SpartAce: Eternal Love

Ji Hyo's patience

"You're here?" Ji Hyo greets Jong Kook when he arrives.

His forehead, neck and arms are dripping with sweat as he walks into the kitchen where she is.

He merely grunts as a reply and plants a kiss on her cheek, careful not to touch any sweaty skin on her.

Then he heads straight to the bathroom, leaving her staring at the door he disappeared to.

It has been the fourth day that she is dealing with the same situation;

She leaves for work when Jong Kook is still sprawled in bed, the white blankets covering his toned physique, his dark hair has escaped over his closed eyes.

The last three days has been hard on her emotional strength.

It was like her emotional strength support has been cut off and she just realized how dependent she had become with it that now she's having a hard time drawing strength on herself and she's trying to make it work with how little she got left.

After the incident, Jong Kook has started getting up late, he stopped going to work, and he comes back later than her.

And he always comes home in his gym clothes, all sweaty and rugged.

Their house phone had been ringing like crazy, and so was his phone, which he ignores all the same.

She wants to talk him out of whatever he is doing, but eventhough he's still treating her good, she could feel this invisible coldness around him, like a wall that he has built around himself.

It is getting hard on her.

She has just been used to him adjusting his mood for her that this new set up seems to need a little bit of adjusting, too.

She hasn't been doing good in her work because she's always thinking about him, wondering if he's okay, wondering what he's doing.

She waits for him to come out of the bathroom. She hears the shower splattering, so she just sits at the couch of the living room and opens her laptop, reviewing projects while Jong Kook is still inside.

Fifteen minutes later, he comes out wearing fresh clothes, his hair still wet with a few strands falling over his eyes, a white towel still in his hand.

He is about to enter the bedroom when she calls him.

"Oppa."

He stops at the threshold and looks at her questioningly.

She stares at him, trying to decide if asking him is okay.

But she really wants him to open up.

"Can we talk?"

A glint in his eyes shows her he already knows where it is heading.

He sighs deeply and rubs the towel against his hair to dry it up.

She stands up and draws near him. "Oppa, i just wanna know..."

"I'm quite sleepy, Ji Hyo-ah. Can we talk about this some other time?"

"But Oppa—!"

She stops talking, surprised as Jong Kook suddenly hugs her from the back, resting his chin over her shoulder.

"Please...just...let me escape for now." he says, his voice low and weak and begging.

Ji Hyo sighs deeply, placing a her hands over his which were clasped over her stomach as she hangs her head low.

She stares at their hands, her little pale white ones grasping his long, fair ones protectively, just like how she is trying to shield him from the world.

She turns around in his embrace so that she is facing him.

She caresses the side of his face, hoping it would let him know that she will always be there, ready to protect him no matter how hard it would be.

"I don't care how long. Just promise me you'll be alright." she asks.

He nods. "I will be."

She nods, trusting it. She stands on her tiptoes as she clings her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.

He circles his arms through the gaps between her arms and waist, giving tiny kisses on her shoulders as they hold each other close, using each other's warm embrace to tame their temper in waiting for them to be alright.