Jessica woke up bright and early again, as usual, and prepared for her day.

She put on her favorite pink robe to keep warm. She walked down the hall and was surprised to see Woobin’s bedroom door wide open.

She walked past but he was nowhere to be seen.

He’s up? She thought.

The bathroom door down the hall was open and the light was off.

She went downstairs through the living room and from there she saw Woobin standing on the patio outside of the kitchen, right in front of the sliding door.

He had his back to her so he didn’t notice her presence.

She eyed him curiously as she tied her robe tighter, bracing herself for the chilly outside.

He’s smoking now?

She opened up the sliding door and stepped outside and Woobin finally realized she was there.

“You’re up early,” she said curtly.

He just nodded his head and pulled the cigarette away from his mouth, exhaling a puff of air.

Jessica waved the smoke out of her face, annoyed.

“You’re a smoker too?” she grimaced.

“Purely recreational,” he answered.

“You can get lung cancer, you know,” she informed him, crossing his arms.

“Well aware, noona,” he replied, ignoring her attempt at getting him to stop. He looked away from her and continued to inhale and exhale the smoke.

Jessica glared at him but he didn’t notice.

He held the cigarette between two fingers as he brought it back up to his mouth, and as he did so, Jessica pulled the cigarette from right from in front of him.

Woobin’s eyes widened as she calmly placed it on the ground before, stepping on it and grounding it against the patio with the tip of her foot.

“Ya,” Woobin roared.

Jessica just crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow at him.

“Look,” he began, using his hands to talk. “I have a terrible headache, I barely got any sleep last night, and I really don’t want to deal with you right now. That,” he pointed to the deformed cigarette on the ground which was almost diminished to ashes, “was my only chance at getting a clear head.”

“Of course you have a headache. It’s called ‘withdrawal,’ genius. High-school health class. The nicotine from that cigarette is only going to make it worse,” she explained.

Woobin put his hands in his pocket and stepped up to her. “It’s your fault I’m like this,” he hissed.

“Don’t blame me for your nasty habits,” she challenged. “You did this to yourself.”

Woobin shut his eyes tight and shook his head. “Leave me alone,” he said as he walked into the house, away from her.

She went in after him, closing the door behind her.

She caught up to him and stood in front of him, blocking him from getting to the stairs.

Woobin exhaled angrily. “What are you doing?” he said, his eyes darting away from her.

“Give me the rest of your cigarettes,” she demanded holding out her hand.

He snickered with a devilish smirk. “You lock away the liquor and now you want to confiscate my cigarettes?”

Jessica didn’t budge even as he glared deeply into her eyes. After a few moments of silence, he finally pulled out his box of cigarettes and slammed it into her hand.

“Why?” he asked.

“I don’t wanna die from second hand smoke,” she answered crudely.

“And the alcohol?” his head cocked to the side.

“Saving you from yourself. You’re gonna need to do something else to get rid of your buzz,” she advised.

She stepped out of his way and went toward the kitchen with the intent of locking away his cigarettes with the alcohol.

“Fine,” he said as she walked away. “Then I’m going out,” he said as he began his ascension up the stairs.

“What?” Jessica turned back around, going back to the staircase.

“You can’t go out. Where are you gonna go? You don’t even have a car!” she said as he ignored her countless attempts at him changing his mind.

“I’m going for a run,” he called out from his room, closing the door behind him.

A run? Jessica questioned, still standing at the bottom of the staircase.

…

Woobin donned a pair of running pants, sneakers, an athletic jacket, and a pair of gloves.

He thought that maybe a run would help alleviate his withdrawal irritability.

Who knows? Maybe he’d find away to escape this nightmare.

He hustled down the steps toward the front door.

“Hold up!” Jessica halted, the moment his hand grabbed onto the door handle.

He eyed her suspiciously as she came skipping down the steps.

She was also decked out in athletic gear.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“You said you’re going for a run? Great, I’ll join.”

