A/N: Update! So many subscribers~~~~ Thanks so much to you guys for continuing to read my story! You rock.

            Gil opened the door to find her wielding a grocery bag of drinks and snacks and a large stuffed collie dog. She bowed her head in greeting.

            “Hey, come on in, Jihyo-ssi! Nice of you to drop by,” he said as he took her bag. She thanked him for the help and entered the apartment. Gary was reclining on the couch instead of his bed this time, so she walked up to him and tossed the stuffed dog at him. He jerked back in surprise but caught it before it hit his face.

            “Well, hello to you too….what’s the meaning of this?” He asked, turning the dog around to look at it.

            “Get-well-soon present, can’t you tell?” She took a seat on the couch across from him and crossed her arms.

“You didn’t even buy this! You just picked it up from your photoshoot!” Gary complained. She shrugged playfully.

Gil came into the room with the snacks and drinks and chuckled. “Beggars can’t be choosers, Gary-ah.” He popped open one of the cans of soda and turned to Jihyo. “Nice to meet you. I’m Gil, as you already know.”

She introduced herself, and they tapped their soda cans together in cheers to meeting each other. Gil sipped his soda and leaned back against the couch next to Gary.

“What’s it like, filming with Gary?” he asked.

“Ei, Gil! Why are you asking such an awkward question? So weird,” Gary protested. His cellphone rang then, and he rose to take the call in the kitchen, wincing as he got up. “Ignore him,” he told Jihyo, and handed her a pack of her favorite strawberry Pocky before he left the room. She grinned in thanks and took a while to think of an answer to give Gil.

“It’s… interesting. He’s very… chill and confident. He’s good at it,” Jihyo replied. “I envy him sometimes for his way with words… I’m not so good at giving quick and witty responses like he is. They seem to come natural to him.”

Gil’s eyebrows went up. “Really now? Gary used to be so nervous before filming each Monday that he couldn’t sleep. He used to ask me a lot about what he should say or do, or to tell him how he could improve.”

This was news to her. She thought he just automatically fit into the variety mold, the way the rest of the members did, and rather effortlessly at that. She knew Kwangsoo used to be a lot less confident and was very shy, but once he’d found his character, there was no stopping the Prince of Asia from dominating the variety world. She’d always felt somewhat left behind, despite her character as Ace or Bad Jihyo. She felt like the rest of the members had suddenly grown up and left her where she was from the start: uncomfortable, unnatural, and humorless.

            She realized that Gil was staring at her, waiting for her to respond. “Really?” She asked.

            “Really. He was especially nervous when he started doing that loveline thing with you,” Gil informed her, motioning with the drink in his hand while he talked. “He said you were really pretty, and he didn’t want to ruin your image. ‘Gilly-ah, I feel bad for Jihyo, that she has to be stuck in a loveline with me and have all those fans and media pester her about me,’ he told me. ‘I want her to at least have fun and not feel burdened by me.’ So he worked really hard to build up that image of a fool in a one-sided love with you and thought up a lot of pickup lines and jokes to tell you. He’s gotten a lot better at the whole variety thing along the way, I suppose. And I’m glad that you and him are friends now, Jihyo-ssi. That can ease some of his guilt and worry.” Then he grinned and took a swig of his soda. “Sorry, probably too much for the first time that we officially met! Look at me, just unloading all of this talk on you!”

             She smiled shakily. “It’s okay.” She looked down at the Pocky in her hand. “Gary-oppa’s really nice… he makes me laugh. I enjoy filming with him,” she told Gil truthfully. And then she felt guilty for pitying herself and blaming Gary for starting the loveline. She had to admit, he had, just as Gil had said, worked really hard to help her out with her character on the show. She’d gained so many fans because of the Monday Couple, and he did always try really hard onscreen and offscreen to make her feel more comfortable. He’d done a lot for her, and she’d mostly reciprocated with coldness and standoffishness. It wasn’t really his fault that she felt tied down and controlled by the media in every aspect of her life, but she’d unfairly taken out her resentment on him, she realized.

             “That’s good to hear,” Gil said, and Gary came in at that point, holding his waist. Gil and Jihyo both jumped up to help him to the couch, but he waved them away. “I’m okay, though I should probably not get up for a while,” he told them, and sank carefully into the couch. He turned to Jihyo.

             “Gilly didn’t say anything weird while I was away, did he?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. Before Jihyo could answer, Gil butted in.

             “What to do, Gary-ah? I’ve stolen your Monday girlfriend away from you. She’s totally smitten with me now, right Jihyo-ssi?” Gil winked at Jihyo, and she rolled her eyes.

             “Totally, oppa.”

             Gary shrugged. “It’s okay. Today’s not Monday, anyway. You can have her.” This comment earned him a smack on the chest by a cushion that Jihyo threw at him. He grabbed his chest in mock pain. “Owwww….. I’m in pain…”

             She and Gil burst out laughing at his bad acting. They continued their friendly banter and conversation until she left thirty minutes later with a bellyache from all the laughter and a new determination to be a better friend to Kang Gary.