For months, Ji Hyo struggled to get over Jong Kook. She did everything to forget about him.

Everything.

Ji Hyo worked harder than the usual. She volunteered to guest in talk shows and variety shows (but except Running Man) in Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and even in Philippines. She wanted a full working schedule- day and night. She didn’t care if she gets exhausted or not.

She must forget, and there’s no better way but to keep herself busy.

When she had decided to go out with her friends and get out of her hole, she attended almost all parties she was invited to. She went to hang out with friends just to have dinner and to drink and chat. Heck, she even went for a short trip in Sydney just to tell her friend Kimmy about the miseries she had encountered. It wasn’t just miseries but nightmares.

Ji Hyo baked cakes and cupcakes too. It was too often and too much she can open a bakeshop. And usually, she always ends up giving it to people she doesn’t know. Friends of friends of friends and even to her fans. YES. The role was reversed, Song Ji Hyo gave away cakes to her fans. Mongjis got free cakes baked by Song Ji Hyo.

She also did yoga.

She did kickboxing.

And she became a fan girl Noona. When Ji Hyo have some free time, she went on tour with EXO in Asia, and she went to watch them as a fan. All these things she did, to forget.

To forget…

That man, KIM JONG KOOK.

Finally, she didn’t ask for news about him anymore. She didn’t read articles about him in the Internet. Last thing she read is that he flew back to the States because his wife is about to give birth. Jong Kook and Hana were expecting a baby girl. Ji Hyo shed tears when she read about it. It could’ve her giving birth, with Jong Kook by her side.

Then Ji Hyo was checking her email one day when she opened the Internet browser when breaking news flashed in front of her eyes. Hana had already given birth and she and her baby’s doing well. Daddy Jong Kook is ecstatic and couldn’t be any happier.

From then on Ji Hyo knew that day she had to give up that tiny hope left in her hearts. She can no longer hold on to him. She was embarrassed to admit, but she was still hoping. All the while even if Jong Kook is already married to Hana and they are expecting a child (at least to Ji Hyo’s knowledge), Ji Hyo kind of hoped, Jong Kook would come back to her one day.

But upon seeing that he was overjoyed with the birth of his daughter, Ji Hyo knew she just had to give that hope up.

It’s over.

Song Ji Hyo finally raised the white flag.

She surrendered.

And finally cried the last time.

She didn’t do these harsh and exhausting things to herself anymore. Everything else went back to normal for Ji Hyo as days pass by. Little by little, she learned to cope, she learned to move on. Her nights were better, her sleep were more peaceful and serene. She wakes up with a smile on her face now.

Crazy as it may seem, as Ji Hyo claims, she had been to hell and back. But she’s one tough woman and life goes on for her.

When she can no longer remember the trauma that waking up married brought her… When she can no longer feel the pain that heartbreak Kim Jong Kook brought her… When finally, finally she had already moved on…

At long last, as her family and friends have long waited and Ji Hyo too had much hoped, she finally spoke these words one day…

“I am ready to fall in love again.”

Ritz Carlton Hotel

Seoul

6 pm

Jang Hyuk held his wife’s hand underneath the table in front of the press while he told each and every one of them the whole truth.

He and Hana had an affair and he is her baby’s father. Singer/Variety Star Kim Jong Kook was too kind enough to help them back then while they needed time to explain to their families the whole situation.

Jang Hyuk had to ask forgiveness from his wife and his own parents and his wife’s family. Hana had to do some explaining to her family as well. He told the media present in that press conference that he was truly blessed that his wife still accepted him although he is still on probation. He is much too thankful to his dongsaeng, Kim Jong Kook for helping him and Hana during that time they asked him.

He apologized to everyone for his actions and he also told them that Jong Kook is still very much single, but he quickly got it back saying, he must be on his way not to get back someone he truly loves.

Too late Hyung.

Your dongsaeng’s too late.

