Jongkook trudged home after a grueling night at the gym. Their taping of Runningman had gone relatively well considering how out of shape they all were. Jaesuk had been the only one who was feeling well, and the rest of them were a flurry of tired and sick souls. It didn’t help that their ball of energy couldn’t make it to that day’s shoot. 

He himself was feeling slightly under the weather. It was probably from all his responsibilities. He’d been preparing for a concert, and he was also filming new shows and content for his vlog. But the gym was the most important commitment in his life to date. That wasn’t something he was going to pass up on, not when his back was starting to ache again.

He was carrying a big box of pizza, and he was ready to devour it, just before finally taking a shower and succumbing to the magnetic force of his bed. He keyed in his passcode, put down the pizza box on the table, and the television. Luckily, an MMA match was on, and he proceeded to go through the pizza slices as he enjoyed the match.

His phone rang, and instinctively he picked up the one he used for business, only to find it lacking in any activity. It was his other phone, the personal one he kept and rarely ever used when he appeared onscreen. He couldn’t afford to give away his privacy, so he had to take extra precautions. 

“Oppa,” a low yet feminine voice greeted him. He didn’t even need to check the called ID to know who it was. 

“Oh, Sooyeon-ah! Eodini? Your house?” he asked.

She scoffed, but Jongkook clearly heard it. “Aish, Oppa. Dangyeonhaji. Where else would I be?”

“I don’t know. You could be at Kwangsoo’s. Or you could be at Youngin’s. There are many possibilities,” he said, overpronouncing the words to make himself clear despite the fact that he had gone back to devouring the remaining pizza slices.

She chuckled at that, and he had to pause. It’s been a decade, but her laughter always grabbed his attention. He found it adorable for some reason, but he quickly chucked the thought away, “Why did you call? It’s already past midnight. Shouldn’t you be sleeping already?”

“I’m not a child, Oppa. Plus, I like my sleep better in the morning. The nights are meant for overthinking and drinking,” she dryly panned, and even though he could hear the sarcasm in her voice, a part of him still worried. 

“Yah! You’re not drinking, are you?” he just had to verify. She shouldn't be drinking giving the state of her health that day.

“Aniya. Don’t worry about me,” she calmly answered. “You really like thinking I’m a child that needs to be taken care of. I’m 40 years old already!”

“Well, you were sick earlier. Even Jaesuk-hyung was worried about you,” he answered softly, and the genuine concern was audible in his voice. 

“Oppa, na gwenchana,” she slowly said, as if she were teaching a petulant child. 

“Jinjja?“ he just had to make sure. 

“Jinjja,” she tried to calm him down, and he decided to trust her word for it. 

He glanced down at the pizza box, realizing that despite the nonsensical small talk, he was already down to his last slice. He was beginning to itch to get to the shower already, so he decided to ask her once and for all, “Anyway, you called? Sorry we got distracted with lots of other things. I haven’t asked why you called. What’s up?”

There was a beat, and he knew her well enough to know when she was second-guessing something. But, in the end, she always pulled through with her courage, and he was patient enough to wait for her to be honest. The waiting time grew shorter and shorter anyway, as years of their friendship passed by. 

“Well, I promised I’d call you later,” she finally said. 

He was confused, until he remembered filming, “Ah, that. I thought you were kidding though.”

She grew silent at his words, and he suddenly felt anxious that she might’ve been offended. “I mean, I know they cornered you with that question. I just assumed you just said that to get out of having to answer,” he clarified.

“But you were the one who asked me why my heart fluttered? You asked me multiple times, even after Bopil wanted to move on already,” she dropped the bomb, and he had to drop the remaining half of his pizza slice back to the box. He scratched the back of his neck. He knew he made those crucial errors earlier, and he obviously would blame it on his fatigue.

“Ah that…” he drawled out as his mind struggled to come up with any sort of excuse. 

