Hye Jung drew a deep breath as she wrapped her hands around the cup of tea that was placed on the table by the owner of the cafe. If it wasn't because she missed the last bus to Seoul, she wouldn't be here right now. If it weren't for the morning shift that she has looming over her shoulders, she wouldn't have agreed to let Ji Hong drive her back home. And if it weren't for the both of them not being able to eat dinner yet, they wouldn't be sitting awkwardly across from each other as they wait for the food to come out. Hye Jung just can't seem to wrap this whole thing around her head. She's spent the last month doing perfectly fine avoiding him. No matter how many times they've run into each other during work, she avoided any type of eye or physical contact. No matter how many times they were in the same room to discuss certain cases with others, she always made sure that there was an obvious distance between them. Everything was going as perfectly planned. And just out of the blue, they are sitting closer than they ever been since the breakup because of this damn flower vase.

Ji Hong looked around the small cafe, one that he has been numerously times when he lived in the countryside as a teacher. Although it has been more than fourteen years, everything about it still looks the same. His eyes adverted over to the flower vase by his side, how is he going to explain this to her? In any way, he doesn't want her to misunderstand anything. He took a deep breath and silently cursed at himself, what else could this be? There is no misunderstanding here. He has finally overstep the boundary line by doing something as stupid like this. The only thing he could do at this moment is make sure that Hye Jung doesn't think anything else this. But honestly, why would she? She seems to have it altogether.

The sound of the kitchen doors opening and the smell of food made both Hye Jung and Ji Hong looked over. The owner smiled sweetly at them as she placed down their food, exhaling deeply as she took a step back. "Sorry if it took so long. I just didn't expect customers this late in the evening. The neighborhood's small. Most of the people that does come here are my regulars so I'm a bit - " she stopped talking and narrowed her eyes at Hye Jung. "Oh my! Aren't you Kang Mal Soon's granddaughter?!"

Surprised by the recogonition, Hye Jung immediately stood up and bowed down to show respect. "Yes." She hasn't heard someone call her grandma's name like that in such a long time. "Did you know her?"

"Know her?!" The owner laughed as she patted Hye Jung's shoulders. "She was one of my closest friends I made at the market! Her rice soup always cheered me up." She exhaled and gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about what happened."

Hye Jung sadly smiled back. "Thank you."

"Wow, you've become so beautiful!" The owner shook her head as she laughed. "Mal Soon used to go around and praise your beauty everywhere! She was so proud of you!" Her eyes adverted over to Ji Hong and another bright smile appeared on her face. "Oh! Teacher Hong!"

Ji Hong stood up and bowed down. "You can just call me Ji Hong, I've stopped teaching for a while now."

The owner looked between them and giggled. "Ah, so Kang Mal Soon was right, wasn't she?"

Hye Jung and Ji Hong furrowed their eyebrows together as they looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"She said that you would end up with a great guy one day because you knew what is best for you," the owner sighed as she cleaned her hands with the apron around her. "Mal Soon used to say that she didn't have to worry about you. 'That brat knows what to do with her life. I trust her and anyone she chooses to be with' was what she always used to say." The owner looked at Ji Hong and chuckled. "And this guy is a good man, don't lose him." And just like that, the owner walked away to start cleaning up the kitchen.

Hye Jung cleared as she sat back down, looking down at her food. Picking up her utensils, she just started eating to avoid sparking up a conversation between them. Why does it seem like that her grandma is always right about something? Even now, she still has this affect in Hye Jung and she doesn't know if she should be happy about it. Hye Jung has failed her grandma and the owner. Her eyes briefly glanced up to take a peek at Ji Hong as he ate his food in silence. She has failed - she has lost him forever nd there is nothing she could do.

