“Hey Jessica,” I bit my lip as I approached my best friend. “I really need to talk to you about something.” She looked up at me, puzzled, at my serious and hesitant tone of voice.

“Of course, Kaina.” She stashed her phone away and settled down beside me on my couch. We were having a best-friend-bonding time, so no one else was home. “It’s about Jaehyung, isn’t it?”

My eyes snapped open as my jaw dropped. “How’d you know?”

Jess chuckled as she absentmindedly patted my head. “Girl, you’re my best friend. How could I not notice you falling in love right in front of my eyes?”

I focused my attention onto my tightly entwined hands, wringing them together out of nervousness. I’d been gathering up my wits the past few days to confess to Jess, but here she is, sitting with a knowing smirk, already having guessed the truth before I even opened my mouth. “What should I do?” I whispered.

“Love him,” she replied simply. “Love him with all of your heart.”

“But we’re siblings!” I covered my burning face. “I’m not supposed to!”

I felt her arms wrap around me, comforting me. “Kaina, it’s not like you’re blood related. When he’s 18, your parents can legally revoke the adoption and then you’re not siblings anymore, which means the two of you can go and make beautiful babies.”

“Hey!” I swatted her arms away. “That last comment was a bit much.”

She shrugged, not really caring. “It’s the truth though. Y’all would have beautiful babies.”

“Who would have beautiful babies?” Jaehyung stood in the doorway with a bewildered look on his face.

I burrowed my face into the cushion and wailed, “Look what you’ve done, Jess!”

“I’m talking about how Kaina and-“ I leaped forward and franticly covered Jessica’s mouth.

“Nothing, no one, don’t worry about it,” I smiled up at Jaehyung. “Why are you home so early? I thought y’all guys were having your own bonding time?”

“Our basketball game ended faster than I thought,” he nodded as I noticed the sweat glistening on his body. His hair was slightly wet, as if he had gotten out of the shower not too long ago. He looked… hot. I could feel myself flushing with redness again. Jaehyung, the clueless boy he was, walked over and placed his hand on my forehead. “Are you okay? You’re red!”

“I’m fine,” I laughed tensely. When Jae wasn’t looking, I elbowed Jess hard to try to cut off her hysterical giggles. Jaehyung raised his eyebrows at us and slowly retreated, muttering, “This must be a girl thing.”

When he was out of sight, I let out a deep breath and flailed my arms around. “What am I going to do?”

Jess burst out into another round of laughter as she rolled over, holding her sides. “Oh my goodness,” she breathed between her laughs, “I saw you checking him out!”

Ignoring her, I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of cool water. Just as I was about to take a sip, someone grabbed the cup from me, from behind, and I whirled around, startled. Jae grinned as he drank the water, obviously extremely thirsty. I scolded him, “You should’ve drank some water earlier, and not waited for yourself to be so thirsty!”

He rolled his eyes playfully and set the glass down on the counter again. This movement placed us into an awkward position- in order for him to reach the counter, he had to place his arms on either side of me, and once he had put the glass down, he didn’t move.

So here I am, staring at my adoptive brother, as he’s less than a foot away from me, with his two arms casually resting on either side of me.

“Jae…” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his.

His eyes flickered from my eyes to my lips and back to my eyes with an unreadable expression in his own, and then he turned his head to the side. “Thanks for the water,” he said softly before pushing himself away and disappearing into his room.

Jess stood in the doorway, her eyebrow raised. “I saw that.”

I sank down into a dysfunctional pile on the floor, my heart still racing over the close proximity I had just been in with Jae. “As the days pass,” I muse, “I find myself more and more attracted to that idiot.”

“He’s a y idiot,” Jess noted. I shot her a withering glare, and she held up her hands in defense. “Hey, I have Seungho. No worries.”

“I wasn’t worried about you liking him, I was glaring at you because you’re not helping!” I threw my hands despairingly in the air. After offering me no more advice besides for “go for it!” Jess left to go on a double date with her boyfriend, her sister, and her sister’s boyfriend. Jaehyung came out of his room to bade her goodbye, and at the door she leaned close to me and, in a hushed voice, said, “Stay safe.” With a laugh and a wink, she was gone.

I shook my head and sighed while turning around. “Ohmygoodness!” I squealed when I came face to face with Jaehyung again.

He looked at me, concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay, Kaina? You’ve been acting a little bit weird recently.”

“I’m fine,” I reassured while attempting to calm my pounding heart. “I just didn’t know you were that close to me. Kinda startled me there.”

He took a step closer. My eyes flitted around as I automatically took a step back. “Um, Jae?”

He came closer until I was backed against the door. Slowly, he leaned closer, and closer, and I froze. For a split second I thought he was going to kiss me, and for another split second I hoped he would kiss me, and then I realized I might die of a heart attack. At the last second, he tapped his head against mine and pulled back, laughing. “You should’ve seen your face, Kaina! You looked scared back there.”

I furrowed my brows. “You are such a tease!”

“What,” he shot back, a playful gleam in his eyes, “were you hoping I’d do something?”

I scoffed and brushed past him. “You wish,” I retorted. And just like that, things were as close as they could get to normal again.

A/N: 

Sorry if this chapter is a little bit lacking. I've been staying up late for school recently, so my brain feels like mush right now, but I still wanted to update. I decided to settle for a cute/filler chapter. I hope y'all don't mind! Another chapter should be going up this weekend. <3

Thanks to everyone who's read/commented!