“Honey, I packed your backpack… The stylists sent photos of the clothes for you to choose. Check your imessage…  Let me know which one you want and I’ll update her.” He was walking out of the house towards the elevator, rushing his words so he gets all the important points to her.

“Thanks, oppa… I’ll text you in an hour. Quite busy now…” She heard the sound of the elevator reaching the floor on the phone.  “You’re going already??”

“Yes.. Gonna go hide myself before the flight. Going in the lift now, talk to you later ok…”

“Wait!”

“what?”

“Call me from the airport..”

And the line was cut off.

…

“Hello..” he was using his deep, calm voice. He knew that voice will help when she’s upset with him. She was quiet on the other end of the line. “My sweet pretty baby love that I miss so much…” He heard her small laugh.

“Ahhhh!” he reacted as if he was stabbed right through the heart and he heard the laugh again. But she still did not speak.

“I’m sorry… I forgot to call you from the airport. But technically, I am calling you from an airport” he was walking towards immigration checkpoint.

“Ya!” It was impossible for her to dismiss him when he intentionally give ridiculous excuses and he knows all her weak points. He laughed “Finally! I don’t mind you yelling.. better than the silence.”

“You’re just impossible!”

“But you love me.” She heard his cheekiness and she was smiling foolishly to herself in the mirror.

“What are you doing?”

“Cleaning my make up.. Just got back..”

“After you’re done, check your bag, in case I missed something.”

“You’re always so sweet packing up my bag for me.. I trust you won’t miss a  thing. I trust you’d have put things I won’t put in there too”

“Hehehe.. You were busy, I do what I can to help.. hey, gotta go now. My turn in a bit for passport check. See you tomorrow”

“OK, oppa. Take care and be safe. Love you.”

Jihyo hung up and walked to the bathroom. She was cleaning up her sink and looked on to his sink beside hers. She noticed his perfume bottle.

“He forgot again..” she shook her head smiling. He remembers the things she needs and packs for her and never miss a thing. But once in a while he’ll forget his perfume. She picked it up and spray it in the air so she can smell his scent and put it in her bag.

..

He heard a knock on the side door connecting his room to the next. The moment he opened it, she jumped into his arms and hugged him.

“Hiii!!!”

“Calm it… My back is not that good remember?” She slid down but still hugging him. “Sorry.. I was too excited to see you. Finally we’re overseas together after so long.”

“Have you eaten?” He was her cheek. He had not seen her in three days but it felt like a week. She shook her head and looked around his room for food. There were a few plates with transparent covers. All the food were untouched. He was smiling looking at her.

“I was waiting for you. We can eat now.” He pulled her to the small dining table in the room.  As he bring over the food to the table, she caught hold of his arm and pulled him in. She reached up to kiss his cheek. “thank you, boyfriend” and as usual he blushed.

No matter how long they’ve been together, she can always make him blushed when she says something he is not used to hearing. She loves how she can plainly see his true reactions.

“So how are we going to do this show tonight” She asked before putting food into . Gary immediately turned into his working mode. She loves this about him too.  He is very charismatic as her boss. He knows what he wants, he makes it happen by letting people know his expectations.

“You know where we’re heading. You know what I want. But I also know you’re not willing to do certain things…”

“It’s not that.. I have so much to consider…”

“It’s ok. As your boss, I would want an artist to think the way you do. I am not forcing you because I know you’d do your best for eveyone.” He looked at her and she thought he looked very professional. She admired that quality of him. She was not focusing on the job. She was focusing on him. She knew he had been through a lot of pressure and hardships recently. He had been very calm about it when he could have burst out and demanded he be treated better.

But by the time they got into the interview, Gary was tipsy. She kept giving him the eye to tell him to stop drinking. She was worried that he would get too drunk and things get out of hands. He gets really honest and really can’t lie when he’s drunk. Luckily he noticed before it got too bad. But he was already tipsy. He gave her an apologetic look. She knew she had to control the situation since he is not capable.

It went well with a few slips but she thought those few can be dismissed as scripts. She tried her best to cover up.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was drinking too much.” He started explaining himself once he saw her walking through the door into his room. “Do you think it would be OK? Or do I have to send someone to talk to the producer?” He looked worried. She smiled. He gets really nervous when things don’t work out the way he planned.

“I think it should be fine. I tried controlling it. Jackson helped out too.” She took a cup of ice cream from the mini bar and sat next to him. She didn’t look worried. In fact she was very relaxed.  She fed him the first scoop to cool him down.