Ji Hong chewed his food slowly as he looked outside the window. When did he start becoming this pathethic? How can he just sit here in silence and not say anything? Has their....some sort of relationship resulted into this? Even if they are not together anymore, it doesn't mean they can't have a civil conversation. He has to prove both Jung Pa Ran and Jo In Joo wrong. Putting down the utenstils onto the table, he picked up the flower vase from the chair, sliding it over to Hye Jung's side of the table. He exhaled deeply before he spoke. "As your boss, I was told that I had to give you a gift." That was a complete lie. "And I couldn't think of anything except for this so..." he shrugged his shoulders. "Happy Birthday..."

"I..." Hye Jung doesn't know what to say. "I mean, thanks." She took the flower vase and smiled to herself. This was what she wanted since her last birthday, something to remind her of her grandma as she adds new flowers to it every week. Hye Jung cleared as she looked at Ji Hong. "But you didn't have to."

"Yeah, well." Ji Hong looked up from his food, making eye contact with her. "I'm your boss. I should at least treat you the same as the others."

She nodded her head. "I agree." Hye Jung shrugged her shoulders as she took another bite of her food. "At the end of the day, we are still colleagues with each other. If we can't have a decent conversation then I guess we are professionals at all."

Ji Hong finished the last bit of his food and took a sip of his water. Decent conversation. Something about what she just said made him remember what their last real conversation was. The day of the welcoming party - when they were arguing in front of his car. The anger that they both felt toward each other exploded that day. He called her out for own stupidity on losing a longtime friendship, her stupidity on not being able to cope with the fact that people can't keep secrets from her but she could. Those words left his mouth that day before he could know to stop it. Now that he thinks about it, they haven't been able to have a decent conversation since they've came back to work. And like he said earlier, they are both colleagues who will probably work together for a long time. "I'm sorry."

Hye Jung knit her eyebrows together as she wiped with a napkin. "What?"

"I am older than you and most importantly, your senior at work. I should know better to seperate personal business with the profession." Ji Hong exhaled deeply. "And what I said to you that night, I was really out of line."

How did their relationship get to this point? Hye Jung could only manage to lightly smile as she pushed aside her dish and held out her hand in front of him. What they had between them was over the day when she walked away, she had to do what she did. But as she sits here with Ji Hong and that letter I warned you still repeating in her head - the only way to protect him is to make sure that he trusts her. Friend or for, even ex-fiancee - his life is more important. That is something that she and Director Kim Tae Ho has agreed on, his life is more important than their own. "Truce?"

Ji Hong stared at her hand, debating if he should take it or not. It's not because he doesn't want to try and make peace. It's the physical contact that he see's in front of him. "Yeah, truce." They both shook hands and immediately pulled their hands back in awkwardness.

. . .

Ji Hong held his hands behind his back as they walked on the sidewalk in the middle of the night. He was dumb to think that he could park his car as far as at the school. Granted, it was only when he believed that he could enjoy a nice walk in the countryside alone. And now here he is, walking alongside Yoo Hye Jung - at a place where it all started. He took a deep breath while looking up at the stars - sometimes he forgets that the countryside has those type of beautiful stars that you could only see here. Seoul is just a big city with the bright lights and nonstop honking cars. He barely has time to look at stars. His footsteps halted as soon as he recogonized the street they were on.

The street when he let Hye Jung walk away from him and get on that motorcycle.

Hye Jung stopped walking and looked at him. "Doctor Hong?"

"Yeah?" He snapped back to reality and cleared his throat. "Sorry, I got distracted." Ji Hong started pacing his footsteps faster so they could reach the car and start heading back home. Truce or not, walking together like this at night - something they used to do all the time when they were dating, is just something he can't handle. "Why don't you wait here? The parking lot's right there. I'll drive and pick you up on the way."

