"All right everyone, that's it for today. Thanks a lot and we'll see you again tomorrow."

Kim Jong Kook slumps with near-exhaustion as soon as the end of the shoot of Running Man is called. He loves being busy, but his schedule lately is so packed with rehearsals and filming for his various television shows that he feels like he's always either at work or driving to work. It's already 10pm and he still has to eat, get home, shower, sleep, and hit the gym before heading back before the sun even comes up tomorrow. He closes his eyes and rubs a hand over his face, trying to summon the energy to get moving after a particularly active Running Man episode.

Kwang Soo bounds up beside him, still seemingly filled with endless energy. Jong Kook doesn't know how it's possible, considering Kwang Soo's schedule is just as full and his commutes are just as painful, if not more so. 

"Hyung!" Kwang Soo slings an arm around the shorter man's shoulders. "What are you doing now? Do you want to go eat together?"

"Seriously? Aren't you tired? I don't think I'll even be able to eat once I finally get home and showered, let alone spend several more hours hogging the back room of a restaurant with you. I'm dead tired. I can't even think. My poor manager is going to have to drive me home, I don't think I could make it safely. How are you maintaining this kind of energy when I know you live even farther out than I do?"

"Oh, I haven't been going home much lately," Kwang Soo says casually.

Jong Kook's eyebrows shoot to the top of his head. "Oh, really? Just where have you been going?," he asks cheekily, nudging the giraffe in the ribs with his elbow.

"Ahh, ahh, Jong Kook hyung!" Kwang Soo leaps back, rubbing his side with a wounded frown. "Not so hard. I'm a delicate flower."

"I hope I haven't injured you too much to keep up with your apparent nighttime activities," Jong Kook leers teasingly.

"No, no, it's not like that!" Kwang Soo hurriedly explains, lifting both hands up in front of himself as if to physically stop whatever assumptions Jong Kook is making. "I've spent a lot of nights in the last few months crashing at Ji Hyo's assistant's apartment. It's right in the center of the city, it's been really convenient. I practically roll out of bed and right to work most days."

"Oh? Ji Hyo has an assistant? I don't think I've met him, what's his name?"

"Hyung." Kwang Soo rolls his eyes. "You've met her at least three times. Che Ri? I mean, Cherry? She's right over there?" Kwang Soo points to the opposite side of the entry they've walked to as they spoke, where Ji Hyo is talking to a woman standing with her back to them.

"Hm, I don't think so," Jong Kook replies. "Tell me about her, eh?"

Kwang Soo barely dodges another tiger elbowing.

"It's not like that," Kwang Soo insists again. "She's got this enormous apartment in the middle of Seoul and she lives there all alone. Seriously, it's NOT LIKE THAT!"

Jong Kook laughed softly, enjoying teasing Kwang Soo as they packed their assorted belongings into their backpacks.

"Seriously." Kwang Soo scowls. "A couple of months ago, I was just totally wrecked after a shoot, and Ji Hyo noona was stopping by Che Ri's - Cherry's - apartment for a bit to go over some schedule or something? I don't know. You know noona is planning to start auditioning for American films, right?"

Jong Kook didn't actually know, but he nods anyway.

"Well, earlier in the year when noona was in the US, she somehow met Cherry - I'm not really sure on the details, but she can tell you if you're interested. I think it might have been through a studio, or an American agent? Anyway. She arranged that Cherry would be her assistant for a while, because she was coming to Korea with her husband anyway, and they could work on Ji Hyo's English together."

"Wait, I thought you said Che Ri lives alone? So her husband lives somewhere else and you crash at her place? And Ji Hyo's English is fairly good, nothing a couple of classes here wouldn't brush up easily. Why does she need an American assistant for that? I'd help her with her English," Jong Kook sniffs, not sure if he's insulted or not.

"I'm telling a story here, hyung. So Ji Hyo noona was stopping by Che Ri's and she invited me to come along because I was too exhausted and hungry to move very far right then. I got there, and hyung, really, this apartment is ridiculous. It's so big. And there are video games. All of them."

Jong Kook rolled his eyes.

"AND a private gym!" Kwang Soo added, angling to impress his older friend with his sweet hookup. "So I hung out there and ate - the fridge is always full of food - and played games while they talked about, I don't know, makeup and tampons, I wasn't listening and it was mostly in English anyway. She didn't ask you because it was suggested she work with an adult female native English speaker, and plus no one likes it when you teach them things, you're kind of awful."

