“Yoonae!” I turned to find Ji Eun running up to me with a giant smile on her face. It was after school already and I had just stepped out of the building

“Let’s go shopping!” She cheered.

“I can’t.” I told her. Her overly joyous smile suddenly dropped to a frown.

“Why not?”

“I’m going to watch the boys practice and then Jongin and I are going out after.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You and Jongin?”

I nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“You and Jongin are going out?!” I shook my head, immediately denying the truth. I hadn’t told her about my relationship with Jongin because I knew she wouldn’t approve. I knew she would freak out.

“But you just said ‘Jongin and I are going out after.’” She quoted.

I shook my head rapidly. “T-That’s really not what I meant. I mean, we’re going out but like as friends and stuff you know? You know I would never date a jerk like him!”

“You’re using him has a rebound aren’t you?” She narrowed her eyes and tsked at me. “You just broke up with Luhan, how could you be seeing another guy already?”

I felt a stab at my heart when she accused me of using him. I’m not using Jongin as a rebound, I actually like him! Or at least...I think I do. No...I definitely do. It hasn’t built up to the point where I love him but there’s definitely something there.

“I told you that Jongin and I aren’t seeing each other! We’re just friends! And for the record, I would never play with his feelings like that.”

“So...do you like him?”

“NO!” I stiffened a bit when I realized I replied too quickly and completely over defensively.

“Good.”

I let out an inaudible gasp at what she said.

“I don’t want you two dating anyways.”

“W-Why not?”

She shook her head and looked up at me. “He tried breaking you and Luhan up and therefore, has no loyalty to his friends, nonetheless his lover. He’s insensitive and speaks without thinking and frankly, I like you better with Luhan.”

“Luhan and I will never be together again.” I told her though it still hurt me to say it. Sure, for the past few days, Jongin and I had been talking and texting more frequently but in general, it still hurt to talk about my break up with Luhan.

“You never know.” She said gently. “Maybe when he gets back in Korea and-”

“And what? One promotion is just going to lead to another. Please Ji Eun-ah, I just don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“But we have to! I can’t just watch you let go of the perfect guy and go to that jerkface bandmate of his!”

“Jongin isn’t a jerk!”

“Why are you sticking up for him?!”

“Because he’s not a jerk!”

“You like him don’t you?!” She accused once again. I let out a frustrated grunt.

“I told you-”

“Yoonae, I don’t approve of-”

-Ireona, ireona, ireona (turn it on)
Ireona, ireona, ireona-

I took out my phone to find an incoming call from Jongin. Ji Eun gave me a skeptical look.

“You even have him as your ring tone?” I ignored her and answered the call.

“Yobeosaeyo?”

“Hey babe, where are you?”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “I told you not to call me that.”

“Sorry. Hey y, where are you?”

“Don’t call me that either.”

“Hey honey, where are you?”

“Jongin I am not-”

“Dear the love of my life, where are you?” I couldn’t help but blush at his words. I turned away from Ji Eun so that she wouldn’t notice.

“I’m at school right now.”

“Still?”

“Yeah, I had to talk to Ji Eun for a bit.”

“You’re coming though right?” I couldn’t help but grin knowing that he was waiting impatiently for me.

“Yeah, I’m leaving now, I’ll be there in about 15 minutes.” I told him.

“Alright, we’re in the furthest practice room down the hall today.”

“I’m sure I can find it. I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay. Bye love.” I blushed again, not used to the words coming out of his mouth in particular. Sure, I had heard it many times from Luhan and Baekhyun before but this time it just felt...different.

“Bye.” I hung up and turned to find Ji Eun giving me suspicious looks. “I’m gonna go now.”

I didn’t like having arguments with her. In fact, we rarely fought in the first place but whenever we did, we knew that it would be alright in the end.

She nodded at me and without another word, I left.

---

“Okay! Let’s take a break!”

I watched as a grinning Jongin came rushing over to me as soon as the choreographer gave them a clear.

“You made it!” He cheered before pulling me in a suffocating hug. I cringed away from him almost instantly.

“Jongin~ You’re sweaty!” I complained earning a few chuckles from those around us. Everybody in the room looked pretty much exhausted but they all greeted me with a friendly smile.

“I didn’t know you were visiting us today.” Chanyeol commented as he wiped himself off with a small towel.

