"Yah Ji Hyo, I'm already in front of the SBS building. Where are you?" For the past hour, Jong Kook tried to reach Ji Hyo, but her voicemail greeted him everytime instead of her groggy sleep-deprived self. They had agreed to meet at 8 o'clock but she was nowhere in sight. 

"That woman can really sleep through anything!" He thought. After two years on Running Man and countless missions in the wee hours of the morning, Jong Kook was no longer surprised at her tardiness. For the Ace, the word "early" didn't have the same meaning as for her male counterpart. Waking up at 6 to jog was a routine to him. The cold wind hitting his face, the earthy smell lingering after a rainy day and the lack of human presence really soothed his troubled heart. Today was no exception, though his heart was in a happy state.

"Song Ji Hyo, are you on your way here yet? Didn't you say you wanted to talk to the pds before the others arrived? Filming starts at 9:30!" He shouted into his phone as he paced around the building in his training clothes. After indulging more calories than he had planned yesterday, he decided to jog from his house to the broadcasting station. Sure, he lived in Anyang which was not exactly next door to Seoul but he still made sure to arrive before the meeting time to spare Ji Hyo the wait. If the hyungs heard about his intense morning workout, they would certainly mock him and his bulging muscles. 

As he checked his phone for any missed calls from the sleeping beauty, yesterday's events flooded back to his mind.

Less than eight hours ago...

"K-Kim Jong Kook..." Ji Hyo stuttered, in shock.

The actress was at a loss for words. She remained unmoving for a few minutes, staring at nothing in particular. She finally regained her composure and slapped him hard on the chest.

"What was that for?" Jong Kook barked at her, his face contorted with pain.

"You! Are you messing with me?!?" Ji Hyo hissed, doubting his intentions. She went on to yank his hair as he grabbed her wrists to stop her.

"Yah! I confessed my true feelings to you! Shouldn't you be happy that I, your 15 years-long crush, like you?!" Jong Kook exclaimed, agitated by her reaction. He had only imagined two possible outcomes from his confession: Mong Ji accepting his feelings or rejecting them. Never had it crossed his mind that they would end up fighting!

"That was a teenage girl crush, oppa!" She scoffed as she crossed her arms.

"You're the one who told me that you still had a small crush on me when we started Running Man. You said, and I quote: "you were on my mind 24/7. I imagined how Running Man would be the perfect excuse to be near you." Doesn't that sound familiar?" Jong Kook sniggered, hitting Ji Hyo's nerve.

"Kim Jong Kook! May I remind you that this confession happened when I was drunk? Now, If you're playing around, stop it." Ji Hyo ordered, embarassed that Jong Kook still remembered.

"What are you talking about? Why would I play around? Seriously! Do you think I'm that kind of guy?!" Jong Kook shouted, gesturing wildly to show his discontentment.

How did Jong Kook's heartfelt confession end up like this?

"Women are very a strange and complicated species." Jong Kook sighed, as he ran his hand in his hair.

"And why do you say I should be honored to be the one YOU like? Shouldn't it be the other way around?!" Ji Hyo snorted as she glared at him.

Jong Kook looked at her defiantly.

"That girl..." He thought, trying hard to hold himself back in order to avoid an unwanted outburst of physical abuse directed at him.

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?!" He mimicked, in a girly high-pitched tone.

"Yah! I don't talk like that, you !" She yelled. Foul-mouthed Ji Hyo finally made her appearance after being provoked by the Mosquitoe-voice singer. The Ace often used profanities around the Tiger and Kwang Soo. She really lived up to the nickname Kwang Soo created for her: Poison tongued-like woman.

"I can't believe how childish you are, oppa! Act your age!" she exclaimed, giving him the stink eye.

Jong Kook was about to talk back when he realized something.

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?!"

Shouldn't it be the other way around?!

Does that mean...what he thought it meant?

"You like me." He stated, uncovering the truth.

"W-what? I don't know how you got that idea. I don't like you...at all!" Ji Hyo stammered, her eyes wide open. 

There was no way she was going to admit her feelings after he made fun of her. She had to keep her last bit of dignity intact.

"Oh really? Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I did this." Jong Kook planted himself right in front of her. His scent was overpowering her senses, she couldn't think straight with him standing so close.

"Or this." He put a loose strand of hair behind her ear and stared at her. 

