“Jihyo. Can we call a truce?”

             She blinked at him. Out of all of the possibilities she considered, these words were not anything close to what she had imagined he would say.

             He took off his Leessang Cap and ran his fingers through his hair, the way he always did whenever he felt nervous, but he set the cap back on his head squarely and faced her directly before continuing.

            “Look. I know you don’t like me,” he said frankly. She opened to deny it, as if by reflex, but he put up his hands to stop her before she could even make a sound. “It’s okay. I haven’t tried my best to get to know you, either. Not to mention that we only know each other because of a variety show.” He paused. “We kind of...started off on the wrong foot. And I’d like to fix that.”

           She stared at him and waited. He coughed uncomfortably. “What I’m saying is…I want to be friends. With you.”

            It was so painfully elementary, that phrase was, that she would have been tempted to laugh, if not for the fact that her mind was still whirling from the absurdity of it all.

           “I mean just friends. I know you have a boyfriend now, and all. I don’t intend to intrude on that at all, believe me,” he added quickly. “But.. I’m tired… of having to avoid you all the time, making a great effort to give you a wide berth, and then pretending like we’re close on the show when I don’t know a thing about you. I know you’re good at acting, but I’m not, and I don’t think I can continue on like that anymore.”

           She made eye contact with him then, and he started a bit, but stared back unflinchingly. Her eyes tried to seek out a lie in his eyes; some ulterior motive or half truth, but his eyes remained clear and earnest. She dropped her gaze to the now cold Americano she was clutching. He’d bought it for her before he’d started this whole spiel.

           “I don’t know about that, Kang Gary.”

           He shifted his weight. “It wouldn’t be much, Jihyo-ya. Just maybe going to get dinner with the rest of the cast after filming, greeting each other if we meet outside of the show, actually conversing with each other…Or,” he said suddenly, probably sensing her continuous hesitation, “we don’t have to, I guess. If you’re…” He paused, as if searching for the word. “Afraid.”

           He probably didn’t mean it in that way, but the way he said it sounded like a dare to her. And maybe it was the Ace in her that wouldn’t let her back down from dares, but she raised her chin.

           “Okay. Let’s be friends.” And then before she could believe it herself, she had put out her hand to shake in agreement, trying to ignore the feeling that she had just signed life as she knew it away.