Author's note - Bah, I don't know how to say this, except that I feel like the last chapter was so poorly written.  I honestly struggled with that chapter so much.  Hopefully this chapter makes up for it. :)

Also, if you go back read and chapter 1, you may find that it seems different.  That's because it is.  I re-read previous chapters and caught so many mistakes.  So I'm editing the previous chapters, though my main priority is of course finishing this story.  I almost want to combine several chapters at the beginning since the pace is quite slow...Part of me feels like taking this whole thing off the site temporarily, edit like crazy, then repost it when I deem it better.

...What do you guys think?

Though reading was her primary form of temporary escape from reality, Jenny found running to be quite therapeutic as well.  The rhythmic sound of her feet against the pavement, the increased beating of her heart along with the sound of her breathing relaxed her.  Free from distractions, her mind was sharper.  She was then able to organize her thoughts better and found making decisions easier after being able to analyze, dissect & compare each piece of information.  Jenny looked at the man beside her and wondered to herself why she agreed to his company when it clearly infringed on her ‘me’ time.  He then increased his pace and she found herself staring at his and all coherent thoughts disappeared. 

“Come on slowpoke.  Keep up.”

Bubble burst, Jenny increased her speed.  “Excuse me for not being a professional athlete,” she quipped.

“I’m just trying to keep you from staring at my ,” he fired back.

Jenny thought about feigning innocence, but the look in his eye told her he knew she was guilty.  She tried to come up with an excuse, but came up empty.

“Cat got your tongue?”

“Busted,” she admitted readily. 

He laughed.  “I didn’t expect you to give in so easily.”

“What’s the point of arguing when it’s obvious to both of us what I was doing?”

“I should be horrified at being objectified in such a way, but I’m flattered.  Besides, there may have been an ulterior motive behind the faster pace.”

“You planned this.”

“Maybe.  Maybe not.” Hoya saw that Jenny, for now, had no trouble maintaining the faster speed.  For someone he had pegged as a bookworm, he was astonished at her athletic ability.  They had run half a mile and other than the sweat running down her face, she wasn’t showing big signs of fatigue.  There was a flush on her cheeks and her hair, styled in a ponytail, swayed back and forth in tune with the rhythm of their run.  His gaze traveled downwards, stopping once again to take in what she was wearing.  “Do you always wear that when you go running?” he asked, genuinely curious.

Taking her eyes off the path, she looked at her attire.  She was wearing an oversized shirt paired with athletic shorts originally intended for men.  “It’s comfortable, much more so than stuff designed for women.  Besides, it’s not like I’m out here trying to impress anyone.”

Though he was somewhat disappointed in her choice of clothing, he couldn’t fault her logic.  “I can’t argue with that.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and found herself on the ground a few seconds after.  It took a few more moments for the pain to register.  Her right elbow and knees throbbed.  Completely bewildered, she looked around her and saw a small hole in the ground with a rock next to it not too far from where she was.   She couldn’t have written a better recipe for disaster.

“Are you ok?” Hoya asked, concern written all over his face. 

“I’m fine.  No broken bones,” she reported.

He started by examining her elbow and proceeded a lot more carefully when he felt her wince.  “You’ve got a few scratches, nasty looking ones.  They’re definitely going to leave a mark.”

“There goes my dream of being a beauty queen,” she joked.

Hoya kneeled beside her, draped her good arm over his shoulders and circled his right arm around her waist.  “On the count of three, get up slowly.  One.  Two.  Three.”

Once on her feet, the burning Jenny felt from her knees increased.  “Thanks for helping me up.”

“I wasn’t about to leave you on the ground like that.”

“Can you hand me the water bottle I dropped?  I should probably clean my cuts.”

“Tell you what; let’s walk over to that bench where it’ll be more comfortable for you to do that.” Satisfied that Jenny was reasonably comfortable, Hoya doubled back, got the water bottle, handed it to her before settling down in the empty space beside her.

She kicked off her shoes, removed her socks and starting rinsing the dirt off her knees before moving on to her elbow. 

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Hoya asked once more.

“I’ll be fine.  My ego is hurt more than anything.  I stick my tongue out at you and this happens.”

“That should teach you not to mess with me from now on.”