"O-oppa..." Ji Hyo uttered. She looked up to meet his small eyes. Jong Kook might say that his small eyes drag down his overall look but to Ji Hyo, they were his best feature. She recalled the first time she met him on Family Outing and her blunt-self asked him an insensitive question about his eyes. The others laughed and he shrugged it off with an embarassed smile. That was the first time he met her and there she was already mocking his weakness. "What an interesting woman." He had thought.

After more than two years on the show, the Ace's co-stars have been an audience to her ever-changing appearance. She had grown from a shy and graceful variety newbie to a stunning and frightening woman. Ji Hyo's beauty never failed to amaze her Running Man family despite the short amount of compliments she got from them.

The Commander was still gazing into her dark orbs when her pinching brought him back to reality.

"Now all jokes aside, tell me the truth, Ji Hyo-ah." Jong Kook said, as he cupped her face with both hands.

"Oppa...I admit that I do like you as a man." Ji Hyo replied, her cheeks on fire.

A large grin crept to his lips, he couldn't believe it. He wanted to ask her to repeat what she had just said to make sure he had heard right but that would diminish his manliness. His happiness was short-lived; he couldn't see the same excitement on Ji Hyo's face. "Gloomy" would be the word to describe it.

She removed his hands from her face and told him what he had dreaded.

"...I'm sure you're aware that we can't be together. At least, not now." 

She went on and intertwined her fingers with his.

"Gary oppa means a lot to me, he'll always have a piece of my heart. I can't bear to see him hurting because of our own selfish feelings, you know?"

Jong Kook nodded in silence. He also wouldn't be able to date Ji Hyo with Gary's pain and his own guilt constantly taunting him in the back of his mind.

"So I think we should stay as we are right now. Oppa and dongsaeng, that is." Ji Hyo concluded, though her heart wanted the opposite.

Jong Kook agreed half-heartedly. 

"But that doesn't mean I'll stop liking you, oppa!' Ji Hyo reassured the Commander.

"It's okay, I understand. Then, I guess we'll have to pretend as if this conversation never happened? You know, to make things less awkward between us?" Jong Kook said with a boyish smile.

"No. I want to remember this conversation and your confession forever." Ji Hyo said as she kissed his cheek.

Jong Kook was flustered by her sudden display of affection. It's been awhile since he had intimate physical contact with a person of the opposite . Of course, holding female guests' hands on Running Man didn't count.

"Let's just say that we're in that special phase between a man and a woman." Ji Hyo said, her eyes twinkling.

"Huh?" Jong Kook questionned, his heart beating rapidly because of the kiss.

"You know how in dramas, there's always a part where the guy realizes he likes the girl and vice-versa, but they're too shy admit it to one another? And then the guy starts to chase the girl and she pretends she's uninterested?" Ji Hyo's smile grew wider, as she shared her knowledge of every drama's storyline.

"Yeah..." Jong Kook answered, not really grasping where she was going at.

"And they share some romantic moments together; he cares for her and she does too?" She continued, her love for korean dramas clouding taking over.

"Hmm." Jong Kook slowly understanding what she was trying to tell him.

"Well, for now, we'll pretend as if that's the situation were in." Ji Hyo giggled, thinking about how she would finally be able to live her fantasies.

"You mean the chase? " He asked, startle to find out that Ji Hyo was actually...a woman at heart. 

"Bingo!" Ji Hyo snapped her finger in front of his eyes.

"Ji Hyo-ah! You're...You're a woman!" Jong Kook gasped as if he had discovered the world's biggest secret.

"What?! Of course I'm a woman! Did you think I was a man?!" Ji Hyo shouted, caught off guard by his slightly offensive comment.

"No! Never! What I meant was that you...Your...You're..." Jong Kook didn't know how to get out of this without insulting her or getting smacked on the chest.

"Save it. You're digging your own grave, Kim Jong Kook." Ji Hyo spared him her wrath.

He scratched his head thinking about something to say to calm her down.

"You should get going, oppa. We still have to film Running Man tomorrow morning." Ji Hyo sighed as she guided him to the entrance.

"Oh! Don't forget that you have to come with me to discuss some things with the pds." Ji Hyo continued, not wanting to actually say Gary's name, though they both knew that's what she was implying.

"I'll be there, don't worry." Jong Kook said as he zipped his jacket and put on his shoes, while holding onto Ji Hyo for support.

"See you tomorrow. Sleep tight." Jong Kook told her as he kissed the back of her hand.

"N-neh, oppa. Goodnight." Ji Hyo managed to say, her heart stirring because of the feeling of his soft lips on her hand.