“You run?”

“I told you that I exercise. It’s what I do ‘for fun,’” she jeered.

Woobin just laughed at her for blatantly inviting herself.

“Did I invite you?” he mocked.

“You didn’t have to,” she smirked.

She could clearly hear Chairman Kim’s voice echoing in her head.

“Never let him out of your sight.”

“Besides, you wouldn’t even know where to go, you’d get lost,” she reminded him as she opened the door and stepped out.

Despite being miffed by her attitude, he followed her out.

It hadn’t snowed for a while now, but it was still cold enough for the ground to freeze and the grass to be covered in frost.

“I’ll show you the route I take through the woods,” she told him, looking over her shoulder.

They walked side by side through into the nearby wooded area where she showed him a laid out path that parted through the trees.

“If you follow this path, it leads around the lake, through the woods, and back to my house,” she explained as they continued walking.

“Great,” he grinned. “After you?” he asked, gesturing his arms to the path, allowing her to start before him.

Jessica rolled her eyes.

“Stay on the trail and try to keep up,” she challenged with a smirk. “If you go missing, we’re both dead.”

Jessica turned around and immediately took off sprinting. Surprised, Woobin quickly followed suit.

Woobin ran hard. His height and long legs contributed to his ability to produce long, limber strides.

He was always fit and often worked out at a gym or would run around the city.

Running in the woods was a bit of a different story.

Jessica, who may not have the same amount of physical strength that Woobin might have, was extremely agile. Her motions were nimble and she proved to be a tough adversary for Woobin if they were to compete.

She loved to run in the woods – it was more challenging than it would be to run on a treadmill. The path was uneven, demanding more physical strength, the air was fresh and brisk, her heart was pumping, and endorphins were being released like wildfire throughout her body.

The feeling was immense.

She picked up on running during her secret service training, growing up. She was required to take various classes in self-defense, martial arts, a little bit of gymnastics, and yoga. So, she’s always been physically fit her whole life.

But running was a simple way of achieving a natural high on a daily basis.

At one point he was slowly coming up behind.

He grinned at this, hoping to take over.

From another perspective it seemed as if a rapid cheetah was closing in on a sprightly antelope.

But Jessica, noticing his opportunity to turn the situation around, urged onward.

Slowly but surely, the gap between them increased.

Finally needing to catch a breath, Woobin decelerated and came to a stop.

He leaned against the nearest tree, gasping for air.

He started to scan the area, assessing his situation.

“How are you doing back there?”

Woobin looked up to see Jessica approaching him, also out of breath.

Woobin nodded his head up and down as he wiped arms. “Not too bad,” he grinned, gasping between words. “Just a bit out of breath.”

“I’m glad you were able to keep up,” she answered.

He looked up at her and she smiled. “For the most part.”

“How’d you get to be so fast?” he arched an eyebrow.

“I like to run,” she shrugged. “It’s a good way to relieve stress. Endorphins kicking your buzz, yet?”

Woobin responded with a somewhat so-so expression. “It’s getting there,” he started. “But that cigarette sure would have been helpful.”

Jessica just shook her head. “You’ll get over it.”

“How much longer til this path takes us back?”

“Probably another 10 minutes if we keep running,” she estimated, looking around for familiar markings that gave her an idea of their location.

“Wanna race back?” Woobin proposed.

Jessica giggled to herself quietly. “You sure about that?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

He nodded his head. “Definitely.”

“Alright,” she shrugged. “Your loss,” she stated.

“Care to make it a little interesting?” he suddenly suggested.

Jessica looked over at him doubtfully.

“Interesting, how?”

“If I win,” he began as he approached her. “You hand over your keys to your lovely Bentley and I get to go wherever I want.”

Jessica didn’t fail to notice that devilish, smug expression he always wore.

“No way,” she rolled her eyes.

“Why? Not so confident?”

Jessica pursed her lips, considering it.

“Fine.”

