SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS CHAPTER

 JH gave KJK the silent treatment after the whole dance misunderstanding where she thought he was mocking her. They shoot the last scene of the MV that night and plan to leave for home the next morning. KJK notes Gwang Soo's odd behaviour towards JH (so does Gary) and has an inkling which he is reluctant to believe. He also wants to clear things up before morning, so he wakes her up in the middle of the night and they go for a walk together. The misunderstanding is cleared but he clears it up by giving an excuse and hides his real feelings. They joke around, talk about life before they start talking about her 'past' crush on him, which he then realizes 'was' much much bigger than the 'liking' he had assumed. He confesses his own feelings but she knows he doesn't love her yet. She doesn't want to gamble on it and refuses to act upon his feelings. They decide to return to normal, to turn  their Upside Down World back on its axis while he privately vows to prove himself to her.  

(Brief Author's Note- There will be some errors here, as I am yet to edit it but got too excited to post. The errors will be gone tomorrow, if you wish to wait. But the sentences will make sense, I swear! :D)

One Week After MV

"What is it? Do you suddenly think you were wrong to reject me?" He muttered into his phone, highly frustrated. Why did I even pick the call?

"No! Will you just listen to me once? See, I am sorry for the way things went and I would like to make it up to you."

His suspicion radar pinged. There is only so much life can throw at a person at a time; the past week and a half has not been kind to him and he didn't want more piling up. "Ahjumma, what exactly are you offering?" 

"Well, I know this girl who is a fan of yours. Really beautiful one she is, I tell----"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" He shrieked into the phone, taking a few breaths to continue in a softer tone as people had started staring at him. "First you reject me and then you want to set me up with a pity date?" He hissed.

"Ya! I am being kind to you and you are yelling at me? Keep being a , you little cockroach." Then came the beep of the call getting disconnected and all was silent again.

Lee Gwang Soo ran a hand over his face and took a large slurp of his coffee, not caring that it burnt his mouth. Women, he thought, would be the death of him. Especially noonas. You can't even openly curse a noona.

He glared up at the sky, cursing the day his mother made him believe there was a God. Maybe this was a sign that he needed to take things in his own hands, to get over all the bull he has believed in till now. To willingly call back the 9-years-older date who had dumped him months ago (before even meeting him once), and take up her offer of a pity date. Even if his heart was being strangled by a doomed love with yet another noona, he could do himself a favour and take some gambles.

He opened the call log and tapped on the first entry. 

"Ya, do you want to hear me curse some mo--"

"So, can I have that girl's number?" He asked. 

Gwang Soo's week had been terrible, in fact 'terrible' barely covered it. With the confession Ji Hyo had dropped on him, he has been designated the new "confidante" position about all things of her 'epic' love. Yes, it was the greatest irony of his life. 

He had watched as his Hyung and Noona fought in the evening and suddenly the morning they departed from the island totally normal again, which she later explained by detailing every bloody thing said between the two the night before. He didn't know whether he should be glad that she is finally letting things off her chest or to be mad at the world that it was his ear on the receiving end of torture because she is so oblivious. 

Apparently, the problem between the two "lovebirds" had been Hyung's obliviousness about her feelings for him because he never really SAW her. Well what about him? The Lee Gwang Soo SHE never saw? And so the irony continues, till it would probably be the death of him. 

One thing Gwang Soo was sure of was that Hyung did have strong feelings for her, no matter what she believed. Kim Jong Kook doesn't do things halfway through; at least not confessions. It probably is unbelievable to her that he would reciprocate after such a long unrequited love. She may think she knows her Oppa because she knows everything about him, but she doesn't know him the way that Gwang Soo does.

Unfortunately, Song Ji Hyo has a hyperactive imaginative mind, which runs faster and crazier than normal people. That's the secret behind that Mong expression; that expression explained that her imagination has taken her to some other plane and she was no longer mentally existing in the same dimension as the others around her. And now the same imagination was making up wild theories. And while Hyung was a victim to the same, he felt he too was victimized because she came to him of all people for advice. 

"Why are you moping around here? Come out; we are having a bibimbap." Suk Jin Hyung's voice floated from the doorway of his van in which he was sitting. He hadn't even realized when the door had opened and this hyung had poked his head in. 

