Chapter 4

Hearing the loud talk of her roommates, Youngji rubbed her eyes, realizing her hands were free. Confused, she got up to inspect her wrist, seeing no handcuffs. Just about to celebrate freedom, she stopped seeing her roommates staring at her.

"Oh, you're back?"

"We weren't going to come back till later but we decided to check out what you guys were doing, and it looks like you won't be needing us..." spoke Dongwook.

Still confused she looked down to see Jackson still sleeping soundly, unaffected by the chatter. She noticed that Jackson had placed his torn shirt during the time she was sleeping.

"Wait, it's not like that, we just fell asleep next to each other waiting for all of you!" Youngji hated being misunderstood, especially in a situation like this.

"Whatever you say. Anyway I'm making dinner who wants to help? I need two people to come get some groceries with me, Youngji would you do it?" asked Gukjoo, to which Youngji nodded happily.

Some dispersed to their respective rooms, others went to the kitchen to help prepare dinner but Nana stayed still, playing with the dog, Cucumber.

"The aim of the handcuffs was to get along, not sleep together." spat Nana, her face blank.

"Well we were attached by the hand so how exactly were we meant to keep our distance? It was their idea anyway." retorted Youngji, kicking Jackson to wake him up.

Defeated Nana strutted off, probably thinking of ways to get her revenge. Sighing she dragged Jackson, who was barely awake.

"Youngji? Go back to sleep." mumbled Jackson.

"Jackson, its 6pm, get up!"

Not budging she dropped Jackson to the ground, walking up to her room, only to be stopped by a stumbling Jackson.

"Youngji, what happened to my shirt?"

"You ripped it, dumbo. We were handcuffed remember?" groaning when Jackson hung onto her arm.

"Right. Where's Nana noona?" asked Jackson.

"How should I know? She's your friend."

Pouting Jackson continued to grab at Youngji, who desperately tried to shake him off.

"Jackson leave me alone! I've been conjoined to you for hours and you're not exactly the most considerate person!" yelled Youngji.

Taken back by Youngji's sudden outburst he let go off her arm and stepped away. Had he upset her? Ruffling his hair violently, Jackson headed to the kitchen to give Youngji some space. Thinking of ways to make her happy he walked over to Sunny.

"What does Youngji like? I think she's sad and it might be my fault..." sulked Jackson.

"Well...I don't know much about her but I think she enjoys wraps with a little meat. We're grilling meat for dinner so maybe you could make her one, when she least expects it." smiled Sunny.

Nodding he went to back to the couch and flopped onto it. He had slept too much and hadn't even been outside but he felt so lazy to do anything useful. He had schedules tomorrow so he'd better stop sleeping so much.

Youngji was sick of Jackson asking her about Nana when he knew the two were not on good terms, no thanks to him. She remembered that Gukjoo had asked her to come shopping with her, and also bring someone else along with her so the three of them could go together. Instead of following after Jackson she found Kangjoon, who was playing on his phone.

"Hey...um Gukjoo unnie told me we need to go to the market, want to come with us?" shyly spoke Youngji.

Shrugging, Kangjoon rose up from his bed and trailed after Youngji. Jackson was tapping his foot on the floor, noticed the footsteps approaching from the other room. Seeing Youngji his face lit up, only to scrunch his face up catching the sight of Kangjoon.

"Where are you guys going?" asked Jackson.

"To the supermarket, unnie asked me to come with her and ask Kangjoon to come along." replied Youngji, adjusting her coat.

"Well, I'm coming too, I need to buy something for one of my members." lied Jackson. He actually just wanted to talk to Youngji and hang out with her.

"So I don't have to come?" sighed Kangjoon in relief, shuffling back to his room without dismissal.

Great. Now Youngji would have to stick with Jackson all over again. Twiddling her fingers she couldn't strike up a conversation, afraid she would lash out again. Had she been to harsh earlier?

Gukjoo soon appeared from the staircase wearing a different set of clothes from before and sporting less makeup as well.

"Noona! You look so pretty without makeup!" squealed Jackson, to which Gukjoo playfully hit him on the head.

