Dara came back home after two nights in Se-ho's apartment and just as expected, she found Jiyong sleeping soundly in her bed. The sight of him comfortably tucked in her lilac sheets made her smile. When they were together, Jiyong always preferred her bed over his saying that her scent on her bed calms him. She's happy to see that it's still the case up to this day. She walked closer to the man she has no defined relationship with and stared at his sleeping form. She lightly brushed some hair off his face to get a better look. He's gotten quite skinny these days, definitely because of working too much. She made a mental note to make him a hearty breakfast in the morning. 

She felt him stir and she was about to quietly leave to go get ready for bed as well but she felt him hold her hand. 

"You're back?"

"Yes. Go back to sleep. I'll get ready for bed too."

"Okay."

Before she reached the bathroom she paused and looked back when she heard Jiyong call her name. "Dara"

"Neh?"

"I missed you, Dara." 

~~~~~~

There were a few more days of shooting for Dara but she and Se-ho has moved to PO's home. Though this time around, Jiyong was less vocal about his jealousy. It's likely because he is now also busy making sure M.O.T.T.E world tour will run smoothly. His next tour date is a few days away and he'll be heading to Bangkok, then going straight to the US leg from there. This meant an entire month of the two not seeing each other. 

The distance doesn't phase Jiyong. The amount of times he has proven to her that he has changed and everything will be different this time around led her to believe that his feelings are strong. However, the same couldn't be said about her. She was still very much uncertain. She was scared of her feelings, she was scared of getting hurt, and she's more than once avoided a conversation with Jiyong when he tried to discuss their relationship. In her head, she won't get hurt if she wasn't even his girlfriend. She's been telling herself, IF I'M NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND, THEN HE WON'T BE ABLE TO HURT ME. She's allowed him back to her life but she's delayed labeling the relationship. She's even delayed any sort of discussion about it. She told herself she's satisfied if she can spend her nights in bed with him. That's all she needs. Nothing more. Nothing more. 

Jiyong noticed her avoiding any kind of conversation about how they move forward in the relationship. He feels hurt and he senses it's because he's still lacking but he doesn't push her. Afraid that if he does, she will run away. He's not dumb. He can sense her panic when he even just mentions their relationship in a conversation. He knows that the minute she runs away from him, a lot of men will be lined up waiting to take his place. So he keeps his mouth shut. He takes what she can give. If tonight she wants to hold his hand, he'll take it. He'll appreciate it. If the next night she will allow him to make love to her, he will take that too. He's only left with just  a few days in Seoul and he wants to make the most of it without doing anything that will trigger her thoughts on letting him go. 

One night after working with his tour team, he gets a message from Youngbae and asked to hangout. Initially, he was going to say no, knowing that Dara might be able to meet him for dinner. However, since Dara was not yet finished filming, he chose to meet his bestfriend instead. 

The moment he arrived at Bae's place, he felt a certain calm. Youngbae lives in a gorgeous apartment with huge windows. He's kept his home neat at all times because just like him, he has gotten used to his surrounding being neat. He gave his friend a tight hug. "I missed youuuuuuu!!!" he playfully said. "Quit being gay!" his friend joked back. He made himself comfortable when his friend walked to the kitchen to continue cooking. 

"You asked the others to join us?"

"Neh, but only Daesung can make it. Seungri has to DJ tonight."

"That maknae of ours, always the busy one."

"True. Did you ask Dara noona to join us tonight?"

"Eh??"

"What? As if we didn't know you've been holed up in her apartment since you got back?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't act innocent. We know. So call noona and ask her to come. I made a lot of food."

"No no. She said she'll eat at the set tonight. She'll head straight home after filiming."

"SEE???!!! We know you've been with her all along."

"How did you know?"

"Well for one, you posted a blurred photo of her bedside table on your personal IG but forgot that Tam Tam is noona's baby, and can clearly be seen in the photo. Second, well, second, Taehee told us."

"Ahhh that guy! He's in trouble!"

"Don't give him , man. We practically bullied him into telling us. So you and noona... Back together again?"

he paused. A bit embarrassed to say that they're not actually back together. He was going to make up some sort of lie to make himself feel good but remembered he was save, in the company of his trusted best friend. 

"Actually, we are not back together yet. We've gone back to doing couple-y stuff but not talked about how we want to proceed in the re