.

hehehe ^^. BTW....Thank you for the second vote and the continued Subscribers. Also for the silent readers! 
Love you!