“Ji Hyo, work hard but don’t over stretched yourself.” Baek Chang Ju wanted to plant a kiss on Ji Hyo’s cheeks but Ji Hyo suddenly dropped her sunglasses, she bend down quickly to pick it up.

“Oppa Chang Ju, see you tonight.” Ji Hyo bid good bye to Baek Chang Ju.

“See you tonight, honey.” Baek Chang Ju responded by caressing Ji Hyo’s cheeks softly.

Gary who was in his car, held on tightly to the steering wheel. He had just witnessed the interactions between Ji Hyo and Baek Chang Ju.  For the past few weeks, Baek Chang Ju had been sending Ji Hyo to Running Man’s filming site. As much as possible, Gary tried to avoid seeing Ji Hyo and Baek Chang Ju together, his heart hurts when he sees them together.

“Perhaps I should find a girlfriend to ease my heart ache.” To forget about Ji Hyo, Gary would go clubbing every alternate night. His charm attracted many girls but none of the girls could captured Gary’s heart. Gary did tried to date a few girls he knew in the club but he kept comparing these girls with Ji Hyo.

“Lee Yoo Min, 36C, 23, 34. Wow, good body. Gary Hyung, this lady is hot.”

“Linna Choi, American born Korean. 23 years old, young and cute. She is not bad either. Gary Hyung, she likes you very much, you can consider dating her.”

“Song Ji Young……”

“Who Ji Hyo?” Gary quickly sat up from his chair. Seems Sam was trying to arrange dates for Gary and the girls they knew from the different clubs.

“Gary Hyung……..Ji Hyo Ji Hyo Ji Hyo….when can you forget about Ji Hyo noona? She is already somebody’s girlfriend. Take one of these girls, they are younger than Ji Hyo noona and all of them had hot and y bodies. This Song Ji Young, she is………..” Sam kept nagging and nagging.

“Enough! Sam, save these girls for yourself. I am not interested in love now.” Gary dragged himself from the chair, went back to his studio to continue his recording.

5 months later

It was after RM filming. RM filming took place at a province at the outskirt of Seoul. The filming finally finished after 2 full days of hard work from the crew, the guests and the RM members.

Kwang Soo was in Ji Hyo’s hotel room.

“Ji Hyo noona, are you OK?” Kwang Soo felt bad and guilty. His partner had hit Ji Hyo hard during the dodge ball mission. Ji Hyo received 2 consecutive hits, once from Kwang Soo’s partner from a boy band on her left arm while Gary’s partner, an actress hit Ji Hyo on her right thigh.

“Kwang Soo, I am OK. Don’t worry.” Ji Hyo massaged the blue black on her arm.

“How about your thigh?” Kwang Soo tried to peep at Ji Hyo’s thighs.

“Yah! Lee Kwang Soo…stop staring.” Ji Hyo hit Kwang Soo’s head jokingly.

“If Tae Han is a girl, I will ask him to massage your thigh for you.” Kwang Soo handed the oilmen to Ji Hyo as Ji Hyo applied the white color cream on her blue black on her arm.

“Lee Kwang Soo, time for you to go. I need to massage the blue black on my thigh. Tae Han, please leave the room also.” Ji Hyo said.

Kwang Soo and Tae Han stepped out of the room and found Gary pacing up and down the corridors.

“Gary Hyung, did you forget your keys? Oh….your room is not on the level.” Kwang Soo asked.

Upon seeing Kwang Soo and Tae Han approaching, Gary hide the tube of oilmen behind his back.

“I….I….I…lost my way. I forget my room is on which floor.” Gary lied.

“Lost? Hyung, second day in this hotel already, how could you forget? Anyway, we are going back to Seoul tonight. Have you packed?” Kwang Soo asked.

“Am going back to pack now. Did you say my room is on which floor?” Gary actually wanted to check on Ji Hyo. All the Running Man members knew that, though the ball seems to hit Ji Hyo lightly. But the force from the ball can do damage to the body and it can be painful. Gary did not want to invite gossips, so he pretended to lost his way when Kwang Soo and Tae Han found him wandering at the corridors.

Both Gary and Ji Hyo were missing on the coach back to Seoul.

“Tae Han, where is Ji Hyo?” Jae Suk asked.

“Ji Hyo decided to stay behind to take a few days off her schedule. I guess she needed some rest and some space to think about her relationships…..I mean some space to think about her problems.” Tae Han explained, yet at the same time holding on to his tongue.

