“Do you want me to help you? What should I do?” Onew went behind Jooyoung while she was busy chopping some vegetables for the dish she was making. He looked like a kid who was curious on knowing what his mother was doing in the kitchen.

“I can manage. Just watch television.” Jooyoung said without looking back at him. She was rather focused with her knife and chopping board. Well… actually, she almost wanted to imagine Onew as the vegetables she was chopping.

“I can already smell it…” Onew uttered with an exaggerated breathing – like he was sniffing every aroma the cooking dish was creating. “Will it be good?”

“I can’t assure you it will be good so probably you should think about calling Hyorin and ask her to make some dinner for you.” Jooyoung said, hitting the knife against the chopping board even louder this time.

“Woah!” Onew was surprised by the loud bang the knife created, then he stopped after confirming that really, what he said a while ago to those girls made an impact to Jooyoung’s mood. It was just a petty revenge for making him irritated a while ago, and he knew he succeeded. “Is it about what I said a while ago?” He asked with a hint of a smile on his playful face.

“There isn’t any sort of what happened a while ago.” She said monotonously, still not looking at him. “Just go.”

“Oh—kay.” Onew uttered as if he was convinced but of course, he was not. He released his sheepish smile upon returning to the living area to do what Jooyoung asked him to do – watch television. He would probably just do that while thinking of a way to make her feel better.

They’ve been together for 6 months but still, Onew was never sure about what to do when she’s pissed off. She was hard to identify. It seemed that her likes and dislikes are changed quickly according to her mood and to time. What she liked today may not be what she would like the same day. The way he used on making it up to her before may not be effective at all the next time he tried doing it. It was what made her always interesting.

“Ahah.” Onew snapped his fingers when he thought of an idea. She’s not really that confusing. In fact, there was one certain thing he does which would always make her smile. He suddenly asked himself why he only learned it now.

He waited until Jooyoung finished cooking. He was looking at the television while trying to feel her movements from the kitchen as she set the table and prepared for their dinner. “Won’t you give these to the kids?” She talked and Onew looked at her. Jooyoung was referring to the foods they bought from a restaurant for his dongsaengs.

“Oh yeah. I almost forgot.” He stood up immediately to get the foods. “I’ll just bring them quickly.” He said casually and went out.

Jooyoung rolled her eyes on Onew who just went out of the unit. She was a bit irritated. She thought it was very insensitive of him to say those things in front of her who was actually his girlfriend. She would understand if he did that somewhere else, during a recording, and interview, or anywhere else. But saying it in front of her? She would say Onew went a bit overboard, and she was not going to let it pass.

She wasn’t sure if she was doing that on purpose to or she was just feeling the hot weather. After setting the table, she went to her room to change clothes. She pulled out a really short shorts which exposed her not so long but really firm thighs, and a white tank top she usually used as an undershirt.

Yes, basically, she looked like how Hyorin looked during that Ma Boy music video.

“Yah, hyung~ I thought you forgot us.” Minho sighed in relief once he opened the door and Onew appeared with a food delivery.

“I almost forgot.” Onew chuckled and handed it to them.

“Are you going back there?”

“Yeah. We’re just about to eat, and I still need to make it up with the princess.”

“You fought?!” Key mentioned in shock. “You were okay a while ago, right?”

“I just randomly blurted out I find Hyorin y…”

“Well, seriously, if I were Jooyoung, I might have boiled you already!” Key shook his head in annoyance. “Just go back and fix your problem, hyung.” He said and slammed the door closed.

Onew shook his head while laughing. Really? After giving them foods, they shut him out just like that? Grinning, he went back to the upper floor to start eating dinner with Jooyoung.

However, his jaw almost dropped in surprised and disbelief. As he entered the unit, Jooyoung’s back figure welcomed him. He blinked twice, and thrice, trying to make sure if he was really seeing things the way they were.

Ever since the first time he saw her, she had never worn anything like this… a really short shorts and a tight fitted tank top. It was different from Jooyoung who was always in her jeans and cardigan, tho once, he saw her wearing a white soft dress.

“Errmm.” He cleared his throat to get her attention. Jooyoung turned – and for once, he regretted making her face him without having his heart ready. She was… y. Really y. It was not that he didn’t realize and know it before, but really… she is just soo… y.

And if you were wondering, they had never go any farther than kissing. They never made love. Maybe it was something both of them were not yet ready to do. They were taking things really slowly, and it was fine for the both of them. But Jooyoung literally took him by surprise. Meanwhile, Jooyoung, who witnessed the stunned expression on his face, felt victorious.  

But as Onew was able to manage himself, he figured out it won’t be good if Jooyoung starts to use this as a way of taking revenge. After all, he is a man, and a man like him knows no limitation when it comes to this. Perhaps, he should protect her from the beast inside him.

“I have never seen you wear something like that before.” Jooyoung was surprised Onew had successfully opened the topic about that. She thought he won’t talk about it the entire time.

“I was just feeling hot.”

“You’re what?” Onew looked at her directly and she quickly realized what she said – immediately breaking the eye contact she had with Onew.

“I mean… the weather. It’s… hot… and I’m… a bit… my body’s wet.”

“Wet?”

“I mean… I’m perspiring… that… that is.. be-because the weather’s hot.” It was funny how the tables turned again. She completely lost all her confidence to overpower Onew when she looked at him and they exchanged eye contacts. She saw how Onew looked at her, and she suddenly felt something’s not going to be right.

“Change them.” Onew said.

“Huh?”

“It’s not that I don’t like seeing you in that clothes. I mean… you’re gorgeous, and I’ll actually be glad to stare at you like that forever…” He said which immediately made her blush. “But the thing is… I know you’re not comfortable… We may be in a relationship. I might have held you a lot of times, hugged you, kissed you, but I understand there’s still some restrictions, and I know you’re still awkward about some things.”

“But…”

“Babe, if you’re not yet ready to prove to me how y you can get, then you should not do this.” Onew chuckled and reached for her hand to hold it closely. “I hope you know there might be a lot of consequence in your part if you suddenly get me teased, right? Like, in five minutes if you don’t change your clothes, I’ll just probably carry you from here and throw you to the bed and…”

“I’m changing!!” Jooyoung immediately in alert and ran back to her room, leaving Onew laughing cutely on his own.