“Didn’t you mean it Oppa? Were you not curious?” she suddenly asked before he could even say anything further. His eyebrows furrowed together upon hearing her, and her question definitely piqued his interest.

He clarified, “Is there anything I need to be curious about?”

She sighed, sounding disappointed, and he grew even more curious. “Never mind. Just forget I asked. I should…”

“Wait,” he intercepted her. Truthfully, he had his guess, but he didn’t want to be presumptive about anything. The episode they recently filmed seemed like a game changer, however, and now he had to deal with it. “I was… yes, I was curious.”

“Arasseo,” she answered, her voice sounding a bit more cheerful. “I’m also curious about something.”

“What’s that?” he asked. 

“Did you mean it? What you said about me being cute or was that just referring to my character?” she interrogated him, and he thanked the heavens that they were having this conversation on the phone, because if she saw the way he blushed, he would never hear the end of it.

He didn’t want to answer her yet however. He still had a bone to pick with her, “I’ll tell you after you tell me what you called me for.”

“Oppa…” she whined. 

“Oh,” he said in his signature high pitch. “That’s another thing. What was that entire oppa aegyo? I know we’re pulling the weight with this loveline, but aegyo? Really?”

“Wae? Shihroyo?” she asked him, and he quickly realized he couldn’t exactly say he didn’t like it. He meant it when he said that her character was getting cuter and cuter on Runningman. What he’d never admit, however, was that this entire development in their variety show characters was causing some confusion on his part.

He always preferred it when things were black and white, and that’s why he always said that she was family, and that a loveline with her was just plain stupid. He knew people online had a fanfare over their conversations and skinship behind the background and in fan meetings. Donghoon and Tiny have shown him some of them; that’s why he made it a point to clarify in multiple shows that she was just a sister, and no attraction can be formed between siblings. Oh, how the tables have turned. 

“It’s just sudden that’s all,” he said as an excuse, but he hated how he sounded so unsure. Then, he realized that they got off-track again, “Wait, so did you mean it? I’ve made your heart flutter?”

“I believe the question was whether you’re my ideal man,” she clarified, but it made no sense to him how that changed things. So he rode along with it.

“Well, it’s true. I mean…,” she slightly paused, obviously calculating her next words. “Like what I said, you are reliable, and you take care of me.”

“Ah, that…” he didn’t know why he was disappointed that she didn’t add any further details. “That’s it? That made your heart flutter?” the question escaped his lips before he knew it. 

She was silent for a moment, and he slapped his mouth for the slip of the tongue. But he was pleasantly surprised when she continued, “Well, aside from that, you’re very loyal. You didn’t just take care of me; you held my hand through some of the most difficult times of my life. And, it doesn’t help that you’re handsome and very capable too. But you already know that...”

He grew silent for a moment. The two of them weren’t particularly sappy, but he liked hearing things like this from her, mostly because she rarely gave him compliments. She had never been a woman of many words, but when she decided to spare him some praises, he would feel his heart race and his ears heat up. These have happened on multiple occasions already, and one time it even happened on a show she had been on. He guessed that was his weakness; he just never learned how to act nonchalant enough. Instead, his face gave him away, and for a second time that night, he was thankful this conversation was happening on the phone so he could hide the cheeky grin that made its way on his face. 

“Oppa, are you still there?” he heard her ask from the other end, and he realized he must’ve kept silent for quite a period of time already. 

“I’m still here,” he softly answered, trying to distract himself by moving back to the final slice of pizza. He also turned off the television. It was starting to be a waste of electricity. 

“It’s your turn,” she responded. When he didn’t answer after a beat, she clarified. “Did you mean it when you said I was cute or was that just for the show?”

He chuckled awkwardly. He really should have taken up acting lessons when he had the chance, but here he was after a remarkable career on television, unable to hide what he truly felt. He liked to think of himself as cunning, calm, and collected, but his body betrayed him when it came to these things. 

“You are cute, Sooyeon-ah,” he finally answered, opting to use her real name so she would know that he meant it for her, and not for the