You're The Answer To a Girl Like Me - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“Gary hyung!” Haha called out after all the members dispersed from the dinner. “Kwang Soo and I are going to visit the hotel’s lounge to have a drink or two… Hyung wanna come along?” He said excitedly. It has been a while the guys spent some fun time together. 

“It’s okay you guys just go ahead~” Gary’s voice trailed off as he looks away; looking out for that someone.

“Hyung but it’s rare that we come to Macau, shouldn’t we go out and enjoy ourselves a bit?”

“It’s okay..I am feeling a little tired today from the filming today… I want to rest early…” Gary said as he massages his neck and put on a ‘tired’ face.

Seeing the really ‘tired’ Gary, Haha had no choice but not to bug him anymore. He walk away leaving Gary standing there looking for Ji Hyo. Gary saw Ji Hyo talking heartily to Suk Jin and Jae Suk making him sulks even more.

‘Aish maybe I should be alone for now…’

Just then as he walked away, somebody grabbed him by his arms and as expected it was none other than Ji Hyo.

“Oppa! What’s wrong with you today?” JI Hyo looks at him with bright no make up eyes. “You seem to be out of yourselves…”

“Am I?” Usually if Ji Hyo were to grab him by this way, he would be over elated. But he was cold and calm. “Nah maybe I am just tired. It’s okay, I’ll just go back to my room and rest for a while. See you tomorrow.” He gently removed his arm from Ji Hyo’s hand and walked towards the elevator.

Ji Hyo just stood there, she was a little stunned from Gary’s reaction. He has never reacted like this around her before. He’s always very excited to talk to her but today she felt that he’s being a little too cold on the outside and it makes her pout.

“Oppa!”

She shouts for him for the last time, but the elevator door has already closed. A little upset with the whole incident, Ji Hyo walked away to look for Haha and Kwang Soo whom she heard that they are going to the lounge.  

Gary just got family-zoned from Ji Hyo that morning and nothing really can lift his mood up at the moment; even Ji Hyo herself. As he was about to lie down on his bed in his hotel room at Level 8, there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” He asked.

“It’s me, Jae Suk hyung.”

“Oh?” Surprised for the sudden visit, he quickly got up and reaches for the door.

“Hyung….please do come in~~” Gary invited him in and sat opposite Jae Suk whom was sitting at the edge of the bed. “What’s the matter, hyung?”

“I have been observing you the whole day.. You seem a little out today... Is everything alright?”

“Me? What’s wrong with me?” Gary put on a poker face.

“Eyy I have not known you for a day or two…I can tell if something is bothering you…”

“There’s n-nothing…really…Or maybe I’m just tired.”

“Hyung is not trying to be busybody…but is it about Ji Hyo?”

Gary’s eyes widen at Jae Suk’s word. Did he make it so obvious that Jae Suk hyung was able to guess it at the first try? His nervous look gave him away immediately.

“As expected, I am right!” Jae Suk exclaimed.

“N-no it’s n-not—“

“You can’t deny it, it’s written all over your face. I know you Gary, if there are things bothering you because of albums or songs; you don’t bring them to Running Man, unless the source of the problem is Running Man itself…” Jae Suk gentle words just made Gary kept quiet. After all, he’s Yoo Jae Suk, whose famous being a very caring sunbae in the industry. Nothing can really escape his eyes.

Jae Suk stood up and reaches forward to pat Gary on his back.

“Hyung, I can’t help it…I just can’t help but to be moody…” Gary sighed as Jae Suk sat beside him. “She said that she sees me as a family member only…I can’t accept that…Because I don’t want to be her oppa, I want to be her namja-chingu…”

“Gary-ah, let’s think this way. Think back the times where she got further away from you and compared to now. Isn’t it good that you get to spend more times with her?”

Gary thought about his words and ponders over it.

“But tell me honestly, have you really confessed to her? That you like her?”

Shyly, Gary scratches the back of his hair and readjusted his Leessang cap. “Aniyo~”

“Exactly! Why are you pouting? It’s not like she rejected you!”

Jae Suk’s word struck him. It’s true that he hasn’t really talked about his heart; about how he feels about her. He always hovers around her, caring for her at anyway he could but without confessing even if Ji Hyo feels the same, their relationship won’t advance to another stage. Suddenly he feels like an idiot himself; someone who complain about not getting something when he did not make an effort in getting it at all. Worst of all, he didn’t know that his emotion has affected many, especially Ji Hyo.

“You get what hyung meant? Just be brave for once.” With that Jae Suk gave him a final ‘push’ on his back and stood up. “I’ll see you for tomorrow’s filming. Rest well. I’ll leave now.”

Gary became more determined after Jae Suk’s advice. No matter the outcome, he doesn’t want to be a sacredly cat anymore. He doesn’t want any regret in his life.

With a determined heart, Gary goes to sleep before the new day starts.

*

“Noona!” Kwang Soo tried to hold back Ji Hyo’s hand who‘s on her fourth glass on wine. “You’ve got filming tomorrow…You’re not supposed to drink so much!” Kwang Soo raised his voice a little in the noisy lounge.

“Yah Lee Kwang Soo take away your hand…The wine is spilling!” The annoyed Ji Hyo angrily vented her frustration on the innocent Kwang Soo.

Surprised at her reaction, Kwang Soo let go of his hand. Ji Hyo eargerly put the glass of wine on the table with a loud bang that the glass almost broke. Ji Hyo who usually doesn’t behave like this, shocked both Haha and Kwang Soo.

“Yah Ji Hyo-ah are you alright?” Haha scooted closer and patted her back gently. “Don’t vent it on drinking….Otherwise you’ll have hard time for filming tomorrow. Hangover is gonna kill you…If’s there’s anything, just say it all out, you’ll feel better…”

“Yes, noona..Haha hyung is right…”

The loud bang made her realised what she have just done. Ji Hyo buried her head into her palm because of the embarrassment. “Mianhe…Haha oppa and Kwang Soo…I-I am not myself today…Maybe I really had too much of drinks…Maybe I should just go back to my room…”

Having said that, Ji Hyo turns to her purse and was about to pay for the drinks when Haha stops her. “Yah, oppa would take care of the bill. Now you just obediently go back to your room with Kwang Soo.”

“It’s okay…I’m not drunk...”

“It’s about your safety noona.” Kwang Soo retorted. She had no choice but to have Kwang Soo escort her back to her room.

Once they reached her room, Ji Hyo turn to Kwang Soo and holds by his shoulder gently. “Kwang Soo-ah, noona says sorry for shouting at you just now…Forgive noona okay?”

“Arasso noona…Just go in and have a good rest. We’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

With that, Ji Hyo entered the room and closed the door behind her. She falls onto her bed while her manager sleeping soundly beside her on the other single bed. The incident over at the lounge just now replays in her mind.

Ji Hyo tries her best to reason out her mind, the reason that she’s behaving so oddly. She was fine during dinner when she’s having meal with the members and staff. But after she met with Kang Gary and was given a cold shoulder by him….And from there, her emotion starts fluctuating.

‘Wait a minute. I’m like this because of Kang Gary?’

"Gary oppa has always been very kind to me…always caring for me. Maybe I’m just receiving it the wrong way.. No it can’t be. I can’t be liking—“

‘Maybe I’m just too attached. I’m just too used to being around him.”

Suddenly she picked up her phone and dialled a number.

“Yeoboseyo~PD-nim…This is Ji Hyo…Sorry for troubling you at this hour…but I have a request to make…”

***