As it turned out, walking along the seashore around midnight was not one of Jihyo’s brightest ideas. It was relaxing at first, until the wind became bitingly cold, making her shiver. It didn’t help that her feet were wet, and she felt a bit of a cramp beginning to make its way to her legs. It had not been five minutes before Jihyo tapped out and decided to warm up her feet by dipping them in the heated pool instead. 

She walked back to the hotel property, and made her way to the pool area, when she heard someone humming. The voice was painfully familiar, and it dawned on her that having the resolve to face him didn’t mean she had the courage to do so immediately. But she had to face the music, quite literally at this point. 

Sure enough, when Jihyo turned at the corner, she saw Jongkook sitting by the pool, his feet dipped in it. His arms were crossed, undoubtedly warming himself up as he was bundled up in a gray hoodie that read Happy Planet. The irony was written on his face though. 

Jihyo’s slippers slapped loudly against the tiles, as she took a step closer. Jongkook was startled by the noise, and his eyes widened upon seeing the intruder. 

Jihyo just smiled sheepishly, “Sorry for startling you, Oppa. I hope I’m not disturbing.” Then she looked around the area. “Are you with anyone?”

“Donghoon and Sechan went up about half an hour ago,” he calmly said. 

“Oh…” she just drew out in response, and then there was silence. “May I?” she asked, motioning to the area beside Jongkook. He nodded in return, and Jihyo took a seat, making sure to put some distance between them even if she’d rather do the opposite. 

“Where’d you come from?” Jongkook asked. 

“The beach,” she nonchalantly said, while plunging her legs and feet into the pool. She sighed at the warmth of the water, and immediately felt her numb legs find relief from the cold. 

“At this time?” he eyed her incredulously.

“Yeah, but it got too cold and my legs felt like they were cramping up.”

His eyes immediately showed signs of worry. “Let me see,” he said, putting a towel on his lap before grabbing her legs from the pool to examine it. Jihyo almost lost her balance, but luckily, she was able to keep her hands on the floor and anchor her weight on her arms. 

Jongkook was too preoccupied with examining her leg and foot, stretching and rotating it to try out different positions. There wasn’t anything wrong with it really, only that even after being submerged in warm water, her legs still felt too cold, so he wrapped them in the towel, rubbing them to give them more warmth. He began to nag, “Yah, what were you even thinking — going to the beach at this time?”

Jihyo stared at Jongkook and smiled at his thoughtfulness. If anyone saw them now, they would have absolutely no idea that the two weren’t exactly on good terms. Jongkook felt her stare, and looked up, “Wae? Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing, Oppa,” Jihyo suddenly giggled. Jongkook realized how much he missed seeing Jihyo’s beautiful smile and hearing her adorable laugh. 

“Ah wae? What’s funny?” Jongkook was beginning to laugh now because Jihyo continued to giggle. And that went on for a while until they were both gasping for air. 

“What was that?” Jongkook asked. He felt more relaxed after laughing, but he still didn’t know why they laughed to begin with.

Jihyo was finally able to control herself. “I have no idea either. It just felt funny,” she said. Then, they caught themselves staring at each other. It was Jihyo who broke the silence again, “I missed you Oppa.”

“Gapjagi?” Jongkook asked, but Jihyo couldn’t help but see the slight blush that showed up on his cheeks. She just smiled at him, because Jongkook was right. The confession was out of nowhere, but it had been quite a dizzying set of events for her in the last few days. After overthinking her every move recently, she wanted to go with her gut for a change.

“Well if it’s worth anything to you, I missed you too, Sooyeon-ah,” Jongkook finally admitted, throwing her a shy smile. 

After their admissions, nobody knew what to say next and how to navigate the conversation. Jihyo realized her legs were still on Jongkook’s lap, so she pulled them away and submerged them back into the water. Jongkook just stared at her movements, and directed his attention to the pool in front of th