“Talk about adding insult to injury. Ouch!” She laughed.

For reasons he didn’t understand, Hoya’s mind suddenly flashed back to an image of a similar incident happening at a club a while back, right after the first game of the season.  Movement beside him snapped him out of his reverie. 

Jenny looked up at the sky, saw that the sun was starting to set.  She got up off the bench.  “We should go before it gets dark out and I find more stuff to trip over.”

Hoya got up as well, and then grabbed her left hand.  He interlaced his fingers with hers.  “Guess I should grab on tight.  I wouldn’t want you to get hurt anymore than you have.”

She knew he was speaking about her physical well-being, but part of her thought that his statement could also applied to her emotional state.  She looked up at him and felt her heart overflow with joy at being with this man.  He took such great care of her and she wasn’t sure if he knew just how grateful she was for everything he had done for her in the little time she knew him.  “Have I told you lately how awesome you are?”

He turned to look at her and saw her beaming at him.  “Remind me again just how awesome you find me?”

“Really, reaaalllyyy awesome,” she said, giving him a thumbs up with her other hand.

“You’re pretty awesome yourself.”

Puzzled, she asked what he meant by that comment.

“Who knew you were such a good runner?...Well, when you’re not stumbling all over the place that is,” he couldn’t help adding.  “Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t quit playing soccer when you were younger.”  He saw her expression harden.  “Did I say something wrong?”

“No, you didn’t.”  Jenny knew that this moment would come.  She just didn’t predict it would come so soon.  She now had a decision to make.  She could continue lying to him, or she could tell him the truth.  “I lied to you.”  She didn’t dare look at him, afraid of what she might see.

Hoya tried to manage his expression as best as he could.  He cleared his throat.  “What about?”

“I didn’t quit soccer for the reasons I told you.”

Hoya felt mightily relieved at Jenny’s admission, for he was feared it was about something much worse.  He vaguely remembered the conversation, the night of their first “official” date.

She tightened her grip on his hand, as if trying to draw strength from him to continue the conversation.  “My mom was the one that signed me and Sunggyu up for soccer.  Since papa was busy with work, she drove us to practices, to games.  She was our biggest and loudest supporter.  My brother and I found it embarrassing at the time, but that was her very vocal way of demonstrating just how much she loved us.  Win or lose, we could always expect a hug from her and she would always tell us that she was proud of us.  When she died, it just wasn’t the same, so I quit.  I thought I’d end up hating the sport, but since it’s so closely tied to mom in my heart, I just couldn’t bring myself to dislike it.  I think my brother felt the same so we started watching games on TV to remind us of all the good times we had with our mom.”  Finished with her monologue, she didn’t dare look at him, as tears started falling from her eyes.

Hoya knew this was a breakthrough moment for Jenny and he could only guess how difficult it must have been for her to tell him all of this. 

“I didn’t mean to dump all of this on you.  I’m sorry,” she said, her head still down.  With her free hand, she started to wipe the tears.  “And I’m crying.  I don’t even know why I’m crying.”

He let go of her hand and enveloped her in a hug.  “It’s ok,” he assured her.

“This is embarrassing.”

“Crying’s not embarrassing,” he told her.  “Tripping and falling, now that’s embarrassing,” he added.

“HEY!” she protested, with a poke to his ribs. 

They stood there a few minutes, until the last of her tears fell.  She sniffled, trying to contain her runny nose.  She pulled back from his chest to try and assess the damage she had done to his shirt.  What she saw wasn’t pretty.  “I think I ruined your shirt.”

“It’s no problem.  It’ll be OK after I wash it.  If not, then, it’ll make a good rag.”  He took her chin in his hand, tipped her head back so that they were looking at each other’s eyes.  He wiped away the traces left by hear mascara then kissed the top of her head.  When he moved to place a kiss on her forehead, Jenny closed her eyes.  He proceeded to kiss each of her eyelids, her nose, and then stopped.

Jenny opened her eyes.  She saw that he had drawn away from her.  She inched her face closer to his, until he she could feel his breath of her face.  Rubbing her thumbs over his eyelids, she closed his eyes. Standing on the tips of her toes, she mimicked what he did.  She kissed his forehead, then each of his eyelids before moving on to his nose.  She then pressed her lips to his.