It started off as a stupid joke to simmer down the awkwardness of something cheesy.

Jongkook and Jihyo had been married for a few months, and, while it was normal for them to say I love you to one another occasionally, there was a part in her that was slightly uncomfortable. She disliked the notion of anything too randomly romantic, and she always got goosebumps whenever she heard Jongkook’s proclamation of love out-of-nowhere. To be fair, a huge portion of what she called the cringe was not only due to embarrassment, but also because she would never tire of the words. They set her heart aflutter, and her cheeks would warm up as the color red settled on her face.

Much to her chagrin, Jongkook enjoyed seeing her in this state. For him, she was simply adorable — just one of the many sides of her that he loved. So, those three words were like his master key whenever he wanted to see her with flushed cheeks. Jongkook would just grin at the sight.

One fine morning, Jihyo woke up to the sound of an alarm. The light was already coming in through the window, the rays of sun peeking between the curtains. Odd, Jihyo thought. She was sure that they had been closed last night. As she sat up, she held the comforter close to her chest, and quickly checked what was underneath, confirming that it was, in fact, her body, marked with red spots because someone enjoyed his way with her the previous night.

She looked at her side, and saw the culprit — a shirtless Jongkook sprawled on his stomach. His eyes were still closed, and his head was pressed on top of his pillow, his face turned to the side. She smiled at the sight, and let her eyes travel further down his back to where the lower half of his body had been covered by the comforter. Her mind was a traitor, replaying the events of the night, and how said lower half of his body had done great things for her before they had to give way to exhaustion and drift out of consciousness for the night.

Perhaps it was time for a repeat performance, she decided, and her hands moved to remove the comforter from both their bodies. But a pang of betrayal sprung on her as she saw his boxers covering the parts she had longed to see.

He had woken up, Jihyo realized. It would be the only explanation for the boxers she was sure she had thrown away from the bed the night before. It would also explain the drawn curtains. And, finally, the alarm — she didn’t set one knowing that it was their rest day and she wanted to indulge in activities that didn’t require departure from the bed.

“Yeobo,” she called him out as she reached out towards his noisy phone from behind him. He stirred a bit, moving closer to nudge his face closer to her body, as she hovered over him to turn off his alarm and return his phone on the bedside table. His arm s their way around her waist, pinning her back down to the bed. She shivered under his warm touch. Under his strength, she had no choice but to lie back down, even as he deliberately rested his head on her chest.

“This is a better pillow,” he said, a boyish grin showing up on his face. “It’s soft and squishy. I could stay here forever,” he explained before sneaking a kiss from her lips, one that made Jihyo’s toes curl in anticipation. She was already beginning to expect that he would escalate things; he almost always did. But instead, he kept his eyes closed and hugged her even closer before seemingly going back to sleep.

“You’re not fair,” she told him, sounding disappointed. That woke him up, turning to face her and looking at her curiously. “I’m completely and you have your boxers,” she said. “Let me get up. I’ll retrieve my underwear. Do you remember where you threw them last night?”

Jongkook shook his head, unwilling to answer. He pulled Jihyo closer, putting back his head on her chest, before declaring, “I don’t remember. I’m too tired to remember. And even if I did remember, I won’t tell you. I like you like this.”

“I don’t like you. You’re not fair,” she said with a pout on her lips, trying to push his hands away from her. Jongkook took it as a challenge, tightening his hold on her and taking it a notch further by trying to shove his face on her neck, leaning for a kiss. She didn’t want to give up, and poured in her strength to push against him, despite how enticing the idea of having his lips on her sensitive spots was.

It was a bit of a wrestling match; Jihyo was obviously overpowered by Jongkook eventually, but she didn’t lose without a fight. He maneuvered them such that they were facing each other, his arms around her, lightly caressing her back. She shivered and her eyes fluttered, as he ran a finger down the dip in her back, only stopping a few inches away from her bottom. Her hands were on his chest, tracing the hard planes and playfully touching the valleys that outlined his muscular physique. Despite both their ministrations, however, their eyes were trained on each other. “You don’t like me?” he cheekily asked.

