Chapter 14

Delaying the Inevitable

Meanwhile, Ji Hyo rushed to her car before dialling someone to share her news with.

“You realise we have filming early tomorrow?” Dong Wook grumbled, as he was woken up from his slumber with the incessant ringing of his phone.

“He asked me out!” Ji Hyo reported, yet her voice was filled with excitement as she breezed through the traffic lights. Frankly, most people were at home at 1130 at night.

“You couldn’t have told me this tomorrow face to face?” Dong Wook replied, half sarcastic and half truthfully. He loved to see Ji Hyo happy as her best friend, especially after years of hearing about Jong Kook – like how he seemed so cool for doing something so trivial, but he couldn’t understand why he had to be woken up for it. But giving it more thought, he understood. He would do the same if he was in her situation.

“Yah! You don’t know how happy I am right now!”
“You just told me so yes I do.” Dong Wook deadpanned, clearly not letting his fatigue get in the way of deadpanning Ji Hyo. It was then Dong Wook was thankful for a phone call instead of being told face to face, otherwise he would have been hit at least twice by now.

“Funny.” Ji Hyo rolled her eyes. “I’ll let you sleep.” She hung up, grinning, not caring about the fact that she had just called Dong Wook for a phone call that lasted all of 52 seconds.

After breezing through the traffic lights, Ji Hyo arrived home and was in the process of doing her face mask when her phone rang.

“Hello?”
“Did you get home safe?” Ji Hyo’s ears perked up at the sound of Jong Kook, now able to call him her boyfriend.

“It’s only a 30-minute drive oppa.” She joked, but nevertheless was happy to hear his voice, although it was only 35 minutes since they had seen each other.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Jong Kook chuckled. “What are you doing?”
“Face mask – it’s really relaxing. What about you?”
“After cleaning up all the candles and asking myself why I chose to use so many, in bed… thinking of you.”
On countless occasions she had expressed her hatred for cringeworthy comments such as the one that Jong Kook had just said, but for some reason hearing it from him had made her smile brightly.

“I miss you too.” She replied making Jong Kook smile as her heart fluttered as he laid in his bed. He internally squealed as he rolled onto his front and kicked his legs.

“What time do you finish tomorrow?”
“Afternoon I think. Why?”
“First date remember?”
“How could I forget?”

“What time does filming start? I don’t want you to work long hours. Kwang Soo even gave me a call a couple of days ago because he was so worried about you working such long hours. I didn’t want to mention it but even today your dark circles were noticeable.”
“Relax oppa. I’ll be fine. But if I did get fatigued or injured you’d be my own personal doctor wouldn’t you?” Ji Hyo asked, earning a hum of agreement on the other end of the fate. “Then I’d get better quickly.”
“But Ji Hyo – yah…”
“Oppa, seriously I’ll be ok. And if I don’t feel ok I’ll tell you ok?” Ji Hyo promised.

“Fine.” He huffed, knowing that Ji Hyo’s stubbornness was a thing that he could never win against. “But you still didn’t answer my question.”

“Early morning.” Ji Hyo grumbled, as the thought of her having to get up early and have her hair and make – up done.

“You should sleep then. I know how that’s so precious to you.” Jong Kook chuckled.
“Hey! There are other things that are important to me than sleep!”
“Name 3 things then in 5 seconds.” Jong Kook challenged, starting his countdown.
“Family, friends and fans.” Ji Hyo spitted out leaving Jong Kook amazed. Yet he shouldn’t have been as he was suddenly reminded of when they played “Lucky or Not 5 Seconds Q and A” when Black Pink guested on the show. It particularly reminded him of when Jae Suk asked what three traits of her boyfriend and had answered that he was “y, rich and handsome”, completely leaving him dumbfounded. Unbeknown to him, Ji Hyo had thought about Jong Kook, although not her boyfriend at the time, and so was able to answer without any hesitation.

“What about me?” Jong Kook whined.

“You fit into all three. You’re like a brother who will always protect me, my best friend and boyfriend and a fan who will always support me in everything I do.” Ji Hyo proudly stated, as if she was boasting about him to her friends.
“I’ll always be here for you Ji Hyo – yah, as your friend, boyfriend, brother and fan.” He promised, putting Ji Hyo’s mind at ease. One of her greatest fears, aside from bugs, zombies and her mother,  was to let people down so to know that Jong Kook would always be there for her no matter what was of a great comfort to her.

“Just don’t turn into a sasaeng* fan.”
“No promises there.” Jong Kook chuckled. “You’ve finished your face mask right?
“Yup, I’m in bed ready to sleep.”

“Speaking of sleep, you should go to sleep.”
“No you.”