"Alright," Hye Jung said as she decided to lean back against the ledge wall. Her hands tightened around the flower vase as she watched Ji Hong run off toward the parking lot. The sound of her phone repeatedly beeping distracted her, taking her phone out of the back pocket. She knit her eyebrows at the incoming picture messages she was getting. Opening each photo one by one, she nearly lost her balance when she saw it were photos of her and Ji Hong in the restaurant earlier. Photos of them walking out, of them heading up toward the hill, of them just now - walking along the sidewalk together. Breathing heavily with her eyes widened, Hye Jung ran over to the middle of the streets - her eyes scanning the empty streets. Where could this person be at? How is this even possible? Her phone vibrated in her hand, she looked down to see a text message. Having fun? I will be soon too. Immediately, Hye Jung started shaking so hard that she lost balance in her footing. The flower vase instantly dropped onto the ground, shattering into pieces. She dropped onto the ground, her whole body still uncontrollably shaking.

"Yoo Hye Jung!" Ji Hong slammed onto the brakes and rushed out of the car. "Are you okay?" He held onto her shaky body, his hands trembling because this is the first time he has ever seen her like his. Adverting his eyes at her legs, he gasped to see pieces of shard glasses stuck on her legs - he can count at least more than eight glasses. "Oh my God, we need to get you to the nearest hospital!" Ji Hong quickly got up, carrying Hye Jung in his arms as he gently placed her into the passenger seat of the car. "Are you okay?"

Hye Jung nodded her head. "I'm fine. We can just get our first aid kit in the back of your car, fix me up and we're good."

"My first aid kit?" Ji Hong was a little taken back. "You remembered that I have one in the back of my car?"

"We're doctors, it's a given."

. . .

"Okay, last one." Ji Hong said quietly as he dropped the piece of glass into the bag. Holding onto the tweezers tightly in his hand, he carefully touched the last piece of glass shard on her leg. It's the one that he couldn't get out earlier because it's deep inside the tissue. "I think I'll pour alcohol around the glass so I can move it out." Taking the bottle, he slowly poured the liquid onto the area - the sound of Hye Jung muffling her screaming into her arm filled the whole empty streets. "Okay.." Ji Hong exhaled deeply as he dropped the lst glass into the bag. "Good?"

"Yeah, thanks." Hye Jung stared at Ji Hong as he smiled before he opened the antibiotic alcohol to clean off the running blood on her leg. There are a thousand thoughts running through her head right now. Ji Hong parked the car back into the school's parking lot so he could take care of her injury. She knew this was a horrible idea. The fact that maybe, just maybe - they could get along. She let one little emotion like this slip and it has only put Hong Ji Hong in even more danger. How is she supposed to explain this to Kim Tae Ho? Everything they worked so hard to make Ji Hong safe might go down the drain if she keep trying to keep on holding onto to him. After he put the bandages on, she immediately pulled her legs away and cleared as she ran a hand through her hair. "We should head back, it's getting late."

"It's half past one in the morning," JI Hong sighed and looked at the empty streets, something else he missed about staying here. No one walking around in the middle of the night, just a nice breeze of wind and cold air. "I think we should just shelter somewhere for a few hours before we drive back to Seoul. I don't have enough energy to drive right now."

"I'll drive."

Ji Hong shook his head. "I don't think so, not with that leg. From the looks of it, you can't even stand."

"I can definitely stand," she argued. Finding the strength in her to stand, she drew a deep breath. "See? I can stand - " Immediately, she lost her balance as soon as she put her injured leg on the ground. Ji Hong grabbed onto her tightly around the waist.

"Oh." Ji Hong pulled his arms around and took a few steps back. "I'm sorry." He furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion when he noticed something on Hye Jung's neck that he never saw before. It looks as if it's a scar. "What's that?" Strangely by instincts, he pushed aside her hair to see the scar - it looks as if it has healed since but anyone who looks at that knows that this isn't any accident. "What happened?!"

Hye Jung pulled back her hair to cover the scar again - something she has hid incredibly well too but it seems as if everything is breaking down. "It's nothing." She breathed in deeply as she tried to collect her thoughts to decide what exactly to do. If they stay for a few more hours here, who knows what could happen to Ji Hong. Hye Jung doesn't even know if the person left yet. When she isn't in control of something, it drives her insanely crazy. The fact that something like this is happening in a place that her grandma used to live and work is upsetting her. "Two hours. We can stay in the school to rest for two more hours but if we want to make our morning shift - "

"We have to get going." Ji Hong finished saying for her. The both of them looked at each other before laughing out loud together.