Gwang Soo straightened up from his slumped position and declared, "I have a date"

Ji Suk Jin's eyebrows rose a fraction as he fixed Gwang Soo with a look that spoke both pity and curiosity, "Oh, you do..." He stretched the last syllable as Gwang Soo confirmed with a nod, "With who?"

"I don't know."

Suk Jin's eyebrow rose even further, "You don't know... Um, name?"

"I don't know" Gwang Soo repeated sullenly, rubbling his eyes with his fists. "I don't know, Hyung, I will just go and bloody see the ONE GIRL who actually WANTS to date me!"

"Come on, give yourself some credit. There was that crazy fan girl too, you kn---" Gwang Soo's heated glare sobered him and he patted the younger man heartily, "Buckle up, son, you're young and it's not the end of the world."

"Let's not discuss this." He snapped churlishly, and then took a breath. "I have a favour to ask."

Suk Jin swallowed his words of comfort and nodded his assent.

"Hyung, there is no way in hell you are not aware of Jong Kook hyung situation - no don't even try to deny it! She told me! - and I don't think I am the person who can advise her about it. Can you then, just, talk to her, in my place?" 

The pity in Suk Jin's eyes reappeared but the maknae was too worked up to spot it. He didn't even wait for a reply, simply grabbed his jacket unfolding his long legs, and stepped past Suk Jin and out of the van. His steps towards the "bibimbap party" were halted when a hand clamped on his shoulder. Gwang Soo turned around to face the mat hyung, his body tense with his earlier outburst. 

"Calm down" The older man told him, removing his hand from the maknae's shoulder and giving him a one-armed hug. "And try not to get dumped this time." He joked lightly. 

A thread of understanding coiled around them and the two men walked onward, the burdened shoulders of one supported by the older, experienced shoulders of the other. 

TWO WEEKS AFTER MV
 
"Oppa!"

"Are you really going to do the bungee jump? This one is higher than the last one." Ji Suk Jin observed as they stood high in the famous Macau Tower, doing the various missions that the RM staff had lined up for them. This time the staff had really outdone themselves; poor Dong Wook and Gary nearly had a mental breakdown at the thought of sky-walking and the jump. 

"No, I want to talk about something else." She replied with a slightly dazed expression on her face. Clear indication that her mind had just returned from the journey to a place that was most definitely not reality.

"Now? We are at work. Let's talk later, Ji Hyo"

"Gwang Soo would have talked to me." She shot childishly. She missed the maknae, but he had proven to be a typical 'man' and refused to have the 'girly' talks with her. 

"Gwang Soo would probably go snatch the stars from the sky if you wanted them." Suk Jin replied wryly, knowing she would hardly notice the truth in his word. "That is, Gwang Soo is an fool and you got only me. Me, who wants to talk sometime when WE ARE NOT WORKING."

"No, no. NOW. I had an epiphany."

"Again?" This girl and her epiphanies.

"I am being an idiot." She continued, not fazed by his sarcastic reaction. "I should just jump!"

Suk Jin shot her a confused look, wondering if she was feeling light-headed due to the height and thus acting like a half-brain. "Yeah, so jump. Who is stopping you?" 

"Yes! Jump. I should just go all in and jump!"

"Err... are we both talking about the same jump here?"

She smiled at him as if he was the one acting like an idiot here, "Of course not! I am talking about a leap of faith in the Kim Jong Kook situation."

Sigh. "Do you even know what exactly 'leap of faith' means?" He just got a dirty look in return. "Oi! You were the one talking about Round About worlds and all! What happened to 'But he doesn't love me, Oppa!'? " Suk Jin mimicked the last line in a high pitch. 

"Upside Down World! Upside down." She muttered impatiently, "Not Round About."

He glared at her in return. 

"Oppa, let's think practically now--"

"Oh, NOW you want to be practical." He replied sarcastically. "What happened to practicality when you had the man grovelling at your feet for a chance?"

"Did you eat sarcasm for breakfast today?" She asked snidely, 

"Oh, forgive me, Princess" He continued with same patronizing tone, "But what do you plan to do now?"

Ji Hyo huffed at his attitude but ignored it to continue. "I just have to make him fall in love with me!" She exclaimed, punctuating the same with a enthusiastic clap.