Fairfield City

Los Angeles, California

8 pm

“I didn’t know you guys are going to hit it off.” Lee Ji Min smiled as she ate her Grandma’s famous pasta. “That Pabo is so shy, how did he ask you out?” She even teased his cousin who turned red by just hearing those words.

Her cousin, also Grandma and Grandpa Lee’s grandchild, and Song Ji Hyo’s boyfriend for eight months now- Lee Ji Hoon.

He’s a software engineer, a year older that Kim Jong Kook. He was born and raised in the States and recently moved to Seoul because of work. But he’s back in Los Angeles for a vacation with his grandparents together with Ji Hyo and to celebrate Grandpa Lee’s birthday.

Lee Ji Hoon was actually a very shy guy, but he’s nice, smart and responsible. And he’s cute too. You can say that he’s the type that girls would like to introduce to their parents and to their grandparents. He is also lovable that you can never turn him down that’s why probably when he asked Ji Hyo out for date (he asked her out for dinner for their first date), she couldn’t say no. Not because he was Grandpa and Grandma Lee’s grandson but because he was a really nice guy.

Ji Hoon and Ji Hyo started out as friends before they turned lovers. And when their relationship blossomed into something romantic, Ji Hoon made it clear that it was okay with him if Ji Hyo does not like to tell anyone about them. He’s fine if she wants to keep their relationship hidden. And that made Ji Hyo love him even more.

Ji Hoon might not be as dashing and as handsome and as hot as her ex-husband, Kim Jong Kook. He may not give her the excitement and the thrill that the Running Man member used to give her. He may not have sinful abs, arms and shoulders but Ji Hoon can still offer her a shoulder to cry on. His stares and smiles were not as deadly and worth screaming for unlike those of Kim Jong Kook’s, but Lee Ji Hoon gave her peace of mind. And Ji Hyo doesn’t think Ji Hoon will abandon her nor play or cheat her.

Unlike that Jong Kook.

And Ji Hoon knows everything about her. How she woke up married to someone then she fell in love with that person, but he left her for his ex-girlfriend; now they have a family.

“Unni, stop it.” Ji Hyo said and smiled. She was helping Ji Hoon who was still red.

“Fine. If only it wasn’t Gramps birthday. You’re really not going to hear the end of it.” Ji Min laughed.

“Oh my goodness!” Lee Yoona was fanning herself when she dashed into the dining area where her grandparents, her cousins and Ji Hyo are. “You’re never going to believe what I am going to tell you. Oh my…”

“Eat first before you tell us what it is.” Grandma told her granddaughter.

“Grandma, I am so going back to Seoul right now this very minute and camp outside Kim Jong Kook’s house.” Lee Yoona was beaming like a newly-wed.

“What is this nonsense?” Grandpa laughed at her. “Go find someone single, sweetheart.”

“But he is single!” Yoona protested. “He was never married. He and that Hana never got married. And he is not her baby’s father. It was Jang Hyuk’s. He just helped them. His Hyung just told everyone. It in the news.”

Bam!

Grandma held Grandpa’s hand while they looked at each other’s hand.

Another bam!

Ji Hyo dropped her glass.

As if it was in slow-motion, she watched it break into pieces.

Wrong, Lee Yoona.

He was once married.

He was.

Kim Jong Kook was once married.

Now go get the broom and clean the broken pieces of glass.

Or maybe, broken pieces of heart…

That of your cousin’s…

Lee Ji Hoon.

Ji Hyo’s House

Mapo-gu Seoul

8 pm

“I heard all about it.” Ji Hyo told Kimmy (oh she’s on vacation in Seoul for almost a month already) as soon as she came face to face with her best friend when she arrived in Seoul. She ignored all her calls when she was in the U.S. because she knew Kimmy will just be telling her something she already knew:

Kim Jong Kook and Hana were never married.

Jong Kook is not the father of her baby.

Their marriage was nothing but a cover-up, created to deceive the public, the fans and just about everyone out there who is gullible enough to buy their story. It