“I’m sorry Jihyo... I broke rule number five.”

Jihyo stares blankly at Jongkook, aware of the sincerity behind his eyes. He’s not kidding. Not that she thought he’d joke about this, but it was easier if it was all just something funny to end their stupid fight.

She knows one thing for sure: Kim Jongkook doesn’t joke about romance. He would never make fun of their complicated status, not even when she’s pregnant with his child. The image he has away from the camera is much more subdued and he doesn’t pull any witty jokes reserved for variety shows.

So why did this sound like a poorly constructed joke? 

“You... what?” Jihyo stutters, unable to calm her frantic heart. She wants to hear him say it clearly, not as if rule number five might be him breaking their lunch deal.

“Please don’t make me say it again.” Jongkook pleads, cringing. It’s clear that she doesn’t return the sentiments, because she looks downright shocked. Maybe he shouldn’t have sprung this on her, and in a car no less. It’s not like any of them can run anywhere to hide after this! 

“I don’t understand.” She whispers, confused. This better not be some kind of twisted joke, because it sounded one hundred percent real to her. 

“Jihyo.” He says her name softly, and it brings about a hundred different emotions inside of her, a feeling she can’t understand. “I like you.” 

There it is. She knew it was coming, but it doesn’t prepare her for all the confusion and shock she’s feeling right now. She was very specific when they made this agreement. They will raise their baby so they can achieve one thing in their lives that they aren’t able to: have a family. She only had one rule. One. She didn’t want any strings attached when they did this, and that’s why she agreed to touch him again.

She should have known this was impossible to have without feelings.

“When?”

“I don’t know.” Jongkook lies. He does know. He knows the exact moment when he realized he broke his promise. 

He wishes she’d just yell at him. Jihyo was the type to raise her voice and show her fury or displeasure. She’s not the type to stay silent or quiet — this isn’t a side of her that he’s used to seeing. 

“Was it before...” Jihyo pauses, pushing herself to ask even as her cheeks turn red. “The hotel?”

He can’t have touched her after he realized all... all this. What would that have meant? with him was not supposed to be interlaced with feelings.

“No!” He denies quickly, frantically shaking his head. “I promise, I didn’t take advantage of our... situation.” He gulps awkwardly, unable to meet her gaze. 

“Then... why?” She asks, dry. 

“I just...” You caught me off guard, is what he wants to say. “I didn’t mean to fall in love.” 

Jihyo’s head shoots up in surprise. “In love?”

“Yeah.” Jongkook admits sheepishly. “Something happened last week. Something... I can’t explain.”

He takes a moment to really look at her, his gaze softening as he stares into her widened eyes. “But I don’t know how it’s going to continue if I don’t tell you right now. I really, really like you, Jihyo.” 

Jihyo doesn’t know how to respond. How could she have the words for this? They have a mini argument, and now he’s literally confessing his love to her in his car in broad daylight. There’s a nagging voice inside her head reminding her about Jaesuk‘s warning. How was he always so spot on? 

“Jihyo? Please say something.” Jongkook all but begs. 

“I... I need some time.” Jihyo whispers, like she’s afraid her words might hurt him. 

She’s right to think that way, because Jongkook’s heart shatters at her reply. Of course she doesn’t feel the same. All this time, he was playing a game with himself, and his weakness has now broken their relationship. 

“Right.” He clears his throat, trying to sound nonchalant. “Let’s go back, and—“

“No.” Jihyo interrupts him abruptly. “I want to go home.”

“Jihyo?”

“I want to go back to my apartment.” She mumbles, not quite meeting his eyes. “Please.”

Does this count as breaking another part of the agreement? Whatever, he’s already gone ahead and broken the most important rule already. So he nods, ignoring the stinging pain in his chest and sets off on a quiet drive to her place. 

He doesn’t need the navigation; he knows where she lives. It doesn’t help that they were so close to it, having just filmed in the SBS building in Mapo-gu. Yet, they spend the short drive in complete silence, him beating himself up internally for causing the return of this tension, and her trying to process everything. 

