The -Kicking
Mission: Make Her A Woman
"Oppa!" Ji Hyo called out to his retreating back and quickly stepped over Gwang Soo who was on the floor the third time today.
The other members looked at each other quizzically and then shrugged in unison at the common occurrence. Ji Hyo and Jong Kook will bicker just like the sun will always rise in the morning; the only difference this time was that it was Jong Kook who was acting up against a betrayal than the usual betrayed Ji Hyo. Ha Ha shook his head at their childishness; to be honest no one really took the games as seriously as these two. The others won't mind winning but they weren't playing to win specifically. These two, on the other hand, took things seriously and thus felt a betrayal from each other keenly.
"That hyung will give me brain hemorrhage one day." Gwang Soo straightened up and sat in a chair, nursing his head all the while.
"Why did he hit you suddenly?" Jae Suk asked.
"I don't know! Why was he surprised at my betrayal? Hasn't he started expecting it?" The Giraffe whined. The others look confused, wondering that if Gwang Soo was the betrayer, what was it that Ji Hyo did.
"Ya, did you betray him along with Mong Ji?" Ha Ha asked.
"Yeh. And also outed Ji Hyo noona afterwards." He recounted proudly.
Everyone groaned at his last revelation. Double betrayal.
"He is going to throw a tantrum for at least 2 days" Suk Jin sighed. "I have a gig with him on Wednesday"
"Ya, Lee Gwang Soo!" Ha Ha cried, "He has a recording with me tomorrow, do you know how much grief he is going to give me?"
Gary chose that moment to waltz in with Gwang Soo's tag in his belt and the scroll which he had found in the chest they were supposed to find. Triumphantly he held it up to declare his victory.
Cue crickets.
He looked confused at the lack of reaction and noted that the Jail was less crowded than usual, finally clocking in on the two who are missing.
"What? Is this a trick? Were they spies? Did I not win?" Gary frantically grabbed the PD's collar as if to shake out an answer.
"Gary ah, they are just fighting outside. Sit down. Congrats. You won." Jae Suk deadpanned. Gary slumped in a chair, sullen at the lack of enthusiasm from the members.
The frazzled PD announced that the closing would be filmed in 20 minutes on the terrace and then started to wrap from the jail. The members kept their seats in the room and leisurely waited for the crew to wrap up; biding time till they were alone so that they could hold yet another strategic meeting. This was the best time, after all, as Ji Hyo was out.
"Bibimbap then, everyone?"
"Ya, Kim Jong Kook, why are you being like this?" Ji Hyo barked out after several minutes of following him in the hallways of the building and finally out to the little courtyard at the back, all the while trying to reason with the stubbornly silent man. The lamps in the courtyard provided ample light but the night otherwise was pitch dark.
"Are you really not going to answer? Have I ever kept a grudge for so long?" She walked around to face him. His face was closed of but she noticed the slight flaring of his nostrils which told her that the man was seething. For some reason, it made her even more pissed.
"Go ahead, keep silent! I am going to follow you to the ends of the earth till you listen." She plopped down on one of the stone benches without breaking the eye contact with him.
Jong Kook was a temperamental man and he was the kind to flare up quickly but calm down after a while. Right now, for some reason, he was too angry with this women and since he was still struggling with the fact that he can't just shout at her like the other male members, he was just growing irritated rapidly because of the repressed anger.
When her companion didn't answer but kept the stance for another couple of minutes, she exasperatedly took out her phone to call her manager.
"Unnie, can you have my car sent home? Yeh, I am not going back. Yeh. I am going with Jong Kook Oppa to his ho--"
Jong Kook snatched her phone and put it against his ear, "Sun Mi-ssi, don't worry. Yeh. She is just in one of her moods. Yeh, no, she'll just be back. Yeh. Arasso. Bye." He replied, his tone completely defying the mood he was in.
"In one of her moods? I am in a mood?" The frustrated woman spit out as he handed her the phone.
"That was awfully childish, Seong Im"
"Oh, right. And this isn't?"
"You didn't have to do that. You didn't have to betray me back then."
"Oppa, its a stupid race! Why do you have to be so angry?" She impatiently snatched his arm and tried to pull him back into the building. "Let's just go, we are holding up the filming"
"They are taking a break. Hyung texted me." Oh, so he was on his phone when he was walking ahead of her all this time.
Ji Hyo sighed. She was only thankful to the gods that he wasn't the kind to get mad to a point that he became unreasonable. At least he had stopped with the silent treatment.
"You go back in. I need some time." Jong Kook commanded her quietly. This only made her flare up.