“Relax.. Besides, I think it’ll do us some good after all that we’ve been through. It should put us back to where we were before all the mess of stopping our loveline on the show.” In the past she would be the one freaking out and he would be the one being calm. Not anymore. She’s been assured by him that he’s taking care of everything just fine and she believes he would. But he is always nervous with his decisions, afraid that it would have a bad impact for her. He would not want to be the cause of her ruin.

She is happy with how he manages her. He even negotiated for her to be the main cast of a drama when she was only offered a supporting role.  She didn’t need that but he managed to get it for her by offering the production offers too good to pass on.

….

“Hello, oppa… are you busy? Can we talk?”

“A little… but I can talk for a while. What’s up?”

“Nothing… I just miss you. Been a few days since we called each other. And I saw your photos online. Not shaved…” He heard her comforting smile in her words.

“I miss you too… I’m at the studio right now.. “ Suddenly Jihyo heard a female’s voice in his background. A sultry voice calling him and talking to him. She got upset right away. He normally works with women but she had never heard that kind of tone that would make any women suspicious of her man.

“Who’s that??” She stopped him from talking and he gave hand signal for the woman to stop talking and walked into his office, shutting the door behind him.

“Jes…” He stuttered. He didn’t think she should get jealous but her tone when asking that question made him nervous.

“Why are you stuttering?”

“Noo… We’re recording… Panda is here too… “

“I am really tired right now… Let’s talk about this later.” She was really upset because he stuttered and he never mentioned about working with her.  She didn’t want to make it worse so she stopped before they get into arguing. She hung up on him and he knew it wasn’t a good sign.

He had to finish off the recording. Panda talked him into working with her. He didn’t want to. He knew Jihyo would feel insecure if he has Jes around when she’s busy somewhere else. Jes is a woman that girlfriends will not like to see around their men. And Jihyo knows Gary is a man that loves looking at girls like Jes. And Gary had committed himself to recording with her so he had to do his job.

He texted her. “Please don’t be upset. I stuttered because I was nervous. I was afraid you’d be jealous.”

“I am.. and upset that you never mentioned her before.”

“Because I know you’d react like this..” He regretted after tapping the send button.

“And you expect me not to find out? You’re recording with her! The whole world would know.”

A video was sent to her phone by her friend. She opened it to see her man in that video recorded by a woman she was jealous with. “She even recorded a video around your office to show the world.. Pretty sure you didn’t expect the world to know so early on.” She was angry.. but mostly jealous.

“Honey, Calm down. You know I would never betray you..” She read but didn’t reply. He had to finish up for the night so he let it hang to let her cool down too.

After he’s home.. he sent her a voice note, sounding miserable. “Honey, I am home. Alone. I repeat alone…” she laughed hearing that part. “I am also miserable because you hung up on me. Please don’t be mad. You know I didn’t tell you because I know you’d be jealous. But I swear it’s just music. I made sure Panda was with me all the time to keep her away from me..” she laughed again at how hard he tried to explain. She heard a long pause…”I have nothing to explain more. I just want to tell you I love you… I repeat, YOU, YOU, YOU,” he sang the chorus of Lonely night and she heard him chuckling before the voice note ended. Sometimes he felt awkward when he gets corny with her in private. He is OK with doing it for TV but when with her, he seldom is.

She didn’t reply. She has already forgiven him but she wanted him to believe she is still upset so he takes a note to not repeat it in the future. They weren’t going to see each other for a while anyway. She was going to make him wait.

….

“Where’s Gary oppa?” She was walking into the room full of the other male members looking for Gary. Her face looked worried.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Jongkook stopped her on her track. He held her arm to stop her and calm her down. HaHa was walking towards the door, towards her. “He’s in another room resting.” HaHa’s cool face somehow made her feel relieved.

She was worried for Gary. She saw him in pain and she knew his back was causing it. She was worried during the whole filming, trying to keep close and asking if he was ok. Being the stubborn self, Gary assured her that he was ok although she knew he wasn’t as OK as he was trying to convince her to believe. And once they got their lunch break, he was gone from her sight together with the other members when she was busy talking to her staff about her work schedule.

“I was going there to see him… but since you’re here, you go instead. Let me know if he needs anything” HaHa pointed to his right. “He’s in the next room.”

