You smile wickedly to yourself as you fasten the bell to your shoelaces.  This is going to be so much fun, you think to yourself.  You had been super nervous before the shoot this morning, but now you couldn’t be more excited.

You and the rest of the cast and staff are taking a short break before shooting the main race.  You all have been shooting all day, so it’s no surprise that everyone is tired.  You are too, but the excitement is temporarily covering that up; though you knew that once you got home, you would collapse before you could reach your bed.

“Excuse me?  I’m going to put your nametag on now.”  You turn to the voice that came from behind you.  One of the writers is standing behind you, offering up your white rectangular nametag.

“By all means, please do.”  You turn your back to her, smiling like a little girl at Christmas.  You feel the woman press the fabric against your back, pushing firmly to ensure a secure grip of the Velcro.  Not that it matters.  I’ll be doing the ripping tonight.

The woman tapped you on the shoulder to signal that she was done.  You turn back and thank her, nodding your head politely.  She walks away and you start bouncing on the balls of your feet, too excited to stand still.  You glance at your watch and see that it is just after 10 pm.  There’s no telling how long this race will last so it’s possible that you won’t get home until after midnight.  You don’t mind though.  You would play this game for hours if you could.

You look around the waiting room, which is really the employee break room for the museum, examining the rest of the cast.  Who else is a chaser?  Who’s on my team?  You look down at the floor, searching for bells.  You smile as you find the three other members of your team; Kim Jongkook, Haha, and Kang Gary.  That means….

You scan the room for the person that you came here with.  You’re confused when you don’t find them.  Then you felt a pair of arms wrap around your shoulders.

“How did this happen?  This is so not fair,” you hear right next to your ear.  His voice was low, but had a hint of amusement as well.  You turn your head and see Kai smiling down at you.  His amusement is reflected in his smile.

“What are you talking about?  This is so fair.  Now I get to hunt you down along with the rest of the cast.”  You turn around in his hold and Kai’s arms drop down to your waist.  Your hands rest on his pecks in a very romantic stance.  He’s not much taller than you, but you still need to glance up slightly to meet his eyes.  His bleach blonde hair has been restyled so as to not reflect the vigorousness of the games that you all played earlier.  You yourself have had your makeup redone about 4 times and your hair styled in three different ways.

“That’s what I mean.  I am the predator therefore you should be my prey,” his voice drops down to a husky whisper.  You see him glance around the room, before returning his eyes to you.  “It looks like they might be filming.”

You nod your head sadly, then you examine the collar of his shirt.  “You know they just put me on the chaser team to pump up the rates.  It’s more entertaining if they have me chase you,” you whisper.  “I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Stop.  The cameras are rolling.  Remember what we talked about.”

You nod your head again and lay it against his chest.  You listen to his steady heartbeat and heave a sigh.

“Come on you love birds.  We are going to start shooting now.”  The excitement in your heart instantly surges and your adrenaline starts pumping.

“Coming.”  You call out.  You grab Kai’s hand and drag him along to the set.

~<3~

“So we’ve been playing games all day with the ever popular idol duet, 2H1L, but of course it is time for them to participate in the most difficult game of hide and seek ever.  Are you two ready?”  Jaesuk, who is standing on your right, asks you.  Kai is standing on the other side of Jaesuk along with the rest of the mission team.  The rest of the chaser team is standing next to you.

You nod your head frantically.  “I have been looking forward to this moment all day.”  You bounce around a little bit, showing off your aegyo.  You hear Jongkook mumble something next to you.  Maybe something like, “How cute” or “So cute.”  He’s already tickled to death that he will be on the same team as you.  He admitted earlier that he was a fan of yours.

Jaesuk also laughs and blushes a little at your actions.  “How about you Kai?  How did it end up that you would be the hunted and she would be the hunter?”  The rest of the cast gave little laughs to show the ridiculousness of the situation.

“I don’t know, but it is nice to have a break and let her chase me for a while.”  There’s an uproar of laughter as your boyfriend’s wit makes even the staff snigger.  You laugh too, but mostly out of embarrassment.

“So you do the chasing in the relationship?”  Sukjin asked, milking the situation for all it’s worth.

Kai looks over at him.  “I’ve been chasing her for 5 years.  6 if you count junior year before we actually got together.”  There’s another wave of hysterics and you turn away from the camera, covering your face with your hands.

Haha pipes in this time.  “So it’s true that you all started going out in your senior year of high school?”  You both look to Haha and nod.  “Ya,” he said bewildered.  “It’s amazing that you two are still together and that you got discovered at the same time to become a duet.”

“Yeah.  We used to perform duets at high school programs and a representative of SM discovered us there.  At first they thought about keeping Kai and replacing me with another singer, but then they decided that our romantic relationship would be a huge pull for audiences,” you explain.

