“I’m so bored,” Cindy said for the umpteenth time that afternoon. “I’m really bored.” Ally, who was lying next to her on the floor of the large living room, groaned as she picked up a pillow and threw it at her friend.

     “Yeah, and that’s not the first time, or even the seventh time, I’ve heard you say that in the last five minutes,” Ally groaned, turning over onto her back and sighing into the rug as Cindy expertly caught the pillow, accustomed to such a routine. It had been a week since the dance-off of which Jo Kwon’s team destroyed the competition, and life seemed to slow down a bit. Ally had been dividing most of her time between Cindy and Ezabel, Changmin and their team, and Jo Kwon and his team. Though, she regretted to admit, none of which were particularly interesting. She helped Changmin dye his hair one day, bringing it back to an almost-black brown color, and watched as another IAM cut and styled it for him. She one day watched as Kwon showed his teammates the items he had packed in his suitcase and told Ally to come, calling it “bonding” of some sort. Her time with Cindy and Ezabel usually resulted in them lying around the house, wishing there was something to do. It never really led anywhere. Just to more boredom.

     “Maybe we should look through the DVDs?” Ezabel, who had remained relatively quiet on the couch while Cindy expressed her boredom, said, sitting up and crawling over to the TV stand and opening up the cabinet. The three girls huddled around and sighed, noticing most of the movies looked unfamiliar, and with their lack of fluency in Korean, it was hard to understand what exactly they were about. Though, when Ally pulled a specific case out of the stack, a grin broke out on her face and she knew she had made a good find.

     “I can’t believe they have episodes of Running Man. This show is amazing,” Ally said, holding up the case as she gazed at the front cover. “I’m completely in love with Kwangsoo.”

     “Should we watch it?” Cindy asked, leaning over to catch a peek at the cover as well, Ally pointing out Kwangsoo to her and giggling like a fangirl.

     “I got it!” Ezabel suddenly cried, causing Ally to shriek in surprise and throw the DVD in the air. Ezabel seemed too focused to notice. “How about we become a part of it instead?” This caused Ally to revert her attention back to the conversation.

     “What do you mean? Like… make our own competition?” she asked, a twinkle gleaming in her eye as a realm of possibilities seemed to appear in her mind.

     “Yeah, reenact certain missions and make teams and the winners get a point.” Ally squealed in delight, immediately jumping up off the ground and hopping from foot to foot.

     “Oh, we need to suggest this right now. You guys, this is the best idea ever. I’ve always wanted to be on Running Man, and I’ve always wanted 2AM to be on Running Man, too.”

     “Hopefully everyone goes for this,” Cindy said, a hopeful expression across her face. “I really don’t want to be this bored again.” Ezabel and Ally nodded in agreement, the both having a slight fire in their eyes, ready to get the competition underway.

     “What are you all excited about?” a low voice from behind Ally mumbled. She her heel quickly, grinning at the sleepy man in front of her. She hopped over to him with a skip in her step. Almost falling, underestimating her speed, Ally grabbed onto his white teeshirt to prevent herself from crashing into the man’s chest. Barely noticing that she had a fist full of his teeshirt and she was pressed up against him, Ally looked up with the same huge smile plastered on her face.

     “Changmiiiiiiiiin.” Ally said his name with a childish excitement. “Ezabel came up with a good idea. She suggested making a Running Man competition. We could imitate the missions on the show, and play it out as a team game and the winners would get points.” She leaned up on her tippy-toes, ignorant to the fact that she was getting closer and closer to Changmin as she did so. “It would be so fun. You want to do it too, right?”

     Changmin raised an eyebrow, it being the first time he had seen the girl that excited before. He swiftly lifted his hand and pushed Ally’s forehead with his index finger, moving her off of him.

     “You’re perky today, huh?” he commented, rolling his eyes as Ally just giggled as if he didn’t just roll his eyes at her in the first place. Changmin plopped himself down on the couch where Ezabel had once sat.

     “So, Running Man, huh?” he asked, turning to Ezabel. The room was silent for a moment before a sly grin broke out on Changmin’s face. “I’m in.”