Ji Suk Jin facepalmed and took a minute to gather his exasperated thoughts before he spoke, "Girl, just put the guy out of his misery and date the man. I am sure love would come eventually."

"Uh, no. I have seen him date in all these years, and the number of girlfriends is no joke! And those are just the ones I could find out about. I am not going to be one more name on that list." 

"Right, his getting dumped all the time makes him a casanova now?" Wow, I should try sarcasm on-camera too, Big Nose Hyung thought. "Every name on that list is a woman defeated in the battle of Love vs Health; each one took revenge by dumping him brutally. Just give the man a chance! Who knows, he might love you more than his dumbbells!"

"Exactly!" The Ace continued, taking his words literally. "I want the forever kind or nothing. So the dumbbells will have to lose."

"Things must be pretty fantastic in that head of yours, full of idiotic romance schemes and tragic epiphanies. Tell me, why don't you write a drama?"

"You think I am being foolish?" She asked, half of her conviction gone. 

"How is it NOT foolish? Just accept whatever feelings he does have and put love to fate. That's how NORMAL people date, you know."

Her face fell. "I can jump with a bungee chord attached to my feet, Oppa, but what you are asking here is to jump with no chord, no landing pad. I do want a better fate than becoming a human pancake. "

Suk Jin cringed at the metaphor used, yet was internally awed by how aptly she put her situation in comparison with the jump. His eyes strayed to the staff person who was at the moment preparing for a demo of the bungee jump. It must be scary, to fall over the edge. A courageous person (like Song Ji Hyo) would jump; but there will always be an assurance that the chord at her feet would pull her back and all will be well again when she's let down on the ground. But to simply jump, no chord and nothing? Yeah, there's a reason why jumping from high places is called suicide. Giving a relationship with Jong Kook a try, when neither of them were sure of his feelings and what direction they'd take, was like a suicide to her after all the Kim Jong Kook baggage she has carried all these years. But that leaves me with nothing that I can advise her with, Ji Suk Jin thought.

"Hmm." He finally settled on a reply. "You would make a pretty pancake, I think."

This time the sarcasm touched the last of her nerves. "Awww, but then you'd die missing me!" She said faux-sweetly as she quickly pinched the almost-50-year-old's cheeks.
 
Before another snarky remark could come her way, she speedily her heel to go and try to motivate the two cowards that she was teamed with today, only to come face-to-face with a very green-looking Haroro. He must have returned from his sky-walking task; which was why he looked like he could puke any moment. 

"What's up with Suk Jin Hyung?" He asked, gesturing at the mat-hyung who was glaring at the bunjee jump apparatus. 

Ji Hyo smirked and walked away, tossing an answer over her shoulder. "Menopause."

The three men huddled together in front of the TV and let out synchronized shouts and groans, their eyes dilligently following the ball getting kicked around on the screen. The last goal, unfortunately by the rival ream,  made the trio let out a huge sigh and the youngest to reach over and turn the device off. 

"So" Ha Ha started, "How have you been?"

"NOW you ask me that?" Joon Ki deadpanned. "Apparently football trumps friendship." He added as an aside.

"What'd the doctor say last?" Jong Kook asked customarily. He already knew the answer, being already updated by Ji Hyo, Gwang Soo, Jae Suk and Joon Ki's mother. 

"Why are you really here?" The young actor asked the sunger bluntly.

"To ask how your treatment's going, of course!" Then turning to his hyung, Ha Ha gestured for confirmation, "Right?"

When no such confirmation came, and two more minutes of guilty silence followed, "I had to go shopping for the baby with Byul! Why are we visiting Joon Ki here?"

Jong Kook scrambled sentences in his head the best way to frame the question that has brought him to Joon Ki's doorstep. Suk Jin Hyung should have been his first choice to ask but he was afraid that he was going to discover his own feelings in these inquiries, which he wanted to keep from the group for now. The past weeks he had been thinking and over-thinking his next steps. There's no way he is going to let the impulsive woman make decisions on her own; he is going to fight the chaos in her head and prove himself the old-fashioned way - woo her like the gentleman he was. 