They are there before they know it. Jihyo sees the familiar building, and realizes that this would be the first time she’d been back in weeks since she moved to Jongkook’s apartment. But she needs to distance herself from him — she cannot continue staying in his house just separated by a thin wall. 

“I’ll... I’ll send you up.” Jongkook breaks the silence as he pulls over.

“No, I’ll manage.” Jihyo unbuckles her seat belt, taking her things. “Oppa...”

“I know.” He says, but he doesn’t really. He’s afraid to even say more at this point.

“I’m sorry.” She says gently. His eyes meet hers, full of sorrow and regret as she tries not to let that get to her. Still, it makes her feel troubled. She never did like to make him unhappy. 

“You need time. I understand. I guess... I’ll see you on Monday.” Jongkook nods, and it’s all quiet again. She needs to go, get out of his car before either of them suffer from more emotional harm. 

So Jihyo does, opening the car door and leaving without a second glance behind. Alone and devastated, Jongkook watches her go, until she’s completely gone and he’s left staring at an empty entrance, his heart torn into a million pieces. 

It’s a quiet week ahead.

Jihyo visits her parents to make up for all the lack of visits. She even has lunch with Seongmoon for several afternoons, pretending like nothing in her life was wrong and that she was just busy. There’s nothing like family to make her feel slightly better, but even this reminds her of what Jongkook and her wanted. 

Sometimes, she’d stare at her phone, wondering whether she should call him. They could talk it out, and she could explain to him why it scares her to be in a relationship with him: because the fear of failing might bring pain to their daughter. Or that their relationship might be exploited by the show, even if their friends tried to shield them. 

The industry they were in was brutal, and she couldn’t let something as simple as love interfere with their livelihoods. Any part of it could go terribly wrong, and maybe that was why she was so adamant on him not falling in love with her — she knew he shared the same sentiments. So how did he end up with feelings? 

Something inside her wants to admit that she might feel the same for him. He was so thoughtful and caring and— god, was the incredible. Jihyo knows he’s a very capable man, and that any girl lucky enough to date him would live well, so why couldn’t it be her? It’s a very silly thought, so she sticks by her firm believe that this was not the way things should be.

Meanwhile, Jongkook has a lot to think about. Work, again, was turning out to be a real distraction. He went back to his silt schedule before her, going to the gym in the mornings before he poured himself into his schedules, and then back again for another round of weights and endurance training on his body. He’d end up with muscles sores and a new tightness in his chest every morning, but perhaps the physical pain could offset his mental one. 

Like Jihyo, he wants so badly to call her. To tell her that he’s not needy. He’d get over this, and she didn’t have to return the love. One day, she’ll find her own partner and she could raise their daughter without the overwhelming pressure to fall in love with him. But when the weekends come, it’s obvious he’s not confident enough to call.

So Jongkook doesn’t just break rule five — he breaks rule six too. No lunch on Sunday, because it was obvious they wouldn’t talk. They were both stubborn like that, but nothing hurts him more than this.

The night before Monday, he tosses in his bed, the apartment empty and silent after weeks spent living with her. How was she coping? Was anyone getting her food for her cravings? Did she do anything new? He has all these unanswered questions, but he doesn’t know that on the other side of Seoul, she was thinking of him too.

The week stretches on, and then Monday comes again, full of dread and awkward tension.  

They have different opening locations, which works in their favour. Except the PDs thought they’d be in Anyang together and had to get a last minute car to Mapo for Jihyo. That gets the crew talking — Jongkook and Jihyo have been arriving discreetly together for as long as they can remember, but no one’s worked up the nerve to ask.

So the rumours spiral as they chatter behind their backs. In fact, Kwangsoo walks in to his own stylist gossiping with Somin’s, and finds out first before the cast  gathers together.

“Did you hear?” The tallest member grips Somin by the shoulders the moment she enters, the second to reach. She falters slightly, then turns round to meet him, collecting herself.

“Yup.” Somin whispers back, glancing around the room. “Where’s unnie?”

“Beats me. My stylist walked past the sound director who was talking about it to a crew member.” Kwangsoo explains, frowning. “She tell you anything?”

“No.” Somin shakes her head. “I’ve been busy.”

“Again?” 

“Yeah.” 