The RM members did sense that something wasn’t right. In the first 2 months of Ji Hyo’s relationship, Baek Chang Ju would send her to the RM filming every Monday but subsequently, it was back to Tae Han who send Ji Hyo to the filming site.

“Tae Han, something is bothering Ji Hyo?” Jae Suk asked.

“Jae Suk Ssi, I think is better if you ask Ji Hyo yourself. I am in no position to gossip about her relationship with CEO Baek. Oh…did I say something that I am not supposed to say?” Tae Han bowed at Jae Suk and stumbled back to his seat.

Flashback

“Ji Hyo, what’s wrong with you?” Baek Chang Ju sighed. Their relationship was already into the 3rd month, but whenever Baek Chang Ju attempt to kiss Ji Hyo on her lips, Ji Hyo would stepped back or moved away from Baek Chang Ju. Their only skinship was just holding hands, a quick hug or a peck on the cheeks or forehead. 7 out of 10 dates happened when Tae Han was hanging around them. The balance were spend together with Baek Chang Ju’s secretary or the artists from the same agency.

“What do you mean by what’s wrong with me?” Ji Hyo gets frustrated also. Again, Baek Chang Ju had interfered with Ji Hyo’s work, not only the schedule but also the contents of her assignments.

“Ji hyo, I am sorry. I meant, what is wrong with our relationship. Is there something that you are not happy with me?” Baek Chang Ju asked, with a softer tone.

“Oppa, do you have to review each and every question from the media? There is this endorsement party that I had to attend with Jong Kok oppa and Haha Oppa, why did you ask Tae Han to turn it down?” Ji Hyo asked, her lips pursed and tighten.

“Ji Hyo, I am not talking about work. I am talking about our relationship. We are a couple, we are dating, aren’t we?” Baek Chang Ju raised his voice slightly.

“Oppa, yes, we are dating. But that does not means you can interfere on my work.” Ji Hyo kept checking on her schedule for the following day, at the same time asking Tae Han on the arrangements to pick up her dress for the event that she will be attending on the day after next.

“JI HYO! You are not getting me.” Baek Chang Ju banged his glass of wine on the table. Both Tae Han and Ji Hyo got a shock.

“Tae Han, please leave us alone. I need to have a talk with Ji Hyo.” Baek Chang Ju asked Tae Han to leave the room.

“Ji Hyo…” Baek Chang Ju held Ji Hyo’s hands into his. “Ji Hyo, tell me….where are we now in our relationship.”

 “Oppa…..” Ji Hyo was speechless. Ji hyo does felt guilty of only focusing on her work and career. But besides that, she also felt guilty that while dating Baek Chang Ju, her heart is actually with someone else. That’s the reason why Ji Hyo tried to avoid skinship with her CEO.

“Ji Hyo, ever since we started dating, I felt that there is a wall between us. The distance between us drifted even when we are seeing each other once every week. Sometimes, I thought that we are closer when we are friends.” Baek Chang Ju felt helpless.

The relationship between Baek Chang Ju and Ji Hyo went into a cold war. To release the tension in the relationship with Ji Hyo, Baek Chang Ju focused his energy and attention on grooming new faces. Soon there were rumours that Baek Chang Ju was involved with a trainee, a young girl who resembles Ji Hyo but younger than Ji Hyo by 12 years.

The young trainee came to Ji Hyo one day and begged her to leave Baek Chang Ju since she had given her everything to Baek Chang Ju including her ity.

“Oppa, she loves you more than I do.  You deserved someone like her.” Ji Hyo send a message to Baek Chang Ju the day before she left Seoul for the RM filming. During the afternoon lunch break, Baek Chang Ju responded to Ji Hyo’s message, agreeing to end their relationship.

“Ji Hyo, it only takes me 1 night to think over our relationship. Not because I don’t love you. You knew that I love you more than any other of my previous girlfriends. But your heart is not with me. I am a man, a self-centred man. I only allow me and myself to be in my girlfriend’s heart. Please do not let our relationship affects our work. You are always welcome to stay in the agency and talk to me if you have any problems. Love, Chang Ju Oppa.”

End of Flashback

“Is over.” Ji Hyo took a deep breath.

Ji Hyo stared at the starry skies from the balcony of her rented room at a guesthouse. Memories of the past 5 months on her relationship, the conflicts involved, the cold war that happened, the tears and beginning from the young trainee. Ji Hyo closed her eyes. Instead of feeling hurt and sad, a wave of relieve washed over her. The weight on her shoulders vanished.