     It didn’t take long to gather the members of the resort in the living room, and the teams were spread out and whispering to each other bits and pieces of plans to stay alive in the game and win for the team. Ally, Ezabel, and Cindy all sat in the center of the room, nudging each other with their elbows as they tried to convince someone to stand up and explain the rules. Finally, Ally was poked and prodded with enough elbows to stand up and clear . Everyone immediately stopped talking and gave her their full attention.

      “Hey, everyone. So, in case some of you don’t know what Running Man is, I’ll explain,” Ally started, blushing nervously. “So, on the show, there are quite a few people who compete in little missions to try to win what’s called a Running Ball. Most of the early shows end in a huge game of Hide-and-Seek where the seeking team has bells on their shoes that ring whenever they move. The hiding team has a mission. The winner is decided by whether the seeking team catches the entire mission team, or the mission team finishes their mission before time is up. At the end of all of the games, the Running Balls are all put into a lottery machine and the balls chosen are exempt of punishment and they win.”

     “Explain the games we’ll be playing!” Changmin called from the side. Ally stuck her tongue out at him.

     “Calm down. I was getting to that!” she snapped back at him, shaking her head. “Anyway, we decided on a few games. Obviously, we’ll be playing the Bells Hide-and-Seek game.” Ally smirked at the thought. “Another little twist is that three members will be selected from each team to perform a dare from one of the other teams. The team gets one Running Ball per dare completed correctly.”

     “I hope I get the dare,” a few girls whispered off to the side, looking off longingly at the 2AM members and giggling.

     “We’ll also be playing the photo game where everyone needs to fit in the frame,” Ally continued. “The winners of that game also get a Running Ball. After the games are over, we’ll throw all the balls in a bag or something and pick out the lucky winner. Does everyone understand?”

     “Yes,” the room chorused back, already a flurry of excitement bustling from everyone.

     “First, we’ll decide which teams will chase and which will have the mission!” Cindy exclaimed, standing up from her spot on the floor. “Two teams versus the other two teams. But, who will go with who?”

     “I want to chase with Seulong hyung’s team!” Jinwoon suddenly exclaimed, and the members from those two teams began crying out in approval.

    “I guess that means we’ll be doing the mission together!” Jo Kwon replied, winking at Ally who laughed uncomfortably.

     “Yeah,” she said softly, “I guess it does.” She still didn’t feel one hundred percent comfortable with Jo Kwon yet. Sure, he was being super friendly to her, but a part of her wondered if he was just being nice because he had an ulterior motive or not. She couldn’t imagine what this motive would be, however, and put that thought in the back of her mind.

     “Now, each of the two new teams will make six dares for the other team, three for each half. Once you’re done, give them to the other team and they will decide who does the dares without looking at them,” Ezabel called from over in her corner, surrounded by her teammates. Cindy, who was sitting next to her, nodded in agreement. Ally gazed over at the two with a pout on her face. She would get separated from her closest friends on the island…

     Before she knew it, Ally’s team had come up with six dares and exchanged with the other team. Immediately, she was handed one of the small sheets of paper with a dare written on it.

     “I’m not good at dares!” Ally protested, holding her hands up in the air defensively. “I never end up following through. I don’t think I’m a good choice.”

     “Relax,” one girl said, sitting next to Ally with a smile. “We chose you because you seem close with Changmin and Jo Kwon seems interested in you because of it. If the dare has anything to do with those two, you’ll probably be more comfortable than the rest of us doing it.” Ally pouted.

     “But being closer with them gives me all the more reason to be too embarrassed to do anything…”

     “Oh, hush!” the girl said, laughing. “You’ll be fine. Just read your dare.”

     Ally sighed, and turned around to open up her paper in secrecy. Her heart was pounding in her chest, fearing for the absolute worst dare to fall into realm of responsibility. Yet, the dare she read on the paper was certainly embarrassing, but not nearly as threatening as what she expected.

     Ally was dared to give Changmin a back-hug without he himself knowing about the dare. Ally was extremely nervous about being that close to Changmin. She still had a tiny fan-girl crush on the guy, and that might just push her over the edge into fan-girl mode. Plus, Changmin is going to think she’s insane for randomly hugging him. They weren’t that close. The only times Ally had been that close to Changmin were purely accidental. How was she going to do it all of her own free will? But, at least it was better than something disgusting or dangerous… right?

