“Hello everyone, welcome back to Love House. This week we have a lot to discuss. Things are getting complicated and I don’t know how it will all end.”

Minseok nods. “That is right, Dae. I have a ton of questions and no answers. Which kinda makes me wish this show had interviews for the contestants because I need to know what’s on their mind.”

“I think it’s better if we don’t know, mostly.” Yixing chuckles.

“Okay, but let’s talk about the elephant in the room… Chanyeol and Baekhyun?” Jongdae raises his eyebrows.

“Oh, I thought you were going to say Junmyeon, but go ahead.” Minseok fans himself with his host cards.

“We’ll get to that.” Jongdae gestures at him. “Did they just go on a date? Again?”

“I think they did.” Yixing covers his mouth slightly.

“I think, honestly, the date was fine… it was the way they were being so sneaky about it.” Minseok purses his lips. ‘We’re just on our way out' as if we don’t know.”

“They were not expecting to get caught,” Yixing says.

“I mean, it’s not like Sehun caught them in the act. Kyungsoo is more than aware of what goes on.” Jongdae shakes his head with a smile.

“He does. I can’t wait to see this weeks’ matching session. I think we only have this one before the final one.” Minseok gasps. “I can’t wait to see what that’s going to look like.”

“Same,” Jongdae says.

“But also, am I the only one feeling uneasy about Junmyeon’s ‘advice’ or not?” Yixing leans back in his chair, glancing at the other two hosts.

“No… but at the same time, he’s such a nice kid, you just have to see the way he helped Jongin.” Minseok sighs.

“He could’ve done it to gain points.” Yixing points at him.

“Maybe…”

“Whatever the reason was, now we just have to see what Kyungsoo will decide. His last conversation with Jongin did not go as well as it could’ve been and I understand why he’s hurt honestly.” Jongdae nods.

“That’s why I want contestant interviews.” Minseok looks over at the crew. “PD can we fix that for next season?” There’s a pause, and he laughs. “Thank you.”

“Let’s check out today’s episode in the meantime, I’m very curious,” Jongdae says.

“You and me, both.”

• - -

Kyungsoo.

To go or not to go.

That is the question.

Kyungsoo keeps pacing around the living room after talking to Junmyeon. He doesn’t know what he should do or why Junmyeon said what he said. In his mind, it could be a potential tactic to get them to drift apart more, knowing Jongin doesn’t want him there, but in his heart, it didn’t feel like that.

It felt like he was being truthful.

What should he do? Jongin was very adamant about not having him there. It , especially because Kyungsoo cares, and he does nothing more than worry about him being okay, both emotionally and physically. The fact that he’s worrying this much, just shows Kyungsoo how far his feelings have developed in less than a month and it’s crazy.

It’s totally insane.

Maybe he can make food for Jongin’s mother and use that as an excuse, but would Jongin pick up on that? He probably would. Would it make him like Kyungsoo any less if he did?

Kyungsoo’s mind is about to explode.

He stands in the kitchen, staring at the emptiness with more going on in his brain than ever. Kyungsoo has to decide. He either goes to work as he planned originally, or he goes to see Jongin with a heavy heart. The thought scares him if he’s being completely honest.

Junmyeon walks downstairs with a bag, placing it over the counter. “When you go see him, give him this. I need to get some work done so I won’t be going back today.” And with that, he disappears back upstairs.

Well, would you look at that?

Guess he just made Kyungsoo’s decision easier. But why?

Why?

With a sigh, Kyungsoo works on something light for Jongin’s mother to eat. He doesn’t know the details of what she was going through, but if she was getting better, that probably meant she could eat a few things. He would make it very light for her stomach to process. Jongin and his sister could eat it if their mother wasn’t able to.

He packs everything once he’s done and makes his way out the door with a heavy sigh. He doesn’t know what will greet him, but he’s willing to take that risk, otherwise what’s the point?

Kyungsoo gets to the hospital in no time, maybe sooner than he would’ve wanted to. With his arms filled with bags, he takes the elevator to the floor he knows Jongin’s mother is being treated. He hasn’t even talked to her directly, but he feels they should do it under better circumstances, hopefully.