"Yah! Stop flirting and get into the car!" Gukjoo grabbed Jackson and dragged him to the car, leaving Youngji behind. Hoping her jealousy wasn't visible she quickly followed behind and took a seat next to Jackson, since Gukjoo had placed her bag in the seat next to the driver. It must be her lucky day today, she wanted Jackson's attention but at the same time wished he wasn't so clingy.

She was quiet for the entire trip there, with the other two chattering away like they'd known each other for years. The trip to the supermarket wasn't too long but almost as soon as she sat in the car, she fell asleep.

"Youngji, wake up. We're here!" she heard Jackson's voice as he shook her arm gently.

Forcing her eyes open she averted her eyes to the ground, and then pushed the door open. Entering the market she went to get a basket from the stack in the entrance when Jackson brushed over her hand.

"It's going to be heavy so I'll carry just one basket." whispered Jackson, making her place the basket back.

Behind her Gukjoo was staring at the two youngsters.

"Wow they look so good together, this is why I'm chasing after Kangjoon." Gukjoo said grinning at the camera.

"I HEARD THAT!" exclaimed Jackson, rushing over to Gukjoo, still holding the other end of Youngji's basket. Snatching the basket off Gukjoo he held them up in the air.

"I was just helping Youngji, just being nice..."mumbled Jackson to, earning a laugh from Gukjoo.

"Ok, I understand. Anyway we should go get the meat first."

Youngji trailed after the others. She wished she could contribute to their conversation but she didn't have anything to say.

Finding the meat counter Jackson ordered the correct amount pork. Suddenly a light bulb flashed in Youngji's head. She tried doing a bit of aegyo to get more meat at lesser price, only to be pushed by Jackson.

"Youngji, this is business, you can't do aegyo here!" teased Jackson. He then went on to sing a part of one of his songs, and successfully got more meat.

Pouting, Youngji stomped over to the snacks section, grabbing whatever she thought the other roommates would like. Infatuated with the snacks she didn't noticed that Gukjoo and Jackson had gone further and further away from her. Once she had selected some bags of chips and various saturated foods, she tilted her head to the meat section where the other two had been, but they were nowhere to be found. Confused, Youngji checked the other aisles, still no luck. Getting worried, she rushed through the entirety of the shop. Fishing through her small bag for her flip phone, she was even more shocked to realize that she had left her phone at home, since it was still charging.

Now she was panicking. What was she meant to do when all the cameras had followed the others and she couldn't even call anyone? Thinking they had really left she sat at a bench inside the massive supermarket. They could be anywhere in this vast space and she wouldn't even know. Playing with the keychain on her bag she nervously waited. Glancing at her watch she noticed that 10 minutes had passed and they hadn't come to find her. Sulking, Youngji slumped back into the bench, when she spotted one of the cameras approaching her. Before she could say a word, Jackson appeared with a worried look on his face.

"Don't walk off ever again, we thought we lost you." I had never seen him so serious so I decided not to crack a joke in case I upset him more. Without speaking another word he held on tightly onto Youngji who found it impossible to remove herself from his grip.

"I'm not letting go, or you might run off again." he finally said as he dragged Youngji to where Gukjoo had started scanning the items.

"Oh there you are, we were looking all over for you!" said Gukjoo when she saw Youngji.

Youngji placed the items she had picked on the counter with her free hand, as Jackson was still clutching onto her wrist. Blushing severely she tried to shake him off but he had held on so tight that a red mark was starting to form where he had his nails imbedded on her skin.

"J-Jackson, you're hurting me" whispered Youngji.

"Right. Sorry." loosening his grip but still keeping her right beside him till they reached the car.

She didn't understand why he ignored her sometimes but other times he was so touchy. That kid is seriously bipolar, thought Youngji as she laid her head back on the car seat.

-

After dinner, Youngji went straight to sleep, she had a schedule early in the morning and it was already late. Instead of sleeping in her bed though, she had set up a mattress on the living room floor, so not to wake up her roommates on the top floor when she got up at an ungodly hour.

But as expected, Youngji could not get a wink of sleep, due to sleeping before and she found herself continuously tossing and turning. Pulling herself up, Youngji grabbed her phone from beside her and checked the time. 3am. She had hours before she needed to get up and she hadn't slept at all, understandably due to her sleeping throughout the day.  Groaning she flopped her body down forcefully, creating a thud. Hoping that no one heard it she lay still when she heard light steps on the wooden floor.

