“Oh, hey Norah. Do you guys want to have lunch? I bought some burgers from Yaletown.” Jiyong raised the bags that he was carrying which had the famous restaurant’s logo in it as he waltzed inside my office. I invited him over inside while I cleared the table we were working on, to give way to the bags Jiyong was carrying after he waved off my offer to help him. “What were you doing buying lunch at Yaletown?” I asked Jiyong as Norah helped him take out the food as well as the utensils from inside the bags he placed on top of our work station.

“Supposedly Teddy Hyung, Kush and I were going to eat out there but something came up, so they couldn’t come with me. And no one’s free right now so I went by my own since I’ve been craving Yaletown’s burger for ages now. I decided on having it to go instead cause it was just pathetic eating there by myself.” He replied to me when we got to sit down after taking out the food. “Also, I knew you were here somewhere in the office and I still owe you for that dinner you cooked for me a few days ago, so I bought you one too. It’s a good thing I bought another one just in case you were with someone. I wasn’t really sure if you were training today with Bom Noona or if you were helping out Ji Eun Noona.” Jiyong said to Norah as explanation for the food that he brought with him as he opened each box, before offering one to me and another one to Norah. “I called Noona and asked if you were with Xin cause your phone is out of service for some reason.”

“My battery died.” Norah told him with an apologetic grin despite unabashedly taking the burger given to her by her manager. He shook his head at this and frowned but decided against commenting on it. “She told me that she last saw you with Xin and I was already near YG by the time I ended our call so I just thought of dropping by in his office to see for myself if you were here.” Jiyong said, ending his long explanation as he took out condiments from one of the other plastic bags which turns out to have the fries and drinks that came with our burgers. I looked at Norah oddly after I heard her give a squeal after seeing the fries and made a move to grab a carton from the bag which Jiyong waved off. “I didn’t know you could be domestic.” I commented at her curiously, when I remembered Jiyong mentioning Norah cooking him dinner a few nights ago. “I wonder what the food you cook tastes like.” She glanced at Jiyong who took her burger once more from her and puffed out her cheeks in annoyance at me. “For you information... I. Am. An. Amazing. Cook.” Norah told me indignantly, narrowing her eyes at me as she flicked her long hair behind her shoulders. She ignored the skeptical look I gave her and instead moaned about how more people are going to ask for her to cook for them now that Jiyong’s told me how she cooked dinner for him.

“Tsk. Jiyong Oppa, this is your fault. You know how much I want to keep my culinary talents a secret.” Jiyong for his part just rolled his eyes at her dramatic complain and told me that he just bears with how the food tastes like just because he didn’t have the energy to go out to buy the food himself. I grinned at the two of them as they bickered but my focus was drawn from what they were saying to what Jiyong was doing with Norah’s burger. Despite the fact that he was firing back retorts to Norah whenever she teases him, Jiyong’s focus was still intent on the burger in front of him. For some odd reason, Jiyong opened the box which contained Norah’s burger and took out the top bun to place on a table napkin next to him. “Who are you calling lazy? You slept for an entire day last weekend. You wouldn’t have woken up if Top Hyung didn’t pester you to go shopping with him.” Jiyong replied to Norah while he took out a carton filled with fries and promptly placed a handful of them on top of Norah’s burger before placing the top bun back once more. I leaned back against my chair as I watched them interact with each other, with Norah murmuring her thanks after Jiyong gave it back to her, followed by a scathing reply to Jiyong at the fact that he could’ve just have food delivered to his place if her food tastes as bad as he says it is.

If I’m being frank, this is the first time that I’m seeing the two of them interact this long. Normally when I’m with Norah, Jiyong’s busy at work or he would be somewhere else, and the same goes for Norah when I’m with Jiyong. And usually when I’m with the two of them at the same time, it would only be for a short amount of time because one of them is about to leave or we’re at another friend’s party which takes my focus away from those two. But now seeing them sitting side by side together, the sneaking suspicion I’ve had ever since that episode when Jiyong confronted me about Norah becoming Ji Eun’s assistant is being proven by their actions. It’s not news to know that Norah has a huge crush on Jiyong, I’m positive that the entire company knows this fact already except for Ji himself but the fact that Ji might possibly feel the same would surprise a lot of people. But seeing how they interact with each other, moving around with practised ease, this bit of news wouldn’t surprise me. Like now, although they’re still at it, fighting like an old married couple, Norah’s fixing Jiyong’s drink for him as Jiyong cut their burgers in half (sure Ji, forget the fact that I’m seated across from the two of you). When they’ve already settled with the food they were eating, I was caught off guard at how easily they moved on from bickering about who is lazier to what they have been up to the past week.

