Ji Hyo ended the call with "I'll think about it," then stared at the farthest horizon as she released a heavy sigh. She turned around to walk back into the living room, but was startled by the unexpected presence of Jaejoong who was standing just a few inches away. Due to that, she spontaneously hit him on the shoulder, "Yaa! I almost curse because of you!".

Without saying a word Jaejoong opened his arms and held her close against his body, which made Ji Hyo felt uncomfortable with the sudden affection from the hallyu star. "What are you doing?!" she tried to set herself free, but it only made him tightened his grip on her. "Hajima! Don't think about it. Just don't think about him at all.. please. Let me be a better man for you," there's sadness in Jaejoong's voice which caught Ji Hyo off guard by his weird behaviour.

"Igo mwoya? Were you eavesdropping my conversation?" Ji Hyo tried to control her fast beating heart due to the close proximity with the hallyu star. There's a weird vibe coming from the skinship with Jaejoong, which was something that she has never experienced before. Gradually it weaken her to the bone, that even standing on her two feet seems to be difficult. The two of them just froze in that position for minutes, till she became suffocated in his cuddle. "Jaejoong aah.. wae geu rae?"Ji Hyo thought it was strange for the hallyu star to hold her that way, as if it was the last time they'll be seeing each other.

He slowly detached himself from her, with eyes remained fixed on her blank face. Still holding on to Ji Hyo's shoulders, Jaejoong finally replied to her questions, "I'm sorry if it sounds selfish, but I don't want to share you with another man especially if that person is Taeyang. You might think that I'm crazy for saying this.. well maybe I am because I.. I want to keep you, Song Ji Hyo. I want to see you in my future."

For a moment, her mind doesn't work well that she seems to be unable to comprehend what she just heard from him. was agape, and her eyes were widen as she tried to think of a better way to react in front of him. 'Am I being delusional again? It can't be.. yaa.. why am I like this? This is not you, Song Ji Hyo! Ppali-ppali.. wake up from your dream!' her inner voice was too loud that she didn't notice Jaejoong was calling out her name for a couple of times.

As Ji Hyo wasn't responding, Jaejoong nonchalantly leaned forward and planted a kiss on her cheek. That brought her back to the present, and unconsciously rubbed her cheek that was pecked by Jaejoong, "Yaa.. what was that about?!". He smiled sheepishly, then just walked away without giving an explanation. Jaejoong knew that Ji Hyo would ran towards him, so he purposely made a sudden stop which caused her to accidentally crash against his body. Ji Hyo hissed in annoyance as she fell on the floor, whilst Jaejoong just bent forward and smiled without giving his hand to help her out. "Is this funny to you?! Go on.. just laugh at me like you always do!" she scolded him for 'not doing anything'.

"I thought you want to give me a backhug.. so I stop," he playfully replied, then offered his hand to her, "Would you like to have a dance instead?". She dodged his hand and stood up on her own, "Ha..ha.. very funny! Now can we be more serious? What else do you need me for today? Don't you have anything important in your schedule?". Jaejoong pretended to do a bit of thinking before he shook his head, "Hmm.. nothing. Just a full-time 'date' with my slave.. I mean.. my beautiful assistant."

Not taking his words seriously, Ji Hyo simply replied, "More like a disaster than a 'date' to me!".

"Mworago? Yaa.. am I really that bad at romance? I mean.. why are you always complaining whenever I tried to do something nice for you?" Jaejoong grumbled in disappointment.

She scoffed at his words, "Me? Complaining?"

"Yes, you! I bought your favourite coffee this morning.. took you to that 'smelly' pet shop so you can adopt that 'furry thing' and even paid a hefty price for that arcade machine! Do you know that I slept at 4:30 in the morning just to finish the voice recording?! Who and why do you think I did that for?!" he unwittingly spilled out everything.

"How am I supposed to know?!" Ji Hyo also raised her voice.

"Can't you tell by that kiss?! Or is it a norm for a guy to kiss you anywhere?!"

"What was that supposed to mean?!"

Jaejoong refused to rebut any further. He just realized that the more they talked about it, the more she got hurt by his words and action. With a heavy sigh, the hallyu star called off the argument, "Just.. forget it. I wasn't thinking clearly when I said that." He wanted to take her hand, but she wouldn't allow him. Ji Hyo took a step back and gazed sharply at his face, "I know you'll never think of this seriously. Cause if you do.. you won't even consider to confess to me like you did. Just as you said, I'm not the kind of woman that Kim Jaejoong should be dating. I have nothing to be proud of.. and you can't even figure out how you really feel about me. So please.. please don't give me hope that someday things will work out well between us.. cause I know that it won't."

"Ji Hyo please.. just.. give me some time to understand everything. I don't want to commit to any feeling until I'm very sure who you are to me. I'm not giving you hope or a promise that I will love you till my last breath.. but you can be sure that I wasn't joking when I said that I want to keep you in my future," Jaejoong pleaded. Honestly she wanted to give him a chance - to explore the possibility of falling in love with the young and famous hallyu star, but the fear that his feeling might be temporary made Ji Hyo came to a conclusion.

With eyes locked on his face, Ji Hyo reluctantly voice out her decision, "Mianhae.. Jaejoong. I don't think I can do this anymore. The longer I stay with you, the more you'll become confuse.. and that includes me. I have to stop living in a fairytale where you're a prince and I'm just a slave in your castle. We're two pieces of puzzle that could never fit into each other.. so the right thing to do is to give up this 'relationship' that we have and just move on with our life."

Once she finished her sentence, Ji Hyo walked away from Jaejoong and picked up her belonging. Jaeji came and brushed itself against her feet, so she bent down and the feline's fur. "Annyeong Jaeji.. mianhae. Eomma couldn't take care of you. Please be a good kitty, don't poop anywhere you want. Your appa is a very sensitive man.. he wouldn't like his place in a mess. I hope he'll remember to feed you! Oh.. poor baby," she kissed the head of the kitten and placed it back in its cage.

"Kajima.. can't you see that our Jaeji needs you? And I.. I need you too," his voice was partly loud as he whispered the last few words. Ji Hyo stood up. She stared into his sad eyes, but immediately looked away before her tears fallen. With the last strength that she could gather, Ji Hyo bid farewell to Jaejoong. "Thank you for inviting me in your life. It's been a pleasure to know you," that was her last message before she walked out through the front door.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Your decision:

a) Ji Hyo has been trying to keep a distance from Jaejoong by spending more time with Taeyang and the Big Bang as her new circle of friends, but that made Jaejoong assumed that Ji Hyo left him because she has fallen for Taeyang and they were officially dating

b) Ji Hyo has been ignoring Jaejoong with a hope that she could go back to her old life, but the presence of Jaejoong in her neighbourhood made her the 'local celebrity' as he kept following her around and later having lunch in public at her family's restaurant

c) Author's choice