Jihoon felt a bit better when he left for the practice room. Jieun is not his favorite person at the moment, but it bothered him how she looked before storming away the night before. Taehee used to tell him how he cared too much about how people see him, and sometimes it makes him feel bad about himself, but he just couldn’t help it. He tries to put up a strong, confident front most of the time, and it really takes a toll on him. But his Jinyoung hyung once told him he needs to have a thick skin if he wants to make it in this industry. One thing’s sure – he’s glad he finally made this situation with Jieun a little bearable.

Aside from Jieun’s occassional glares whenever he would tell her something about her dancing, there was peace in the land. Jihoon smiled inwardly, thinking that his genius idea worked. He knew Jieun didn’t really like using honorifics with him, and he was right. She’d rather not talk than call him sunbaenim. The result? The little pest was quieter than usual.

Overall, practice went relatively well. Jieun was not as bad, but there’s still a lot of practicing to be done.

When it was almost lunch time, Jihoon told everyone that he’s buying lunch for everyone, including Jieun’s team, just to build rapport, given that everyone’s been stressed because of him and Jieun lately. He’d also have to leave some instructions, especially for his dancers, since he has to leave early today.

While getting ready to leave,  he noticed that the newbie from Jieun’s staff other day was not around.

Trying to make small talk while walking towards the restaurant, he asked Jieun’s manager about it.

 “What do you mean, Jihoon-ssi?”

‘Oh, I just noticed you were with a new staff member yesterday. I’ve never seen her before.”

“Ahhh, that’s Jieun’s friend. She was just tagging along.”

Jihoon just nodded  and entered the restaurant.

“My friend?” Quipped Jieun who was behind them.

“Oh, I was just asking about the girl yesterday..turns out she’s not part of your staff.”

“Yeah, she’s my friend. Why?”

Jihoon mouthed “you forgot something” to Jieun which prompted her to add ‘sunbaenim’ with a sour look on her face.

“Nothing, it’s just that she had this starstruck look on her face while watching during practice. I thought that was weird given that she’s with you – and you are basically my antifan.” Jihoon added, with a chuckle. ‘She was cheering the loudest when I was dancing and almost looked like my fan, haha!”

Jieun’s face looked annoyed but with a mingling expression of discomfort.

“Sunbaenim, just because you’re a World Star, it doesn’t mean everyone’s your fan.”

“Aishh, you can’t really take jokes, huh?” Jihoon tutted and glared at the little lady. “You should treasure that friend of yours. You’ll never know when she’ll wake up realizing her friend has such an ugly personality.”

He ended with a wide grin, leaving Jieun fuming. Hyunseung scolded him for being so mean, to which he just chuckled.

“You two were finally working civilly, and now you’re pushing her buttons.” Hyunseung piled on.

“She’s just so easy to rile up. It’s like everything that comes out of my mouth offends her, it’s actually pretty funny.”

Hyunseung just looked at him disapprovingly, and proceeded to take a seat on the dining table.

“It’s okay to do that with your sister  because she understands they’re all just jokes to you, but I don’t think Jieun sees it like that.”

“Arasso, I’ll tone it down. But admit it, it’s kinda funny when she gets mad. Her nostrils flare and her face gets so red, haha!”

All the stress flew out of the window when the food was served. The chatter died down and everyone was intent on filling their grumbling stomachs. After finishing his meal, Jihoon told everyone about his need to leave practice early. He immediately saw Jieun’s scowl.

“Hyung, you’ll be my stand-in, as usual. You already know my part.” He directed to Hongshi. ‘Noona, help Jieun with whatever she needs to improve on.”

Hyunseung nodded and reassured him that all will be taken cared of.

“I’ll be back in practice tomorrow. I hope we can finally practice the entire routine by then.”

On their way out, he caught Jieun giving him a side-eye.

“Yah, what’s your problem?”

“Nothing, sunbaenim.”

He took her aside, not letting her pass to get to her van. Jieun tried to run away form him, but he was too big that he almost covered the width of the exit.

“Stop being a bully and let me through.”

“I’m being a bully