But his recent inklings about Gwang Soo stopped his brain right before any firm resolution took place. He would rather fling himself off a cliff than be the obstacle in the maknae's road to happiness. Since Ji Hyo's feelings for him have become a thing of the past, Gwang Soo is perhaps more deserving of a chance that he is. Besides those two young ones are always thick together, cooking up some scheme or fights. Even with the growing horrible stings in his chest, Jong Kook couldn't see how Gwang Soo and Ji Hyo won't be great together. In his mind, a man is worth his metal if he can treat his woman right. And Gwang Soo has been doing that job for the past three years when he had been walking around with a blindfold on. 

Ji Hyo deserved no less, if she would have Lee Gwang Soo. After all, who is Jong Kook to his choice in the matter on her. But he knew the man Gwang Soo is and if his own feelings were not complicating the matter, he would have proclaimed that she couldn't have founded a better person. 

Hence, he was here. To confirm it once and all.  He came prepared to back off, though not how he is going to back off - that he doesn't even know how he would even start. But back off he will because both Gwang Soo and Ji Hyo deserve that from him, as much as he deserve that from himself. 

"Hyung?" Ha Ha was waving a hand in front of his face by now, waiting for a reply while Joon Ki was trying to scratch at one of the remaining red spots on his face inconspicuosly. "Why am I here?"

Jong Kook ignored him; Ha Ha was just brought for moral support even though he had no idea about anything. "Joon Ki ya, there is something I have been observing for the past few days."

Joon Ki looked up from the scab he was analysing and sobered at the serious tone of his Hyung. "Observing what?"

"Gwang Soo. Does, by any chance, Gwang Soo like someone?"

"He would probably tell you before he'll tell me. He thinks I tell everything to Ji Hyo Noona." Joon Ki grumbled, "Which by the way is not true! Jae Suk hyung told her about Gwang Soo's cake thingy."

"What cake thingy?"  Ha Ha wanted to know.

Jong Kook waved his hand dismissedly in front of his short dongseng, "What if the person he liked was Ji Hyo?" There, he said it. 

The silence in the  room was deafening. And the shrill peal of laughter that followed was a threat to his eardrums. Ha Ha fell back into the pillows on Joon Ki's bed as he slammed his hand against Joon Ki's back in unrestrained amusement, while the younger man choked. both from laughter and the torture to his delicate back. 

"What.... why in the world... why would you think that.... Gwang Soo and... and Mong Ji?" Ha Ha wheezed out between laughs and Joon Ki nodded along, in agreement. 

"Doesn't matter. I must have misjudged." Jong Kook muttered. It was clear Joon Ki has never even remotely considered the situation, which only meant two things. That the idea of Gwang Soo liking Ji Hyo was only in his head and he had over-analysed the maknae's over-protectiveness towards her. Or that Gwang Soo was a damn good actor. A selfish part of him wanted the first to be true so that he could give his love a chance but the rest of him knew he could never live with himself if he even lifted a finger without a getting hundred per cent confirmation that it wouldn't hurt his friend. "Joon Ki ah, if you won't know, then who would?" He stated, with an uneasy laugh. 

The three didn't revisit the topic for another 15 minutes while they discussed Ha Ha's baby announcement which was yet to be made public but the Running Men had been personally been informed by the proud would-be Dad. He was throwing around some (pretty horrible) German names for the baby, which had resulted in Byul relegating him to the couch for the past week. 

"Suk Jin hyung will try to give you his son's old crib and all, if Byul wants new stuff for the baby then steer clear of hyung a week before the due date. " Jong Kook helpfully provided as he swirled the sugar-less skimmed milk smoothie that Joon Ki's mother had made for him. "He tried to do the same when Ji Ho was born; Jae Suk hyung had a hard time trying to say no."

Joon Ki sat up suddenly and sharply turned towards Jong Kook, "You should ask Suk Jin hyung!"

Jong Kook coloured red at the thought, "Me? Why... I am not having a baby... yet." He mumbled, the image of chubby-cheeked little devils springing back to mind. God, I am clinically obsessed, he thought. 

Joon Ki shot him an annoyed look and explained, "I meant about Gwang Soo! You know, about him liking Ji Hyo noona. I don't know what made you think that could be true, but even if it were true, he wouldn't tell me. Though I swear I don't tell Noona everything! That was looooong ago, when I had this juvenile crush. But it was just for like 2 months, maybe even less tha---"

"Song Joon Ki!" "Joon Ki yah!"