“No you. I bet you’ll fall asleep first anyway.” Jong Kook stated as if he was stating a fact.

“No I won’t!” She defended.

“Ok fine. What do you want to talk about then?” Jong Kook smiled, as he gave in like speaking to a child who didn’t want to go to sleep.

“Hmmmmm… You know about my plans for tomorrow, what are yours?”
“Hmmmm… secret.”
“Yah Kim Jong Kook! I know you’re sticking your tongue out, so stop!” Ji Hyo mock shouted, making Jong Kook go wide – eyed – well as much as his eyes would allow him to anyway.

“Wow… Kwang Soo was right. You’re really a ghost.” Jong Kook exclaimed. After 7 years doing Running Man together, he knew that she was good at games and her luck was ridiculously good, but this was the first time that he had actually considered that she might have been a ghost to know precisely what he was doing despite being in different cities.

“Hardly.” She scoffed. “I thought there was no such thing as secrets between couples?”
“It’s hardly a secret if you’ll find out in the end anyway.”
“Urghhh fine. You’re so insufferable.” She grumbled.

“But I’m also you’re boyfriend.”
“That you are.”
“But I can tell you about the conversation that I had with Kwang Soo the other day about this girl he’s interested in?”
“Go for it.”
“So Kwang Soo called me the other day to ask me about whether a girl liked him or not. Apparently this girl keeps asking him to meet when she meets her friends and that she keeps messaging him and stuff.” Jong Kook narrated the story whilst Ji Hyo hummed back, chuckling at the idea that he was often sought for to give relationship advise yet it took him 7 years to confess to Ji Hyo. “I said that he should be careful because she could just ask him as friends only but that she might like him. Do you know what he said to me?” Jong Kook asked, yet he was only met with silence and the sounds of Ji Hyo’s light snores. He chuckled and reminisced the times when they had filmed Running Man and Ji Hyo had slept next to him in the car. It wasn’t always shown on camera of course, not to stir up any rumours when the viewers gave so much support to the Monday Couple, but the moments still happened. It was particularly when she was also filming dramas at the same time, often having a late night filming on the Sunday before filming Running Man all day on the Monday, and despite trying to stay awake as much as possible, had succumbed to sleeping on his shoulder. The first time it had happened, Jong Kook was surprised and so had often asked to switch seats with Ha Ha or Kwang Soo but found that he didn’t want other guys, despite Ha Ha being married with a second child on the way and Kwang Soo vowing that he would never date his noona (obviously it wasn’t that she wasn’t girlfriend material or such but more that he really saw her as his real sister so the thought of dating her would be gross), near her and so quickly opted to switch seats again. He loved the fact that Ji Hyo had opted to lean on his shoulder, not anyone else, and smiled as she would lean into him more as she fell into a deeper sleep or when the car jerked violently or braked suddenly and thus had leaned into him more, often clutching his arm unconsciously as well. He had also smiled unknowingly when she was in a deep sleep as he thought that Ji Hyo’s natural beauty really came to light as well as her cuteness. It was at that time when Jong Kook really felt that Ji Hyo had trusted him and thus felt that he wanted to protected her at all costs.

“See you tomorrow beautiful. Sweet dreams.” Jong Kook whispered, even though he knew that Ji Hyo couldn’t hear him. He ended the phone call before going to sleep himself.

 

It was the next day, although the darkness outside still made Ji Hyo think it was night, when Ji Hyo was woken up by her alarm – Jong Kook’s “Loveable” – but Ji Hyo wasn’t still half – asleep or grumpy like she normally would be at this time as she got dressed and got into the car as her manager drove her towards the set.

“Do you want some coffee? I’ll get some.” Ji Hyo asked her manager, causing him and her coordi to look at each other in surprise through the mirror but also both sharing a knowing smile. Ji Hyo was normally either quiet or sleeping so for her to even suggest going for coffee in the morning was absurd, especially if she was offering to pay. Of course she paid for dinners and drinks occasionally, as a token of her continuous thanks to the people that travelled for long hours with her, but this was often at times when her filming had finished or if it was someone’s birthday. Yet today was just a normal day as they travelled towards the filming sight at half 5 in the morning.

“Urm sure.” Her manager agreed, taking advantage of Ji Hyo’s unpredictable generous mood in the morning, and drove towards a 24-hour café that was around Ji Hyo’s neighbourhood. Ji Hyo rushed in to the café to order the drinks, 2 Americanos and one Latté, before rushing back to the car whilst she battled the harsh winter breeze. She spent the rest of the journey chatting non – stop to her coordi, only confirming both her manager’s and coordi’s thought about her relationship with Jong Kook. Honestly, it couldn’t have been any more obvious to them.