Realizing it's the first time that they have laughed together, Hye Jung couldn't help but feel this rush of happiness down her body. Of course, the happiness vanished right away as soon as she knew what was more important. "So...the school?"

. . .

Hye Jung sat on the stool, watching Ji Hong fast asleep on a teacher's desk for the past ten minutes. They have another hour before they head out back on the road. She can't sleep. All she has been able to do was look through the damn photos that she received. It's creepy, scary, and annoying. The three things that she hates the most. The more she thinks about it, the more angier she gets. Why can't she find out if this person is a male or female? With the phone calls that she has been exchanging with whoever this person is, it has always been a robotic voice. Her life has become a thriller psychological movie. The funny thing is she isn't the victim or target - Hong Ji Hong is and he doesn't even know it.

One Year Ago.

"Doctor Yoo," the sound of someone calling her name repeatedly interrupted her dreams. Her eyes opened slowly as she lifted her head up from the hospital bed, yawning from the restless work she has been doing. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

Hye Jung squinted her eyes and looked over at Director Kim Tae Ho. "Ae you here to visit Doctor Hong?"

Tae Ho glanced between Ji Hong and Hye Jung. "No, I'm here to see you."

"Me?" She stood up from the chair, making sure the blanket was wrapped around Ji Hong tightly so he wouldn't be cold. "Did I do some paperwork wrong on my last surgery?"

"No, everything's perfectly fine." Tae Ho stepped away from the bed and over to the corner of the room so they could at least of some space between Ji Hong, afraid he would hear the conversation they are about to have. Coma or not, hearing certain things is a possibility. "Are you still looking for the driver that hit your dad and Ji Hong?"

Hye Jung blinked her eyes in surprise, she has never told Kim Tae Ho about this. Keeping it a secret has been her main focus throughout the whole situation. "I..." she hesitated to continue for a bit. "How did you know or find out about this?"

Tae Ho exhaled deeply as he took out an envelope from his back pocket. "I recieved this in the mail a couple days ago. Spent those days on trying to figure it out, I didn't want to bring you into it. Or should I say, I didn't want to exactly know what you've been doing behind our backs. It's best if I didn't know but I think it's for the better if we both work together."

"Work together? What does the letter exactly say?" She opened up the envelope, her eyes scanning immediately. If you want Hong Ji Hong to be safe, you need to leave him now. If you are still with him after five days, I will take it as if my threat is merely nothing to you. I will show you that this isn't just a threat but a promise. Yoo Hye Jung, this is your choice. "What the - " she scoffed and looked at Tae Ho as if this was serious. "What is this? How would this end up being sent to you? Was there a return address?"

Tae Ho shook his head. "No." He sighed and shrugged his ahoulders. "I've been to several postal offices even the express delivery boys to see if they know who would send this, I got nothing. From what I see, it's probably a joke."

Hye Jung knit her eyebrows. "How do you know if this is from the driver? Or a joke?"

"The friend that you and Ji Hong did surgery on together, Kim Soo Chul." Tae Ho gives her a small smile. "He came by my office last week and confessed everything because he's really worried about your next actions. I promised him that I would watch over you as you work here." He glanced at Ji Hong, still in coma probably oblivious to everything that has been happening. "Whether this letter is from the driver or not, we don't have to worry. If this person wanted to do something, they would've already. Ji Hong has been in coma for more than two and a half months now. Nothing has happened except for his declining health."

"You seem to forget that we're talking about someone who was purposely running down two people. Whoever this person may be, they have already done a lot more things. My wedding is over, Ji Hong has lost immense weight from being in coma." Hye Jung sighed. "But what I won't do is leave Ji Hong when he needs me the most. I will never leave him. So threat or not, this isn't something we have to worry about it."