"Yeah. Erm. So I was saying that Suk Jin hyung would know for sure. Though it's kind of ridiculous to be true."

Jong Kook scratched his chin at the suggestion, keeping in the chagrined glare he wanted to send Joon Ki's way for his "crush". Ha Ha, on the other hand, looked mind-blown, "Waah! Song Ji Hyo, that minx! How does she manage that?Just how many men fell for that brat?" 

Oh you have no idea, Jong Kook thought to himself with gritted teeth. 

It only took two minutes for three grown men to turn into 12-year-olds as they huddled together again, this time around the phone held in Jong Kook's hand and not the television. They shushed each other as kids would do while the phone connected. 

"Hello?"

"Hyung!"

"Yah, where are you?"

"Just walking Menboong in the park." Ha Ha woof-ed softly in jest which earned him a silent slap to the head. "What about you?"

"I am free, if that's what you are asking. Do you want to meet up?"

"Ah, no. No, hyung, maybe next time." Jong Kook hurriedly said, as Joon Ki motioned him to get on with the question they all wanted an answer to. "Hyung, I was just wondering about something..."

There was a pause at the other end. "Wondering what?"

"Do you have any idea, that maybe Gwang Soo has feelings for Ji Hyo?" Jong Kook cringed as the words left his mouth, regretting not taking up Ha Ha's offer to be the one to call Big Nose Hyung. He prayed to God that this hyung doesn't read too much into the query. "I mean I was just curious, with the whole 'Make Ji Hyo a Woman' thing and all, you see."

There was another long pause which tripled his fears because he was now sure that the Hyung was pretty much analysing his motives by now. 

At last there was a response, even if it was a meagre one. "Don't you think he would have told you something like this?"

"No, I mean he sure would have. But even then, is there even a slight chance?... I just meant... Hyung, forget it. I am probably thinking too much. Please forget I asked!" His brain was screaming at him for not thinking this idea through. This hyung was probably on to him! Ha Ha hissed in disappointment but quietened at his hyung's glare.

"Jong Kook ah, Gwang Soo does what he wants to. You know him, if he wants to talk to a girl, he would. As for Ji Hyo, well, they are not together, are they? In fact, the lad has landed himself a date recently and from what I have heard, she is a beauty!"

Jong Kook focused on processing the information in his head. He entirely missed the small mournful sigh that Suk Jin let out at the other end. To him, a huge weight of guilt had just been lifted off his chest. He felt as if he could breathe again and all he wanted to do was spend the whole day with the maknae, just chilling out. He had two weeks worth of guilty awkwardness to make up to with his young friend who had been left bewildered every time he caught Jong Kook look at him guiltily. He missed Gwang Soo's company, one without him feeling as if he was doing the maknae a wrong by even thinking about the girl the younger man likes. 

 Joon Ki nudged him with his elbow to gain his attention. Apparently Suk Jin hyung was saying something. 

"--- interested in, why are you asking me all this?"

"Oh, no. I was just asking. Just random thought." He replied breezily, much contrary to his mental state.

"Do you, by any chance... " Jong Kook felt himself palpitate "have someone in mind for Ji Hyo?" 

"What? NO!" He stated firmly, which caused Ha Ha to give him a funny look. 

"It's not a bad idea, finding her a date. Romance would do good to that girl." 

"No, no, Hyung! Why ruin a poor man's life?" Jong Kook tried to dissuade him from the horrible - absolutely horrible - plan he has helped hatch unknowingly. "It's a very bad idea!" 

Ji Suk Jin laughed for a very long time, even after Jong Kook had hung up the phone. What the younger man had said wasn't even funny but all the secrets that were laid open to him, the whole situation was one giant ball of pure comic gold. Seeing people running around in circles to reach the same place has never been this dramatic. Or bitter-sweetly tragic. 

Before Gary and Gwang Soo knew it, their heads clanged together because of the force of two strong hands smacking their backs at the same time. "Kids, we are going out tonight. Yah, Giraffe! You're driving!" Jong Kook informed them gleefully. 

"But Hyung!" Gwang Soo whined, rubbing his sore shoulder "You chased me around the building 15 minutes ago AND slammed me against the wall for my nametag. Let me at least recover!" 