“Also, throw in the cigarettes and liquor.”

“And if I win?”

“What do you want?” he asked.

Jessica thought about it tediously.

“Think carefully, noona. I’m still available for a date,” he teased. “Though you’d hardly need to win a bet for me to agree.”

His smile was like a snake.

“I know what I want,” she said.

“And what’s that?”

“If I win, you become housekeeper.”

Woobin glared at her unbelievingly. “Excuse me?”

“If I win, you have to cook, clean, and do the laundry.”

“For how long?”

“Considering how sensitive you are right now,” alluding to his constant ‘my shoulder still hurts’ excuse. “I won’t torture you. How about a week? Or is that too much?”

Woobin was suddenly by the competitive edge in her voice.

“Deal,” he agreed.

“I’ll even give you a head start, if you’d like,” she offered.

“How about we start at the same time, this round?”

“If you say so.”

They prepared themselves for launch, standing side by side

“Ready,” Jessica started.

“Set,” Woobin continued.

“GO.”

Much to her expectations, Jessica took off like lightning, unhindered by their first round.

Except this time, Jessica was on edge and the situation was one she longed to have the upper hand in.

Motivated at the thought of him finally becoming her maid drove her past her previous level of speed and suddenly she was becoming the cheetah who didn’t even bother to chase the antelope.

Never looking back once, she pushed onward.

Not even the frigid air wrapping around her held her back.

She was working so hard that she was sweating beneath her jacket.

After a few minutes, she finally glanced backward to see just how far ahead she was.

Much to her pleasure, he was nowhere in sight. She had sprinted so fast that she couldn’t even see him anymore.

As an act of kindness, Jessica slowed down to let him catch up to her.

She leaned against a tree, gasping for air, waiting for him to appear.

After a few moments of silence, she suspected something odd.

Where the hell is he?

…

Woobin entered the house through the back door by the lakeside of the house.

Once he got in, he closed the door behind him.

Yeesh, it’s cold, he shivered.

Woobin already knew that he wouldn’t be able to catch up to Jessica.

She was way too fast for him.

Right before they started their race, he analyzed his surroundings.

When he fell behind after a certain amount of time, he immediately cut through the woods to return to the house before she did.

He went into the fridge to grab a water bottle and downed almost half of it with one drink.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and waited a moment for his breath to catch up with the rest of him.

Now, where are those keys? He thought as he placed the water bottle onto the kitchen counter.

“Stay out of my room and my office.”

Woobin smirked, remembering how adamant she was about him staying out of her bedroom and office and knew exactly where he was headed.

He quickly climbed the steps and went straight to her bedroom.

He opened the door, only to find that the exact person he was escaping was there, lying across the bed.

He stood there, dumbfounded.

There she was, lying there comfortably, her key-ring dangling from her finger tip while she drank from a water bottle.

“How…How did you…”

“It’s about time you showed up.”

Woobin had no words.

“Sure took you long enough,” she said as she got up from the bed.

“This…is…impossible,” the words drew out from him slowly.

“I suspected something was up when you fell behind,” she told him. He could only stare at her in astonishment.

“All I kept thinking was ‘either this guy is sly as a fox or slow as a turtle.’ Turns out, you’re both,” she hissed.

Woobin sighed in defeat and avoided her gaze.

“What…what now?”

“Well, it looks like I won the bet,” she batted her eyelashes at him. “Starting tomorrow, you,” she poked him against the chest, “work for me,” pointing to herself.

[A/N] Hello lovely readers! Hope you enjoyed this update :) Hopefully it's a bit of a pick-me-up after that previous chapter. But you'll see just how necessary everything in this story is as the plot continues and the characters' relationships develop.

CLICK HERE to go to my teaser/preview video for "Safe Haven" on youtube!

I hope to read more of your hilarious and insightful comments!!! Thanks for all your support. Please feel free to recommend my fic to any woobin x sica shippers or people just looking for another Woobin/Sica story.

- J