     Only a few minutes later did the whole room begin taping on make-shift name-tags onto the backs of everyone’s shirts. Once torn off, that member of the mission team would be sent to the beach (what would be serving as jail). The bells were also handed out, and the chasing team wasted no time attaching them to their shoes and ankles. A few IAMs that didn’t feel like participating in the race mission had previously set up the objects for the mission, and the game was completely ready. The only thing needed was the start of the timer, and the game would begin.

     “Okay, we’ll give you guys a five minute head start to get hiding and searching. But once that’s over, we’re setting the timer for two hours and we’re going to find you all!” Seulong teasingly threatened, and with those words the mission team huddled together to read their mission.

     “Find all 25 Running Man signs throughout the resort,” Jo Kwon read quietly, keeping his voice down so the chasing team couldn’t hear. Once the mission was read aloud, Changmin sprung into action.

     “Everyone, run!” he cried and immediately the entire team sprung to life and flooded out of the living room. Ally turned and looked around her, immediately wondering where she should start looking first. The resort was surprisingly quite large, with many rooms to hide the signs in, and a good strategy was needed to cover them all. She was at a disadvantage that the members of the show didn’t have; her team did not have any walky-talkies. She was going to have to find a way to search every room in the quickest way possible. But how?

     “Hey, stop just staring into space. Come on!” Changmin exclaimed to Ally, snapping her out of her thoughts. Before she had time to protest, he grasped her hand in his and took off running through the halls.

     “Hey! I was coming up with a plan!” Ally finally was able to say, but Changmin shook his head and continued to run. “Don’t ignore me! Let’s at least start on the top floor, and we’ll work our way down.” Changmin turned around for a moment to smile at her.

     “Fine. Have it your way,” he teased, leading her quickly up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms. “Let’s start looking as much as we can before they start looking for us.”

     “Shouldn’t we split up?” Ally asked, raising her eyebrow and crossing her arms. “If they catch us, we’ll both be out.” Changmin sighed, almost as if he was frustrated.

     “Don’t question it,” he replied, turning to Ally and raising his own eyebrow right back at her. “If they find us, I’ll protect you.” Ally instantly blushed, embarrassed.

     “More like I’ll be your sacrifice so you can escape!” she shot back, and Changmin laughed.

     “Yeah, that is more likely,” he responded, and walked over to where Ally was standing and lightly flicked her forehead, the spot where her cut was now almost healed thanks to his first aid.

     Suddenly, flurries of bells were heard running up the stairs, and Ally and Changmin shot each other panicked looks. Had it really been five minutes already? The two looked around the room, wondering if there was a place for them to escape. Changmin gasped, as if he got an idea, and moved a few suitcases to cover the bottom of the one large double bed in the room. He reached over and grabbed Ally’s shoulder, pushing her towards the bed and motioning for her to go under. She frowned, shaking her head. Hiding by herself under a bed for a while did not seem like her idea of fun. Changmin groaned, pushing her lightly again. Ally, this time, agreed to go under the bed but grabbed Changmin’s hand and motioned for him to follow. He did without question, and the two squeezed tightly under the bed just in time for the door to slam open.

     “Maybe we should search in here… Ah! It’s Jinwoon’s room!” a female voice cried, and another giggled. “I don’t want to peak through his stuff. It doesn’t look like anyone is here, anyway.” The door quickly slammed shut and the bells moved to the other side of the hallway.

     “That was close…” Ally whispered to Changmin, and he nodded.

     “Too close. You were slow.” He poked Ally’s side, and she frowned at him.

     “So what? You were pushing me under a bed! I have a right to be slow!” Changmin laughed and shushed her, warning Ally that she was raising her voice.

     “We’re still hiding. Keep your voice down!”

     Ally sighed, resting her head down on the ground. It was then that she noticed just how smushed together she and Changmin actually were. Not only were their shoulders pressed together, but Ally’s legs were almost entangled with Changmin’s in an effort to fit two people under one bed. It was actually quite uncomfortable, and Ally tried her hardest not to feel embarrassed. It was not the time to feel that way. Not the time at all.