"I am not leaving, I am taking you inside with me. Don't drag it, Kim Jong Kook." She again took his arm but he took it out of her grasp as if burned.
He exhaled. Her presence was again distracting him which in turn notched up his irritation. "Ji Hyo ah, I really don't want you around at this moment. Let me sort it. Can you leave?" He said as gently as he could with his state of mind.
Ji Hyo's mind shut off at his words. Another one. She had managed to make another one hate her.
Jong Kook waited her to retaliate or even probably pay heed to his words and leave; however, he wasn't prepared for that expression to take over those delicate features.
His mind could only muster a few words to describe it - she looked like a part of her had died.
"A ? Isn't that a bit harsh?" Gary asked skeptically.
Jae Suk never abused but he was short of words for description and he wanted to portray the woman exactly as she is. "Yes, a . You will have to meet her to know it. Because of her Ji Hyo thinks that she is someone to be hated."
"If Jae Suk is saying that, the mother must be a real piece of work." Suk Jin observed over the bowl of bibimbap that was currently residing on his lap.
"Ah, that is why Ji Hyo never invites anyone home." Ha Ha spoke up for the first time since Jae Suk has been finally explaining Ji Hyo's meltdown at the party. "Poor girl, she has to go home to that."
"They live in the same building, not the same apartment, if that's any consolation. In fact the entire building is co-owned by mother and daughter"
"Yeah. You should ask her to pay sometimes. Noona is loaded." Gwang Soo offered as more info.
"Its only that one building. Don't make it sound like she is a chaebol." Jae Suk tried to rein in the youngster's imagination.
Gwang Soo looked at the faces of everyone, noting that their wonder at her secret wealth was much lesser than what his had been when he had come to know. That much amount of money didn't impress them?
"Exactly how much do you guys earn??" He asked accusingly, standing up as if height would make him look imposing.
"Ya, you, sit down. We have only 10 minutes for our duscussion." Gary snubbed him. He was really annoyed by their progress. The party was a failure in his eyes; true that they had come to know something completely different about her but they had made zero headway with their real mission. All was still the same and it frustrated him that things were lying around unfinished. He was a man of action and itched for seeing this task they had taken up to come to fruition.
"Okey, then. Let's start. We can fill in Jong Kook when he cools down." The Grasshopper began after swallowing his last bite from their Bibimbap Bowl of Brainstorming.
"The problem is this kid here. I tried teaching him everything yet he acts as if he is born to aggravate the noonas." Ha Ha complained while holding Gwang Soo in a headlock. Gwang Soo sputtered as his face turned red from the lack of oxygen.
"We have more pressing matters than him. Myuk PD let it slip that the next week's guest is Girl's Generation." Suk Jin mock whispered.
After a minute of instant fanboying, the men composed themselves again.
"How do we make sure Ji Hyo is not neglected?" Gary asked.
"First we make sure she isn't paired with you or me and Gwang Soo" Suk Jin answered, knowing very well how unwanted she feels when they pair her with Gary because everyone takes it for granted that the Monday Boyfriend would choose her.
"Why? Why not with me?"
"Gary ah, I'll explain later. I am meeting Jo PD later, will try to talk him into making the team selection voluntary." Jae Suk internally added one more thing he would ask the PD to please do. Even if Ji Hyo is beautiful just as she is, she will start feeling drab because all these idol kids dress up so much even though they should know better than wearing high heels to a show like Running Man. He actually felt ridiculous now that he realizes that they can't compare to her even one bit. He will have the PD make sure that ALL women dress up next week.
"Also, we protect her in the games. Go easy on her." Gary offered.
"She will be suspicious." Ha Ha countered.
"She won't! Look at her! Such a tiny little thing pitted against us."
"Gary hyung, I am sure. She will be suspicious"
"I am sure she wouldn't be"
"You don't listen!"
"I am your hyung!"
"HeYYYA!" Jae Suk separated the two.
Suk Jin passed the almost empty bowl to Gary and collected his thoughts. "Don't go playing knights around if you won't want your arse kicked by her. She isn't a china doll you have to protect."
"Okey, now I am getting confused. What exactly do we have to do? Are we to treat her like a woman, or not?" Gary asked, his stress levels rising.
"I always wondered you were a full marbles short of a full set." Gwang Soo observed from the sidelines.
"Pabo." Ha Ha joined the tall maknae in the hyung's criticism. Both looked at each other gleefully as Gary was stopped by Jae Suk before he could rise to punish his two outspoken dongsengs. Clearly, today wasn't Gary's day.
"Behave." Suk Jin ordered. "We have only 5 minutes left. Where were we then? Ah, yes. No one is asking you to go easy. But if you go rough on her, later ask if she is all right, check on her. Ask for her opinion in games and do not assume she has to leave early to catch her beauty sleep when you ask everyone else out for drinks after filming."
