“Cut!” PD Chul Min shouted.

Taking a glance at the sight where the cameras had sequentially gone off, Ji Hyo skipped her way towards Jong Kook with her humongous wide smile whilst clapping like a seal, due to the sight of Jong Kook was covered with red coloured whipped cream. The way the maroon dye concentrated at the upper part of his face, allowing the lesser concentrated whipped cream to scatter around the lower part of his face, caused him to look like a demon.

“Oppa, you’re so lucky today!” She chuckled heartily, embedded with a hint of sarcasm.

Nodding his head, he admitted, “Yeah, I know right.”

“Ah! A monster!” She screamed in fake fear, poking fun at him when he was wiping away the whipped cream off his face.

Too distracted by her task to tease Jong Kook, she wasn’t aware that most of the whipped cream where cleared from his face and were on the towel. He counter-attacked by smearing a portion of the whipped cream from his towel to her face. Unfortunately for Ji Hyo, his aim wasn’t focused for the launch of his marron whipped cream towel, causing the remaining of the whipped cream to land on her shirt too.

His teeth assembled itself at the victory of his attack, he teased, “Now, you are a monster too!”

“Yah Kim Jong Kook!”  She shrieked at the sight of the whipped cream that was on her.

With that championing smile that plastered on his face, he grinned, “Now, you are as lucky as me!”

“Oppa! Now I have to wash away the whipped cream too!” She lamented; her lips were protruding into a pout.

Shrugging, he remarked, “I just want to share my luck.”

Shaking her head in disbelief, she couldn’t stand the victorious grin on his face.

“I’ll go wash up, I’ll see you around in twenty minutes,” He commented before getting the necessities needed to shower.

Shaking her head in defeat, she sighed. She couldn’t believe what the mischievous trait that was embedded in her had done. She was actually free from the whipped cream, but she found trouble with an equally playful opponent, one who had received that day’s penalty.

Realising that she didn’t have much time on hand, she headed for her toiletries before heading to the female toilet to shower.

Upon entering the ladies, she flashed a smile at So Min, who was standing by the vanity to dry her hair with a towel.

“Unnie? What brings you here?” The bubbly younger woman asked, “You didn’t get the penalty, right? Where did you get the whipped cream from?”

“It’s Jo-,” Before the older woman could even respond, the younger woman cut her words and replied to own her question out of excitement, “It’s Jong Kook Oppa! Ah… This finally makes sense…”

Nodding her head at her reply of realisation, she headed her way to a shower stall.

“Unnie, it must be great to be able to date while working, isn’t it?” So Min asked teasingly.

A delighted smile escaped her lips, she was proud that she was swift enough to be in the shower stall when the questioned was asked. Pretending that she didn’t hear anything, she the shower tap where the running of the water from the showerhead was able to muffle her environment noise. Initially, she didn’t want to ignore the younger woman’s question, but she had no idea what was happening to Ji Hyo. Yet, the question that was asked, wandered its way to Ji Hyo’s mind for her to wonder.  

While she lathered the shower gel on, she pondered on So Min’s reaction if she knew the truth that Jong Kook and Ji Hyo were not together in reality. Thinking about Jong Kook, she still couldn’t phantom what exactly when through his brain to declare their inexistent relationship to so many people on set. It might be easier if it was kept contained with just the cast members, but no, he announced it in front of the huge group of crew and people who work for them. The daunting thought that many had known the announcement of their fictional relationship caused her to make a mental note to find time with him to discuss concerning that issue later on when they were alone.

-

Why did you shower so quickly?

Ji Hyo presented herself a mental facepalm as she regretted having to finish her shower in a nick of time. She was ready to leave the ladies when she realised that she wasn’t ready to witness the scene that unfolds beneath her eyes.

“So Min-ah, I think I like you.”

The familiar voice that Ji Hyo heard every Running Man filming enabled her to immediately figure out the owner of the voice. Her central incisor immediately found its way to daggered on her lip whilst her grip on the door’s handle tightened at the tiny opening. Despite being a tiny opening, it was wide enough for her to accidentally exchange eye contact with So Min. And, she wasn’t surprised to see Se Chan standing before the younger woman who he was confessing to.

From a single line from the conversation and a similar glimpsed of the scene that unfolded beneath her eyes, the entire situation was a déjà vu to Ji Hyo. Why does this scene feel so familiar?

The exact scene had happened to her years ago. She remembered that she was in So Min’s shoes, being the lady that was being confessed to. While the role she was now in, the one who eavesdrops the conversation belonged to Kim Jong Kook and Yang Se Chan took over Gary’s position.

Learning from the mistake that Jong Kook had made years ago, she cautiously pushed the handle slowly and lightly, hoping that the sound of the door closing would be as soft as possible. And she was relieved that she didn’t peer the door wide open but had opened it discreetly, although she was too paralysed to have a quick response and had an exchange of eye contact with So Min. Her burning curiosity made her lean her ear on the door to listen to the conversation. As much as she knew that she had to be quick to not keep Jong Kook waiting, she couldn’t ruin their moment together by choosing to leave the toilet.

