"Are you having fun tonight?" Victoria asked Insung once both of them settled on a wooden log. 

"Having a beautiful woman beside me, why wouldn't I?" 

Victoria knows that Insung is flirting with her but he really has something that would make a woman flutter despite how cheesy it might sounds. 

"You really enjoy flirting, aren't you?"

Insung chuckled with what Victoria said. "It's just that, it's easy for me to appreciate someone's beauty."

There was a bit of silence as Victoria was taken aback with Insung's sincerity. 

"Oh come on. Let's not talk about me. Aside from being an idol, tell me what's so endearing with you."

"Earlier...when you protect Yejin despite your team being at a disadvantage, it was really cool." 

Jihyo looked at Hyunbin and snorted with what he said. 

Hyunbin looked curiously at her. "Did I say something funny?"

Jihyo straightened herself, a bit embarrased for her carelessness. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. I just found it amusing when you used Yejin-ah to start a conversation." 

She gave Hyunbin a knowing look and the latter repeatedly shook his head, denying whatever interpretation he can comprehend from Jihyo's expression. 

With that, Jihyo gave him a hearty laugh making Hyunbin himself laughed as well. "You're really an easygoing one." 

After Jihyo's talk with Hyunbin, she was now left alone once again and planning to just spend the rest of the time inside the location's modernized wooden bunker, and just wait for anyone to come and talk to her. 

"I think it's time for both of us to talk." 

"Yah!" She held her chest, startled by Insung's presence welcoming her once she opened the bunker's door. "Were you waiting for me?"

"Ahuh. We failed to talk last time since you kind of hide from everyone so I figured you would do the same and this is the only place you can peacefully end the rest of today's shoot." 

"I'm here to eat, actually." Jihyo challenged him, rejecting the fact that Insung read her really well. 

"That, as well." Insung grabbed her and pulled her towards the buffet table. 

Jihyo just watched him picked a plate and utensils. He then started putting various snacks on it. When he's done, he met Jihyo's gaze. "We can talk while eating, right?" 

She sighed and finally gave him a soft gaze before smiling at him. "Lead the way, Insung-ssi." 

They went outside once again. It was a spot at the back of the wooden bunker since Insung was definite that the artists will rush inside later on so they won't be able to be alone.  

It didn't escape his eyes how Jihyo carefully put a considerable distance between them and mindlessly munching the snacks they brought. 

"Is it because of our movie?" He finally asked. It's been bugging him for days that Jihyo seems so wary around him. 

Jihyo's silence and the way she ate slowly confirms his assumption. "It's been years. You said you will never regret that project, right?" 

"Don't get me wrong. I didn't regret it and never will. It's just that, after the movie, I got used not being around you. So now that we're in the same show and we're expected to interact, I just don't know what to feel about it. I just had this feeling that people who sees us together, their minds directly transport to images of us . Being controversially intimate. It took me years to recover from how people look at me, like they're trying to strip me out of my clothes --" 

She stopped and looked at Insung, thinking that she might be oversharing. "Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't supposed to say all those." 

"Hey, go on. I'm listening." He took her hand and slowly rubbed his thumb on hers. But Jihyo remained silent. Before she could rebuild her walls, he asked another question.

"Was it hard?" 

Silly. Of course, it is. He thought to himself after he noticed veins on her neck as she tries her best not to be emotional. He's hating how their conversation is going. He wanted to rebuild his relationship with Jihyo to make her comfortable, but seems like he's failing. 

"It was...You went to military after that. Joo Jin Mo sunbaenim didn't expose himself as much as us so I never thought of talking to him about my worries. I don't have much friends in showbiz since that time, I'm still basically a rookie so I don't really have anyone that I can talk to openly and comfortably before. Admit it or not Insung, you might have felt awkward around me as well that you never initiated a meet up or what for the past years, despite having a lot of common friends, Joongki and Gwang Soo specifically."

Insung squeezed her hand. Guilty of everything that she said. 

Jihyo sensed Insung's uneasiness. She just then realized that she blurted out everything she's thinking once again. As if they never lost contact. As if they never ignored each other. She dared to change the atmosphere. 

"That's right. Ya! Jo Insung!"   

He was surprised with her sudden change of emotion. She brushed away his hand holding hers and repeatedly hit him that all he could do is raise both his arms to shield himself. 

"How dare you go to military that time. After you promised that we'll deal with the hate together, you left me handling everything on my own. Ah right, I know now why I felt wary towards you. It's because I felt like you abandoned me, you idiot. I got all -" She complained between hits on him.

Insung managed to get a hold of both her hands. He wondered how her little hands could hurt that much. He reciprocated her action with his middle and index fingers constantly pushing her forehead. 

"I know. I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't able to say no to my manager's decision. But. Just to let you know, I looked for you once I got out." He stopped pushing her forehead when he felt her relaxed and her doe-eyes now amusedly looking at him. 

He darted a soft look at her. "Then I found you in the middle of your Running Man filming, genuinely happy. I realized that I was worried for nothing while I was in the military. The least you needed that time is sympathy. I thought...I knew she would make it. Our Song Jihyo really grew up well and strong. I never said this but I am proud of you, Jihyo. You got to where you are right now because you deserve it all. "

He smiled at her. That smile is really illegal. Jihyo thought, fluttered by everything he said.

"Let's start again, Jihyo-ah." 

She was drowning. Without saying anything, Jihyo looked for his hand and intertwined it with hers. No one would question her actions, it's a dating show, she thought. She reminds herself of the reason why she joined the show. Damn all her worries, they are expected to flirt.

"Did I tell you already how adorable you are during the group game earlier?" Insung asked while looking at their intertwined fingers. Letting himself think of it as a sign that Jihyo is finally lowering her guard.

Jihyo lightly chuckled. "Adorable? That's not an adjective I expect would come from you. If I'm being honest, that was quite...lame." 

He narrowed his eyes towards her and bit his lip, sensing the sudden change of atmosphere. "What do you expect then?" He asked, testing