'Click, Click'

Blinking her eyes twice at the piercing sound of fingers clicking, Bae Joohyun's mind quickly snapped her out of her daze and returned her attention to her workmate who was seated across from her. They were at a salad bar close to their office having their lunch break at the moment and throughout the past 15 minutes they've spent eating their meals, Joohyun had been sheepishly smiling to herself, seeming to be consumed in her own thoughts while her workmate was going on an on, blabbering about something that she clearly wasn't interested in.

"Earth To Joohyun~Hello~" -Jennie snaps her fingers a little louder to get her friend's attention. 

"Ugh...Could you please stop that? It's annoying." -Joohyun finally lifted her fork up to resume eating her lunch, rolling her eyes sulkily at her friend who had rudely interrupted her daze.

"What's annoying is you zoning out every two seconds and smiling to yourself like an idiot while I'm talking to you." -Jennie replied, stirring her glass of raspberry juice with a straw as she narrowed her eyes at her workmate. " Bet you didn't even catch what I was telling you like a minute ago." 

"That's not true. I was listening." -She tucked her hair behind her ears as she leaned in to stuff with some salad.

"Sure you were. Care to repeat what I said earlier?" 

Chewing down the food in , Joohyun took her time to respond to her workmate's question, mentally trying her best to recall the conversation she had barely paid any attention to. All her mind could honestly think about at the moment was the great weekend she has had, staying in with her housemate and the really messy activity they got themselves into. She knew that she'd prove Jennie right if she answered her question wrong but she also knows she'd offend Jennie if she didn't try at all.

"Umm..." -Joohyun nervously taps her finger against the table surface, then said, "You mentioned that...uh...you wanted to try for an ashy blonde look the next time you get your hair done. Or somewhere along those lines."

"Ha! I knew you weren't listening." -Jennie clicked her fingers a little harder this time, leaning back against her chair as she crossed her arms and heaved out a soft disappointed sigh, "I'm not the one getting my hair done. It's my boyfriend. I'm trying to talk him out of that idea 'cause I love his natural brown and I personally don't think ashy blonde goes well with his skin tone."

"Gosh...what a crisis..." -Joohyun replied with an impassive tone, barely showing any enthusiasm in the topic of conversation.

"-But that's not the point, right now. The point is, you weren't listening to me."

"Okay, Fine~"-Joohyun whined, slouching as she rests her cheeks against the palm of her hands. "I plead guilty. I haven't been listening to you and I'm sorry. But at least I got the hair dye part right so, technically I wasn't really zoning out. I was partially listening."

"Your mind is clearly not with you, right now but apology accepted." -Jennie narrowed her eyes at Joohyun, analysing her friend's actions closely before she pointed out, "You've been doing that thing a lot, lately I've noticed. Spacing out~and smiling to yourself~" 

"Really?" -Joohyun murmured, looking up from her bowl as she munched the food in . 

"Yea..." -She nodded as she sips on her drink, "I don't know what's up but it seems to me like you're in some type of mood. There's this...glow on your face. It's like you're in love or something."

"Wha - I'm not in -"

"I know, I know." -Jennie quickly cuts Joohyun off before she could deny, "It's just a wild guess. I know you're not in love, in love. All I'm saying is that lately, you have been behaving like you are in love, even though you're not. I know it's impossible, anyway considering the fact that you practically push away anyone who tries to make a move on you. Man or women, regardless." 

"Really?" -Joohyun questioned again, giving Jennie's words a little thought, brows slightly furrowed as she lightly bit her lower lips to hide her shy smile.

At that instant, her mind began to distract her attention back to her daze, drifting her thoughts back to the memory of last Saturday night, the night her housemate, Kim Taehyung, had decided to stay home, then randomly suggested a painting activity that, as he believed, could further 'bond' them as a 'peaceable pair of housemates' they wished to be. 

She recalled strolling out of her bedroom to head to the kitchen and grab herself some snacks before she starts on her usual weekend routine, binge-watching on some shows. Upon hearing the echoes of deep melodious humming sound produced by her housemate in the living room, Joohyun decided to check up on him, presuming that he was probably getting himself ready to spend the night out with his friends like he usually would, every weekend. 

