All three teams moved on to a restaurant for another mission and a meal. Despite her determination not to be so occupied with Gary, Jihyo couldn’t help but feel relieved when she saw that their mission wouldn’t involve physical activity. Instead, they would be playing alkaggi to win various food items for their meal. She stood back and watched as the boys goofed around and fought for the meat, ignoring how Jongkook and Gary playfully nagged at the male guest, trying to teach him how to best win the game and bringing the whole crew a lot of laughter. While Haha and Sukjin protested loudly to Gary’s team about their lack of ingredients to go with their soup, Jihyo stood off to the side, not willing to join in. But when they moved on to the next mission at the ice rink, she began to worry about Gary again.

           The mission at the ice rink was human curling. It involved the members getting into wheelable trashcans and rolling themselves across the ice. As she waited with her team for their turn, she watched Gary fold himself into the trashcan and winced for him. That position can’t be good for his back, she thought to herself. Jongkook and their teammate pushed Gary across the ice, and he moved swiftly to the line.

            “Jihyo, you go first,” Haha told her. Her eyes opened wide.

            “Me?” She asked. Haha stared at her as if she were stupid.

            “Of course you go first! What, were you planning to help me push Sukjin-hyung?”

            She shrugged grumpily and settled herself into the rolling bin. “You don’t have to be so mean about it,” she muttered to herself. Haha and Sukjin pushed her across with a great shove, and as she neared Gary, she felt stupidly nervous. He watched her get close to him with a peaceful expression, then contorted his face into an arrogant look and playfully waved his hands as if to say “What up?”

            She swallowed away the odd nervous feeling and made the same hand motions to him, preparing to slide past him, but she was shocked when he pulled her arm and dragged her, bucket and all, to a stop behind him. She made a sound of protest.

            “Just stay right here,” he told her. “I wanted to have her next to me!” He shouted at Sukjin and Haha, who quickly turned to each other and whispered to each other rapidly, probably discussing what to do now that Gary had foiled their plan to win. She crossed her arms and faced Gary as his teammates prepared for the next round. Her arm tingled where he grabbed her.

            “You cheater,” she accused, and he stuck out his tongue at her childishly. They watched as Jongkook got into one of the bins. Jihyo bit her lip hesitantly, then leaned forward to whisper, “Are you doing okay? How’s your back?”

            “Hmm? I’m fine,” he reassured her without looking at her.

“Are you sure, oppa? Later on there will be nametag ripping; do you think you will be okay?”

“I’m fine,” he repeated, though he turned to look at her this time. He saw her frown and chuckled a little. He had a slightly curious and perplexed expression on his face. “Why are you so concerned about me? You’re acting like my mom, or a worried girlfriend.”

            She opened to retort but quickly closed it when she realized that nothing was coming out. He let out another little laugh, though it sounded more nervous than playful this time. “Not funny? I’m sorry. I was just kidding, Jihyo-ya.”

“Just face the front,” she told him huffily. Just see if I ever worry about you again, she griped to herself. As Jongkook shot forward in his rolling bin and knocked both her and Gary out of the way, with her bin moving in front of Gary’s, she couldn’t even bring herself to feel dismay over her team’s increased possibility of losing. Was she acting like a worried girlfriend? Her frown deepened. You have a boyfriend, she reminded herself. A very nice, mature boyfriend who cared for her and was, most importantly, not someone she was tied to through a variety program, someone the entire world was trying to force her to be with. She was with him of her own free will. Yes, she had a great boyfriend, she mused. Perhaps she was just feeling lonely, since she hadn’t met up with her said boyfriend in several days, and this was going to be a two day filming session. She would have to meet up with him after filming.

Just then Sukjin was sent spiraling towards Jongkook, with legs out in an attempt to push him over, but Jongkook grabbed him instead, with Sukjin’s inertia pushing them both far from the line. Which meant that she was closest to the line, and she felt a little smug as the PDs announced her team’s win. Gary tried to catch her arm after the slate was clapped as they were moving on to the last destination, but she shrugged him off.

She managed to ignore him all through that night’s nametag ripping and throughout their morning spent playing small games inside the building, since heavy rain prevented the members from filming outdoors. There was more nametag ripping in the afternoon, and she tried her best not to be concerned about Gary running around and doing all of that physical activity, though she did note that despite his limp, he was doing better than she had expected, and he managed to be one of the top five people to survive the game.

See, she accused herself. He didn’t even need you to worry about him. He can manage quite well on his own. But that thought seemed to bother her even more.

Filming finished just before evening, which was just as well, since she felt utterly drained. Those two days of endless games and needlessly agonizing about Gary’s well being had been taxing and long. She shouldered the night bag she had brought with her and stood just inside the front door of SBS, waiting for her manager to pick her up. She felt someone approach her on the side and knew without looking that it must be Gary. Sighing, she turned to face him.

“Jihyo-ya, I’m sorry if my comment...crossed the line. I didn’t mean it.” He had taken off his cap and was playing with the brim of it, but he paused to look her in the eye. “I just want to say thank you for being so concerned for me. I know you mean well, and I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate it, despite all my jokes.”

She eyed him carefully, watching him nervously start playing with his cap again. Knowing that he was being sincere, she let out a tiny smile.

“It’s ok. I’m not upset,” she told him, and she really wasn’t anymore. She didn’t know why, but somehow Gary’s words of gratitude had unraveled a tiny knot she had felt forming inside her heart since he had said those words earlier.

His eyes widened, and a grin played on his lips. “Really? That’s really good. I was beginning to think I’d ruined our friendship!” He put the cap back on his head and stretched, relaxed. “I was thinking, ‘Boy, what a bad way to start off my comeback to the show!’”

She laughed. “And how was your comeback, oppa?”

He flashed his silliest grin. “Great! You know, my back started hurting halfway through yesterday’s filming, and I had to ice it at night, but every time I was beginning to regret coming to film this week, I realized that honestly, there’s no place I’d rather be. All through the filming, whenever Jaesuk-hyung teased me, whenever Haha came over during break to purposely whack my back, even whenever Jongkook-hyung started nagging at me, I felt so-” he paused, searching for the right word. “So at peace. So satisfied. Like I’d finally come home, you know? Cause we’re like family. And as annoying as family gets sometimes, you still like being together. You get what I mean?” He looked at her, eyes twinkling with excitement. She just stared back at him.

“Oppa.”

“Hm?”

“You sure have a way with words,” she told him. As always, Kang Gary was good at stringing words together into the most descriptive and truthful statements. He chuckled and waved his hand dismissively.

“But you get what I mean, right?” he asked. She nodded, and he grabbed his hat to toss it in the air. He caught the cap and paused.

“And you know what, Mongji-ya?” he asked. She raised her eyebrows questioningly and waited. He smiled softly.

“I’m glad that you’re one of those people who I like being with, part of that family that makes me feel happy and satisfied.”