Jihyo closed the door to the passenger seat, as Jongkook fixed the rear view mirror. “Everything good?” he checked up on Jihyo before driving off. 

It was a question not only to check whether she left anything, but an honest attempt to find out if something is wrong. The last time he saw Jihyo was the week before, when he left her house after having breakfast together. They had texted and called a few times, but Jihyo felt different. And, in the shoot that day, she kept a bit of distance from him. 

He had already driven away from their location, when he realized that Jihyo had never answered the question. She was looking out the window as Jongkook sped through the highway. 

“Sooyeon-ah, you never answered my question. Are we good?” he asked, stealing a glance at his girlfriend. Jihyo was successfully pulled away from staring. 

“Ne, Oppa,” she calmly said, focusing on the road in front of them, her hands neatly folded on her lap. 

“You’ve been awfully quiet. Are you sure?”

There was a beat, and Jongkook hated it. The last time they had been this awkward was when they didn’t know where they stood with each other. He wanted to fix it this time, but he didn’t know how because he had absolutely no idea what the problem was.

He waited for her to answer. He stole as many glances at her as he can safely do while driving to see whether she would answer.

“Oppa, who was the guest Donghoon-oppa asked you about in the game? Do I know her?” she timidly asked.

Jongkook laughed, mostly because he thoroughly enjoyed the possibility that she was jealous and partly out of relief. He was unable to resist the urge to , “Why do you want to know? It’s all in the past anyway.”

Jihyo huffed and looked out the window again. “Well if you don’t want to tell me, then don’t. I wasn’t that curious anyway.”

“Aigoo,” he replied, reaching out to her cheeks to pinch her. “You’re so cute! So this is what you’re like when you’re jealous.”

That earned him a slap on his shoulder. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m not jealous!! Is it bad to be curious?” she tried to grasp at straws for an explanation. Until she finally thought, “I just didn’t think you’d keep something as big as dating a guest from me. I thought we’re really great friends!”

“But we’re not just friends anymore,” he smirked, and looked in her direction. 

She blushed at how sudden he brought up their relationship, but, stubborn as she was, she refused to back down, “So who is it?”

“Guess.”

This was how a rundown of girls Jongkook had partnered with began. He played along, giving varied responses to confuse Jihyo and elicit all sorts of reactions from her. It had been a good five minutes of a guessing game — one that had Jihyo totally frustrated. 

“Ah Oppa,” she whined loudly. “Why won’t you just tell me!!”

“Well first of all, that device just measures changes in brain activity. It’s not a telltale sign of lying.”

Jihyo scoffed at this, believing that Jongkook just wanted to get out of having to answer the question. He heard her, so he felt inclined to add, “You know how brain waves can be misinterpreted! Remember that episode where they said you had a fondness for Gary because your brain waves showed that pattern?”

She took it as an opportunity to shoot back at Jongkook. “Who says that was a misinterpretation? What if I did have a fondness for Gary-oppa?”

He looked pointedly at her, visibly annoyed at the insinuation. She giggled, “Okay arasseo Oppa. I was just kidding. What’s your point?”

“What I meant to say was the device just said there was a brain activity regarding the question. There’s no definite answer in terms of yes or no,” he calmly explained. 

“So you’re telling me that upon hearing Haha-oppa’s question, you just had some thoughts that made the device work, but not that you really dated a guest before without me knowing?” she tried to connect the dots. 

“I knew you were smart!” he chuckled, patting her head. 

But Jihyo wasn’t done with the interrogation, “So what were your thoughts that made the ears go off?”

“Well Jihyo-yah, it was Donghoon. You know how volatile he can get when he’s in the mood. I was just thinking if he was going to take that opportunity to tease me about you onscreen.”

That made a lot of sense, but Jihyo still eyed Jongkook suspiciously. “Jinjja! I really am telling the truth,” he looked her in the eyes, pleading for her to believe him.

“Given how deep we are into this, you should know by now that I won’t be able to deny us verbally in public. It’s one thing to keep this private, but it’s another to publicly deny you if someone were to bring up your name,” he explained, keeping his eyes straight ahead. Jihyo already told him that she loved her back, but he had only heard it once. He wasn’t sure how she’d take such an intimate confession from him, and he didn’t have the courage to see how she would react. 

Jihyo’s heart fluttered at his words, but a cloud settled upon her as the conversation shifted to something more serious. She carefully considered his words, and realized the gravity of the statement. He was always known to deny any dalliances or relationships, opting to insist on singlehood to protect himself from t