Jihyo wakes up in the morning (or was it noon?) to a cold, empty bed. The sun’s out now, no trace of the thunderstorm from last night, but there’s also no sign of Jongkook. In fact, the sheets were bunched around her, and she doesn’t need to look down to know she’s still as as ever.

She winces, sore and tired. They were up at it for quite some time last night, with every moment of how he touched her engrained into her memory. ... he was so good in bed, it’s almost a joke.

She wraps the duvet over her body and moves off the bed carefully, bending to pick her forgotten shirt on the floor. She’ll need to spend some extra time in the bathroom to make herself presentable — what will his mother say? Then she spends even more time trying to think of what she’ll say to Kim Jongkook. Hey, are we cool? Best of my life, how about you? There’s nothing she can say to him without sounding ually charged, and that’s honestly on her. How are they going to make things work between them again?

Never mind that; she walks out of his room to find the house completely empty. Even the guest room was quiet, and the bed was made. She walks around, but it’s pointless — his mother was gone, and so was he. Did she accidentally drive him out? Last night... she admits her hormones got the better of her. She totally lost every ounce of self control, and he reminded her that every time he ed into her, or made her squirm in his arms...

Her cheeks go rosy with shame at her indecent thoughts. This was going to make things so difficult for them! Why on earth did she give in so easily?

Now what?

She’ll have to talk to him. Tell him if was a mistake, they should never touch again, he should have known better than to fuel a pregnant woman raging with hormones... Remind him of the agreement. Yup, she’ll be very professional about this, so much so that there won’t be an ounce of emotion in her speech and he’ll get the hint that she only needed him physically.

He’s been reading all those pamphlets from Doctor Choi, right? Then he should know that pregnant women need a strong support during pregnancy, even if it’s just to quench a physical desire. Jihyo’s quite certain that Jongkook will understand her standpoint. He probably left her alone just to contemplate about his actions too.

Half an hour passes, and she’s about to head off downstairs to find food (her poor stomach‘s growling like no tomorrow), when the main door opens right in front of her, nearing hitting her right square in the face. She jumps back just in time to meet Kim Jongkook holding bags of groceries and takeouts in his hand.

“Oh, Jihyo.” He greets.

“Where did you go?” She demands, her mini prep talk clearly thrown out the window along with her self control from last night.

“I just fetched my mother home. Don’t panic — she insisted on letting you sleep in.”

He’s awfully nonchalant for someone who just ed her all night long. “Is that food?” She eyes the plastic containers in his hand, ignoring the groceries.

“Yeah.”

“Are they mine?”

“Of course.” He chuckles, handling them over as her eyes light up. Okay, sue her — she was hungry! It wouldn’t be a crime for her to have a few mouths of lunch (brunch?) first. She makes her way to the dining table, settling down with her chopsticks while he follows suit, sitting across from her.

Jongkook watches as she attacks the takeout rice he’s gotten near his parents’ house, resisting the urge to smile himself. She’s very much pregnant alright. He’s been a little nervous the entire morning, wondering what they’d say to each other after... Well, after last night. In fact, right before he slipped out of bed this morning, he made sure to avert his eyes when he tucked her in carefully, keeping her modesty intact while he moved to clean himself up. They might have ed like wild rabbits last night, but that doesn’t mean they could ever do this again.

He made up his mind that he had to talk to her. He had to tell her what Jaesuk said to him, and how he might like Jihy— no, he might need to digest his words, and how they’ve gone ahead and broken their boundaries last night. He anticipates it to be very difficult if she doesn’t trust that he’ll keep his promise not to actually fall in love with her. For now, he just needed some space to sort his feelings out once and for all.

He’s about to clear his throat, when she starts off awkwardly, swallowing her mouthful of rice. “About last night...”

Jongkook’s eyes shoot up to look at her as she tries to avoid his gaze. “I liked it better when we were too drunk to remember.” He jokes in attempt to make things less uncomfortable.

“I don’t know... it doesn’t seem worth it to wake up to a hangover.” Jihyo accepts the lighthearted approach he’s throwing over to her gratefully, going along with him. In the back of her mind, she doesn’t find it worth it to pound down bottles of soju and miss remembering him in her drunken haze either. This was... understandably awkward. He’s taking it a lot better than she would have expected him to, considering how uptight he was sometimes.

As fast as his carefree jokes come, he quickly frowns, suddenly serious again. “But... it was consensual, right?”

Was he joking? He had her in his arms the entire night after he made her multiple times, and now he’s asking if she was cool with it?

“Yeah.” She replies as casually as she can. They were not going to make a big deal out of this.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Where is all of this consideration coming from?” She snorts, unimpressed. “As if you didn’t already me all—“

She stops mid sentence, blushing a deep red. Saying that out loud made her feel all guilty and bothered inside, since when was she so blunt about around him? They were both squirming with embarrassment at Doctor Choi’s office for crying out loud!

Jongkook only flushes a darker red too, the tips of his ears red with mortification. “Are we... Are we okay?”

