Jackson and Youngji are the maknaes of the season 2 casts. It is of no surprise that they are quick to get close, being equally hyper and are of the same age. As the show progresses, viewers are noticeably getting more interested in their interactions. To be very frank, there's nothing new in their relationship. Endless of bickers, occasional skinships, and normal interactions between roommates but they have this unique chemistry which draws viewers in, wanting to see more of them. 

Jackson and Youngji are well aware of this. In fact, they are even aware of their ship name; jackji, all thanks to SNS (and fans leaving comments - both good and bad, on his Instragram or tweeting to her Twitter). They were even crowned the winners to an online pool in which they are the most anticipated couple of the year! Jackson and Youngji are so close to the fact that they brought the topic up one day, but happily brushed it off because both treated the other party as a very close friend, thankfully gained in this industry where one barely has the time to even rest; what more make friends. 

But this didn't last long. Or longer than they thought it would. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was yet another day at the roommate house. Jackson lazily got up to the sound of his alarm, only to see the bed next to his vacant. 

"Oh right, Kangjoon hyung went for a holiday after his drama ended", Jackson thought to himself. 

He missed hanging out with his hyung. To think about it, they barely spent time together after eating meat in the middle of the night previously due to their busy schedules. Now that Kangjoon's drama has ended, Jackson hopes to spend some quality time with Kangjoon before he starts getting busy with his group's comeback again. 

Jackson slowly dragged his feet out of his room, only to be greeted by an empty living room. 

"It's 12PM already. Where did everyone go?" Jackson thought.

Making his way to the second floor, he hoped to see his other roommates around after finding the kitchen empty. He first made his way to the second room with Joon hyung and Ryohei hyung. Empty. The third room. Empty. The fourth room. Empty. With a disappointed look, he close the door and made his way to the last room. Knocking on the door, Jackson got greeted by an empty silence. He carefully peeked into the room, afraid to wake up any roommates asleep, if any. Slowly, he tiptoed into the room and found Youngji lying on her bed with her back turned towards him. 

Recalling her reaction seeing Taecyeon when she woke up and how she woke himself up to see snow previously, a slight smirk unknowingly formed on his face. He decided to launch a surprise attack and wake Youngji up. Quietly creeping up next to her bed, Jackson suddenly shook her shoulders and yelled "HEO YOUNGJIIIIII", expecting a loud scream. 

However, Youngji continued lying on her bed motionless without a scream. Sensing something is not right, Jackson quickly turned her around and saw that her face was all white and was sweating profusely. Placing his hand on her foreheard, Jackson got a shock because Youngji was literally burning! Holding her in his arms, Jackson frantically shook her face and kept yelling her name.

"Heo Youngji! Heo Youngji! Wake up!! Can you hear me??" yelled Jackson. 

"Jack.." Youngji replied almost whispering. Youngji then passed out.

"Heo Youngji! Hang on awhile more, I'll get you to the hospital!"

Jackson quickly put on a coat and gave Youngji a piggyback and brought her downstairs. Remembering that the other roommates were not around, Jackson quickly dashed out to the main road to get a cab. After a 5 minutes wait which seemed like an hour, Jackson got the help of a pedestrain to locate a nearby hospital and ran as fast as his legs could carry the both of them. 

Rushing into the emergency room, a team of doctor and nurses started treating Youngji while Jackson went to settle her admission. After settling her admission, Jackson worriedly paced up and down the emergency room. He wondered why Youngji was so stupid not to alert any of them when she was so sick and uncomfortable. While busy in his thoughts, the doctor came out and Jackson rushed towards him. 

"Don't worry, she is fine. We gave her an injection and placed her on drips. She is just exhausted, nothing serious. But with her fever running so high, it is possible that she may suffer a more serious condition if you didn't bring her here earlier", said the doctor.

"Thank you so much. Can I see her now?"

"Yes you may. Just don't take too long, let her rest"

Slowly entering the patient room, Jackson sat down next to Youngji quietly. 