“Yeah, Jongin and I are going out afterwards.” I replied, eyeing the dancer who in return brightened up drastically.

“Can we go now?” Jongin asked, dragging me away but Suho managed to grab him by the back of his shirt.

“Where are you going? We still have an hour of rehearsal after the break.” Jongin pouted and returned to the mob of people. I looked over at Baekhyun and saw him smiling fondly at the two of us. He sent me a wink when he met my gaze.

I blushed and looked down. I felt Jongin lean down next to my ear.

“The others don’t know about us yet.” He whispered, sending shivers down my spine.

“What are you talking about? We aren’t even official yet anyways.” I hissed back. He pouted once again and left my side. I watched the cuter side of Jongin in amusement as he moped and took a giant chug of water from his water bottle.

When Jongin left, Sehun moved into the spot next to me. “Did something happen between you two?” He whispered.

I gave him a questioning look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Sehun. Don’t make assumptions.”

“But I thought-”

“Nothing happened.” I replied, giving him a small smile. “Nothing yet.”

He returned a knowing look and walked away to find his fellow maknae.

After the rehearsal, I waited for the boys in the hall as they showered. It didn’t surprise me that Jongin was the first one out. He approached me, looking around briefly twice to make sure we were alone before enveloping me in a warm hug which I returned.

He leaned down and pecked me on the forehead. “Ready to go?”

I nodded. He gave me one more kiss but before we were even able to separate from each other, a voice rang from down the hall.

“Woah! What are you two doing together?!”

We jumped apart only to find a very happy Chanyeol smiling widely at us. “I’m telling on you~” He cried before the ran back into the changerooms to report to the other members.

Jongin and I looked at each other for a brief moment, unsure of whether or not we should be relieved or worried. Sure, we were lucky that it was Chanyeol out of all people that caught us and in no doubt, we were going to tell everyone else sooner or later but....

“How do you think they’re gonna react?” Jongin asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

“I don’t know but....I’m not sure I want to find out.”

Just as the door to the changeroom cracked open and the voices of the other members could be heard in the hall, he took my hand in his. “Run.”

We took off like we never did before and quickly made our way to the parking lot which was surprisingly free from fans and other staff members. Jongin got in the driver’s side of my car and started the ignition. The second I closed my door we were off.

Before long, my phone began ringing in my pocket. I pulled it out and gasped at the name on the screen.

“It’s Ji Eun.”

Jongin gave me a worried look.

“You don’t think he told her already right?” Jongin asked. As the phone continued ringing, we continued to contemplate what to tell everyone.

By the time I decided what to do, Ji Eun had already called me 3 times. I pressed answer and let out a small “hello” into the speaker.

“PARK YOONAE YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE RIGHT NOW!”

“I’M SORRY!” I squeaked in response. Jongin bit his lip nervously beside me.

“AFTER ALL OF THE THINGS THAT JERK DID TO YOU, YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST DATE HIM AND EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT?”

“Yah! I’m not a jerk!” Jongin yelled from beside me. “Stupid Chanyeol, why did you have to tell her?”

“AND NOW HE’S INSULTING MY BOYFRIEND?”

“Well serves you right, you insulted mine.” I mumbled under my breath.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!” To my surprise, the outburst came from both my phone and the guy sitting beside me.

Jongin looked over at me with a wide grin on his face whereas Ji Eun sounded like she was going to rip me up at any given moment.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I told Jongin who pouted and turned back to the road.

“PARK YOONAE, YOU TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW! WE HAVE THINGS TO TALK ABOUT!”

“Ji Eun, I’m going out with Jongin right now.” I reasoned. Before she was even able to reply anymore, I rushed in a quick goodbye and hung up, turning my phone off in the process.

“She’s gonna kill me for hanging up on her.” I said. Jongin chuckled and reached over to take my hand in his.

“She seems to have something against me.”

“I wouldn’t blame her.” He gasped and gave me a quick look.

“What did I do?”

“You really need to ask?” I replied.

“You are selfish, egotistic, narcissistic, and you have a prince-syndrome. You think you own the stage. You assume everyone is a fan of yours. You boast about your looks, your talents and your status. You are not romantic. You are quite forceful and last but not least, you tried to steal your bestfriend’s girlfriend. I think Ji Eun has a very good reason to be doubting you.”