I decided against talking, and instead opted to observe the two of them as they continued talking, however, after awhile curiosity got the better of me when I saw Norah bite her burger b with fries. “Ji?” I called Jiyong who was taking a sip from his soda. He looked up at me and gave a questioning look in answer which was enough for me to continue on with my question. “Why did you put fries inside Norah’s burger?” The puzzled looks that the two of them were sporting made me smirk at them in amusement, especially when they simultaneously looked down to the half eaten burger in Norah’s hands. He looked up at me and replied in a matter of fact tone, “That’s cause she eats her burger that way.” as if it’s common knowledge to everyone how Norah prefers how to eat her burger. I merely raised an eyebrow at this and instead of voicing what I really think, I asked Norah about her odd way of eating her burgers. “What? It tastes good like that. And besides you’re bound to eat the fries anyway. Why not do it at the same time with the burger? You should try it.” Norah told me in an encouraging tone which she even followed by biting into her burger. I shook my head at her in amusement while she chewed happily but then we were both surprised when Jiyong grabbed her wrist and made her face him. It dawned on me what he was planning to do when I caught sight of the clean table napkin in his hand. “What is it Oppa?” She asked him when Jiyong made her face him, the hand holding the tissue half raised already. “Tsk. You’ve got ketchup on your face. You do know that you’re not in an eating competition. You didn’t have to shove the entire burger inside your mouth to prove a point.” He reprimanded her and I smirked at him knowing full well his tactics when it comes to flirting with girls. Sure enough, Norah’s cheeks flushed when Jiyong wiped the corner of and swallowed thickly when he deemed her clean enough to eat once more.

Thankfully I managed to suppress my laughter after catching sight of this scene, subtly covering my amused smile as I bit into my own burger for the first time since I got it from Jiyong. Seriously, these two should just get it over with and get together. It’s getting painful watching Jiyong flirt and Norah being dense about everything he’s doing for her. For Christ’s sake, he even knew how she prefers to eat her burger. I was sorely tempted to point this out to the both of them but I stopped myself before I can say anything after I remembered a tiny detail regarding Norah.

I glanced at Jiyong briefly with renewed interest when I recalled the fact that Norah was asked out by a guy from SM Entertainment. Was this the reason he’s not saying anything? He’d normally be very vocal about how he feels for a girl he likes.

Jiyong who caught me looking at him, asked me what was wrong. I lied smoothly by saying, “Nothing. I was just wondering if you knew already that I was borrowing Norah for a couple of days next week?”  instead of questioning him like I wanted to. He furrowed his eyebrows at this and looked sideways to Norah who managed to get herself together, long enough to catch wind of what I told her manager. Her eyes lit up when I mentioned about our upcoming trip to Japan together, completely oblivious to the narrowed eyes directed at me by my friend. “What? You’re going together? Just the two of you? What the hell are you going to do?” Jiyong questioned the two of us, as he pushed aside his half eaten food, to lean back against his seat and cross his arms over his chest, his eyes going back and forth between Norah and I. “Of course it’s not just the two of us. Didn’t you know that 2ne1 will be having a photoshoot in Japan? What do you think we’ll be doing there, shopping?” Norah commented to him sarcastically. Jiyong visibly relaxed in his seat after hearing this and let up from glaring at me. “Oh, Ji Eun Noona mentioned that to me. So Danny can’t really come with you then?” He asked me, in a surprisingly curious tone.

Despite the fact that I was conversing with the two of them about the upcoming photoshoot of 2ne1, my mind was elsewhere wondering how two people can be so dense about something so painfully obvious.

Jiyong’s tone at the idea of Norah and I leaving for Japan together was clearly that of jealousy. AND Norah’s reaction whenever Jiyong does something remotely affectionate towards her, by the way she blushes and turn into a stammering not to mention uncharacteristically shy girl, is obviously proof enough that she still likes him. So why the hell can’t they see that? I can understand on Norah’s part, considering the fact that she has never dated a guy before let alone be in a presence of one whose clearly interested in her (must be due to the fact that she came from an all girls school since she started studying), but Jiyong? That bastard can spot a girl who’s eyeing him flirtatiously even if she’s a hundred miles away from him. So why can’t he see that Norah’s obviously smitten with him.

I tried suppressing my exasperated and annoyed sigh but unfortunately for me, I was unable to stop it this time. “Seriously, what’s wrong? You’re acting so weird today.” Norah asked me worriedly with full, her hand thankfully covering . “I forgot to call someone to follow - up on the clothes we’ll be bringing along next week. I’ll do it later.” I told her smoothly, not even batting an eyelash at the lie I told the two of them easily. Spencer, you’re not the only one who can lie. She looked at me pointedly but I ignored her and pretended to be oblivious about the questioning look she was directing my way.

For the remainder of the afternoon, Jiyong spent his free time with the two of us even if Norah and I began working once more. Right now, Norah and Jiyong (who was still sitting side by side) were busy talking about some show Norah’s been watching non - stop which Ji thinks is unhealthy while I made that “phone call” I forgot to do. I stepped out from the room and leant against the wall, listening still to what was happening inside the room instead of phoning someone. As Ji mutters himself how he wants to throttle someone named Charlie for sending Norah the complete DVD set of some show called Doctor Who, I think to myself that Norah and Jiyong should get their together soon because their time together’s running out. I took out my phone and stared at the message I left open after receiving it, just after we ate.

FROM: Uknown Number

Received at 15:03

Seungho, I already sent it. Thank you for all your help, this will mean all the world to Norah once she finds out.