To her surprise, Taehyung was still in his oversized tee and slacks when she found him in the living room, diligently lining up what seemed like bottles of paint and canvases on top of a neat, plastic-wrapped coffee table. For once, his hands were occupied with something else other than his camera materials and Joohyun was indeed intrigued by whatever Taehyung was up to, that night. She knew she could've just minded her own business and head back into her room but whatever Taehyung was doing at the moment has really caught her interest that she just needed to ask.

"Hey, uhm...what's up?"-Joohyun hesitantly asked, trying not to appear too nosy as she strolled into the living room with a mug of water and a packet of biscuits in her hands. "Aren't you heading out, tonight?"

"Nope. Staying in. No plans, tonight." -Taehyung replied, dusting his hands off as he stood up from his kneeling position and turned to look at her, "What made you think I was heading out tonight?"

"I don't know. You always have somewhere to be, on weekends...so I just...thought that you'd be heading out." -she shrugged then quickly shifted her gaze towards the items on the coffee table "I see you've laid out some art materials, right here. What are you up to?" -she asked, perching her thigh on the armrest of the couch as she watched Taehyung squeeze different colours of paint onto a palette.

"Ah..." -Taehyung paused, looking up again to meet her curious gaze then said, "It's just... something I do when I've time to spare. It's kinda like my pastime."

"Painting?" -Her eyes widened in surprise, amazed by what she has just learnt about her housemate, that night. "That's...interesting..."

"Yeah, well. I know what you're thinking." -Taehyung pushed his hair back as he lets out a sigh, feeling a little flustered by her reaction. "It's not as impressive of a hobby as you thought it would be for a guy like me, huh? Nothing flattering. Just...Painting..."

"What? No!" -Joohyun immediately replied, "What are you even saying, silly? You're cool - Uh -I mean -P-Painting's cool. I see nothing wrong with it being your pastime. I like painting too."

"Really?" -Taehyung an eyebrow at her, doubting her words when he senses the sudden nervousness in her tone. "Well, I've been told that my pastime's lame and boring."

"Who would say that?"

"Ha Na..." 

"Ha Na...who?" 

"Just...someone from my past." -Taehyung said, quickly veering away from the topic he didn't wish to elaborate, "Anyway, you can go ahead and tease me about it. I don't mind. I know how much you're dying to do it."

"Alright, look. I know we would always make a joke out of each other any chance we get but honestly, there's really nothing to tease about having painting as a hobby, Taehyung. It doesn't make you less of a man or a loser. Gosh, you're so insecure." -Joohyun chuckled, putting her mug aside as she moved closer towards him. "Forget what that 'someone from your past' thinks and take some pride in the things you love to do. I personally think that painting's a fun activity and I don't think you should feel ashamed about it."

It took a moment before Joohyun realised that Taehyung was staring at her as she speaks. As if his strong gaze wasn't enough to fluster her, Taehyung was also wearing the smile that never seems to fail at making her cheeks blush and her heart race. When their gazes locked, Joohyun instantly got silent, internally panicking not knowing how to react with those powerful pair of eyes looking right through her. He wasn't saying a word and she didn't exactly know what she was supposed to do. Her mind, at the moment, couldn't stop making her overthink the words she could've subconsciously uttered that was causing Taehyung to give her such an intense gaze.

'Crap! Did I talk too much? Why is he looking at me that way?' -She wondered.

"Would you care to join me, then?" -Taehyung finally broke the silence after what felt like an eternity to Joohyun, picking up a paintbrush into his hand and handed it out to her.

"Uhmm..." -She hesitated, shifting her gaze down at the paintbrush then back at Taehyung before gulping down a sudden nervous lump in and asked, "D-do you want me to? I mean...I uh...I really didn't mean to interrupt you or anything. I was just ch-checking up on you and -"

"I want you to paint with me." -He said in a tone so reassuring, purposely stressing out on the word 'want'. "We kinda need to spend a little more time together anyway if we want to make this whole 'housemates' thing work between us. You also said that painting's fun. So...let's consider this a bonding activity." -he cautiously reasoned, knowing that his friendly invitation was unintentionally causing Joohyun's to feel awkward, judging by her hesitance and how flushed her cheeks were.

Taking Joohyun's hand into his, Taehyung placed the brush into her hands then said, "Here. Take a seat." 

"Wait...uh..." -Joohyun pursed her lips, hesitantly joining Taehyung on the floor before she placed the paintbrush down and tucked her hair behind her ears, "I know I said