As Ji Hyo sat down in her chair whislt she had her hair and make – up done, she couldn’t ignore the subtle glances between her hair stylist and make – up artist reflected on the mirror.

“Why are you two smiling like that?” Ji Hyo asked.

“Nothing unni.” Her make – up artist smirked, as her hair stylist proceeded to curl her hair.

“Come on. I’ve known you both for over 10 years.” She urged as both her stylist and make – up artist exchanged looks with each other, debating whether or not they should say anything. Even being friends for over 10 years, they still respected each other’s privacy and knew that Ji Hyo would tell them about her private life when she wanted to.
“It’s just you seem different that’s all.” Her make – up artist shrugged as she applied eyeliner on Ji Hyo.

“I’m still me.” Ji Hyo laughed.

“You seem happier unni. You even bought us drinks this morning.”

“That makes me sound like I don’t buy you anything at all!”
“A different you lasted long.” Her hair stylist muttered, chuckling, as Ji Hyo’s hair and make – up was finished. “Did Jong Kook come to yours again last night or something?”

“Maybe.” Ji Hyo muttered coyly which didn’t go unnoticed by the two women who had attended to her hair and make – up minutes before and her manager who was on his phone behind them.

“Spill!” All three of them chanted in unison, pulling Ji Hyo to an empty chair and pulling the remaining chairs in a circle surrounding her.

“Jong Kook may or may not have asked me out last night.” Ji Hyo muttered quickly, hoping they wouldn’t hear. But the exact opposite happened. The two women squealed whilst her manager muttered something about it being time as they, the people who worked closet with Ji Hyo and consequently seen her happy and sad, all congratulated her. All three of them had worked with Ji Hyo for a long time and had witnessed her various break – ups and her lowest times and truly wished her to be happy. Thus, after seeing her have a one – sided love over Jong Kook, although this wasn’t realised until a couple of weeks ago by said actress, the fact that Jong Kook had finally asked her out meant that they could finally stop hearing about the times when she brags about him doing something so trivial and the times when she would be jealous and cranky.

After trying to get more information out of her, although she refused, Ji Hyo started filming for that day. It wasn’t so much the first scenes that she was worried about – on the contrary in fact – as they were fighting scenes with Dong Wook and so was easy to portray, but it was the honeymoon scene that was playing on Ji Hyo’s mind during the morning. This didn’t go unnoticed by Dong Wook however and he had quietly signalled for Ji Hyo to his dressing room for a talk during one of the breaks.

 

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A/N: *Sasaeng – obsessive fan (often includes behaviour such as stalking and the intrusion of a celebrity’s private life)

 

Firstly, I apologise so much for the delay in uploading this chapter. I’ve been really busy and bombarded with assignments recently so haven’t had the chance to write. Plus, I’ve had bad writers block.

 

The results of the survey are in! It’s overwhelmingly a “yes” to M – rated content. So I’ll be writing those in future chapters so look forward to them! I will be writing a warning at the beginning to warn people so if you don’t feel comfortable reading it then skip it. It won’t be anything that’s essential to the story or anything.

 

Just a reminder that requests are open on Tumblr (spartaceistheace.tumblr.com) which are on BTS and RM (more details on Tumblr). So feel free to send in your requests!

Lastly, a massive thank you for everyone! When I first started writing it wasn’t anything in particular but just something that I did when I was bored. But nowadays it really is something that I enjoy and look forward to doing. The support I’ve had is genuinely incredible and I couldn’t continue writing if I hadn’t got this support!

 

I’ll try and update soon! (Just a quick question though – would you like me to write my “Song of the Day” at the beginning of each chapter? It would just be a song that helped me write that particular chapter, or a song that I really enjoy at the time of writing or a song that I think goes well with that chapter. Let me know in the comments below!)

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_guiax #1
Chapter 39: Hoping for an update 😭
retfhej #2
I'm waiting for an update, Hope you will continue this story!
jk_lau18 #3
Chapter 39: ❤️❤️
retfhej #4
Chapter 39: Thank you so much for update!
baybeesuga #5
Chapter 39: Thanks so much for the update. Another beautifully written chapter. Can't wait for the next! (:
shazam7 #6
Chapter 39: Thank you for the update. Your story is beautiful
rishou #7
Chapter 39: thank you for the update authornim! i had faith you would eventually update and it was absolutely woth it bc this ch was amazing!
ChoKwanGi #8
Chapter 39: wooooowww!!! thanks for the update!!!
aiiduck #9
Chapter 38: you probably won't update but I hope you are doing great and I love this fanfic sooo muchh <33