"Woah, Hyung! You are like Yoda." Ha Ha gasped in amazement at the oldest man.
"JJang! Hyung Jjang! You really know women!" Gwang Soo bounced excitedly. He also saw a ray at the end of his own tunnel. This hyung will be the salvation of his own love life, he was sure.
Jae Suk let his hyung preen in the praises. He has been around enough to know that the words were actually something hyungsoo-nim would advise, much less than what this old hyung was capable of.
"We don't invite her for drinks because she should rest, or she will get admitted into the hospital again." Gary said petutantly. He refused to join in the glorification of Ji Suk Jin as he was still sore from the dongseng's ribbing. And what he said was true. When she had beem hospitalized because of exhaustion and still appeared on the show after a day's rest, Suk Jin hyung and he had had a heated argument with the PDs. Jae Suk hyung had to break up by reminding them that Ji Hyo had insisted on it herself. She had managed to faint again that day in the hotel the night before they flew back to Korea and would have cracked her skull open if he hadn't caught her at the right moment. Such a fright this girl had given him. Come to think of it, Gary realized, she was the member who attracted the most trouble out of all them.
"Does she know that?" Jae Suk asked rhetorically. Seriously, if Ji Hyo knew this was how much they all thought of her, she would never feel like this anymore. It was up to them now to show her.
"Besides, she is old enough to decide after her own health. That shouldn't stop us from inviting her. Right now she feels we don't invite her because we don't want to." The mat-hyun added.
"Aish. But she drinks too much!" Ha ha complained.
"Why are we so focused on this one? Didn't Suk Jin hyung mention other points to follow?" Said Grumpy Gary.
"I thought you were confused about everything." Jae Suk couldn't help but make this comment on Gary's cluelessness even if he discouraged others from doing the same.
"Hyung, you too??"
"Mianhe, Gary ah. Okey, everyone clear about everything then?"
"Yeh!" The rest replied as one.
"Gwang Soo, you come with me."
"Huh? Jae Suk hyung, why me?"
"The collective lessons are over, kid; you need extra classes."
Jong Kook stared at the still woman in front of him with apprehension. His anger had evaporated at the sight of that crumpled face and panic seized him full force. He had been too impatient to wait for everyone to collect so that Jae Suk hyung could explain what happened on Saturday evening; he had cornered the older man on Sunday to wring out the whole truth. And it had shocked him. He still didn't know the extent of her psychology but he could fathom that his words had touched upon the very thing Ji Hyo was sensitive about.
"Ji Hyo" He whispered softly to get her attention. However, her glassy eyes showed no response. He knew she was thinking and over thinking what he had said and had taken his words to heart. Her face had gone deathly white and her entire body was rigid. He couldn't imagine what kind of mother would make such a happy child so fearful of the world; if he could claim to hate anyone then he hated people who would break other people just because someone broke them. To do that to her own daughter, that woman sure had built a reservoir of hate. He watched as Ji Hyo trembled a bit like a leaf shaken by a light spring breeze - ready to break off but yet hanging on by a string. Oh no, he is not going to make her go through that again; he wasn't even sure he could provide her relief like Jae Suk hyung did.
A sudden reaction startled him out of his thoughts. She looked up and gave a big smile, her lips stretching to their widest.
"Oppa, you take your time. I will wait for you." She said, her smile intact. She walked around him, making her way to the entrance.
It was all, of course, a farce. He wasn't blind; the tightness of the smile seemed painful, the eyes still looked as if her soul had left her. While alcohol had loosened her on Saturday, she was in control today and thus was shutting herself down to him. Not bloody likely.
"Ya, Song Ji Hyo. Where do you think you are going?" He shouted at her retreating back.
She stopped and replied in a chilling monotone, "Oppa, we have to film."
"Chuck filming, come here."
She turned around and walked towards him with an obedience that was completely unlike her.
"Yeh, Oppa?"
"Ji Hyo ah, what are you thinking?"
She didn't answer but kept on looking straight at him with blank eyes. Only they weren't cute as always, but blank enough to terrify him.
He took her arm in his grasp and shook her a bit as if he wanted to shake her out of the mode she has slipped into. "Oppa is asking you something, Ji Hyo"
"There is nothing to think about it." Her gaze dropped to the large hand holding her at the elbow. "I should leave to give you time."