“Se Chan-ah, stop fooling around.”

“I’m not.”

“Oppa? Stop hiding oppas! It’s one of the pranks, right?”

“The hyungs are not here! I’m here on my own to find you, to confess to you. I think I really like you.”

“Se Chan-ah, I don’t know how to respond. This is just too sudden.”

“It’s okay… At least, now you know how I feel about you.”

Silence followed thereafter, but Ji Hyo knew better than to open the door. Why weren’t there any response? Had they left? Were their footsteps too soft? Did I miss hearing their footsteps? She then decided that the moment she finished counting down from twenty and if it was still silent, she would carefully pry the door open to leave. With anticipation, she prayed that they had already empty the corridor so that she would be able to leave the washroom.

Three… Two… One...

Her hands clenched upon the door handle tightly. The very moment when she was about to pull the door handle to open the door, she heard Se Chan’s voice. Holding her breath, she pushed her body weight against the door, ensuring the door was tightly shut.

“Hyung? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to find Ji Hyo. What are you guys doing here? Everyone had left already.”

Flabbergasted to identify the owner of the new voice in the conversation belonged to Kim Jong Kook, she furrowed her eyebrows trying to figure out why would he appear then and there. Was Jong Kook the angel that was being sent to save a damsel in distress she was in such a situation?

“Unnie? She was in the shower,” So Min informed.

“Oh, is it? Then, I would wait for her here,” Jong Kook said.

Would that be strong enough statement to encourage the maknaes to leave?

Speaking from her own experiences with them, they wouldn’t. They would always be too persistent and playful to actually leave. Words couldn’t describe the heaving of a deep sigh of relief, the moment she heard the maknaes’ giggles became fainter. She felt that he’s the angel that was sent to save her from that situation and she couldn’t be more grateful.

Again, she counted from twenty and then opened the door gently.

When she opened the door, she was greeted by a muscular man leaning on the wall while busy fidgeting around with his phone and she called out, “Oppa!”

“Oh, you are finally out,” He remarked, looking at her with a smile.

“Yeap! Thanks for the wait!” She smiled.

“Let’s go,” He decided.

Grasping on her thinner wrist, he tugged her follow his lead. Trailing after him wordlessly, they reached his van, where Gap Jin, Jong Kook’s manager was waiting for them.

During the ride towards the gym, she contemplated amongst herself if she should share with them the conversation that she had overheard. But her past experiences told her that she shouldn’t, relationships should be left for the involved parties to figure out on their own without interference. She didn’t want to be the one held responsible for the mistake, unlike someone named Kim Jong Kook. Besides, she still needed an explanation from him on the sudden declaration of their non-existent relationship, but she couldn’t because Gap Jin was there.

-

She had changed into the spare clothes that she had prepared for the impromptu gym session of hers. She knew that her tank top was a bit too fitting for the gym, but she didn’t have a choice. Besides, she wouldn’t want to make Jong Kook delay his meeting with this beloved gym of his to obtain a comfortable top for exercising. She had no rights; she isn’t his girlfriend or whatnot. Wait… He declared that they had been dating earlier on, she reminded herself that she needed to ask him what he was thinking to make such a statement.

Standing before Jong Kook, who was seated by a bench in the gym’s locker room, leaning forward with his hands clasped together on his knees, seemingly in deep thought.

She called out, “Oppa!”

Yet, he didn’t react.

Hoping to get his attention, she called out again, “Oppa,” she waved her hand directly in front of his range of sight, wanting to pull the distracted tiger back from space.

“Oppa?”

Belatedly, he responded, “Yes?”

Concerned by his slow reaction time, she plopped on the seat beside him. Staring directly into his eyes, she asked, “Oppa, are you okay? I’ve been calling you for a while!”

He blinked at her question, clearing his dry throat, he responded, “Did you? I’m sorry I was thinking about something.”

She tilted her head slightly, curious on what would he be thinking as she stared at him with her big wide doe-like eyes, she asked, “Oppa, what are you thinking about?”

“I-I was,” He stuttered.

She blinked, not understanding why he would stutter. She tilted her head a little more, widening the angle from the usual line of symmetry.

That prompted him to reply in his stutter, “I was thinking about what to have for dinner.”

Furrowing her eyebrow at his unusually suspicious answer, she teased, “Really? The gym-fanatic would rather think of dinner than to show his love for the gym more?”

“No, I love you more,” He replied.

Her eyes widened in shock and her blanked expression was hung on her face at what he had just spoken. But her widened eyes were brought to ease when she saw how he blinked his eyes hard, reprimanding himself and silently cursing himself at what seemed to be a slip of his tongue. She had decided to play dumb and deaf and pretended that she didn’t hear those words that had caused his tongue to stumble. And so, she waited for hi