Jihyo dreaded Tuesday, but in a snap of a finger, the date arrived. For the rest of the weekend, she was unable to continue with the work she intended to do. Instead, she wallowed in bed, taking naps, and only getting out to use the bathroom and pick-up the food she ordered.

Kwangsoo had called her that Monday. “Noona,” he called when she picked up. She had been packing her backpack for the Jeju trip, after putting off the task for so long.

“Eung, Kwangsoo-yah?” she called back. “What’s up?”

Kwangsoo was silent on the phone for a while. Knowing him, he’d likely caught wind of the story already. The boys were always updated with one another, and she knew it was only a matter of time before they discovered what happened. 

“Noona, are you okay?” he finally asks her.

If it were any other person, Jihyo would have thought twice about telling the truth. But this was her dongsaeng, and he’s been with her in her toughest moments of the last decade. “I’m not sure Kwangsoo-yah. It’s just hard right now.”

He was definitely processing and thinking about his next question, but Jihyo beat him to it. “How is he?”

Kwangsoo sighed, “Not good, Noona.”

Jihyo felt her heart sink at the revelation, but he continued, “He wouldn’t answer any of our messages yesterday, and he was not at the apartment. Gapjin said he didn’t have any schedule, so Donghoon-hyeong, Sechan, and I tracked him down. Turns out he was in the gym the entire day, but he was overworking himself. Anyway, we got him home, but I think he may have hurt his back again from overexerting himself.”

She was worried, and had it been another circumstance, she would probably ask Kwangsoo to go with her and check-up on Jongkook. But this was different. She was the root of the problem, and, for that reason, she felt that she had no right to see or worry about him.

“Are you at home Noona?” he broke the silence.

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Are you done packing for Jeju?”

“Almost. Wae?”

“We can have dinner here at my house, and go to the airport together,” he invited her.

“I don’t really want to impose on you and Sunbin.”

“You’re not. Sunbin went to stay with her parents, since we’re staying in Jeju for the week anyway.”

Jihyo pushed down her pride; Kwangsoo was offering her companionship, and, truthfully, she was feeling lonely. “Okay, I’ll be there in an hour. Make sure the food is ready when I’m there, arasseo?” she said, before hanging up.

Jongkook ran to the airport restroom, washing his face to bring himself back to life. He had just received his boarding pass, when it dawned on him that he had requested the previous week from the staff to make sure that he and Jihyo were seated together. But that definitely cannot happen now.

He still wasn’t sure how to navigate their issue yet, and, in his haste to leave that night, they had neglected to close the discussion. Are they broken up? Or is this a rough patch? He didn’t know where they stood, but, at the same time, he also didn’t have the courage to talk to her about the matter. He feared that they would come to the conclusion that they were simply too different, and that they should break up. While it hurt to be in this limbo, he would rather take this situation than a separation with finality.

He pushed himself to focus back on the issue of seating. He ran his fingers through his hair, looking at himself in the mirror as he thought of a solution. It hit him. Kwangsoo was the key. He would ask to switch seats with him, before Jihyo even knew that they were originally supposed to sit together. The trick was to make sure that he found Kwangsoo before Jihyo found either of them, and finalize the arrangement. She would never have to know that he switched seats with their dongsaeng to avoid her.

Jongkook went out of the restroom with a resolve to find Kwangsoo. He walked back to the lounge, where the rest of the cast and crew were waiting. Seokjin, Somin, Jihyo, and Kwangsoo have still not arrived, so he t