“I’m sorry.” Jong Kook then mentioned when he realized that he has done something out of the ordinary. He is fully aware that his declaration today will create a lot of buzz, but he will no longer sit down and relax without saying anything about his real relationship with Song Ji Hyo.

His fan meeting was scheduled abruptly, but he knows that Ji Hyo will definitely say something when her contract with her agency, C-JeS Entertainment, expires. He also knows that his announcement this day will probably explain the reason why she and her former CEO-boyfriend, Baek Chang Joo, broke up.

Truthfully, he just wanted to love Ji Hyo from afar. He’s contented to see her in a distance. He’s happy just to see her react whenever he teases her. Until one time, he saw her contemplating about something. He remembered that it was in June 2013 when they had a one-on-one conversation.

“Are you okay?” was his question to her when he decided to ask for her condition.

Ji Hyo just looked at him blankly and smiled a little. He felt uncomfortable when he saw her smiled like that. It has been almost three years since he has been with her, since he has been attentively looking after her on-and-off cam, so he knows that there’s something wrong with her.

He still remembers how he stood in front of Ji Hyo when she forced a smile on him. They are facing each other, and he was about to ask for something more, but was stopped when she put her head on his muscular shoulder.

“Oppa, please let me stay like this for a while.” she whispered without realizing that his heart has been racing too fast.

He knows it is wrong to feel that way to the sole female member of Running Man because they have named one another as family members, however, he has always been fighting the feeling of having felt that everything is so right even if it’s too wrong.

He is definitely aware that Ji Hyo is already in a relationship since November 2012, and it has been months since she and her boyfriend have been steadily going out. He tried to take a look at the woman, who seems to be her unusual self.

When he couldn’t take the silence between the two of them, he bravely told her, “Ji Hyo-ya, if there’s something wrong, you know that you can always tell us, right? We are always here for you. I, myself, am always here for you, too.”

When Ji Hyo heard his words, he heard her sighed deeply. He knows that she is gathering her strength to talk, if his instinct is right.

“We – “she then started talking right before saying, “broke up.”

His ears perked up upon hearing her statement, but he scolded himself when he got too excited knowing that the woman whom he has been adoring, liking, and loving from afar, is now free again. He knows that it is not right, so he reminded himself that feeling that way is a mortal sin.

He wanted to ask why the two of them broke up, but out of respect, he decided not to ask. Ji Hyo must have felt it since she started to tell him everything that made her relationship with Chang Joo failed.

Ji Hyo has asked him to keep it a secret from the other members of Running Man first. She told him that she’ll just reveal it to them when the right time comes. So being a good-natured man, he promised her that her secret is safe with him.

After a few months, his closeness to Ji Hyo has improved. Both of them are now much more comfortable with each other, and it didn’t leave the eyes of the remaining five members. Because he’s also a man, his intuition of them getting curious about his close relationship with Ji Hyo is highly notable.

He can say that Suk Jin, Jae Suk, Gary, Ha Ha, and Kwang Soo are just waiting for him to open up. And since he doesn’t want to keep them in the dark, he decided that he’ll tell them how he feels about everything.

There was this moment when Ji Hyo has been asked not to join the men yet. It was when Kwon Ji Yong a.k.a G-Dragon, Daesung, and Seung Ri - three of the famous five members of K-Pop group Big Bang joined the show as their guests. Before those three guests arrived, he quickly told all the male Running Man members something that made them all taken aback.

“What did you say?” the five men, who didn’t mean to ask the same question at the same time, asked.

He smiled at them as he told them what he told earlier, “Action speaks louder than words, right? I promise I will not ruin this show’s love line, my career, and her career. What I said earlier was, I have loved Ji Hyo since then, so I know that in order for us to be together, I must do things to get her. So I have decided that I will now show her how I sincerely feel for her, even if I can’t say it in words.”

“Ya, Jong Kook-ah, what are you saying?” asked Jae Suk who seemed to be very confused of what’s going on with him.

“Have you forgotten that he has a boyfriend? Her boyfriend is her own agency’s CEO.” reminded Gary.

He was mum when Gary brought up Ji Hyo’s ex-boyfriend since he knows the real score between her and that CEO.

“Gary-ah, like her, love is like a beautiful flower that I may not touch because of some circumstances, but I won’t pluck her just because I like her, I just want your blessings for me to water her, to make her bloom more, even in silence. And that's because I love her.”  

The members were all shocked with his admission especially when he told them, “Forgive me for my boldness, but I guess I’ll be luckier for her to have a boyfriend since there will only be one, unlike if she has none which makes everyone else,”

“Oh my God – “ all of them quipped when they heard him say, “my rivals.”