     “How come it always seems like we’re together?” Changmin asked quietly, also resting his head down on the ground and turning to face Ally. “In every game. We sang together, we made a group together, we’re now hiding together…”

     “Well, we sang together because our team forced me to and I knew the words,” Ally began, “And for the other two, you forced me into it!”

     “Hey, you didn’t want to be with me?” he teased, and Ally pretended to be annoyed.

     “Of course I didn’t! Why would I?” she whispered, scrunching up her face. Changmin chuckled softly and poked her again. “Stop poking me!” Changmin then just poked her again, to which Ally responded by humming Mariah Carrey’s “Obsessed”. “Why you so obsessed with me?” Ally repeated the lyrics, and she noticed Changmin’s ears ever so slightly tint pink.

     “You wish,” he hissed back, turning his head away from her as Ally giggled.

     “Of course,” she teased, taking the opportunity to now poke Changmin in his side.

     “I’m done letting you walk all over me,” Changmin suddenly hissed, crawling out from under the bed and his feet disappearing from Ally’s sight. She frowned, assuming she had actually angered him and stuck her head out from under the bed, only to be flicked right in her cheek. She squealed out in surprise as Changmin chuckled and moved out from the side of the bed.

     “You jerk,” Ally moped, pouting as she rubbed her cheek with her left hand and pulled herself out from under the bed with her right. “That hurt.” Changmin’s smile didn’t falter, and he snickered again as Ally shot a small glare at him. “Not funny.”

     “It’s pretty amusing, actually,” he replied calmly, reaching out and grabbing Ally’s hand, pulling her up to her feet. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, Changmin gripping Ally’s hand with her glaring at him and rubbing her cheek with her other hand. Before she knew what was happening, Changmin reached up and removed Ally’s palm from her cheek and placed his index finger where he had flicked her. “Sorry if I hurt you,” he said in a hushed voice, looking over to Ally’s cheek before returning his gaze to her eyes. He let his finger trail quickly down her cheek before releasing her hands and turning on his heel, beginning to search the room for a Running Man sign in the room.

     Ally was less concerned with what just happened and quite worried about how it made her feel. She could feel her cheeks turning a deep maroon and she wouldn’t be surprised if Changmin could hear her heart beating out of her chest. She had always been a fan of Changmin’s and had a crush on him before meeting him, but meeting him changes everything. Knowing someone on a more personal level pretty much throws all other preconceptions out the window. The previous crush she had was nothing. She never got blushed at the sound of his voice or felt her heart beat faster at the sight of him. Well, that was, until just that moment.

     Having a crush on the island was dangerous, and Ally knew this. When she went to the island, she knew that forming romantic feelings was out of the question. The IAMs were from all over the world, and falling for one of them would only lead to heartbreak or just plain disappointment. The same went for the members, though Ally had thought less of that considering the odds of one of them feeling the same to her were slim to none. On top of that, she had already harbored crushes on all four of them. Meeting in them in person wouldn’t particularly change the fangirl inside her… unless something happened. She didn’t expect to find herself this close with Changmin, and it was a little worrisome. Ally knew she barely had any control over her feelings, and her heart told her mind what to do most of the time. If she began to form feelings for Changmin… well, in short, it wouldn’t be good.

     “I found one!” Changmin’s voice broke Ally’s train of thought, and he whipped a sign in front of her face with a triumphant smile on his face. “It was on one of Jinwoon’s jackets in the closet. Did you search the rest of the room?”

     “Erm… Well…” Ally stuttered, awkwardly avoiding Changmin’s gaze. He sighed at her, immediately realizing she had just stood there the whole time.

     “I should have left you to fend for yourself,” he retorted, shaking his head with a smile smile and quickly looked over the rest of the room. “We should move on to another room and search. I don’t hear any bells.” Without waiting for an answer, Changmin tiptoed out of the room and into the room across the hall. Ally stared at his back as he left, still slightly distracted, lifting a hand to her cheek where he had touched her. Wait… his back…

     “Crap!” Ally hissed out loud. She forgot about the backhug. She still needed to do that! That would be so embarrassing…

     “What?” Changmin asked from the other room, and Ally laughed awkwardly and quickly followed him, shutting the door behind her.