Frozen, Youngji didn't dare move, scared that she was in trouble of some sort. But she relaxed as soon as the footsteps halted. Thinking the person had gone she took her guard down, only to feel a figure slide beside her and breathe behind her ear. That's when she smelt the familiar perfume. Still puzzled she refused to speak, in case the insomnia had made her believe that people were watching her sleep.

"I know you're awake Youngji, I heard you moving all the way from my room." whispered a husky voice.

Instantaneously she knew it was Jackson's voice. It was sort of cracking, like he had just woken up.

"You heard me? Did I wake you up? Sorry."

"Its fine, I couldn't get to sleep as well."

Guessing he was probably lying to not make her feel guilty, Youngji didn't respond. The two lay there, no words coming out from either of their mouths. It was nice to sit silently like this, their conversations usually consisting of yelling and many slaps on the shoulder (courtesy of Youngji).

Suddenly Jackson began to hum a soft tune, loud enough for just Youngji to hear. Soon his hushed whispers became silent and the stars dimmed, as Youngji drifted off to sleep.

-

A loud beeping sound was heard next to Youngji's ear, and reluctantly, Youngji sat herself upright. Turning her alarm off she creaked her head to her side, to see Jackson had been sleeping next to her and seemed to be disturbed by the beeping sound from before. Youngji looked at his appearance. His blanket was draped around him, bangs covering a portion of his forehead and his mouth was slightly ajar. She didn't know why but he seemed so peaceful, looking like a boy half his age. She had woken up too early, still drowsy. Youngji didn't need much time to get ready so she decided to rest a bit, but she still couldn't get back to sleep. her side, she observed Jackson's breathing pattern. He didn't snore or move in his sleep, the only movement she saw his chest lightly raising every time he inhaled and his top lip quiver as he exhaled.

It didn't cross Youngji's mind once that what she was doing was creepy and stalker like, nor did she imagine Jackson's reaction. Dreamily, she stared at his figure, oblivious of her surroundings. So it shocked her when Jackson opened his eyes.

Realizing how close she was to him she began to push herself back, more embarrassed than ever.

"U-uh I was just um-" mumbled Youngji, trying to think of reason why she had been watching him.

Rubbing his eyes he stretched his arm out, almost hitting Youngji, and ignoring the said girl. Youngji was still startled and remained quiet, until Jackson started to tickle the girl's sides, causing Youngji to thrash violently. Luckily, Youngji's laugh was silent so it was impossible for anyone to hear her.

"Stop Jackson, stopppp!" shrieked Youngji, gasping for air.

Youngji attempted to reach for Jackson in a hope for revenge but was weak under his strong arms. Eventually Jackson got tired and gave up attacking Youngji and got up.

"Last night's little sleepover was fun, we should do it again sometime." winked Jackson.

Grabbing his blanket from the floor he walked off back to his room, leaving Youngji dumbfounded. 'Do it again sometime'? What kind of ert was he? Just as she was thinking about what he had said, her manager rang her, telling her that he had pulled up to the house. Lifting herself up, she got ready, grabbed some snacks and left the house.

Her schedules went smoothly, and before she knew it, they were over. Waving goodbye to her members she returned to the house around dinner time, still wearing her clothes from the performance. Her outfit was a pair of tight fitting burgundy jeans, and equally clingy midriff top in the same colour with black accents and flashy bling and makeup. Youngji's manager said not to take her clothes off as he would be picking her up after dinner again to get measurements for her clothes for the next live performance stage. Too lazy to remove her accessories and makeup she left them on and peeked into the kitchen, where the others were shocked to see her with a full face of makeup.

"Youngji-ah you look really different, but in a good way!" squealed Sunny, playing with Youngji's hair.

Jackson came down from the stairs to see what the commotion was all about. He had just been chatting with Nana, and he was really nervous to be around her in private, Jackson knew that he had this crush on her but he felt out of her league. Pushing his love problems beside, he too, appeared in the kitchen, seeing the back of a girl. Upon closer look he realized it was Youngji. Totally shocked he stood there, mouth open. She seemed a completely different person, a change from her usual bare face and casual clothes. His eyes averted to her thighs, which were curvy and healthy looking. Blushing he ran to his room, internally screaming a little.

Jackson Wang was a total player.