Jong Kook raises an elbow threateningly and Kwang Soo hurries on. "When Ji Hyo noona was about to leave, she suggested I just crash at Cherry's since I had to be back in the city so early in the morning. Cherry was totally fine with it, so I did. I made coffee before I left in the morning and Cherry said I could stay whenever I like. I thought she was joking, but she wasn't. I don't know, I think she's kind of lonely in that big apartment all alone. Her husband isn't here - I don't know what is going on there. I almost asked her once, but Ji Hyo noona shook her head really hard and made throat chopping motions, so I didn't. Anyway, I've stayed there a lot over the last couple of months. She has two guest bedrooms fully furnished and she's actually rarely there herself. Since we both have to be back early tomorrow, why don't you come with me tonight? I wanted to talk to you about Haaaaannaaaaaah anyway," he finishes teasingly.

Jong Kook blushes bright pink at the mention of Hannah's name. He shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"Don't tell me!," Kwang Soo exclaims. "You haven't contacted her yet?"

Jong Kook drops his eyes sheepishly. He hasn't contacted Hannah yet. He's thought about it a lot, pulling the well-worn scrap of paper out of his wallet to look at it almost daily, but hasn't been able to pull his thoughts together enough to go through with emailing. He waited for so long, but now that his wish is within his grasp, it all feels too big and overwhelming to comprehend. On top of that, he can't seem to put together an email that sounds casual and friendly instead of desperate and clingy, no matter how many times he rewrites it in his head in the shower each day.

Kwang Soo grabs his hyung by the arm and drags him across the room toward Ji Hyo and her assistant. He nods to Ji Hyo and turns to Cherry, who is bent over trying to pull the zipper shut on Ji Hyo's backpack. He taps her on the shoulder.

"Hey, Cherry, Jong Kook is going to stay with me tonight, all right? We've both got to be here so early and he and I have something to discuss."

Cherry looks up and nods to him distractedly before turning back to the stubborn zipper, giving it one last successful yank before standing up and slinging it over her shoulder.

Jong Kook inclines his head toward the woman awkwardly, feeling a bit weird to be invited to a stranger's house by a third party.

"Hi," he says. "I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Kim Jong Kook."

Cherry gives Ji Hyo and Kwang Soo a wide-eyed look of shock as if to say, "Can you believe this guy?"

"Jong Kook oppa!," Ji Hyo exclaims. "You've met my assistant several times, I'm sure of it."

Cherry rolls her dark brown, almost black eyes and sticks out a hand. "Charity," she says.

"Ah," He recognizes the English word. Jong Kook shakes her hand briskly and switches to English for the assistant's comfort. "We met at a charity event? I'm sorry, I don't quite recall, I hope you'll forgive me." He flashes his most charming smile.

She snorts and replies in fluent if slightly accented Korean. "My name is Charity." She drops his hand.

"Oh, I... uh... " he stumbles, trying to recover. "Then for sure we haven't met, I'd remember such a unique name." When in doubt, try flattery.

She raises her eyebrows. "You'd think so." She turns to Kwang Soo. "It's fine, I'll see you there in a bit." She turns back to Ji Hyo and gestures to the door with her head, indicating that she's finished talking to the two men. The two women head out of the building toward the parking lot, talking quietly to each other. Ji Hyo shoots one last disapproving look over her shoulder at Jong Kook as the door swings shut behind them.

Kwang Soo and Jong Kook follow just a few moments behind.

"Kwang Soo, I don't think she likes me. I probably shouldn't go there."

"That's just how she is, hyung, you'll get used to it. It'll be fine. I bet she won't even be there." They slide into opposite sides of Kwang Soo's car. "But you're right, she probably doesn't like you. I wouldn't like you either if you kept forgetting we'd met."

"I swear I haven't met her before!," Jong Kook exclaims as Kwang Soo pulls smoothly into traffic. "I don't think I have. I really don't." He follows Kwang Soo's occasional turns with his eyes as he absently stares out the window on their short drive through downtown Seoul. As he watches streetlights zip past, he wracks his brain for any memory of the woman he just spoke to. Nothing stands out. Dark brown hair, dark brown eyes... he already forgets the details of her face. He frowns, chagrined. Maybe he is kind of an . 

His thoughts are halted when Kwang Soo swings the car into an underground garage and rolls down his window to punch in a pin code. The arm of the automatic gate swings up to allow them entry and the giraffe proceeds to the lowest level of the structure. "There's a private elevator down here," Kwang Soo explains. "Cool, huh?" He beams at his hyung as they both fold their bodies out of the car, slamming the doors. 

Jong Kook laughs. "It's not like it's your apartment, Kwang Soo. Or are you hoping it will be one day?" He waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

"Hyuuuuung!," Kwang Soo whines as they approach a bank of elevators. One of the three, the farthest to the left, is framed in red and has a discreet keypad to one side. Kwang Soo again punches in a pin and the doors slide open instantly. Upon entering, Jong Kook n