The Running Man members display their amazement with oohs and ahhs before Jaesuk moves on.  He explains the rules of the game, which you already know really well.  You look over at Kai.  He’s looking at you with a calm smile on his face.  You smile back.

~<3~

Who would have known that having a bell tied to your shoe gave you so much power?  You feel confident as you stride down the halls, the ringing of the bell echoing against the walls.  It’s dark in the empty museum, but that’s part of the fun.  You walk at a light pace with your camera operator behind you.  You find it embarrassing to talk to yourself sometimes, but you know it’s more entertaining to the audience if you do.

The chaser’s walkie-talkie is in your pocket, but you haven’t heard anything for a while.  You remember what Jongkook told you earlier.  “If you find someone, tell us where you are with this and we will come to help you.”  You’ve been walking around for 30 minutes now and have found no one

“Ah, why can’t I find anyone,” you say out loud, but quietly.  Yeah, it feels a little funny to say useless things to yourself, but it’s all for the audience.

Just then, you hear a small thud, a little further down the hall.  You instantly hold freeze and listen more intently, pushing up your body against the wall.  You signal your cameraman to do the same.

Down the hall next to one of the art displays, you see a dark figure searching the base of the artwork.  They must obviously be working on their mission, which you had no idea about what that was.

Keeping close to the wall, you slid closer, dragging your foot with the bell along the ground so as not to make a sound.  The person doesn’t see you and continues their search as you draw closer.  Now able to make out the person clearly, you smile to yourself as Kai scratches his head in frustration.

Let’s make this fun, you plot.  “Kai.”

Kai immediately turns to you and starts to run off.

“Wait Kai.  I just want to talk.  I haven’t seen you in almost an hour.  I miss you.”  You chase after him, the bell working overtime, threatening to pull loose from your shoe.  Kai slows down and turns to you, but keeps a safe distance between you two.

“Jagiya?”  He says, with intentional nervousness.  “What are you doing on this side of the museum?”  He continues to take slow steps backwards as you take slow steps forward.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

“Oh have you.”  In the moonlight shining through the windows, you can see him wearing a sweet smile.

“Yeah.  I’ve missed you.  Haven’t you missed me?”

“Of course.  I’ve just been a little preoccupied.”

“Really with what?”  Both of you are intentional making your conversation a little awkward, because that is funny.  You spoke in an overly sweet tone, while Kai kept his on the brink of nervousness.

“Oh you know, just the mission.”

“Oh yeah what is that?”  You two are slowly circling each other.

“Oh I don’t want to bother you with the details.”  He gives a forced laugh, which is really very cute.

“Okay.  Well, I’m going to be leaving.”

“Really?”  Kai sounds relieved.

“Yep.  Oh, wait.  One thing first?”  You hold up one finger and speak in a very cute voice.

“What’s that?”

You put on an evil smile and stretch out your arms.  “Can I have a hug?”  You eye the nametag on his back, your target.

“I don’t think so.”  Kai makes a break for it.  You run after him laughing.  This is so fun.  You chase him, knowing you’re not as fast, but you’ll run into someone else eventually.

Actually, you end up chasing him into a dead end room.  You chase him over behind a table of miniature people.  You two stop and face each other.  You are both breathing heavily, but you continue to have a battle of wills as you anticipate each other’s moves around the table.  You can’t help but giggle the whole time and Kai is smirking at you, giving you a playful look.  Then you think of something.

You pull out the walkie-talkie from your pocket.  “Jongkookshi, I have Kai cornered in the miniatures room.”  Kai’s expression changes to one of slight worry.  You smirk. 

“On my way,” you hear the feedback-ridden response.

“So here are your choices, Jagiya.  You can wait here and be taken out by Jongkook, or you can be taken out by me instead.”

You see Kai looking all directions, possibly looking for an escape route.  After a minute or so, he puts his hands up.  “Okay okay.  You can take me out.”  He starts to slowly walk around one side of the table.  You match his direction, planning to meet him at the end.

When he is only a few feet ahead of you he takes off to the side heading for the door.  You can’t help but laugh at the trick, which you had expected.  However, the laugh grows hysterical as you hear Kai shout out in surprise.  Jongkook has just shown up at the door.  You see Kai now lying on the floor, laughing and panting.

“You scared the heck out of me,” he pants.  Jongkook laughs at the situation and pins him to the floor.  You quickly run over and slide to your knees.  Your hands go straight for his shoulders trying to reach his nametag.

“Jongkook Oppa, lift him up a little please.”  You know Jongkook is probably blushing at the “oppa” nickname, but Kai’s nametag is soon revealed and you rip it off in one swift movement.

Kai, Out!  Kai, Out!

Coming Soon…..Part 2