Jong Kook looked to where she was looking and realized that he had not let go and had in fact pulled her closer. These were the instinctual reactions he always had around her - pulling her, jostling her, patting her, hugging her - now that he has come into his awareness, he realized how she, who couldn't possibly think of them as women, must feel when he touched her so casually all the time. But that doesnt mean he would be letting go of her right now; not until she snaps out of this funk she has gone into. She must already be convincing herself in that dense head of hers that he hated her and that all the Running members were probably just tolerating her. He was 37 years old and there is only so much that his heart can take; this woman will surely be the death of him one day.
"Where do you think you are going?" He pulled her back as she tried to retreat. He knew there was no point to just talk to her about it as she would probably believe only half of it and would keep assuming whatever she had decided in her head. Song Ji Hyo was a thug born in a beautiful shell; she doesn't understand human speech unless there are a few punches involved. You have to fight it out of her. "We are not going until you apologize sincerely and promise not to do that again."
Her head jerked up in disbelief. What? This is what its all about? He wants her to apologize sincerely? This is all that he wants? Didn't he say he doesn't want to her around? He had looked so tired of her, so irriated by her mere presence. Sure he couldn't possibly be working himself up all this while only for a sincere apology; all that hatefulness couldn't be because of this petty reason! If he keeps on confusing the hell out of her, she is going to forget that he is an elder and probably kick his to next Monday.
"I did apologize to you." She said quietly; her face quite blank as her brain was running a debate: Hateful Jong Kook vs. Petty Jong Kook.
"Try that again, then. With sincerity this time. On your knees."
Alright. Petty Jong Kook it was all along, she figured. He threw all that drama, all that anger, for a damn apology!
"What did you say?" Her eyes narrowed as anger started to simmer.
"Say 'I will never betray Oppa ever again'. Quickly!" He countinued, delighted how life returned to her eyes and how they had started to smoulder as he fanned the rage building in her.
She screeched in frustration. "You made a fuss because of that??"
"What else? Did you do something else to anger me?" He said lightly, chuckling as he saw realization dawn on her. She was in fact the one who made a mountain out of a molehill when she took his words to heart - now she was probably super embarrassed inside and would start hitting him soon to hide it. That is what you get for taking a simple sentence and twisting it in your head to think that people hate you, he thought. She needed that lesson.
Ji Hyo face turned the colour of the cherry tomatoes she hated. He first confused her and now is teasing her?
""You! You ... petty ahjussi!"
"Ahjussi? AHJUSSI? Oi, ahjumma, bend your knees and make that promise" He kept badgering like a broken record.
"Why should I promise that? This is a game!"
"Then should I stop having your back all the time? You'd probably be the next one out after Suk Jin hyung then." Another laugh escaped his lips as he enjoyed how riled up she was getting.
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" She screamed at him, her fists balling up. "You are the one who always betrays me in the end, YOU CRAZY BASTARD!"
Jong Kook should probably take offense at her word usage because she rarely ever abused him, but it oddly made him happy that he had crossed another barrier of formality with the actress. She now seemed closer to him than ever - yes, he probably sounds like a ert talking about getting close on the basis of explicit words. He always did have strange tastes.
"Ji Hyo ah, quickly now. We have to go film." He looked at his cellphone screen for the time, ignoring her earlier words.
"THAT'S WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL THIS TIME!" She started to beat her chest with her fist in agitation. "I am going crazy...crazy... argh, so frustrating. I am going to go totally crazy!"
He silently slid forward to innocently hand her the water bottle he had been carrying.
Naturally, Song Ji Hyo exploded.
"YOU! YOU COME HERE!" She caught hold of his arm and launched herself at him as he kept laughing at her blowup. "YOU CRAZY ROCKHEAD! YOU BASTARD! COME HERE!"
"What?-- Hahaha--- What-- hah! --did I do?" He kept on saying, half-laughing. She had managed to wrestle him to the ground and was trying to grab a tuft of his hair to pull while he protected his head with his arms.
She tried to pry apart his massive arms to no avail and when she could find no purchase at his hair, her energies focused on his unprotected body and she landed some punches which did hurt quite a bit. When he still didn't lower the defense of his head, she squeezed his waist between her legs till he stopped laughing and then started bouncing on his stomach like his friend, Cha Tae Hyun's, seven-year-old son would often do. Unfortunately, Ji Hyo was a lot heavier than his chubby little nephew.
"Ya, YA! Ji Hyo ah! That hurts! Argh!" He tried to twist around to get her off him but she slammed herself down and held him there with all her weight. With two years' experience of handling him, Ji Hyo certainly was adept at bringing Kim Jong Kook down if the fight was fought with no rules of propriety. "Ya, Song Ji Hyo! Is this how you treat a person you just betrayed? Where is your shame, woman?"