Tae Ho held onto her shoulders. "I just want to make sure this is something we can agree on. We will carry on like before and try out best to find out who this bastard is."

Hye Jung smiled. "Of course, it's what I've always been doing. I may have lost control a bit a week ago in the garage because I mistaken a doctor in the hospital for being the culprit but I am learning to have patience."

"Good, it's what is best."

. . .

That is what they had believed five days ago. Everything seems to be under control. The letter was merely just a piece of paper to the both of them, even as the days passed - nothing seem threatening in any sort of way. It was almost a relief to them. Until they were proven wrong.

Hye Jung walked over to her car, unlocking it as she opened the driver side door. She has just gotten off a midnight shift and the only thing she wants to do is get in the shower and eat food that Soo Chul has brought over. Once she finishes eating, she will drive back to the hospital and take care of Ji Hong for the rest of the night and tomorrow, since it's her day off. Before she could start the car, she instantly froze when her instincts told her that someone else was inside. Hye Jung drew a deep breath as she stared at the rear view mirror to see someone in a ski mask come out from the back seat with a sharp knife against the neck.

"I warned you, didn't I?" It was a robotic voice. How is it possible that this person has a robotic voice when he's talking behind her like this. "I guess my threat didn't seem scary to you." All she felt was rage running down her body as she stared at this mysterious person. She tried her best to look at the physique of this person to see if it is a female or male but it's hard to tell. "Hey!" The knife was held closer to her neck, she could feel the sharpness. "Don't try to see who I am! I warned you and you didn't listen. Now you have to deal with the consquences."

"Consquences? What other plot are you going to pull? Do you really think you can hide two hit and runs like this?" Hye Jung wasn't scared, she has been through worse than this. Knife held against neck? Yeah, something she hasn't been through but the whole threatening situation - plenty of times. "You're a criminal."

"You might want to rush back upstairs to your boyfriend. I had some fun with him before I sneaked my way inside your car, watching your every move." There was a snicker laugh as if this person was enjoying everything. "You can see him one last time before this," a piece of paper landed on her lap. "Before you have to follow every single thing on this paper. If you don't - I will enjoy seeing your friends suffer next."

Hye Jung scoffed. "You're bluffing."

"Am I?" He smirked when Hye Jung's phone started ringing. "You might want to pick that up."

"Hello?" Hye Jung said softly. "What?! How is he having another heart attack?!" She immediately hung up the phone and exhaled deeply as she tried to leave the car but was held back. "Damn it!"

"Do you understand me or not?!"

Before she had time to respond, she screamed in pain when she felt the knife slit her neck a bit. Blood instantly flowing down her skin and staining her clothing. "Okay! Okay!" Tears brimmed against her eyes, she couldn't believe this was happening. "Will you stay away from him? My friends? Everyone I care about?!"

"Depends on you." Pushing the knife closer to her neck, the sound of her screaming in pain only made more laughter to erupt. "Depends on you and everything you do in the future."

Present Time

"Hye Jung," she felt somone lightly tapping her on the shoulders before she woke up. "It's time to wake up and start heading out onto the road." Ji Hong took a deep breath as he stretched.

"What time is it?"

Ji Hong glanced over at the clock. "Almost five."

"Alright, let's go." Hye Jung got up and walked ahead of him. It's been such a long time since she had that nightmare again - the reason behind why she couldn't sleep for weeks in Paris. Everything about that night made her shiver in fear. Not only did this person manage to mess with Ji Hong's machine plugs to cause a mini heart attack, he caused her to live with this scar as a reminder. Whoever this person and why he or she is doing this, it's definitely someone not to mess with. And after what happened last night with those photos, this person is crazily sneaky and good at what they're doing. Everything Hye Jung feels or do for Hong Ji Hong is making her on her tippy toes but she has to be careful around him. "Doctor Hong."

Ji Hong arched an eyebrow and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"What we did last night.....calling truce." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly.