“Thank you.” She walked out to go to Gary.

“This woman…” Jongkook smiled and shook his head looking at Jihyo’s back. “I wonder if she can ever live without him…” He looked at HaHa. “When they’re nice… they’re really nice. When she’s mad, it’s really cold that I wish I’d rather die freezing than face her if I was him hahaha!” HaHa laughed admitting the truth in that. “Suits him well”.

Jihyo opened the door slowly to not disturb him if he was sleeping. She closed and locked it behind her watching Gary sleeping on the floor facing the wall. He only had a thin mat for him to sleep on and a big bath towel as blanket. She kneeled down behind him and peered over his form to see his face. He was sleeping peacefully. But she could see his body shivering. The air-conditioned room was OK for her but maybe a little too cold for the tired Gary. She lay down behind him and back hugged him to share her warmth. Her face on his face and she can feel his cold cheek. He stirred in his sleep. He came awake feeling the warm body enveloping him. His nose smelled a familiar scent and he was smiling before he opened his eyes.

“Just what I need…” he pulled her arm to hug him tighter and she turned her face to kiss his cheek. “Are you ok, honey?” She whispered softly to his ear. He turned his body to lie flat on the mat and felt her body on top of his. He opened his eyes and looked at her with a weak smile. She touched her thumb along the line of his eyebrow.  “Does it hurt a lot?”

“A little… I’ll be OK. I’ll go for a massage after filming. I just need to rest for a bit.”

She started getting up to make him comfortable and let him rest. He held her back.

“Where are you going??” She stopped her movement and looked him in the eyes. “I’m going to let you rest...”

“I’d rest better if you’re close...” she can see that sweet smile of his. She leaned over him and dropped her lips to his to kiss him. “Better?” she asked after it ended.

“A lot better! Now, lie next to me and keep me warm.” She placed herself next to him, facing his side and placing her face in the crook of his neck. Her hands hugging him close. “Is this ok?”

“This is ok… you sleep too. I know you’re tired too.” And easily, she fell asleep with him.

Jongkook knocked on the door slowly to call them to get ready for filming. Gary woke up first and whispered to the woman sleeping on his chest. She woke up to his soft whisper and not to the noise outside the room.

“Hmmmm.. do we have to go now?” she was yawning, still sleepy. Gary smiled looking at how she is her natural self and never bothered to be otherwise around him. She heard a knock on the door and stood up and went to the door. She opened it a little to peek at the person on the other side.

“Oh oppa..”

“Call time in 20 minutes.. Get ready.” He chuckled looking at her sleepy face. “I thought you were supposed to look after him… You ended up sleeping!”

“Ya! I did look after him. He told me to sleep, so I did!”

“hahaha! Go get ready now.” He turned and walked away.

She closed the door and turned to see Gary already washing his face at the sink after brushing his teeth. She took a face towel from his bag and went to wipe his face for him.

“Thank you.” He took hold of the towel and moved away so she can have her turn to freshen up. He went to his bag for his perfume and took out hers from his bag as well. He always has a few of her things in his bags just in case she forgets. “Honey, you want your facial cleanser?”

“Aww you brought my stuff with you..” She knew he would often do that but she likes to for being sweet. She went to him and took the cleanser tube from his hand and dropped a kiss on his cheek before going to the sink again. “you smell good”

He took her perfume and went up to her, waited until she’s done wiping the water off her face and handed it to her. She sprayed it all over her body and handed it back to him.

He packed up his bag. Jihyo pulled him to her when he was done. He had his arms around her.

“Is your back ok?” She was looking into his eyes with concern. He nodded before going in for a kiss.

“I can endure it for now… I’ll get it fixed soon.”

“You better fix it soon. I know you’re hurting really bad… I’ll get Moonie to go with you. Don’t delay. I’m going to make your assistant cancel all your work schedule if this gets worse.”

“It’s good to have you back” He kissed her. He missed her fussing over him.

“Are you coming home tonight?” She nodded and saw him smiling so wide.

“Let’s get this done and over with. I just wanna go home and cook for you..” He laughed at her choice of activity. She hated cooking. She picked up the skill a few months ago, attending classes and she had been feeding him with her dishes whenever they’re home.

She was walking to the door and he watched her from behind. He pulled her back just before she reached out for the door knob. Backhugging her and whispered into her ear “no other woman can be as y as you for me… Don’t ever forget that.” He made up for it all in one sentece.