"Ya, Heo Youngji! Why are you so stupid? Why did you keep silence when you're running a fever??" an irritated Jackson asked.

Getting zero response from the pale-faced Youngji, Jackson gave up and looked down. He then noticed that he had actually ran out of the house in his room slippers without a change of shoes. Slightly laughing at himself, he suddenly heard a soft shuffle. He quickly looked up and found Youngji slowly blinking her eyes. 

"Heo Youngji! Are you awake? Are you okay? Can you hear me? Can you see me? Do you know who am I?" Jackson panickly asked.

"Wang Jackson, how am I supposed to answer so many questions at a time?" Youngji laughed lightly.

"Oh right.." Jackson gave a small awkward smile

"I'm okay. Thank you. How did I end up here though?"

'I piggybacked you here, of course. Or you think you teleported here?"

"Ya I'm asking because I genuinely don't know, right?"

Even at the hospital, their endless bicker doesn't end.

"Well I suppose you think you can teleport since you didn't tell anyone you're sick"

"Hey my fever wasn't that bad and I didn't want anyone to worry too much"

"Yeah and now you got me worried. Can you imagine how worried I was when I found you almost unconscious and running a really high fever? You were literally burning! And there were no one else around you know! And I don't even know how to drive. I carried you on my back to flag a cab but damn, there was just no cab! I--" Jackson was gradually talking faster and louder as he got more agitated until Youngji grabbed a hold of his hand. 

"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't expect my fever to go this bad, really. I took medication in the middle of the night and thought I'd get better when I wake up", Youngji slowly calmed Jackson down.

"Alright, I'm sorry. You didn't expect this either. But please promise me that you'd tell me at least next time okay?"

"Okay! Anyway, what time is it now?" Youngji flashed her signature aegyo smile.

"Hmm.. 5PM!" Jackson said looking at his watch. "Why?"

Suddenly, Youngji got up from the bed and pulled off the tubes. 

"Ya what are you doing, Heo Youngji!"

"Have you forgotten! We have a schedule with One Night of Entertainment TV later at 5.30PM!"

"But that's not the most important thing now right! You're sick! The doctor said you needed rest! We can tell the PD and arrange for another time!"

"Ya we can't do that! How can we mess up other people's schedule so suddenly? What if they need the clip to air it tonight?"

Unable to stop Youngji, Jackson grumbly picked up her coat and chased after her. They arrived at the roommate house 10 minutes later than arranged to find all the staffs waiting outside in the cold for them. Jackson and Youngji kept apologizing and bowed repeatedly, expressing their sincere apologies. When Jackson wanted to explain that Youngji was sick, Youngji quickly grabbed his hands and dragged him away.

"I'm sorry! We will get ready as soon as possible!" Youngji said as she bowed again.

"Ya, why didn't you let me explain why we were late?"

"Let's not delay any further, we should go get ready now! Gogogo!"

Afterwhich, Jackson and Youngji filmed the show with Cucumber and Youngji acted as if nothing was wrong with her. Jackson was silently monitoring Youngji throughout the shoot, afraid that she will collapse any moment. The filming finished successfully an hour later. 

That night, as Jackon laid on his bed alone, he recalled how Youngji was so professional in front of the cameras. He noticed that she was sweating a lot halfway through the shoot but she remained joyful and flashed her signature alligator silent laugh many times. Jackson admired Youngji's professionalism and determination to work hard as a rookie who debuted not long ago, despite being ill. Unknowingly, Jackson was smiling to himself thinking about her.

Getting back to his senses, he realised that he was thinking about Youngji more than he should. He realised that at some point in time, he no longer sees her as a close friend, but as a girl who is determined and strong-willed. He now realised that he likes her more than he should. And all of his feelings need to be kept underwraps, for they are both considered to be rookies and their career with their group members are more important. Besides, he wasn't sure if Youngji likes him as a man. 

But just how long can he keep his feelings underwraps.. 

Especially when Youngji likes him the same way too.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________