"Well, this is odd," Ningning remarked, tilting her head to the side as she watched her best friend unload a large plate of meat onto the barbecue in the center of the table. The immediate sizzle followed by the aroma of cooked beef filled her senses, making her salivate. However, that didn't change how unusual Minjeong's behavior seemed all of a sudden or rather, how weirdly frivalous she was being. The latter had called the doctor just as her shift ended for dinner, claiming it was her treat this time.

"What do you mean?" The blonde enthusiastically grilled the meat in front of her. "It's beef, there's nothing odd about it," she said with a bright yellow glow practically emitting from behind her as she grinned widely with excitement. "It's done! Here." She placed the cooked items onto Ningning's plate with a pair of tongs. "Eat." She was actively bouncing on her chair, as if there wasn't a thing in the world that's ever bothered her.

"Not the beef, Minjeong, you," Ningning clarified.

"Me?" The blonde pointed at herself with raised eyebrows.

"Why in the world are you in such high spirits? I swear, you have flowers blooming all over you. And you never shout dinner. Never," Ningning said, slowly emphasizing each syllable to drive her point home. "I'm always the one who treated you to meals back in college."

"Well, I just got my paycheck again, so consider this payback," Minjeong replied.

"But I treated you to meals practically every day back then—"

"Eat!" Minjeong interrupted, shoving a lettuce-wrapped pork into Ningning's mouth with her chopsticks.

"At least answer my question, Minjeong," Ningning continued between chews. "Why are you so cheerful?"

"What's wrong with me being cheerful? Shouldn't you be happy that I'm happy?"

"Yes, yes I should. But you're never this happy, I mean look at you, you're bouncing around on your chair! That expensive wagyu you just sold your soul for is gonna slip out off your chopsticks if you continue moving like that!"

The blonde sits still immediately upon hearing that, placing the beef she was holding into before chewing. "Well like I said I got my paycheck"

"Did they promote you or something?"

"Nope! I simply have the best job ever. It pays me decently, and I genuinely enjoy it every day. How could I not be content?" Minjeong replied cheerfully.

"Is that so?" The doctor leaned back, folding her arms with a smirk. "And what's the sudden reason behind your newfound love for your job?"

"Well, the only admin work I have to do is scheduling, but I've done it so often now it's a piece of cake," Minjeong began, counting off the perks on her fingers. "I get to drive around in a nice car. I get to see Jimin everyday. Plus, free food from the company. And, oh, Jimin smiles at me all the time now. When there's a schedule and I have to wait in the staff area, I can pretty much do whatever I want. Jimin is there. And sometimes, I get early days. Oh, and did I mention—"

"Jimin. Yes," Ningning chuckled. "Looks like things are going well with her."

"She's my everythingggg," the blonde gushed, leaning on the table. "I don't think I've felt this alive in a long time."

"Come on, tone it down now" the doctor teased, scrunching up her nose as she made a scowling face "You're so cringey when you're in love! Stop!"

Minjeong chuckled, smiling at the thought of Jimin's smile. "Yeah... I'm happy. I swear, I've never felt this way about anyone, like just thinking about her makes me all warm and fuzzy."

"Yes... I can see that," Ningning remarked, rolling her eyes with a hint of amusement before taking a sip of water. "So I'm guessing you two finally made it official then?"

Ningning's question lingered in the air, as Minjeong, who had gone in to grab another piece of meat with her chopsticks, froze upon hearing the inquiry, her chopsticks hanging in midair.

...

...

"Oh yeah.. " The blonde responded with confidence at first... "yeah...." until her words trail off along with her thoughts... "yeah...."

...

...

Which made the doctor raise a very suspicious eyebrow.

...

...

"Wait- are you guys official?"

"Define official"

"Like you two kissed"

"Oh yeah!" Minjeong beams with a huge smile.

"And you guys like" the doctor points her finger and waves it back and forth to gesture she was talking about Minjeong and Jimin "Talked about, and mutually agreed you two are now seeing each other exclusively. You know, official girlfriend and girlfriend."

"Oh...." Minjeong's mouth formed an O shape... "no...?"

"Did you guys talk about what you two are at all!?"

"Manager and Actress?"

"ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP WISE, Minjeong."

...

...

"no...?"

"What about a text. A letter? Via pigeon carrier? Anything to say you two are exclusive.."

