Inevitably, work gets in the way of all kinds of relationships in one way or another.

It was the first time that the two would be apart for a prolonged period of time since they became friends. She was going to assist coverage for the FIFA world cup since she was a native English speaker. She was really excited for the opportunity. Since she was so new to the business, this was a rare chance for her to show her worth as a sports broadcaster. Kris was happy for her too, but he was still sad to know she’d be gone for a month.

The only problem for her was that she only knew basic things about Soccer, so she had to spend a week going soccer crazy. That made for a bad hang out partner, though he wasn’t complaining. She apologetically invited him over to her place to hangout, even though she wasn’t going to be as interactive as she usually was. She wasn’t the only one that was preparing soccer knowledge though. Kris had secretly been learning a lot about soccer from the other trainees, like Luhan and Minseok, in case she asked him for help.

They spent a few nights at her kitchen table talking about soccer and facts and rules and historical moments in the game. They thought they were going to start sneezing soccer facts by the time she left to South Africa.

Because she did so well for FIFA, she was promoted and allowed to cover more sporting events as an up and coming broadcaster. She was asked to cover the 2011 Wimbledon tournament essentially on her own as their lead correspondent in Wimbledon coverage.

Kris was also doing pretty well; his trainers said he improved like crazy, especially when she was gone. During those times, he trained like hell was chasing after him. His Korean was great, and he even taught Jihae some Chinese because she had helped him perfect his Korean. She was really good. He was already secretly confirmed to be a part of the new boy band from SM. He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, but he told Jihae anyway. She hugged him happily to congratulate him.

He found it strange. She was more physically expressive than he thought she was previously. She was really good at teasing him, or verbally bullying him, but when it came to talking about actual feelings or important things, she expressed it with her body or her expressions. It was as if she was afraid to actually voice her feelings or opinions on things. He was getting better and better at understanding her little ticks and cues.

One other good thing that came from spending more time together mixing with her leaving the country often: Kris had the code to her apartment to water her plants and make sure things were okay there.

Eventually she just told him to come over whenever since the company was barely a fifteen minute walk to her apartment. She offered him her place to just blank out if he felt stressed or whatever. Kris asked if he bothered her by coming over too much. She said it was because she just wanted to help out a friend. When Kris read her ticks, he saw that it was because she didn’t mind hanging out more with him.

And that was where he was right now, her apartment. He was just sitting on her couch, watching TV. She was going to walk through the front door any minute now. She had just flown back from London after Wimbledon, so her first stop will be her apartment to relax after a long flight.

“Kris?” She asked, hearing the TV from the entryway.

“I’m here.” He smiled and greeted her at the entrance. “Good flight?”

“A little more turbulence than I like, but it was good.” She smiled brightly up at him.

“I would have gotten you at the airport, but I figured you’d rather ride the taxi back alone. So I waited here, was that okay?”

Jihae nodded, “That’s fine.” He took her suitcase for her. ‘I like seeing you here.’ Kris read.

“Hungry?”

“No.” ‘Yes.’

“I brought some food over.” Kris didn’t understand why she didn’t just say she was hungry. No point in lying, but he just pushed her to eat.

“Oh, thanks.” She smiled and ate the food he handed her. “What’s on TV?”

Kris explained a variety show he was watching. She had a TV, but she only really watched sports channels or the news. She was quietly eating and listening to him. He worried that he might have been boring her. After all, some people ask rhetorical questions or only expect short answers. “Sorry, you didn’t want to know all that. It’s just a variety show.”

“No, it’s fine. It was interesting. I might like the show. Continue explaining it please.” She encouraged. Kris would have argued, but he read the clear cues in her smile, ‘I like hearing you talk.’

So he kept talking.

“How’s training going?” She asked, placing the bowl in the sink.

“Really well. Because it’s getting closer and closer to the date, we’re training like crazy, so you might not see me as often as usual.”

“It’s okay, once you get famous, I might not see you at all except on TV or the internet.” She smiled. Kris saw the sadness behind her smile.

She sat back down next to him on her small sofa, another item of furniture that was way too small for two tall people like them. But it gave them an excuse to be closer than a big couch would. She yawned and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

“Do you want to sleep?” Kris asked, hyper sensitive to her actions as usual.

“No, it’s okay. The show is funny.” She shook her head.

Kris took a breath and did something he never thought he would do. The yawn, stretch, and reach over. He blushed with embarrassment and sat there with his arm over her shoulder, waiting for her to tell him to get off her. But she didn’t. She chuckled at his stupid move, but didn’t shy away. Instead she snuggled closer to him.

He was sure she could hear his heart through his ribs, but there was no calming it down. If she did hear it, she said nothing. She just watched TV until she fell asleep. He carried her to bed and left quietly back to the dorms.

Even after all of this, he couldn’t tell for sure if she felt or thought these things because she was lonely or if she liked him the way he liked her. After all, he was her only real friend, so it was a possibility. She could be so frustratingly quiet, and he was too frustratingly scared. So they were in that annoying ‘complicated’ state of relationships.

Yup, not a ty fic. It'll have moments that lead up to , but I didn't write those scenes in because they just wouldn't really serve a purpose to the story aside from just being a scene.

Thanks for all the support! I'm throwing this update out now because I just won't have time this weekend.

Thank you for reading!

Have a great weekend peeps!