She’s more than okay. His hands were a work of art, and oh, his ... she squeezes her thighs together, crossing and uncrossing her legs under the table just thinking about their wild night of passion. She was not going to lose control at the dinning table right here with him right in front of her. 

“Rule seven.” Jihyo proposes in the spur of the moment. “We don’t talk about what happened in the previous night.”

Jongkook’s eyes flash at her, dark and unreadable. That was as subtle as she could go, without explicitly recounting their tale. He nods once, agreeing. “Okay... but what if... what if it happens again?”

Holy , was he trying to imply that he wanted to have with her again? For a good few seconds, she meets his eyes and recognizes the lust behind them. The exact same expression he had on last night before they lost control and made out like teenagers.

“Again?” She echoes, her tone rising.

“I’m just saying... You’re pregnant, you have urges.” His low tone was literally driving her insane as her heart beats faster inside her chest. “And I’m...”

“You’re a man.” She swallows, this time not because of her food. He was one hell of a man alright, with a body like that. “Okay. Okay, I get it.”

He’s telling her they might again, because she’s hormonal and he’s . Oh my god, she’s about to lose it. He’s practically admitting that the was so good they’d definitely do it again. Was this... a friends with benefits situation? Were they still only friends after last night? She’s almost afraid to ask.

“So what do you say? Do we have an agreement?” Jongkook asks indifferently, like he just proposed they go out for Thai instead of Japanese, not how he actually just hinted he wanted to have casual with her.

Why the hell not? She’s pregnant, she deserves this — it’s what all the medical brochures say! She nods once, not trusting her words, with her lips feeling so dry from all the heat inside of her. But he nods along with her, and they’ve settled it. Just like that.

“And as long as we’re clear, I have absolutely no feelings for you.” Jihyo presses, watching him closely.

His eyes are unreadable but they don’t leave hers when he nods. “I remember rule five very clearly.”

He’s practically destroying himself by suggesting this arrangement to her. What was he to do? It was awkward for a few tensed seconds, but when she accidentally blurred out about how he was going down on him all night... He swears he wanted so badly to repeat it all over again right that instance. There was something just so y about her being so vulgar about what they got up to last night, he totally forgets about his point to tell her what Jaesuk said.

“Great, then you can remember rule seven.” Jihyo says, resuming her lunch nonchalantly. What the hell even was this talk? So much for being firm with him. “Stick to your agreement.” She reminds, putting a bit of edge in her tone just to warn him that she’s serious.

“As always.” Jongkook replies, and he turns his attention back to his own lunch. This was fine, they’ll be totally light and oh so casual — no strings attached, raising a baby and having fun, friendly !

In other words, he better figure out his feelings fast, or risk losing whatever this was completely.

They aren’t intimate for the next few nights.

Jihyo goes back to the guest room, and Jongkook stays in his large, empty bed alone, contemplating on calling her over to share the space with him. It always ends up with him losing his nerve and staying right where he was though.

He reasons with himself that her physical absence doesn’t mean he’s longing for her. His mind refuses to accept what his heart yearns for, the agreement firmly embedded into his conscience.

It doesn’t frustrate him or anything, it just gives him more time to vent his confusion and discontentment at the gym. He can’t expect rule number seven to come into play every night, even if his thoughts have been filled of with that special night for far too long. He’s going to be losing a lot of money to his water bill though, considering how many cold showers he’s been taking.

Other than that, they’ve taken an intended break from one another, but at least they don’t go tiptoeing awkwardly around the house anymore. He can’t exactly pinpoint what he feels for her, but it’s leaning on the fine line of friendship and infatuation at the moment. Not good when she’s reminded him again that she had no feelings for him whatsoever.

Not good at all.

On a day when Jihyo decides she’s going to visit her brother and parents (but not to tell them, not yet), he doesn’t follow. Instead, he chooses to pay a visit to one of his particularly high maintenance dongsaengs.

Kwangsoo is all set to return to filming the next Monday, and he even hobbles around his tiny apartment with one gigantic boot whilst clinging on to his crutches, so he looks as pathetic as ever.

“Hyung, not that I’m not glad to see you but...” Kwangsoo trails off, struggling to find the right words to say this, “Why are you here alone?”

“So now I can’t visit you? Jaesuk and Sukjin do this every month or so!” Jongkook accuses, helping to get glasses of water for them. Kwangsoo only lets Jongkook baby him a little because he’s still trying to handle the crutches, and moves to his living room to wait for him.

“I’m not saying you can’t come. I’m saying  why did you come without Jihyo noona?”

“She doesn’t know I’m here.” Jongkook admits, to Kwangsoo’s horror.

“Hyung! Did you just leave her alone at home?”

“No, she’s at her parents’ house.”

“You left her alone to tell her own parents that she’s pregnant with your kid?” Kwangsoo nearly yells, exasperated. He can’t believe his hyung! She’s pregnant, and he’s keeping things from her? And letting her do all the dirty work alone?

“No! She’s just visiting them because it’s been some time.” Jongkook explains, horrified himself. “We’re not telling them yet, just... We’re just waiting for the news to drop before we do. Besides, her mom and my mom know. Tha