"You can't afford a pigeon in this economy, Ning" Minjeong answers with a mouthful of lettuce wrapped meat this time. 

"Oh My god. then you two are not official!" Ningning declares, shaking her head before taking another bite out of her food. 

"I-" Minjeong pauses for a second, having never even thought about her status with Jimin until now... "does- does it matter if we talk about it or not..? Like she kissed me and... I feel like with how things are now, we will again and-"

"Of course, it matters! Communication is key. Do you know how many broken-hearted girls come crying to me in my clinic about their boyfriends who didn't even know they were their boyfriends? Just to find out their endless hookups had meant nothing to the other party and the 'boyfriends'" Ningning formed a quotation mark with both her hands "only ever perceived their relationship as casual? Countless, Minjeong," She then widens her arms apart to visually indicate the frequency, "Countless. I can't even begin to put a number on how many of the same stories I've had to listen to."

"Countless because you can't count? Or countless because it's a lot"

"YAH-" She swats away Minjeong's chopsticks that was in motion, with her own "Who's the doctor here huh? If there's one person who can't count it's not me."

The blonde chuckles at their antics before her mind drifts back to the pressing issue. "But things just seem to be going so well... I never thought about it before, but I seriously do feel like we have a mutual understanding... Can't we just silently allow things to flow the way they are?"

"You can, Minjeong, but I think communicating with each other to know exactly where she stands with you wouldn't hurt," Ningning advises, setting down her chopsticks. "You might be surprised to find out how often the other party isn't on the same wavelength as you. Besides, have you seen the news recently? There are still reports and sources publishing news about Jimin in a relationship with Ji-hoon."

Ji-hoon... who...?

"Oh-" The blonde hadn't heard that name in ages, and with how eventful her life had turned out to be recently, she totally forgot about the fake relationship that was setup to promote Jimin's previous film's release. "But that was ages ago!" Her eyes suddenly widened as realization dawned upon her. "The agencies agreed they would only allow that to rumour to last for 2-3 months before putting out another statement of their breakup.."

"Okay, well they never did. In the public's eye, Jimin is still with Ji-hoon. They're just under the impression their relationship is kept very private since they're very quiet about each other."

"..."

"See, Minjeong, this is what I mean. Communication is key. The company didn't communicate their intentions properly and misled you to believe something that didn't happen. In the same way, if you don't make it official with Jimin, you'll never know where you stand with her. Does it not bother you that she's in a public relationship with another person?"

"But the relationship isn't real!" Minjeong retorts. "It's all fabricated. I know for a fact she's not with him. I see her almost every day and-"

"But the public thinks it's real. And if I know anything being in this field, it's that no matter how much an individual tries to stick true to their facts and beliefs, their surroundings will eventually affect them if things are not made completely clear to them. Now I ask you again, does it really not bother you that you and Jimin are not official, and the public thinks she is in a relationship with someone else?"

...

...

...

"I... don't know...

⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇

Yeah..

Minjeong knew....

Even if she isn't admitting it to herself.

The fact that she can only think about how Jimin and Ji-hoon's relationship still hasn't been debunked by the companies and she and the older hasn't actually placed any label for.. whatever they have....

It's safe to say..

The blonde was very bothered by that entire reality.

She never thought there had been a need to place labels on anything. Being someone with a logical mind, labels too her are just words or names placed on top of something.. it doesn't truly define what lays underneath or in this case, how one truly feels for one another...

But now that push comes to shoves... the fact that she did not have any labels with Jimin is bothering her A LOT. 

She knew this was something she would have to come to terms to with Jimin and soon...

If left long.. she wasn't sure if she was ever going to get any sleep with these neverending spiral of thoughts.

However, observing the woman beside her, fidgeting nervously in her seat, her gaze fixed on her hands rather than outside the window, Minjeong hesitated to broach the topic.

Clearly, this wasn't the right moment—certainly not in the car just before Jimin's crucial audition.

But Minjeong hadn't yet determined when the right time would be.

And that sheer fact, was quite frankly eating up her insides.

Damnit, Minjeong, stop being so selfish already, 

she scolded herself inwardly.

She's about to have the most important audition of her life, and you're here thinking about bringing up some stupid label. Get a grip already!

"Hey" Eyes still on the road, Minjeong puts a hand on top of Jimin's fidgetting ones. "You'll do great, don't worry about it."