     The two easily wiped through the third floor, finding a total of 3 signs. They did have to hide a few times, but somehow the pair managed to just narrowly escape each time. It seemed as though the two were home free as they moved on to the second floor. They managed to search two rooms before the sound of bells came pounded up the stairs and Changmin and Ally were spotted.

     “Catch them!” a few girls yelled, and they immediately ran after the pair.

     “Run!” Changmin in-turn cried out, gripping Ally’s wrist and dragging her along the hallway and attempting to run into one of the rooms and lock the door. This plan didn’t work so well, as someone on the seeking team happened to be in one of the rooms nearby. They were surrounded. Ally and Changmin looked to each other with panicked expressions, trying to figure out what to do. The idea of escape came to her as quickly as it was executed. In one swift movement, Ally removed herself from Changmin’s grip and wrapped her small arms around his large torso from behind.

     “Changmin-oppa, hwaiting,” she squeaked out with aegyo laced in her voice before letting go and lunging at the girls surrounding them. “RUN!”

     Changmin looked stunned for a moment, staring at Ally with a surprised expression. It took him a few moments to really comprehend what happened, so it seemed, because after a second of watching Ally fend off the other team, Changmin took off down the hall, bumping into Jo Kwon on the way.

     “Run!” Ally called to Changmin again, picking her head up just in time to see Jo Kwon staring with an unreadable expression on his face. The two made eye contact that probably wouldn’t have broken so quickly if it wasn’t for Changmin tugging his leading down the stairs with him to escape. As soon as she knew Changmin was safe, Ally sighed and released the other girls and they immediately tore her nametag off. Ally was out.

     When she went down to the “jail”, Ally noticed she was not alone. More than half of their team was moping around, mumbling about how they got caught and how annoyed they were. Their faces lit up a bit as Ally approached, and a flurry of questions were shot at her.

     “Did you do your dare? What did Changmin do? Did he hug you back? Were you embarrassed? Did you tell him it was a dare?” they cried out, and Ally couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head.

     “Well,” she responded, taking a dramatic pause as she watched her team’s faces light up with interest. “I did it.” The whole group exploded into cheers and the other five girls that also had dares ran up to Ally and smothered her in a group hug.

     “We did our dares, too!” One of them said. “That means we get six Running Balls!” From that point on, the jail was less torturous and more a jolly conversation with budding friendships. The waiting for their teammates to return seemed to fly by, and more and more people filled the room. Finally, about a half an hour later, Jo Kwon and Changmin rushed into the room, their expressions blank.

     “Did we win?” a bunch of people asked at once, and the 2AM members turned to each other and opened their mouths to reply. Before they got the chance, however, cheering was heard and the other two teams burst into the jail area.

     “We won! We won!” Jinwoon and Seulong chanted, their arms around each other, laughing like maniacs. Their whole team followed in their footsteps, hugging and high fives being shared between everyone. The Changkwon team couldn’t help but laugh at the scene unfolding in front of them. They were quite excited to win the game…

     Ally was watching the celebration when Changmin walked over and sat next to Ally, tilting his head at her curiously. He leaned in, cupping his hands to his mouth, and whispered in Ally’s ear.

     “What was that before?” he asked, and Ally turned to see a slight frown on Changmin’s face.

     “Embarrassed?” she countered, and by the fact that his scowl increased ten fold, Ally knew she was right. She burst out laughing, slapping Changmin’s shoulder softly. “It was a dare to get a Running Ball.” She turned to Changmin to see if he felt better knowing that or not, but she couldn’t tell. He was staring off at the wall behind her, looking to be thinking hard. “You’re welcome…” Ally mumbled teasingly, turning away from Changmin with a yawn and leaning back against the couch. So, they didn’t get the Running Balls from the Hide-and-Seek. But they definitely grew closer as a team.

     In the case of Changmin and Ally, however, it was hard to tell if they became closer or just incredibly further apart…