"To be honest." Ji Hong interrupted her as he crossed his arms across his chest. "Getting that flower vase for you is my goodbye." Hye Jung looked up at him, surprised. "I just felt like I couldn't let you go if I didn't get you that flower vase. Since I did get it for you, it makes everything official from now on." Ji Hong took a deep gulp, everything he is saying is a complete lie. But as he spent last night with her, he realized that he can't control his feelings for her. She is currently in a relationship and he doesn't want to ruin that for her. And at the end of the day, she did leave him hanging when he needed her the most. His most vulnerable state and he would never forget the sound of her footsteps walking away. No matter how much he wants to forget about it and ask her if it's okay if somehow they can get together again - if they can go back to what they used to be. Smiling, laughing, sleeping next to each other and talk about their future - everything they used to stand for. There is only one problem, he can't forget any of the pain that he went through. It's just too much stronger. "We called truce so we wouldn't awkwardly stand near each other and not know what to do. It's what professionals do, isn't it? We should stick to that sort of label."

Hye Jung was a little taken back. She knew she was going to say something like that if he didn't interrupt her. Stick as professionals, stick to that label. Knowing very well that those words were about to leave , why did it hurt so much to hear it leave Ji Hong's mouth. The sharp pang in her heart came back as she exhaled deeply. "Of course, Doctor Hong."

Ji Hong smiled. "Good."

. . .

Anna waved her hand happily as she saw Ji Hong walk out of the elevator. "Hey! I missed you the other day."

Ji Hong gave her a brief smile before nodding his head. "I'm sorry. I just needed a day off."

"It's fine! We're always tired, it's understandable. At least you explained yourself."

"Explained myself?" Ji Hong cleared his throat as he finally realized what is happening. He has tried to avoid this type of conversation with Oh Anna because she is a friend that was there for him in Los Angeles. But everything has overstepped the boundary line. "I don't think I have to explain myself to you. What I do or what I want to do, I don't have to ask for your opinion or permission. We are just colleagues. That's what needs to be known between us."

She looked at him. "Of course. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Like that, Ji Hong just walked off toward his office so he can handle all the paperwork that he missed.

Anna turned her head over to elevator once she heard the door opens. "Hold it!"

Hye Jung held onto the door and briefly bowed at Anna. "Morning."

"Morning." Anna replied as she looked between Hye Jung and the man next to her. "Are you her boyfriend?"

Jun Ki smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I was just dropping her off to her floor. It's nice to meet you."

Anna smiled back. "Same, you two are awfully cute together."

Hye Jung and Jun Ki looked at each other before laughing silently. "Thanks." Obviously, secretly not dating but dating in the eyes of the others has become almost a funny game to the both of them. The elevator reached her floor, she sighed and waved goodbye to Jun Ki. "See you tonight." Hye Jung looked at Anna and cleared . "I'll see you in a few for our surgery?"

"Yeah, I just have to grab my files in my office. I'll meet you in there." Anna watched as Hye Jung stepped out and the elevator doors closed. She immediately kept her space between her and Jun Ki. As the elevator shaft continue to go down to each floor, she closed her eyes briefly before it arrived to her office floor. Her eyes opened and she lightly smirked as she fixed her doctor's gown. "Start with Plan B." She ordered quietly before stepping out of the elevator, not looking back.

Jun Ki smirked as he let out a small chuckle. "Finally."

A/N: Here is the next chapter! There were so many many beautiful wonderful comments that it made me so happy that I instantly started writing this chapter faster than I thought. Comments keep me so inspired about this story and makes me want to not give up so thank you! The love and support I am recieving from ALL of you is increasingly inspiring and love it so much! Anyways, here it is! Many many many details has been revealed and the reasons behind the past and secrets are revealed! This chapter is mainly focused on JH & HJ so I know you will love it so much! Thank you for the love and support, please continue! It means a lot to me! Sorry for any mistakes!

QUESTION: How long do you predict this story to last? This is the 13th chapter. I am aiming for at least 20-25 chapters.