"No can do. Where is that third Club-musketeer of yours?" He inquired casually. 

Gary didn't mind hitting the clubs after the gruelling shoot they had; he rather found it relaxing. "Ji Hyo? Probably in her van already."

"Okay-yay!" Jong Kook said and mimed the same with his hands. 

Both the dongsengs waved back at their hyung's cheeky goodbye and watched his back as he headed towards the parking lot where the members' vans were parked. 

"What's up with him?" Gary asked after a moment. 

"No idea." Gwang Soo shrugged, before ruefully smiling and secretly nodding towards Suk Jin, who had seen the entire exchange from the corner of the room. "But he is happy."

He heard the anguished sobs before he even slid open the silver doors of her van. The sight of her red face, streaked with tear lines rent his heart into tiny shreds. Ji Hyo had already sobbed so hard that she was now hiccuping as well. The slight awkwardness that had surrounded all their conversations since that fateful night disappeared as he took in the situation and his hands moved on their own to cup her wet and warm face.

"Hey, hey! Why are you crying? What happened?" He asked, at a loss when she only sobbed harder. "Is it your mother?" 

In a fraction of a second her sobs ceased and her eyes turned steely. "Just because I cried one time - ONE TIME - because of her, suddenly every bloody thing is about my mother?" She demanded hotly. 

"Okay, that came out wrong. But Ji hyo ah, kiddo, tell Oppa why you are like this suddenly. Did something happen?"

Ji Hyo avoided his gaze for a moment, the sobs returning in a slowly building crescendo. He held her face more firmly before she finally met his eyes. "Ha Ha Oppa..."

"Ha Ha what?" He asked gently as he ran his thumb over the fresh tears that spilled. She wiped some snot off with her sleeve and Jong Kook surprised himself when he wasn't disgusted in the slightest by it, something he hadn't known possible. He simply held her face and her gaze, probing as she hiccupped before answering. 

"Ha Ha Oppa took..."

"Took what?" He prodded, as if talking to a child. His worry had diminished much after she had names Ha Ha as part of the reason. The worse that Ha Ha can do is hardly worrisome so he was sure that this time Ji Hyo was crying for a much smaller reason than that time about her mother. That kind of tears had blown their minds but this kind of crying they were used to. She would cry over a lame puppy, over finishing a 1000-piece puzzle, once even when her food was too salty. What Song Ji Hyo never cries at was NORMAL stuff - like being awfully sick, losing a movie role or melodramas. 

In Jong Kook's love-tinted eyes, he found it adorable. 

"Ha Ha Oppa ate all the jelly beans Ji Min got me from Germany! Every single one of them." The statement made her cry harder and he pulled her into the curve of his neck, mostly to hide his laughing expression her. 

He should have know before giving into worry. Oh my Ji Hyo ah, whatever are we going to do with you? He thought with a smile. 

"There, there, Ahjummah! What say, this Oppa goes and beats up that short penguin then drives you to the biggest candy store in Seoul and buy you the biggest bag of jelly beans they have? Even those chewy calorie-laden sticks you like!"

She mumbled a wet "Licorice!" in reply. 

"Yep, I'll buy you a bag of licorice too." He conceded, fighting off the grin on his face as she straightened up. Her eyes still looked tense but he was sure that the candy would have her mood up in no time. 

"I have a CF shoot tonight, but Oppa, can we go Friday afternoon? I'll buy you something too!" She asked, her sentences marked with effort of not wincing. The headache from crying must have started, Jong Kook thought. 

"I am sure I won't find anything that I can eat in that store, but thanks for the thought, kid. Why don't you have some of this water," He passed her the bottle from it's holder, "recline your seat and take a small nap?"

Jong Kook gently shut the door of the van behind him when she had settled in. He stayed outside, listening to her groans for a minute, just to confirm that she did not start crying again, before marching out like a man on a mission. Firstly, Ha Ha is going to lose a few teeth and then Jong Kook is going to buy some of the goddamn candy to tide her over till Friday. He would have done that for her anyway, even before the whole thing, but would he have successfully comforted her like he did? No, he would have been frightened by the tears and ran to Jae Suk hyung, tail between his legs. Would she have been comforted by him? Probably not. Because he would not have cared to hide his amusement earlier like he did now. Not even the moon itself can compensate for his previous state of idiocy but he can start with a bag of jelly beans. 