Kwangsoo waits for an explanation that never comes, and decides to move on. “Okay, but should we let them work it out?”

“Maybe we’re being paranoid. Unnie’s allowed to go anywhere, right? Maybe she went to visit her parents.” Somin suggests, but it’s clear that she’s a little doubtful too.

“On a Sunday?”

“It’s still possible.”

“Hmm. You’re right.” Kwangsoo straightens up as the next member arrives — Jaesuk, who’s not very up to date with the crew’s talk of the morning.  

“You guys came first?” Jaesuk greets them, joining in as he places his jacket on the chair in front of him. “You’re not spies, are you?”

“Hyung!” 

“Oppa!”

“I wouldn’t put it past both of you.” Jaesuk ignores their whining. He makes no mention of the gossip, so they let it go for now.

It’s gets weirder after that — Jongkook makes a beeline for Ha Ha after he arrives, avoiding Jihyo completely. Somin would think differently of it if it was any other day, but he’s been so clingy to her since they moved in together, she can’t think of any reason why he would stay away. One look at Kwangsoo, and she knows he’s noticed it too.

Nevertheless, they continue filming. It’s a beautiful spring day, with the cherry blossoms blooming and the sun peering from the clouds, making it the perfect weather to film. They run around the place looking for booths to cast their votes, when Jihyo finds Somin.

“You’re looking a little pale, Somin.” Jihyo comments worriedly despite everything going on in her mind. 

“Unnie.” Somin greets, lagging behind. “What do you mean? I got my makeup done today.”

“No, not that.” Jihyo holds Somin’s wrist delicately, then scrutinizes her complexion. “Are you okay?”

“Fantastic.” Somin gives a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Unnie, are you okay?” She counters instead.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I heard that you came alone from Mapo this morning.”

“So?” Jihyo acts unbothered, shrugging. “We agreed that since we were supposed to be filming from different cars, it was best if I was somewhere else.” She lies; they never even talked the entire week. 

“Somewhere else that’s one hour away from Anyang?” 

“Why not? I live in Mapo and we film in Seoul, it’s just faster that way. I was doing the crew a favour!” Jihyo says, like it’s the most obvious explanation. “Anyway, nothing is wrong between Jongkook and I.”

“I didn’t say anything about Jongkook oppa.” Somin notes.

Jihyo stills as she realizes her slip up — she’s usually more careful! She curses mentally, forgetting how they got to this point in the conversation. “Anyway, I don’t think anything’s wrong! We should head back to filming before they accuse us of being spies.”

She learns to be more cautious after that, taking calculative steps to stay away from Jongkook. Anyway, he seemed to be doing the same. So she stays by Sukjin and Jaesuk, wondering if it’s going to look awkward on screen afterwards. They move on with filming, but something’s off. 

Halfway through filming the second part of the opening with the guests, Sechan takes it upon himself to hold Somin steady. She’s not really asking for help, just leaning on him a little. It’s very bizarre, but he lets her use him as a stand without much of a second though, until she fully presses her entire body weight onto his arm without warning. 

Sechan looks over and yelps; poor Somin’s white as a sheet and struggling to stand upright on her own. In fact, he’s never seen her this weak before — and they’ve been to the scariest haunted house in Japan! 

His cry alerts everyone on set, and even interrupts Jaesuk in the middle of his joke. Jihyo whips her head over, and barely manages to grasp the situation before Kwangsoo and Jaesuk already move to them, clutching Somin too.

“She just suddenly came on to me like this! Hyung, she doesn’t look so good.” Sechan frantically calls for help, still holding Somin up and she slumps onto him. “Somin?” 

“I’m f—“

“You’re not fine, Somin.” Kwangsoo interrupts, knowing her well enough. “You better sit down.”

Somin barely protests when Sechan guides her behind the cameras and to the nearest chair, with Kwangsoo helping them carefully. Meanwhile, Jihyo nearly cries looking at her younger dongsaeng all helpless like that. Was it the same when she fainted? She didn’t want to cause anyone unintentional worry, but now she had a sense of what happened before.

They hear the PDs discussing several options with Jaesuk and Sukjin as they try not to crowd around S