Jihyo shoved his shoulder, but he didn’t budge. He softly chuckled at her attempt, angering her. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he simply drew her closer and playfully tapped her nose. The diversion caused her to close her eyes reflexively, but by the time she opened them, he now wore a serious look on his face. His eyes bore into hers, and they seemed to wander around her face, as if he wanted to memorize them and keep a photograph of her in his mind. Then, he his lips, and leaned in to give her a soft kiss. It was just a peck, and yet, the innocence of the movement warmed her heart. He punctuated the kiss by saying, “I love you.”

It wasn’t the first time Jongkook drastically changed the mood of their interactions. The man wore his heart on his sleeves, and, when Jihyo was involved, said heart was basically on a platter for her to take. It was incredibly sweet, and she would be lying if she said she hated it. The woman in her wanted to be cherished and to feel loved, and Jongkook just seemed to do that perfectly.

But his perfection intimidated Jihyo sometimes. She was always unsure how to answer properly, and got stuck with her subconscious responses — the way an inevitable smirk spreads on her face, the way the blood rushes to her cheeks, and the way her heart pounds like crazy within her chest. But it always felt unfair to Jongkook that she couldn’t seem to put all these feelings into words the way he does. It was why Jongkook’s sudden proclamations of love and out-of-nowhere compliments are often met with a questioning look, a shove on the shoulder, and either a gapjagi? or aish yeobo, geumanhe — all of which were her defensive responses.

Jongkook snuggled his face into her neck. “Why don’t you just say it back instead of getting annoyed at me?” he asked. Jihyo’s lack of inclination towards romantic gestures had baffled him, but he’d always been too in love with her to try to change her. Despite this, he would appreciate hearing her say it more often.

“It’s just so weird. Too cheesy when it’s random,” she said as her nose was scrunched up. He leaned back just in time to see it, and, unable to resist how adorable she was, he gave her a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. She continued, “I love you okay? You should know that by now. But, saying it repeatedly feels too awkward. Too dramatic. We’re not in a drama.”

He gave her a teasing grin, “Are we not?” She threw him the side eye, to which he responded, “It’s not awkward to say someone you love them.”

“But there are occasions for it, yeobo,” she chastised him. To make her point come across, she said, “It’s just weird if you suddenly throw dramatic proclamations of love out of nowhere. It’s like if you suddenly said…” she cleared and tried to mimic his voice, “I love you like…” She paused, grasping at straws for a metaphor, until she went with, “I love you like a pen writes on a notebook.”

Jongkook snorted first, then fell on his back, laughing to his heart’s content. Jihyo initially had a blank look on her face, until she got amused by the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. She found herself giggling too. “That was a horrible metaphor Jihyo-yah. Pen writes on a notebook…” he parroted, as soft chuckles continued to spring out of him.

“Ah yeobo, I’d like to see you do better,” she said, also laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Jongkook turned sideways to face her again, before answering, “Alright. Hm… ah! Okay I got it. I love you like the earth orbits the sun.” He punctuated the sentence with a smile.

Jihyo’s cheeks reddened, feeling awkward at how serious he sounded. The metaphor was perfect, and it depicted the devotion he always reserved for her. The statement left her speechless, and she quickly hid her face on his chest, tucking herself under his chin. She squeezed him tighter to indicate her gratitude, a gesture that was returned by him as he drew her closer to him.

She still didn’t speak though, and Jongkook wondered aloud, “Seolma? Do I have better chances of getting you to talk more if I have a stupid metaphor?” She looked at him incredulously, but Jongkook wanted to try his luck, so he followed it up with, “I love you like shakes are made in blenders.”

Jihyo laughed adorably, and Jongkook wanted a repeat of it, so he started throwing wha