"I should be shameful, should apologize? You apologize for all that drama, NOW! If you don't I will punch you where it will really hurt" She said menacingly and he looked up to see her twisted around, with her fist hovering a foot above... well... the area where it will certainly hurt. This girl really knows no shame, he thought, before turning his head away in embarrassment.
He has to end it before things got too out of hand. She was operating under the delusion that he thinks nothing of her as a woman, but he was much aware of the weight pressing down on him. He blamed God for putting him in such circumstances when he is the least equipped out of all of them in handling women.
He anchored his hands on the slender knees on either sides of his waist and used them for leverage as he turned both of them over; bringing the troublesome kid in control. He quickly trapped her hands between their bodies and looked at her sternly.
"Are you going to treat Oppa like this, Ji Hyo ssi?" He asked her, holding her down eaily with his weight as she tried to wriggle out from underneath him.
"Oppa!" She whined tiredly. Jong Kook was startled a bit as her breath hit his face - this was clearly not the right position to trap her in. He hadn't thought much when he had made the move; for that matter, he had been in several close encounters with the girl but this probably was the worse - he couldn't tune out the 'man' part of his brain that was distinctly aware of the soft body pressed against his length. The damn strawberry fragrance was getting to him and he was suddenly assaulted once again of the feeling of those lips on his heated skin, as his gaze landed on the said lips for a moment. What the hell! If someone saw them, this could be extremely incriminating. Ah, he had just managed to keep himself scandal-free in a show; more's the pity, Ji Hyo would probably murder him in his sleep if a controversy occurs.
"Arasso, Arasso. Oppa is sorry for being so petty, but you too apologize nicely and I will let you go." He raised himself up on his elbows and reasoned.
"Mianhe, Jong Kook Oppa. Sincha Mianhe" She said with all the sincerity she could muster, exhausted from all the mental and physical exertion. "Truce?"
He finally rolled off her and sat up. Linking his little finger with her, he nodded. "Truce"
They got up, brushing their clothes, smiling slightly at the childishness they had both displayed. The air felt lighter as they had probably diffused a load of life's frustration in their little display. Ji Hyo chuckled lightly, her laugh tinkling in the courtyard. How silly it is of her to keep doubting the members!
Jong Kook picked up his phone which he had dropped in the scuffle, brushing it slightly, he smiled at her happy face as she waited for him to start moving. He slung an arm around the girl and ruffled her hair as they trudged back to the shooting site.
"Go easy on me sometimes, Ji Hyo ah. Oppa is growing old."
"Bull. You are as healthy as a horse!" She poked his abs to prove.
"And you are as cute as a rabbit. A rabid rabbit." He teased.
"Do you want to get hit, Hyung?" She mock-threatened.
"You will hit me?"
"Are you going to throw a tantrum again? Aish, so childish."
"Childish?"
"Yeh. I can't believe I liked you! You were so manly back then. Who knew you could be so childish."
"WHAT?"
"What WHAT? Oh. Yeh. I liked you ealier, Oppa. Not anymore, so don't worry."
She laughed it off but the words rang in his ears. Did he hear correctly? She liked him? When did that happen, or better yet, HOW?
Ji Hyo clocked on his stunned reaction and regretted saying it because he had started to conciously remove the arm around her neck. She pulled his arm back around her and looked him straight in the eye. "Kim Jong Kook ssi, I didn't tell you that right now so that you can start acting all weird with me. It's really a thing in the past. Do not worry, I am not confessing to you. You are all Eun Hye's."
He cracked a smile at that. Poor Eun Hye really gets dragged into every conversation even though the both of them had dated for not even a full whole month several years ago. However, his mind was on the bouncing girl he currently had his arm around. He couldn't believe she harboured feelings for him at any point of time. This little package who followed him around in missions and after filming, calling "Hyung!" in that chipmunk-like tone - she had just disclosed her crush on him.
"Oppa, stop over-thinking! Or I am going to be really embarrassed. Do you want to embarrass me?" She prodded his side with her finger.
He put all the current thoughts in a compartment in his brain for further thinking later and assured her that all is well. Squeezing her neck with his arm till she protested; he led her back into the building.
The echoes of their laughs died down as the doors closed after the two.
Annyeo, readers!
I will be taking a few liberties with the actual RM episode order and games or I myself might end up confused. :D
I realize that the earlier chapter could have been very disappointing. So here is a new one and I hope this one is better! Please do tell me where I am going wrong as this is my first time writing anything.
Happy reading!^^
KJK hovers around SJH in most of the 10-minute screen time he got. What does that say about the man? Yes, he lurrrrrves his girl! LOL, I am feeling mushy today.
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