He rang her doorbell with apprehension. How on earth was she planning to help him? Although he'd tossed and turned in his bed last night wondering about it, thankfully he didn’t end up with yet another dream of them rubbing sinuously against each other. He definitely did not think of her that way all this time. It only started after that black peekaboo-at-the-waist dress she wore to one of their filmings recently. It was so enticing that he had to look away before his thoughts became too explicit for his own comfort. But not before Jae Suk noticed his stare and wriggled his brows at him.

The Jihyo who opened the door appeared sleep-deprived as well. Then again, it was a familiar look. “Lunch,” he handed her the take-out bags.

As she rummaged through the bags she tried to recall the sense of calm, security and comfort she usually felt in Jong Kook’s presence. This was not the first time being alone with Jong Kook in her apartment. They’ve hung out together before, chatting and lazing on the couch watching videos when Kwangsoo wasn’t free to join them. But this time, the security and comfort remained while the calm seemed out of her grasp. Her emotions have yet to settle after last night’s self-realisation – that she had been lying to herself about Jong Kook oppa belonging to the category of ‘older brothers whom she like very much in a platonic way’.  Ok, maybe it wasn’t really a self- realisation. She had known it for some time now, but it was the first time that she’d been called out on the lie. By herself, to boot.

They got down to business after lunch, first with Jong Kook describing the relevant scences before that all important kiss. Jihyo read the script thoroughly twice and forced herself into her professional actress mode.

"Alright oppa,"she instructed seriously. Now from a female's point of view, a romantic kiss is not just about moving the lips. Its also about the peripherals."

"Peripherals? Yah, dont get all technical with me," he was starting to actually pout.

"Its really not a technical term. What I meant was-" she paused to organise her thoughts- "its also about what you do before, during and after the kiss."

She could tell from his befuddled expression that he was lost. "For example," she performed a sudden jerking motion with her hand, "you start with a yank".

"A yank," he echoed. 

"Yes, you yank her towards you. But of course you should be physically close to her before you do that, so it wont look like you are roughly pulling her towards you. It might also work if her back was to you at first, then you swivel her around suddenly such that her long hair flies in an arc to face you. And then you do the swoop."

"Swoop," he echoed again.

"Uh-huh. Just swoop down and capture her lips. That's when you pour all your frustrations and jealousy, desire et cetera et cetera into the kiss. But very importantly, you must cradle her face like you are cradling something precious and fragile. So its a contrast between your strong emotions and your gentleness in your gesture".

Jong Kook was staring at her as if she had grown 2 heads but she didn't notice, caught up in the moment as she was. She continued with her advice, "After say, 10 seconds of that, you pause and look at her with the most intense, soulful gaze you can manage, and then you lean down and kiss her again. This time, as tenderly and sweetly as you can."

Only then did she notice his stare. "Oppa, did you catch what I said?" 

"Yeah." He had to swallow and pretended that he was thinking about what she said, when he was actually trying to get rid of the images in his head of them doing exactly what she had described. "Er, right. So I should do the yanking and the swooping. And I should cradle yo- I mean, her head while kissing" he stammered and prayed she didn't catch his Freudian slip. Jihyo nodded, expecting him to continue with the re-cap.

"Yah- Song Ji Hyo! Are you sure this is your professional advice or is this just your innermost yearnings?" A thought suddenly occured to him.

"Kim Jong Kook?! Are you courting death?" she fumed. Leaping onto the sofa, she leaned towards him, grabbed at his hair and yanked.

"Yah! Yah!" he tried to get her to release her death grip. "Uncle, uncle" he surrendered.

"Hmph" she released his hair and sat back on her heels, only to realise that she had actually straddled his hips during their struggles. There were mere inches between their faces.

She watched as his gaze focused on her lips and something wicked flash into his eyes.