He had just exited the lot when he came face-to-face with Ji Hyo's manager. Even as the logical part of him reminded him that it was Ji Hyo who was crying over a small matter, he couldn't help but feel annoyed at the women in front of him. 

"Did you know she was crying?" He asked, his arms folded in front of him - which was doubly intimidating with his arms in particular. 

"Yes" Manager Sun Mi replied, slightly flustered by the confrontational manner of the usually cordial man. 

"Hmm" Sun Mi began shaking a bit as the man studied her. "Have you seen Ha Ha around?"

"N-No."

"Does your phone have a good camera?"

"What?" She cringed at his raised eyebrow and vigorously nodded as an answer to his question.

"Good. Now I want you to film us while I beat the living out of Ha Ha. And then you will send it to Ji Hyo."

Her jaw fell open as she stared at him in horror. "W-why? I mean, err..." Her eye twitched in fear and she backtracked, "Okay, Sir, I mean Kim Jong Kook ssi. Give me a moment, pl-please. I have some things to give to Ji Hyo." She rattled the carrier bag she held in her hand as proof that she wasn't just lying to escape being witness to a possibly criminal activity. 

But his stance changed to politeness in a second before her eyes could even adjust to it. 

"You already bought it?" He asked, almost gleefully. It somehow managed to scare her further. 

"Y-yes. There was a shop just in front."

"But there no candy stores in this block." He wondered confusedly, scrutinizing the polythene bag in her hand. 

"Candy store?" She asked back, equally confused.

"The jelly beans?"

"Jell-- Oh, that's why you want to beat Ha Ha ssi? I'll order another bag of beans online. She has already pulled his hair because of it, don't worry!" Sun Mi smiled as she was reminded of her actress' brawl an hour ago. 

"But she was still crying." The steel was back in his voice and her shoulders started shaking again. 

"I-I have her medicine. It... It will only take 15 minutes and---"

"Medicine?" Jong Kook asked, this time the horror setting for him in the conversation. "What medicine?"

Sun Mi finally grasped the confusion and realized Ji Hyo had once again lied to the people around her about her discomfort. It wasn't likely that the man in front of her was going to let go of the topic; she knew the Running Men and their seriousness in carrying out their Oppa Duty. "It's for her migraines. She gets them when she works overnight."

Jong Kook was relieved. His mind had taken him to some drama-style illness; but migraines he could digest. "How bad are they? Was she crying because of the migraine?"

Sun Mi looked at the singer who had been eyeing her like a bulldog for the past ten minutes, now looking like a lost puppy. "I'll be honest, they are pretty bad. She describles them like a team of professional boxers using her head as a punching bag and then dropping a piano over it" She chuckled to herself at the cartoonish description but sobered when she saw his ashened face, "But the medicine works, so don't worry! She didn't tell you because she didn't want you to worry."

She realized that she had made it even worse when his face fell even further. However there was nothing she could do about it. The world of the RM members was a close one, one which their own managers were rarely privy too. She simply nodded to him as she hurried past him, anxious to deliver the medicine. 

Jong Kook stood there, in the middle of the parking lot. The hair on his arms raised. 

She lied to him.

So that he wouldn't worry. 

It made him wonder about all the other things he didn't note about her, the things she hid from him and from all of them. Things that would 'inconvenience' them, while she watched him, his every want and like. It was like a punch to the gut to know how he didn't even notice severe migraines in all the times he has shot RM overnight with her or taken her to breakfast after overnight drama shoots. There was a whole life of her that he never bothered to enter intoand simply happily took what she revealed to him. He didn't notice about her mother, her health, her dreams, her life plans. 

For the first time, Kim Jong Kook had an epiphany. He knew her as she wanted him to know her. But he wanted to love all of her. 

And therein began his own personal mission - Get To Know The Real Song Ji Hyo. 

Sorry for the huge huge delay. Good news is that my first semester at Law School is over and I think I might be able scrape through the next three years to become an okay-ish lawyer. And now I have time to write!
The story has gone so far ahead in my head that I get probably more impatient than you guys, and things might feel rushed. I will keep working on avoiding that. 

Your criticism and comments forever welcomed and cherished,

Enjoy!

- NJ