He obviously wasn’t happy with the way I described him and in no doubt, I was overwhelmed with guilt after I said those things to him. At some point, I guess it got to him really badly. He pulled over to the side of the road and switched the engine off.

He sat back with his eyes closed for a moment and not a single word escaped from his mouth. I looked over worriedly at him, squeezing his hand softly.

“Jongin?” I called to him. He didn’t answer.

“Hey Jongin, I’m sorry.” No response.

“Jongin please...just look at me?” He sighed and turned around.

“Why are you apologizing?” He asked. To my surprise, his voice wasn’t cold or anything. Maybe a bit broken, but he didn’t seem to blame me for anything.

“Because I shouldn’t have said those things.”

“No, you’re right. You shouldn’t need to apologize. I have done all those things and honestly, I can see why Ji Eun doesn’t like me.”

I shook my head, “She’s just being over protective.”

“And she has a right to be.” He finished. “I should be the one apologizing Yoonae, I shouldn’t have done all those things to you.”

“You already apologized.”

“It’s not enough!” He insisted. “Honestly, I’m not even worthy of being your boyfriend or whatever stage we’re at right now.”

“Hey! That’s for me to decide, not you!” He shook his head but before he could say anything more I stopped him.

“Listen to me. I’m sure you can change but even then, I don’t want you to change because as much as you are a jerk, that’s what I like about you. I like your confidence, your smile, and though sometimes, your ugly smirk can get a bit annoying, it’s all a part of you.”

“You think I haven’t thought it over before I accepted your confession?” I continued. “Of course I have. Sure you’re a jerk at times but you’ve been there for me so many more times.”

“But-”

“Jongin.” I said sternly, cutting him off. “Can we just stop this? I don’t care what Ji Eun thinks. She’ll just have to it up. Last time I checked, we’re on a date so can we please get going?”

He pouted again despite what I said. I couldn’t help but coo at the sight. Reaching over, I kissed him lightly on the lips. When I backed away, he slowly started grinning.

“You kissed me!”

I blushed and looked away. “Well, it cheered you up didn’t it?”

He gave me his signature smirk. “I guess I know what to do now.”

My eyes narrowed at him. “Don’t even try.”

He pouted again but I fought against it and ignored him. “Drive.” I commanded. He laughed and started driving again.

For the rest of the evening, Jongin seemed to be in a much better mood. We managed to go to the movies and watch the chick-flick from the other day without getting caught. Afterwards we went back to my place and attempted to make dinner. Needless to say, neither of us made anything even remotely edible therefore we ended up ordering Chinese Take-Out.

After dinner, we snuggled up on the couch and let some old dramas run on TV while we talked and cuddled. All the while, I still refused to let him kiss me.

“You don’t know how happy I am right now.” Jongin told me as I leaned against him.

“I might have an idea.” I replied before yawning and relaxing even more. Sleep was coming over me.

“So what you said earlier about me being your boyfriend...”

“Not yet.” He stiffened next to me before slumping a bit with a dejected look on his face. I gripped his hand in mine reassuringly.

“I just need some time Jongin.” I said quietly. He nodded in understanding before picking me up bridal style. I leaned into his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck as he brought me into my room.

“Goodnight.” He told me before he kissed me on the forehead. I took his wrist before he was able to leave.

“Stay. I’ll drive you back tomorrow morning. I’d feel bad if you have to walk home.” I insisted. He nodded and got into the bed with me and wrapped his arms around me.

“Goodnight.” I mumbled sleepily as I buried myself in his chest. I had just about drifted off when I heard his voice whispering a short line into my ear.

Goodnight. Yoonae...I think I love you.

---

A/N: ewwwww Jongin said the L word!~

kekeke 

Sorry for the late update everyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for all the comments and the subscriptions and votes on the poll last chapter. (I found it highly amusing how Baekyoon was in the lead for the majority of time before Kaiyoon took over. I surprised me even more that the last time I checked, Kaiyoon had more votes than Luyoon, because the comments are mainly Luyoon ones xD) 

Anyways, for all those writing exams soon (like me~), good luck, study hard, do amazing =D

Everyone have a nice day and week and however long until I update again. =]

-Ryeowook, Sungmin, Taemin, Jongin, Luhan, Chen, Youngmin, Kwangmin, Baekhyun, and Sehun's Wifey

PS. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY KYUNGSOO AND JONGIN <3