His hopes are crushed when he walks into the hallway and sees no one outside, meaning he would have to knock on the door and introduce himself. He’s preparing his entire speech in his head, as his steps get him closer to the room. He can say his name and that he’s Jongin’s friend. Maybe he can start with that, or maybe he should greet her first and then introduce himself. Should he give Jongin all the stuff or hand the food to her directly?

He could guess it would depend on how recovered she is.

And what if she’s asleep? He didn’t want to bother her, either.

Luckily, just as he’s about to reach the door, it opens and a familiar figure walks out. Kyungsoo recognizes her as Jongin’s sister, the one working the night of their date. She looks at him and he makes a poor attempt at a smile as he approaches her.

“Oh, it’s you!” She says, showing perfect white teeth as she smiles.

Kyungsoo bows politely. “Hey, nice to see you again.” He clears his throat. “I hope you’re doing well.”

She smirks, crossing her arms over her chest. “I take it you’re here to see Jongin.”

Kyungsoo blinks. “Uhh, I actually brought food for your mother.” He starts opening the bag when she stops him.

“You can give it all to him, he’s in the cafeteria with someone right now.” She pats his hand and walks away.

Kyungsoo blinks, feeling a bit confused. Letting out a sigh, he makes his way to the elevator and back to the first floor. Hopefully, he won’t have any issues finding him. Of course, not that he could easily miss Jongin, even in a crowd. He stood out always.

Once Kyungsoo reaches the cafeteria, he stands by the door and does a quick scan of the place. Going from person to person until he spots them. He sees Sehun first, sitting close to the windows. Next to him, he sees Jongin. He’s wearing a white t-shirt, his hair is all over the place and even from there Kyungsoo can tell he hasn’t been sleeping well.

However, he’s laughing.

Sehun says something and Jongin laughs at him.

Kyungsoo is relieved to see this, but it only lasts a second. He’s been so worried and sad about him and their last interaction, while the other is sitting there laughing at whatever stupid joke just came out of Sehun’s lips. He obviously doesn’t have an issue with Sehun’s company and getting that confirmation breaks his heart a bit more.

Maybe Junmyeon was wrong, and he wasn’t supposed to be there at all. It didn’t look like Jongin needed him.

And maybe that’s selfish to think, but Kyungsoo doesn’t care at this point.

He marches towards them, frown almost breaking his face in half. Sehun sees him first and waves, making Jongin turn to look at him. Kyungsoo can see the way his eyes light up and shut down almost immediately.

“Hyung!” Sehun pats the spot next to them. “Sit down, we were just talking about-”

“I’m not staying too long because I was told not to,” Kyungsoo says and Jongin sulks instantly. “I just came here to bring a few things because Junmyeon couldn’t.”

“Oh, I thought he said he was coming back.” Sehun glances at the bags with a frown.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “Something came up apparently.” He sets everything on the table. “Here’s what he sent and this is some food I made for your mother.” Kyungsoo doesn’t look at Jongin as he says this. “I figured if she was doing better she would want to eat more than just hospital food.”

“Thank you.” Jongin reaches out to grab everything. “Also I-”

“I’ll see you at home Sehunnie.” Kyungsoo turns around. He knows he should talk to him, but he’s honestly no longer in the mood to do so. The fact that Jongin had no issues, sitting there with Sehun and maybe even with Junmyeon but told him, the person he allegedly likes, to not come back just rubs him the wrong way.

He makes it all the way to the double doors when a hand grabs his arm.

“Kyungsoo, I just-” Jongin's eyes flicker between Kyungsoo and the floor. Almost as if he’s looking for something to say.

“We can talk later.”

“But-”

“Take care of your family first.” Kyungsoo breaks his grip on his arm and resumes his walk towards the exit.

The more he thinks about it, the more upset he is. He did nothing wrong. He only tried to help the best he could and it was okay coming from other people, but not from him? What kind of logic was that? Why would he even react the way he did?

Kyungsoo had no answers to the million questions running in his head.

However, for now, he’s okay with being mad.

If they can resolve this before the next matching session, then cool. If not, Kyungsoo isn’t so sure things would work out between them anymore.

And that was something he wasn’t ready to think about.